Hanging out with the VonTrapps: Salzburg, Austria

So, I decided to take a chance. I separated myself from my normal comfort zone, and ventured off with a group of Texans and Canadians to Salzburg, Austria. It was an amazing decision. On Friday at 4:45am, I jumped quickly out of bed (unusual for me), got dressed, packed a bag, and scurried out of the door to catch a 6am train with my newfound friends.  Why was I so excited, you ask? Well friends, I had a date with Captain VonTrapp and the VonTrapp family!

So after a 3 hour train ride (I slept the ENTIRE way), we arrived in the beautiful Salzburg, Austria.  Living in Vienna, I was expecting the beauty to be very similar, but we were pleasantly surprised at how much more beautiful Salzburg really is.  However, we had business to attend to and a tight schedule to maintain.  We quickly jumped on a bus and arrived at our hostel.  After leaving our luggage, getting all pretty and proper for our exciting day, we grabbed lunch and waited for our drive to get pick us up.

Our hostel...VERY NICE and good breakfast

NOTE: Before anyone gets upset about us getting a personal driver (and assuming I'm wasting away precious Euros...now equivalent to $1.40), by personal driver, I am referring to our Sound of Music Tour Bus. LOL.

Tour Bus

The tour bus that picked us up from the hostel, however, was only a shuttle that took us to the meeting point for the large tour bus. We arrived at the meeting point 20 minutes early, so we ventured off into a magnificent garden close by.  We were amazed by all the beautiful flowers!!

Amazing garden in Salzburg

We continued to look around, and came to a very pretty, small staircase. We walked in the courtyard and felt we were in a VERY familiar area. We all looked at each other and yelled, "DO-RE-MI!!!" We all realized it at the same time.  5 guys and 9 girls...I bet you can guess how annoyed the guys were by the end of this trip....the tour hadn't even started!!! 

Look familiar? This is the Trellis that the kids frolicked in with Maria

DO-RE-MI Stairs....with us on them!


After being completely thrilled by the fact that we recognized a scene from the movie, we ran to the bus and started the tour.  Our tour guide was funny, a little boring at times, but she was entertaining.  As we pulled up to our fist stop, we could barely contain ourselves: "16 Going on 17" Gazebo!!!!!

The Gazebo

We are all about 20 Going On 21, but let's not get caught up in the details!!

 Gazebo: The gazebo was actually a part of a private property during the filming of the movie. After the movie debut in America, the people who owned the home had problems with mass amounts of tourist ringing their doorbell, hoping the fence, camping outside, just to catch a glimpse of the gazebo.  After a couple of years, they got tired of it, and donated the Gazebo to Salzburg. The Gazebo now sites in a public, secluded park in Salzburg. 

Why didn't I dance on the benches inside the gazebo? Well, an American, 82 year old lady tried to reenact the dance inside the gazebo a couple of years back, and broke a hip.  It has been locked ever since.  She ruined it for all of us...bless her heart :-)

Our next stop was to the VonTrapp House.  We were very excited. On the way, however, we passes a point at which a pivotal scene in the movie was filmed: when the VonTrapps were trying to escape to Switzerland and pushing the car down the driveway with Uncle Max.

The driveway...hard to see, but you get the idea.

Once we arrived at the house, we were informed that the front of the house is actually an entirely different house (located in America) then the house used for the back.  The house used for the "back" is what is located in Salzburg. To jog your memory, this is when the kids fell into the lake while on the small boat with Maria. They were wearing their new play clothes (made out of Maria's recycled curtains) and were expected to be home to meet the Baroness. This house is private property and can only be viewed from across the lake, which was almost better- made for beautiful pictures.

VonTrapp House: picture perfect

Gorgeous

I couldn't stop smiling!!

Next, we jumped back into the van for a longer trip outside of Salzburg. The scenery was surreal.  I've seen a lot of beautiful places since I've been abroad, but this beat it all.  Where we stopped was basically the last helicopter view that was shown after Maria sang "The Hills are Alive."

Breath-taking

The entire group...I was the only person from Illinois...everyone else is from Texas and/or Canada

Tour Fun Fact: "The Hills are Alive" was actually filmed on the other side of the mountains above.  This side of the mountain is actually Germany...not Austria.  

