Salzburg is alive, with the Sound of Music!

Yup, I’ve always wanted to go there, and I’ve watched The Sound Of Music probably way too many times is healthy or normal in my life.  I used to watch the movie thinking the views were gorgeous and the family was awesome.  Then I found out that the story was more or less real, the Von Trapp Family existed, and the place where the movie was filmed is real and was where the family really lived.  So, since the first time I saw the movie and watched Julie Andrews run across the screen through the hills, I’ve longed to visit Salzburg.  After a long wait, I finally did it….I went to Salzburg!  And let me tell you, it’s every bit as beautiful as they say it is.  It’s probably a bit prettier when there’s snow or when it’s sunny, but either way it’s breathtakingly beautiful. 

I set off toward Salzburg on December 28th from Munich and arrived in Salzburg at around 3 in the afternoon.  I found my hostel after getting a bit lost because I didn’t follow the faulty directions very well….and set off to explore the cute little town by evening.  I’ve heard Salzburg is quite small and that I had scheduled way too much time to explore the city, but I just discarded everything people said to me and decided that 4 days was perfect and that just means I can get to know the city well and take my time each day.  And take my time I did.  I woke up pretty much every day naturally, whenever I wanted to and was out the door and saw only a couple things a day.  But took my time doing them, took an hour or more in each location and took detours down small streets and discovered beautiful architecture and religious sites.  I didn’t realize how religious Austria is as a country, but boy, they’ve got their thing down.  The churches are gorgeous and numerous, and there are small little religious statues hidden all over the city.  Oh yea, and there’s like 2 monasteries, and a convent.  So among all the beautiful sights there, there are really old cool things to see!

Anyways, I spent four days walking around Salzburg, and one of those days I was able to go on a Sound of Music Tour.  Yup, I did it, I did the most touristy thing in the world and rode on a tour bus that had a big picture of Julie Andrew’s face and says Sound of Music Tour!  haha, could I scream tourist any louder?  Normally I avoid these types of things because I hate being stared at and painfully obvious but I decided to put aside my feelings about this moment and booked a morning tour to see some of the most famous parts from the filming of The Sound of Music. 

 

Me at the statue where they danced around singing “Do Re Mi” :D

 

The back of the house that they used to film all the backyard scenes. 

 

The Gazebo!  Fun fact:  They left the Gazebo in the backyard of that house above because the owners thought it was really cool.  However!  After people started seeing the movie they traveled to the site and really wanted to dance around the Gazebo singing “I Am Sixteen”.  So naturally, people hopped the fence of the private residence and were constantly interrupting classes and other events happening.  SO, they moved the Gazebo to a public park just outside Hellbrunn Palace and now it cane be accessed by everyone and people can dance around singing the song as loud as they want and whenever they want.  BUT, you can’t go inside it now because a 70 year old who thought she was younger tried to dance around it on the benches and fell and broke her hip….now it is forever closed to the public to prevent more stupidity.

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The Cathedral where they filmed the wedding scene.  They had access to the real Cathedral but decided to use this one because they could get the high view shot that they wanted of the Julie Andrews walking down the aisle.  It’s really pretty inside!

 

                                                                                          Another pretty view of the garden where they filmed “Do Re Mi”

 

                                                 The Abby where the real Maria Von Trapp studied and where they filmed a couple scenes at the door of  the Abby.

That was just one day in Salzburg, and I spent 4 days there.  So you can imagine how many pictures I took and how much I saw.  It was crazy!  So after i went on the morning tour bus for the Sound of Music I walked around the city, walked through the Mirabel Park again and made my way up to the Nonberg Abbey to take a look inside and see it.  It was open to the public and was very pretty, well worth the walk up the hill.  Especially when I got this gorgeous view of Salzburg.

