The hills were alive this day!European Trip - May 25, 2002 |
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After such a spectacular and exhausting day as the day before was, today would prove to be just as exciting and fun. We woke up to a 'baroness-y' Wendy, who proclaimed that she was not to be messed with. Uh oh. But that surly demeanor wore off super fast as we got on the train to Salzburg with some food. Yay! We were headed to the beautiful town of Salzburg, which sits right on the Austrian / German border on the river Salzach. We had a few agenda items to take care of when we arrived, primarily to embark on the Sound of Music tour. Duh! You can't go to Salzburg and not do this. Since we were only going to be in town for the day, we had to make time count, so we headed into the heart of Salzburg first (the tour didn't start till the afternoon) and explored old-town Salzburg. You could see the Glockenspiel, the Mozart statue, Salzburg cathedral, and the fortress that sits on the hill overlooking the town. You could definitely pick up the vibes that this was an OLD city. We walked around a little on a self-guided tour by Rick Steves, but our hunger finally won out and we lunched at the Cafe Glockenspiel, which lies right next to the Glockenspiel! After finishing up our food, we then got lost (thanks to Jason) on our way back to where the Sound of Music bus was going to leave, eventually running just to make it! Fortunately, all was well and we made the bus.
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Salzburg, Austria |
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Me at the Salzburg Bahnhof |
Jason too |
Salzburg on the Salzach |
Your tour guide |
Jason as well |
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The Salzach river |
Me and Mozart |
artsy me and Mozart |
Jason and Mozart |
Long shot of the two of them |
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Wendy and Mozart |
Jason and the fountain |
Wendy too |
Jason, Cafe Glock, and the cathedral |
Me too |
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Glockenspiel and the cathedral |
Fountain and a view of the fortress |
Giant chessboard and fortress view |
Giant chessboard |
Hey! It's a carriage! |
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Inside the cathedral |
The interior of the cathedral's dome |
Wendy and Mozart's baptism basin |
Jay & Wen on the Salzach |
Dining at the Cafe Glockenspiel |
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The man can eat |
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It was amazing to finally go on a tour of the countryside that is home to almost every scene in the Sound of Music. And even though the skies were cloudy, it didn't matter a bit, as the scenery blows you away without any help from the sunlight. Our bus tour (and our extremely crazy tour guide) took us to all of the famous locations that stood in for the Von Trapp house, including the lakeside view of the house and the view of the house from the "I Have Confidence" road. It was very cool. We also saw the famous gazebo, the now-developed hillside that Maria was singing on at the beginning, the mountain they climbed to safety (ironically, the path over the mountain leads right into Germany), the inside and outside of the church that Maria married the Captain in, and a bunch of scenery that makes you thankful to be alive. The Austrian Alps are magnificent and will leave you speechless. I can only hope to go back one day for an extended period of time, just to absorb it all. A must see. Also, throughout the tour, the bus had the soundtrack to the movie playing, which TOTALLY made it a blast. Both me and Wendy got the people around us singing, but even before that, we were singing along to the damn soundtrack. It was so much fun!
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The Sound of Music Tour through Austria |
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The fountain that Maria splashed |
Climb every mountain (into Germany) |
Castle seen briefly in the opening credits |
Wendy feels confident |
Don't even get me started |
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I'm not amused (long story) |
I am 16.... |
....going on 17 |
The lake side Von Trapp house |
Jason was in the canoe too |
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Apparently so was I |
The Baroness is not falling |
Wendy and the house |
Dramatic Alpine views |
Jason at an Alpine lake |
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The Lonely Goatherd |
Me at the lake |
Wendy outside the wedding church |
The Wedding Church |
Inside the church |
We finally made it back to Munich after finishing up our amazing Sound of Music tour. The weather finally decided to take a turn for the worse and the rain came pouring down. It was inevitable I guess that there would finally be a bad day of weather - every day before this had been beautiful. Anyways, when we got back, we picked up our luggage from the Hotel Jedermann and took it to the train station for safekeeping - we had a little bit more to do still. Our train wasn't leaving till later that night, and we hadn't made it to the Hofbrauhaus yet - so we were off! We got on the S-Bahn and made it to the closest stop to the Hofbrauhaus we could find. It was still pouring rain, so we made it as fast as we could to the building. Upon stepping inside the haus, we discovered it was packed! I think it wasn't as bad as it could have been if it hadn't been raining, because although it was packed, we did manage to find a place for all three of us to sit together at a table by the wall. And so we were there! We each got some steins of beer, and proceeded to get trashed. We made friends with our table-mates, and got to know Mannheim from Austria and Reike of Germany. They were cool guys, but everyone's cool when they and you are drunk! Anyways, besides shooting the shit, we even arm-wrestled. I lost so bad, my wrist still hurt a few days later. OH well. It was a blast, and I don't even really clearly remember getting back to the train station for our train to Florence. I do have video tape of us on the sleeper car and we are quite obnoxious, even earning a bang on the wall from our sleeping car neighbors. Oh the fun! And just think, Italy was coming up next.
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Loving the stein |
Loving 2 steins |
Really loving her stein |
Now that's a pretzel |
Our German beer buddies |
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Party time |
We waited forever for Mannfried to take this picture |
Pretty much gone |
Him too |
Mannfried, the drunk Austrian |
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About to get worked by Reike |
Even the staff helps |
I just lost |
Trashed and ready for the train ride to Florence |
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Shoot me an email if
you have any comments! |
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