Austria

Let me just start this post by saying that traveling by train through Austria has been my favorite so far. First of all, the scenery is amazing - rolling hills, quaint villages, snow-capped mountains, and fields full of livestock. Second, the trains are just really comfortable, clean, and they come around and give out free orange juice and kit-kats, which was pretty exciting to me! It was officially where I started not wanting the train rides to end!

The first city I went to was Salzburg, which is another beautiful city with a river running through the middle. I was most looking forward to seeing some of the Sound of Music sights, but was disappointed to find out how expensive the organized tours were. Even the bicycling was too much, and they wanted to charge extra if you kept the bike afterward for more of the day. So I decided to do my own free, walking version of the tour. First I went to Mirabell Gardens, which was very near where I was staying. This was used for the Do-Re-Mi scene that Maria and the kids sang on the steps. Next, I went to Nonnberg Abbey, which is still an active convent today where the "real" Maria was a novice, and where Maria and the Captain married in real life. It was beautiful, way up on a hill overlooking the city, and with snow-capped mountains in the background! Then I walked a couple of miles out of town to attempt to find a park called Hellbrunn, where there is a remake of the gazebo. I did manage to find a park, but there were no more signs, and so I really had no idea if it was the right park, or where to find the gazebo. Eventually, I gave up and walked back into town to try to find one more place, which I eventually found after walking in circles for a bit - the Leopoldskron Palace. I recognized the lake from the movie before I even got near it - this was were the boating scene happened, when Maria and the kids fall into the water, and was also used as the Captain's backyard. I was really happy to have found that place, because it was what I most recognized from the movie! Apparently most of the movie was actually filmed in studios in the US, and they only filmed a few scenes in Austria.

My favorite place in Salzburg was definitely St. Peter's church and cemetery. Initially I wandered in by accident and due to curiosity - I saw people leave through an unmarked gate and so I went in through it. It was nearing closing time, so hardly anyone was in there, and it was nearly dusk - something about it was just very magical and peaceful. I went the next day as well because I liked it so much, but it was in the afternoon, so it didn't have quite the same effect on me. Mozart was born in Salzburg, and lived there into his 20s, and I saw his birthplace, although of course I didn't pay money to go in. Next, I took the awesome train from Salzburg to Vienna!

Vienna is a huge and beautiful city! My hostel was at least a half an hour walk to the city center, which itself is composed of a ring road that has a huge diameter! So between walking to the center everyday and trying to see all of the sights, I can't imagine how many miles I walked there. I met Mary from Indiana, who had just finished a semester in London, and ended up spending quite a bit of time wandering around the city with her. On Sunday morning, we got up early to find the Wiener Hofmusik Kapelle, where there was mass and the Vienna Boys Choir was going to sing. We waited in the line for the free, standing room only tickets, and kept hoping that we weren't going to be right at the cut off. We made it in, and did get to at least hear them, although they were singing from up in the balcony, so we couldn't see them. I got chills when listening to them, though!

At the end of mass, they actually came out in the front of the chapel and sang a song, which was a nice surprise, and I was able to get a picture. After that, Mary went to see the Spanish riding school, a fancy horse show, which cost too much money for me, so I went and enjoyed a coffee to warm up and met up with her again later. I also went to the Naschmarkt, where there was quite an array of delicious-looking food. I ended up getting falafel, but a nice guy let me try a sweet red pepper stuffed with soft white cheese, which was delicious and I wished I could buy a bunch of them! There was also really delicious gelato everywhere in Vienna, and I enjoyed it a couple of times:) One of the days that we were there, there was a lot of protesting going on about democracy and massacre in Syria in the main plaza, and it was also the anniversary of the end of the war, so there were a lot of police throughout the city center, with their riot gear, as well as a helicopter hoovering above, but nothing bad appeared to actually happen.