Austria: Day 3 & 4

So...here's the deal with the whole traveling-while-taking-16-hours thing: the few days after you return from the trip you're stressed out of your brain!

With that being said, our second day in Salzburg was amazing. We woke and gazed gloomily out the window and the streets being washed with a cold rain. We left England for a reason. But we didn't let it stop us. We got ready and went downstairs for a small breakfast at the hostel. Being in Salzburg, our hostel played "The Sound of Music" every day at 10:30 AM. After breakfast, we gathered in the TV room to watch the movie before we went on our tour at 2:30. It's just such a great movie!
We stopped at a grocery store on our way to the tour and grabbed bread, cheese, and salami which we ate on the steps of a church on the square from which our tour departed. We were absolutely freezing, but the food was tasty and cheap. Eventually we were in a van along with a British couple and two Swiss journalists and our fearless tour guide, Peter. Peter...how would I describe Peter...a little crazy with a pinch of eccentricity thrown in? The first thing he said to me personally was, "What's yellow and smells like a banana?" After I shook my head he responded, "Monkey vomit...isn't that terrible?" Anyway, he drove us around Mirabelle Gardens, though we did not go in--we had gone the day before. The first place the van stopped was the back of the Von Trapp house with the lake where Maria and the children fell out of the canoe when they saw that Captain Von Trapp had returned home. The lake was frozen, but the scenes still played vividly in our minds. We didn't linger long because we had many places to go and we were very cold. He pointed out the mountain that Maria sang "The Hills are alive..." on and the mountain from which the Von Trapps were filmed escaping Austria. Next, we passed Nonberg Abbey where Maria (both in the real Maria and Julie Andrews) resided with the nuns before she went to be a governess to the children. Our driver pointed out the front of the house when we drove by--the movie used two different houses to film the front and the back, and then used a Hollywood set for the interior. Near the front house, down the tree-lined alley where the children hung from trees as the Captain drove by, there was the gazebo. Need I say more? "I am 16, going on 17..." Classic. We were not allowed to go inside of the gazebo, however, because a few years ago an 80-year old lady had attempted to do the dance leaping from seat to seat...she fell and broke a hip.

Loading in the car, we headed for the mountains. Our driver began playing the soundtrack to the movie and the hills came alive. The mountains were beautiful--birds eye views of Salzburg and other little towns blew my mind. Eventually we arrived in Mondsee where the Basilica there was the church in which the wedding was filmed. This area of Austria was also known for providing a warm vanilla sauce to accompany apple strudel. Our driver dropped us off for an hour, so we went into the church and then shopped a bit before enjoying the amazing dessert. Peter dropped us off at our hostel at the end of the journey. It was great--definitely worth the 4 hours and 37 euros.
After recovering from a busy afternoon, we decided to follow Peter's suggestions for dinner and for the evening activities. Wanting to experience Austrian culture, we ventured to a beer hall--I believe one of the biggest in Austria...thankfully they also served Coca-Cola along with their bratwurst, sauerkraut, and pretzels. The food was delicious--I had no idea I was a sauerkraut type of person, but it was tasty! After dinner, we went to the Hotel Stein. Our tour guide claimed the rooftop bar had one of the best views of the city at night. So we took the elevator and went on the roof to take pictures ignoring the annoyed waiters who wished we'd buy something from them.
When we returned to our hostel we met Monique the Crazy German bunking with us. She was in her 60s with bright orange and red hair. Her English was horrible, but she sure loved to talk! She invited us to accompany her to a free exhibit at the Modern Museum of Art the next day. We accepted the free elevator ticket and met her the next day at the bottom of the mountain. The elevator was built in the cliff so it took us to the Museum which overlooked the city. None of us really appreciate modern art, so we didn't last long in the museum, but we greatly enjoyed the breathtaking views of Salzburg. We wandered about taking pictures and enjoying the beautiful day. After lunch at McDonalds, we sat on the banks of the river soaking up the sun for hours. Eventually we took a bus to the airport and flew home.