Next, we went into the center of Monsee, Austria where the wedding was filmed as well as the scene where Captain VonTrapp was driving with Uncle Max and the Baroness (back from Vienna), and saw the children in the trees.  First we went to the church where the wedding took place. 

Monsee Church from the outside...not in the movie.

Inside of the church where the wedding was filmed. Maria walked down THIS AISLE!!!!!

Tour Fun Fact: Before everyone gets mad at me for not posting a picture of the famous gates in the church, I am sorry to break it to you, but that was a Hollywood addition, and the portion of the scene when she walks through the gates with the Nuns was filmed back in Los Angeles, CA. Sad, right?

Monsee, Austria was quaint and memorable. We were able to walk around, grab souvenirs, get coffee, and venture off to yet ANOTHER lake.  We then jumped back on the bus and back to the beginning.  We ended our tour at the DO-RE-MI stairs (where we also started the tour). 

Overall, we had an amazing time for those four hours, and our excitement didn't end there.  Our hostel plays The Sound of Music at 8pm every night.  We grabbed a quick dinner and made it just in time for 3 hours of singing and laughing.  It was so great to recall all the places we had been during the day as they appeared on the screen. 

On Saturday, we just enjoyed Salzburg. Walked around, had coffee at Mozart's house, and had a great time.  

Mozart's Casa!

Can you see the rainbow? It was like that alll day!

Salzburg, Austria

Pretty flowers

FAVORITE TRIP, THUS FAR! :-)

Oktoberfest...OH! Oktoberfest

Let me start by saying that I went with a group of 190 students from my university here in Vienna.  It was a planned trip by the university and the package included the following:

1. A night train with UNLIMITED beverages and music all night arriving in Munich at 8am. 
2. 14 hours at Oktoberfest with 2 liters of Lowenbrau Beer, a 1/2 of chicken (quite delicious), and a VIP spot in the Lowenbrau Beer Tent
3. A night train with UNLIMITED beverages and music all night arriving back in Vienna at 8am.

Lowenbrau Beer Tent

Get the picture? It was close to one of the most awful situations I have ever been apart of. Not because I was influenced by any particular part of the three amenities mentioned above, but because EVERYONE else seemed to be minus my roommate and I. 

However, let me reiterate the fact that Oktoberfest was a very cool experience. I would have beat myself up if I decided not to attend, and the beer that I did drink (It's legal here, people) was pretty amazing. 

Inside the Lowenbrau Beer Tent: Pretty cool

At the entrance of Oktoberfest (Me, Karen, Meizi, and April)

An Enlightening Day at Mauthausen Concentration Camp

In grammar school, around 5th grade, I had a teacher that put her heart and soul into two historical events: the Titanic and the Holocaust. Naturally, if you wanted to succeed in her class, we were urged to do the same.  I never really got interested in the Titanic, but something about the Holocaust, even at that young age, grabbed my attention.

People might find such an interest a little strange and/or repulsive, but in reality, my interest does not lie in the awful suffering that the Jewish race experienced in the 1940's, but more importantly, my interest stems from a need to understand the Holocaust completely.  People get caught in the visuals, the awful pictures and videos taken, the gruesome practices, but I enjoy looking deeper into this time in history.

So why am I saying this, you ask?

Being in Austria, I am in the middle of an area that was in complete Holocaust turmoil 70 years ago.  Mauthausen Concentration Camp, now Mauthausen Memorial was the last and final concentration camp to be closed.  It is located two hours outside of Vienna, and we took a trip last week to see it.  It was a perfectly awful day, we like to say.  Around 50 degrees, cloudy, and raining.  I suppose 65 degrees and a bright, sun shiny day is asking too much.  

Without going into too much detail, it was an incredibly sad, but enlightening day.  We were able to watch a 45 minute long video that explained the usage of this particular concentration camp (interestingly enough, it was liberated by AMERICAN troops).  After walking around and seeing some pretty surreal things, my interest has grown to a new level.  I will never understand why a group of people were forced to face such a terrible time, but to avoid ignorance and a lack of knowledge, I plan to continue my "studies."

The entrance at Mauthasen Memorial

Stairs at the Memorial....what would have been seen here 70 years ago will bring tears to your eyes.