Two weeks ago, our school had another 4 day weekend and the roommate (Megan) and two other awesome girls (Natalie and Andrea) and I hopped on a train and rode for six hours until we arrived in beautiful Salzburg, Austria.
Some of you might be thinking, "Salzburg? Why does that city sound so familiar?" Could be that you are familiar with the history of the famous composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and know that Salzburg is his birthplace (and as a result of that also home to countless 'Mozart' shops that include Mozart chocolate, Mozart magnets, and most puzzling of all, Mozart rubber ducks). More likely though, you have seen The Sound of Music and remember that it's setting is in Salzburg.
All I can say is that Salzburg really is too beautiful for words. It's a small city. Small enough that we could walk from our hotel on the outskirts of the city to the center of of the city in about 15 minutes. It has all the charm of European cities that have been around for centuries: intricate cathedrals standing tall among all the other buildings, a fortress standing above the rest of the city, fountains, statues, cobbled streets. There were a few lookout spots where, once you climbed a few steps, you could see the whole of the city's rooftops.
But the most beautiful thing of all was the fact that Salzburg is right on the edge of the Alps. Yes, that's right. When looking out of our hotel window, we could see the first mountains in the Alps, snowcapped and everything!
We were there for about three days and did just enough of everything. We did a walking tour of old town and because it was the "Day of the Dead," the graveyards were decked out. The second day we did a little more sightseeing. Natalie went into the fortress while the rest of us went on what we called "Hiking for the Elderly." It was a little walk through orange, red, and yellow trees that eventually led us to a gorgeous lookout over the other side of Salzburg with a panoramic view of the Alps. Andrea, Megan, and I just sat there enjoying the view. Later that day, we (of course) hopped on the Sound of Music tour. It was a 4 hour tour that took us around to all of the major places they filmed the movie, told us the truth of Maria Von Trapp and gave us quite a bit of information about Salzburg. We got to drive up to a town, Mondsee, which holds the church where Maria and Captain Von Trapp were filmed getting married. The third day we went for a hike up into one of the foothills. More gorgeous views. More pretty colored trees. Probably a bit more strenuous (read: steep) than we were anticipating. After about an hour and a half, Megan and Natalie went back into Salzburg for some shopping while Andrea and I kept trekking. We made it to this beautiful restaurant, Zistelalm, at the top where we sat outside and just looked at the majesty of the mountains. (I discovered that I have a new true love - mountains!) That evening, we were all pretty exhausted, so we just ate at this amazing Greek restaurant right around the corner from our hotel.
The next day was travel day and we packed up and went home. It was a wonderful trip! The next week was insane! Trying to teach after such a long weekend without any planning time was crazy!
Next week is Thanksgiving and since we are an American school, we do get Thursday and Friday off. Yay! I'll be housesitting for a family in my class and then having Thanksgiving with the Naylors along with some UWM people and a few of their friends. I'm really looking forward to it!
Also, last night was the middle school musical. They performed "High School Musical Jr." :) It was really good! We've got some talented midschoolers! It's always fun to see students who have been working so hard for so many months come together and pull it off. Also, as I sat in our packed gym, I felt so blessed to be a part of this community. Most of the people were parents or friends of parents but it was really cool just to be there. Also, while the senior girls who directed it were explaining why they chose this musical (because of the strong themes of being who God created you to be and utilizing the gifts that He has given us) and then when the middle school principal got up and prayed for the show before it started, I found myself so thankful to be working here. What a cool thing to be at a school function and pray before a play begins! What an amazing thing to hear two 18 year old girls talk about the Christ-centered reasons that they chose to do a particular musical!
So, despite my feelings of loneliness and despite my homesickness, I found myself thanking God for bringing me here as I walked home last night. It was a clear night and all the stars were out and although we're halfway through November, it was only in the 30s (we're apparently in the midst of a very mild November) and I was just so thankful that God chose me to teach 4th grade in this place.
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| Catching the early train! 6:19 AM trains means 5:15 AM bus into Budapest EEK |
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| That's right...Mozart grafiti |
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| I thought he was cute :) |
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| Megan and me in front of the Mozart statue |
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| Right after we were all talking about how cathedrals are beautiful but that they all start to look pretty similar after a while, we walked into this one which had the most beautifully intricate carvings and paintings on the ceiling. We were eating our words. |
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| 10 points if you can guess which book/movie I was pretending to be in at this point...If you guessed Harry Potter, you win! I was a bishop in case anyone was wondering. |
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| Very decorated graves. It was the Day of the Dead. We also learned that you don't buy grave sites, you rent them in Austria. And if you don't pay rent, they rent it to someone else. |
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| This was the outside of the stage that the Von Trapp Family Singers performed at at the end of The Sound of Music. We were scared that the Nazis would catch us before we could escape to Switzerland! |
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| We hit this lookout right as the sun was going down. |
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| Pictures really don't do it justice |
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| There were 7 of these guys painted around our hotel room along with instructions. "Find the Deer" which I misread as "Find the Beer" - very confusing! |
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| Day two - though it dawned gray and rainy, cleared up and turned into a beautfiul day |
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| The mountains from the fortress (all pictures are courtesy of Natalie as I idiotically forgot my camera at school...) |
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| Those are the Alps |
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| We found this little food stand that served HUGE bratwurst hot dogs and french fries - YUM! |
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| Where they filmed the back of the Von Trapp house including the scene where all of the children and Maria fall into the lake when they meet the Baroness for the first time |
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| The 4 of us in front of the famous gazebo. Apparently, you used to be allowed in to take pictures but that was banned a few years ago when an 80 year old woman fell and broke her hip while she tried to jump from bench to bench like Leisel and Rolf do in the movie :) Loved that story! |
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| The road that Maria walks along singing "I Have Confidence" |
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| The front of the house they used for the Von Trapp house in the movie. We couldn't drive down the street (private street or something) so this was the best picture we could get. |
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| St. Gilgan - one of the beautiful stops on the way to Mondsee. Again, pictures don't do it justice at all! |
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| The cathedral they shot the wedding scene it. That on the left is a gigantic Christmas tree. Austrians get started early! |
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| The inside of the cathedral |
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| Dinner - I just liked the very interesting way they cut my sausages. It reminded me of butterflied shrimp! |
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| Hiking and colors |
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| We kept getting gorgeous glimpses of the mountains on the way up |
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| Walking - trying not to die. It was pretty steep! |
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| The treacherous ravine! |
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| There was one point where we came upon a little farm on the edge of the hill we were climbing. |
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| And this was their view from the front porch. |
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| So Andrea and I decided that we are going to start a hotel or B&B or something in the mountains. |
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| Just so we have an excuse to live in the mountains |
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| Bench - interesting that we didn't see it on the way up but we definitely saw it (and sat in it) on the way down |
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| Recognize this? It's the Mozart Footbridge. Maria and the Von Trapp children run across it! It was also really pretty! |
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| The river running through Salzburg |
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| They have one bridge with all of these locks on it. The tradition is that when you get married, you put a lock with your names on it on the bridge and then throw the key into the river. |
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| Mirabell Gardens - where they filmed the Do-Re-Mi song. Also, beautiful gardens to explore! |
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| Maria and co. raced through here singing Do-Re-Mi |
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| They also hit this little goblin on the head. He was one in a circle of maybe 12 statues in the dwarf gardens. He was probably the prettiest as well. We were wondering why they were built in the first place. |
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| The stairs that they finish the song on. |
