This morning we got to ride a bus to a small town called Spitz and meet with Count Ferdinand, Lord of Spitz. He showed us his ancestral home and told a bit about his family’s history going back to before the 1800s. He told us how his great great grandfather was friends with Austrian royalty (Franz Joseph and Princess Sisi) of Austria. He talked about the history of the religious disputes and they’re impact, and how his family was involved in meetings in Rome negotiating a resolution and then transitioning his part of the country to more Catholicism.
Then Ferdinand took us to a museum that showed how the river and the Wachau Valley’s treasures were so important to town’s economy.
In the museum they has some really cool models of old boats and barges that would go up and down the Danube River hauling the valley’s farm products, lumber, ore and other things to market.
They used poles with rudders to guide to boats and the water’s currents to travel up and down the river. They even used long rows of horses sometimes to pull the barges along.
Then we went to a special room at the museum so we could sample some of the favourite farm products grown in and around Spitz – grapes and apricots!
Of course, the best way to try out grapes is to taste some special wines. In Spitz they specialize in white wines called Grüner Veltiner. It’s a dry wine that was quite tasty.
We also tried some Apricot liqueur called Marillen. So tasty, and not too sweet. They also let us have a little taste of the yummy apricot jam they make, maybe we’ll bring home a jar.
We ended our day by arriving in Vienna and attending a special concert of music by Mozart and a few of his friends at Albert Hall. Our favourite was Johann Strass’ Blue Danube.
Well Behaved Kids Travel 