I also had the opportunity to walk into countless churches in Salzburg, and each and every one of them was different from the last, and all so very different from the churches in Spain.  They are very pretty and have an amazing collection of statues and murals painted on the walls.  Probably the prettiest Cathedral I walked into was the big Cathedral in the center of the city.  The first time I walked in it was evening on my first night there.  I decided to walk in and look at it and just look at everything and appreciate it since the lighting was really bad and it was late. So, I spent a good hour walking around the Cathedral admiring everything and taking it all in.  It was absolutely breathtaking.  I returned two more times during my stay in Salzburg to see it again, look at new things and to take pictures this time.  Except, unlike my first time visiting, it was full of visitors blocking the views and just snapping pictures and walking away.  It made me sad because I don’t like just snapping a picture of something, especially not in a church, and then walking away.  It takes away the beauty of it and you don’t really appreciate how much effort was put into the statue or mural. These were made to give glory to God.  It’s amazing to think that these people thought God worth enough to make huge Cathedrals just for him, depicting all he did for us, and then they took the time to make statues of Jesus and the Saints.  It’s really beautiful.  But here’s some pictures of the Cathedral.  It was covered in paintings every where and it was impossible to capture everything.  But I attempted.  Take a look at the album, because there’s just too many photos that I took in Salzburg for me to put them all on one blog.

 

In the photo album you can see pictures from my Sound of Music tour, the Nonbuerg Abbey, the Cathedral and I think that’s it.  I will post another on my time in Salzburg because I did so much.  I went to see Mozart’s Birth Place, and one home he stayed in.  I also went up to the Fortaleza (Fortress) and got breathtaking views of Salzburg, and wandered the streets and found beautiful statues of the stations of the cross, culminating in a huge life save scene of Jesus’ Crucifixion. 

I posted this on Instagram that day because for me it was a really moving experience.  I’ve been struggling with trying to connect with God and Jesus while I’ve been here because I haven’t been able to go to church in English which means I don’t get as much out of the homily and readings as I usually do.  But stumbling across this in Salzburg was really moving because you could actually enter the garden area where these statues were.  I hesitated to enter because the gate was only half open and I didn’t know if I was allowed.  But if the gate is open then clearly they don’t mind you entering.  So I entered and walked up to the statue of Jesus on the Cross, and looked on both sides of me as the statues of Mary, Mary Magdalene and Joseph and was really overwhelmed with sadness and intense emotions that I had to leave.  I had to leave the space because I was overwhelmed, but I was really happy that I went up there and explored this area.  It was a nice detour on my way to another site.  I found out later that it was a recommended walk on the tour map, but I discovered it on my own and admired some wonderful beauty.  It all lead up to a Monastery at the top, (the yellow building) that was really pretty inside as well.

You can check the photo album for more photos of this walk and everything else I talked about in this blog.  Until next blog!

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CHRISTMAS VACATION

Yup, that title deserved all caps.  Because it was that good.  Christmas vacation has never been so fun, okay it has, but still, this one was special.  After getting over my extreme homesickness and staying in bed for a week weeping and talking to all my friends I decided that it was time to get off my bum and be happy that I’m in Spain and have the opportunity to travel during Christmas break instead of being “stuck” at home in the cold weather battling snow storms and high ways.  While I missed my family dearly I was very glad, later on, that I had the opportunity to travel and see some good friends.  After a hectic two weeks leading up to Christmas vacation that involved moving, losing my keys, losing lots of money and watching all my friends leave for home I finally headed off to Munich Germany on December 24th to meet my friend and her family at their home. 

I stayed with my friends sister and her brother in-law in Munich.  Jessica is from Peru but is studying her Master’s here in Huelva and her sister is married to someone from Munich.  So in true European fashion I celebrated Christmas in Germany with a German, two Peruvians, a baby 1 1/2 year old and one Unitedstatesian (that’s the Spanish word for us, isn’t it funny!).  Needless to say the house was full of laughter, babies laughing, us laughing, us speaking Spanish, English, and German!  There were so many languages in the house and such good food.  I honestly spent most days sleeping in and waking up and “sight seeing” in the afternoon for a few hours, only to return home, have a delicious dinner and relax for the rest of the evening with Jessica playing a memory game or Spit.  Either way, pictures were taken, good times were had and here’s what I have for you.

