I Heart Salzburg

Hallo from Salzburg where we can gaze up at the Alps from our hotel room. We enjoyed a fabulous breakfast this morning in Munich where I dipped into my first Nutella of the trip. We walked around the corner to the train station and got ourselves and our ginormous bags settled into the train car before everyone else got on. It's a quick trip- about an hour and a half, and German trains being what they are, we left and arrived precisely on time. We whiled away the time planning our day in Salzburg, and playing games, and enjoying the scenery. I tried to focus on my book- an autobiography of the real Maria from the Sound of Music. I can't help but keep hearing Julie Andrews' voice in my head as I read it, but it is definitely different than in the movie. What's odd is that they changed all of the children's names in the movie, but not the parents. And the woman Georg was going to marry was actually a princess...Apparently he had proposed to her before he even met Maria, but she kept putting him off for more than a year. She only decided to commit once she could tell he was in love with Maria. Ah, the age old story, eh? And even odder, in the book it doesn't sound like Maria herself she really had much interest in him. She went back to the convent to ask the reverend mother what to do- marry him or join the convent for good. Reverend mother prayed on it over night and then told her it was God's will that Maria marry Georg and be mother to his 7 children. She was disappointed. I might have asked for a second opinion. Anyway- we'll hear more about them on Sunday when we do the Original Sound of Music Tour!!!!!

We dropped off our goodies at the Hotel Bristol- very cute, old school Austrian hotel and headed out to explore. Even though we are staying in New Town, Old Town is a block away. So we walked through town and checked out the Christmas decorations everywhere in town. We visited several platzs (hm, not sure the plural on platz) and everywhere are Christmas trees and lights, and not a Jingle Bell to be heard anywhere. No I saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus, or even Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer. I'm not sure how they live without all of the classics, but they seem to be getting by. The highlights of the day were the cemetery and catacombs of St. Peter's. The cemetery is like nothing I've seen before. So charming, and each grave has a unique ornament as a headstone. All graves have flowers or plants growing on them, many have roses. And then many also have actual candlelit lanterns. We walked through at dusk and it was breathtaking. The second highlight was our visit to the fortress. On top of a hill overlooking the town, you get to the top in a funicular, which is fun to say. We took a short tour which gave us insight into the dungeon and torture in the castle, but more importantly also gave us access to the roof! From the top there is a 360 view of Salzburg and the surrounding areas which was gorgeous as the sun was setting. 

At dinner we found ourselves in an authentic Austrian bierhaus where Mark continues his weight gain quest. Tonight he finished his plate of sausage, sauerkraut and potatoes and then polished off his mom's plate of the same for good measure. During dinner we were treated to a visit from Father Christmas and a bunch of peopled dressed in demon costumes. We're still not sure the whole background yet on why there are demons with Father Christmas. We had seen them parading together earlier, but now they were collecting for a children's charity. How could we say no? 

Since it was still early, we headed over to the Christmas market to experience it at night. There was a lot more variety of stalls in this one, though Mark was singularly focused on the gluwein ones! It was definitely crowded with people, but the atmosphere was fun and festive. Walking back to our hotel across the river I was thinking about how much I like this city. It's just magical.

More tomorrow as we head out of town to visit St. Wolfgang and Halstadt in the Lake region. We are expecting snow. Yay, cause we aren't driving. We hired a professional to take us everywhere! Snow=good. Rain=bad. Keep praying for snow.

Linda