The "fun" hadn't ended, however. We had no idea of the fiasco that awaited us in London. Our plane landed at 10:00. We needed to take a 45 minute train ride to an Underground station then take the tube about 6 stops (10 minutes) and catch another train to Oxford that would be an hour long. Worried that the tube station would close at 11, we rushed to the airport train. We arrived at the tube station right at 11--it wasn't closed! But the line that would take us to the other train station was shut down for maintenance. We decided to take a bus. We hoped the 23 and sat for an hour as it made 19 stops before it arrived at Paddington Station. We walked into the station at 12:35. The last train for Oxford left ten minutes before. The next train...at 8 in the morning. With tension building in the group, we stopped at Burger King for some energy and inspiration. I was the only one with cash (thanks mom for your advice to always keep a stash for emergencies) so we caught a cab and went to Marble Arches where we wanted to catch the "Oxford Tube," a 24-hour bus that ran from London to Oxford. Around 1:45, we boarded the bus grumpy and tired. Once we arrived in Oxford, there was a 30 minute walk back to the house. It was raining. I arrived home soaking wet at 3:30 and have never been more excited to see #10 Canterbury Road in my life.

I'm living spontaneously...YIKES!

Austria: Day One & Two

The rooster crows, "Time to fly away little chickens." And with that call, we do fly away to Austria.

Due to pricing, we decided to fly into Linz, Austria last Wednesday. We landed around 4:00 PM and had to take a bus into the center of town to find our hostel--which I did not get directions for in advance. The bus took us to the train station where we asked the information booth for directions. The nice lady told us, in her German accent, to take the tram four stops. After wandering around a bit, we did eventually find our hostel. We had two rooms--one with three beds for the three girls, and one for the one boy. We were exhausted, but our tummies were angry at us, so we asked the receptionist for a recommendation for dinner. She suggested Josef's which was a nice restaurant with traditional Austrian food. We had to take the tram to the restaurant, and we had trouble figuring out how to pay for it, so we just hopped on without paying. Since I'm always worried about getting in trouble, I was VERY uncomfortable and convinced the group that we should pay the next times because I saw a sign saying there was a 50 euro fine for not paying for your ride. Now, I'm surprised the group believed me because the sign I saw was completely in German, and I was only guessing at it's message; however, we payed for our trips after that.

Dinner was amazing. Spinach strudel. I was in absolute heaven--I'm going to figure out how to make it because it blew me away.

After dinner, our sweet teeth started kicking, so we stopped at a McDonald's for McFlurries. One comment: foreign McDonalds' are incredibly nice. They are clean, classy, and have a coffee bar that looks like a mini Starbucks inside of a McDonald's. It's the greatest thing! So we ate our desserts and headed to the Danube river to see Linz at night. The buildings were lit up in different colors which played on the water and the sight was beautiful. Exhausted and cold, we trammed back to the Youthotel Linz to retire for the night. I drifted to sleep to the sounds of German reporters commenting on women's Olympic speed skating.

The next morning, we woke and packed our bags. The hostel offered us a complimentary breakfast which was incredibly hearty and delicious. Following breakfast, I checked us out and we all started for the train station to go to Salzburg. The trip took about an hour, but we arrived in the beautiful city around 11 AM. Our hostel was much easier to find this time around, so we checked in and then hit the town.

Salzburg is amazing. I suggest that any and everyone who ever has the opportunity to visit, snatches that it up like a lizard snatches a fly. Everywhere I walked, I either saw mountains or fabulous architecture. I cannot even begin to describe the beauty of the place. This is the city where Mozart was born and where "The Sound of Music" was filmed--not to mention the city where the actual von Trapp family lived. As we walked through the town, scenes from the movie played in our heads. In the Mirabelle Gardens we saw the children and Maria running around singing "Do, a deer, a female deer..." and in the market we saw little Gretel accidentally drop the tomato. We knew that we had to go on the famous "Sound of Music Tour," so we bought tickets for the next day at 2 PM.

After meandering through the city and its shops and interesting streets, we eventually returned to the hostel for naps and for dinner. We were tired little children and did not feel up to exploring the city any more that day, so we went to bed relatively early. We were sharing an 8-person room with 4 girls from Michigan, so it was fun to have some Americans there.

We closed our eyes and dreamed of yodelers and lonely goatherds, excited for the adventure the next day had in store.