Me at the Palace of Justice (Everything is a palace in Europe).  This was Christmas Day so everything was closed but it was still nice to see

  Also, yes, they sell these.  I think it’s similar to the whole Sevillana dress thing.  People buy these for special events and wear them for Oktoberfest and other such German events. 

Glockenspiel!  I didn’t realize that word was German and meant clock…but now I do.  Anyways, this part of the clock actually moves. 

 Can you guess what kind of building we’re in front of?  Here’s a hint: It’s not a Cathedral!

This is in front of the city hall…yea…most city hall buildings look like this.  It was really pretty, and behind me on the street is what remained of the famous Christmas Markets….they close after December 24th :(

 

Standing in front of a cool museum with Greek architecture.  

Baby carriage that I imagine was pulled my ponies

The King really liked to go sledding, so this is a really pretty sled that he had made

Who needs carriages that extravagant!  But all of them were like this, and more.  Painted in gold with elaborate pieces on the top of the carriage or detailed murals painted on the sides

  This was the largest sculpture of an animal until the turn of the century. It’s huge!

The first night we played a rousing game of matching cards…but that’s for 4 year olds, so the following night I decided to teach Jessica one of the most beloved card games of my childhood…..SPIT.  When she later asked me what the game is called I just looked at her and said “it’s weird, so don’t laugh, it’s called Spit” and after I translated it she was just like “I don’t get it, why!?” and continued to laugh for the next minute.  Either way, after teaching her the rules and doing a couple of slow rounds for her, she caught on pretty fast and we spent the next 3 nights playing some really intense games of Spit.  We went back and forth winning each round, and eventually I came out the ultimate victor, but she put up a really good fight.  We even got yelled at by her sister to be quiet because the baby was sleeping, but we were SOOOOO into it!  It brought me back to the days of waiting around backstage for a play, or just hanging out with everyone in college playing card games while we were hung over until it got dark and we got hungry.  I miss those days….

Later on in the week we decided to go look at the Palace in Munich, since pretty much every major city in every country of Europe has old palaces that the royalty once used.  And we were lucky where my hosts had never actually been there before, so they were willing to enter with us.  So all five of us made our way to the Palace via car (thank goodness for wonderful hosts with private transportation) and spent the day looking through the museums that were inside and exploring the beautiful rooms within. 

Jessica, Giovana and baby Nicole!

 

Schloss Nymphenburg (don’t ask me how to pronounce that)

 

Me outside :)

 

Just a snapshot of the beauty within.  The walls, and ceiling were covered in murals like these

  I told Jessica I would buy this palace and then have a big ball room dance.  So this is me showing off the new Palace I will one day buy :P

I wish I could say I did more exciting things during my time in Munich, and I did.  But these are pretty much the most exciting things are did.  For me, this vacation was truly a vacation.  Rather than run around from city to city in 14 days I took my time, got to know each city in a unique way and all around relaxed!  Which meant waking up no earlier than 8:30 or 9 every day, taking my time getting ready, enjoying the good company of good people and just enjoying being in another country. 

Getting to know Munich through the eyes of those who live there was very nice.  I can’t thank Jessica and her kind family enough for hosting me and showing me around.  While there are a few things I missed out on that I would have loved to see, I saved money and got to know the city in a different way.  I would return to Munich one day to do some things I missed, but it might not be for a while.  In the mean time, my last day was just relaxing, packing and getting ready for my next adventure to Salzburg! 

Oh yea, I went ice skating, outside!  Jessica had never ice skated in her life because she lives in Peru, and who ice skates there!  And I had never actually done it outside and had always wanted to do it in an arena like NYC or Munich.  So we decided that I would teach her and enjoy the good weather.  So we joined in the fun, rented some skates and went out on the ice.  Jessica’s sister was severly disappointed because Jessica didn’t fail epically at learning and only fell once.  although the one time she did fall it was quite spectacular and really funny.  She literally fell flat on her back with her arms spread out! I laughed my butt off, and then helped her up. :P  But I didn’t get a picture, sorry world!

