Maissau Amethyst Mine

We visited an amethyst mine in the town of Maissau.
They have a little museum there and visitors can dig for amethysts.
Thomas was really good at it and found some.

After the dig he washed his find....

... and dug some more.

Elisabeth got into it, too.

They found quite a number of the stones.

Then we took a tour through the mine.
Everything that looks a little bit purple is the amethyst in the rock.

Strasshof Railway Museum

Today we went to the Railway Museum in Strasshof.
Thomas took a ride on a miniature train.
We checked out the big ones, too.

This was one of the Diesel engines.

This was an ambulance car from World War II.

He even got to climb up there.

Check out the size of those wheels!

Grafenegg Castle

We visited Grafenegg Castle.
25 years ago my sister and I used to work there for a summer.
Back then I knew the whole thing inside out.
This year I took my son there.

We hiked all around the fabulous grounds.

We walked through the princely rooms.

Thomas enjoyed himself.

We checked out the big court yard...

... and the moat, even though the water is long gone.

Military History Museum

We went to the Military History Museum and saw an exhibit on cannons and tanks.
Thomas loved the technical details.

This is the world´s second largest medieval cannon. It is called "Pumhart von Steyr". It was made in the early 1400s in styria. Its barrel is taller than me!

We visited Anni. She is Bernhard´s mom and very nice!

Kinderuni Wien 2011

Thomas visited the Kinderuni this year for the fourth time.
This is before graduation.
This is during the ceremony. There were lots of kids and parents.

This is his certificate.

Elisabeth was there, too.

Then we had a little early birthday celebration.

Graz

Thomas and Elisabeth went to Riegersburg Castle.
This is the cable car they took up there.
You can also hike up there and go through a series of gates.
After that they went to Graz to visit my cousin Gisela and her family.
This is Thomas, Gisela and her daughter Julia.
Here are Thomas and Julia hanging out.

The next day they decided to drive some historic tractors.
This is Thomas with Gisela´s husband Reini. Reini´s best friend Franz buys old rust buckets of tractors and restores them back to old glory. These things are 40 to 50 years old.

Check out our Youtube about the tractors here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubgbLtKqLFs

This is the clock tower in Graz

This is the tower from below.

They also went to the ZEUGHAUS - a medieval weapon´s arsenal in the heart of the city.
They have 30,000 medieval weapons there. Hey, grandpa, do you remember, 12 years ago we went there together!

Check it out on Youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6o53nPA3Cs&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL

Strechau Castle

On our way home from the mountains we stopped at Strechau Castle.
The castle is 1000 years old and was never taken by an enemy army. It has great fortifications and sits on a rock overlooking a river valley.
Thomas checked out the fortifications.

This is the only entrance into the inner castle.

They have a beautiful Renaissance court yard in there.

This is one of the rooms that was created for the Emperor.

This is the court yard from the other side.

This is the view.

The family that owns this castle has a passion for cars. In one of the castle´s rooms, all 23 of the oltimers in their collection are stored and can be looked at as part of the castle tour. This is a very tiny German car from the early 50s called "Goggomobil."