THE HILLS ARE ALIVEEEE WTH THE SOUND OF MUSIC

I WENT TO SALZBURG! It was WONDERFUL! The city is sooo beautiful. I loved it. And of course I went on the Sound of Music Tour today. However, the city made me want to sing the Sound of Music way before I took the tour! So we took the train to Salzburg on Friday night. The trip was uneventful. The woman sitting next to me hummed for the entire 3 hours which was rather obnoxious but not too horrible. Also, the trains between compartments decided they needed to shut on me, which hurt a little bit. When I got to Salzburg, I realized I'd forgotten a pajama shirt! oops. But the hostel was very nice (the YOHO) and clean. I didn't sleep particularly well since I was in a room with 4 people I didn't know but it was still a nice place! Hyojeong and I got up very early in the morning and headed out into the town around 8 AM. We wandered around town for a while. Nothing was open til about 9 AM so we just looked around. Salzburg is so beautiful! We found some great little side streets and the buildings along the river are wonderful. We wandered over to Mozart's Geburtshaus (his birth place) which was very cool! we couldn't take pictures inside but it was very cool to see...and I may or may not have sneaked a picture of a room ;-)


After that, we went to his Wohnhaus. Salzburg is much smaler than I thought it would be. Everything was very close together which was quite nice. The Wohnhaus was also pretty cool, though apparently not the original. The original either was bombed or burned down, I'm not entirely sure. But it was still nice. We could listen to Mozart as we went through the rooms.
Afterwards, we headed over to one of the churches, Salzburg Cathedral. It was very beautiful! we looked around inside then wandered around some more in the courtyard.



We then walked through some arches and saw this:


I'm not entirely sure what this is. But it's kind of funny. This fountain was also in the same courtyard, along with this giant chess game. Also I sneezed which is really unusual but it was caught on camera this time.





Afterwards, we hiked up to the castle! which by the way, is a very steep climb! Not as bad as at Durnstein though. But the view up there was incredible!! I looked around the castle a bit, met a nice couple from Texas who were touring Europe for a while, and looked at the Museum and the views there. It was great.






Afterwards, we headed for lunch. We ate at a sketchy restaurant. we both ordered Schnitzel...it was less schnitzel and more giant chicken nugget. haha. oh well...After that we headed to see if the Huge Church. However, due to some sort of Mozart concert going on inside, it cost 20 Euro to get in so we didn't go in. Afterwards, we went to another church and hiked up towards it. We then continued on from there to the view from the Museum of Modern Art. We didn't go see the museum but we got drinks at the cafe and enjoyed the incredible view from up there.



After climbing to the church, we walked around town for a bit. We decided to wait for the sunset, but it set behind a hill so we didn't manage to see it. We decided then, after 12 hours of walking around Salzburg, to head back to the Hostel. However, on our way, we accidentally stumbled across Mirabell Gardens. Where they filmed much of the "Do-Re-Me" song in the Sound of Music. So of course, we had to walk around the gardens! Highlight pictures: You may need to watch the movie again to recognize some of the places but that's ok
(this is the fountain they dance around...)
The gardens they run around in

-The steps they hop up

-The Archway they run through (Imagine people walking towards each other pointing)
We then returned to the hostel. My feet hurt a lot and I also realized I'd only brought 3 socks along with me which was a bit of a problem. And my shoes had turned my toes black. But that's ok. Haha. Hyojeong and I were quite exhausted so we chatted for a bit then headed to bed. while getting ready I noticed a sign that said "No farting in rooms" which I thought was rather funny...though unnecessary. Unless there were complaints that made it necessary. Sunday we did the SOUND OF MUSIC TOUR!!!! Which was amazing. The only issue I had was the fact tha the tour guide was rather annoying...he reminded me of the guy from friends that Rachel goes on date with and he keeps weeping about everything. He kind of talked in that same way. But that's ok because the tour was amazing. The first place went to was the lake that was at the back of the house in the movie. The scenery at that lake was breathtaking, the back of the actual palace on the lake (not shown in the movie) was beautiful, the gardens were great, there were mountains in the distance. It was quite wonderful.


We then headed to where the gazebo is now kept.



It was moved from by the lake because tourists kept jumping over the wall to dance and take pictures in the gazebo. and now the gazebo is locked because too many people were injured trying to recreate the "16 going on 17" dance...including an 80 year old woman who broke her hip trying to jump from one bench to the other.


We also drove by the grove of trees where all the kids hang out and the palace that was the house in the movie...thought it was a pedestrian street so you can't drive up to it...


We then drove to the monastery where they filmed the scenes where the nuns remove the car parts from the Nazi's cars. You can't tour the monastery but it was still quite cool to see.

Afterwards, we drove into the countryside (an amazing drive btw) and to several of the lakes shown in the panoramic view of Austria. The First overlooked the town of St. Gilgan and Wolgangsee (Lake Wolfgang) which was gorgeous.


We drove by a couple others and then to the town of Mondsee. Mondsee has an amazing lake and is also where they filmed the wedding scene in the Sound of Music in the church there. also it's the cutest town ever.



Afrer that we returned to Salzburg. We returned to the gardens (see above pictures) and then headed to the train station. It was in walking distance so easy to get to. even though the weather was rather hot. ha. The train ride back was interesting. There was a group of very loud teenagers on the train. I was attempting to sleep, but the bits of their conversation was slightly ridiculous. At one point a guy was talking very emphatically about the best schnitzel he'd ever had and how it was soooo tasty. hahaha. Other than that, nothing too much happened on the train ride.


Last night, Jasmit, Loedia, Nayeem and I had a girls night. We chatted for a while at Nayeem's place then went and had sushi, which I haven't had before. It was quite good and we had a great time. I ate eel for the first time. mmmm. The only issue I had was my purse getting knocked to the ground and a pen stabbed my LCD screen on my camera. The camera is still workable but the screen is broken. Lame. I can use the viewfinder without a problem but MY CAMERA. The night was still fun though. Other than that, I have been going to bed early, having strange dreams (like the one where I met all the members of the Spice Girls?) and last night for the first time in the 3 years since I've had braces I took out my retainer in my sleep. I know this because I woke up and was laying on it...it's not broken though so not a problem! haha. Today, Loedia and I went to see how much fixing my camera would cost. They said it was very expensive, so I didn't. We got some ice cream and went to the Naschmarkt. Tomorrow, I intend to go to Schonnbrunn and look at the gardens now that they should be bloomed!