The rest of Belgium

Ooops!  I forgot to tell you about the rest of Belgium, which is totally worth telling about and showing you pictures because it was pretty awesome.  Now, while I don’t necessarily recommend doing what I did, which was see three cities in three days, I don’t regret my decision to do it at all.  Camille and I wanted to see Brussels, Bruges and Ghent, so we just decided on the best was to do it, which was see Brussels Friday afternoon and Sunday morning, and then spend all day Saturday in Bruges and Ghent.  While it certainly wasn’t enough time to see Ghent in half a day, I’m still pretty happy with my decision because Belgium has so many hidden gems!

I didn’t know this, but Bruges has quite a lot of capitals….and it has a Michelangelo piece.  But you guessed it….I couldn’t see it.  Me and Michelangelo are just playing a terrible game where I’m not allowed to see his most famous religious pieces of work because I’m too excited that I miss it (La Pieta in Rome) or they are doing some restoration (Madonna and Child).  So even though Madonna and Child is technically in one of the amazing churches in Bruges we entered and noticed that they whole church seemed to be under construction, or rather under restoration. So after walking around for a bit we finally asked someone who works there, because I was POSITIVE I read it in my guide book and it said the Madonna and Child was at that church  Anyways, the lady told us that it’s under restoration and comes out on Sunday at about 1PM if we want to see it….. we left Sunday at about 1….so that was a no go.

 

 

But no matter, the church was gorgeous just the same, and we moved onto cooler things….like seeing blood of Jesus Christ on a cloth from his crucifixtion…yea I saw really cool, awesome old stuff, from JESUS!  There’s a really old church in Bruges, that has a piece of the cloth that Joseph of Arimea used to wipe Jesus’ face when they took him off the cross 2,013 years ago…and somehow it ended up in Bruges.  I don’t remember the story completely, but if you look up the Holy Blood Chapel in Bruges, Belgium then you’ll be able to find the history behind it.  Don’t worry, I did my research before hand to make sure I was seeing something legit, and it was awesome!  Basically it’s in this really old, really pretty chapel called the Chapel of the Holy Blood and it’s so pretty because it’s so different from the architecture of other churches in Spain.  I love churches in Spain, but a lot of them have the same architecture, and this one was so completly different it was incredible.  Technically you weren’t supposed to take pictures, but I just snapped one and it was well worth it, just so you and I can see and remember the beauty that was inside.

   

After we left Bruges we headed to Ghent, which is another beautiful city.  We went a looked around because we got there a little late in the afternoon, but we were still able to enter the tower in town which has a beautiful view of the city.  It also had some cool history that involved dragon statues being on the top of the tower and old bells.  The museum inside was really nice and we could either climb the stairs to the top or we could take the elevator.  Or course we chose to take the cool winding medieval stairs and by the time we got to the top we were thoroughly dizzy and tired and decided to take the elevator down.  But the view on top were really nice and it was well worth it!

                                                                   

Guards who stand at the four corners of the tower, the winding stair case, and the giant bell

  View from the top

I made the climb!

We then descended the stairs via elevator and went back outside into the really cold weather (at least it was for us!) and walked around the city some more.  We took a look at the castle outside and the cathedral, all of which was closed by this point, and succumbed to our hungry stomachs and looked for a restaurant that wouldn’t break the bank.  We didn’t find one….but we still found good beer!  WE paid too much money for not a lot of food, but that’s what Spain’s standards do to you. I’m used to a full tapa for about 3-6 euro!  That’s enough for me, but 10 euro for a small appetizer….no thanks!  Anyways, I had really good beer there and Camille had really good women’s beer. 

                                        

Good Belgian Beer and me with mine!

By the end of the evening we took the train back to Brussels, found really good waffles and sat and watched the town hall light display two more times and just enjoyed ourselves.

 

 

 

Next stop….Munich, Germany and Austria!