Sound of Music Tour

Sound of Music Tour!

On Easter Sunday I received an email from Unc that started out like this : "So it's Easter and I'm here with Sparky who just threw up on my couch, and all I want is a new blog!!!!" This killer opening line was followed by a few threats and a ton of emoticons, but I've got to say - it worked.  Here I am posting pictures to at least 11 new blog updates (!) slowly but surely. Just a little taste of what's yet to come: the rest of Mom and Donna's visit (now almost two months ago), Dan's visit, my ski week with my school, bike trips all over creation on the first few springlike days here in Salzburg, and my trip to Ibiza and Madrid with Fleur, which included beaches, tapas, sangria, and an incident with a naked man in a public park. Don't worry Mom, it wasn't dangerous...except to my eyes which will never forget the awful image seared into them.  But you'll have to wait 10 posts to see that one.  It may take until July at this rate.

After we got our lay of the land by wandering the city and going up to the castle, Donna, Mom and I decided to bite the bullet and take the Sound of Music tour.  Actually it was one of the things that was on Mom's list of things to see/do in Salzburg - along with see a musical production, which I forgot to write about in the last blog post.  The plan was to see a ballet which I thought was at 8PM.  I had reserved 6Euro tickets at the theater, which was on our way to the city, so we thought we'd swing by and pick them up.  It turns out that the play was actually at 11.30AM or something ridiculous, and we'd missed the first half but could catch the second half if we wanted to.  The other production was the one at 8PM.  This one, Sleeping Beauty, was actually a kids' performance.  It actually turned out all right.  We saw the best of the ballet, and there was a ton of German narration, which meant I kept leaning over and translating to Donna, who would translate to Mom.  Nobody hushed us because we were surrounded by 5 year old girls, dressed in their Sunday best or princess dresses or dirndls, who had yet to learn how to whisper.  The performance was mostly cute, though at the end when we tried to use the restroom and the 5 year old girls pushed in front of us with absolutely no regard to lining up, it was less cute.
 Anyhow, the Sound of Music Tour was cold but lovely.  I had seen it all before, but it was nice to see it again with a different tour guide.  I learned things I hadn't the previous time - like the fact that Christopher Plummer (the Captain) refused to carry Gretel on his shoulders in the closing scene because she had put on so much weight during filming.  Apparently he told the directors that there was no way he was going to carry 'that little piglet' on his shoulders, so instead he carried a doll.  You can actually tell if you're looking for it in the scene!

The tour took us around the lakes, and eventually we ended up in Mondsee for strudel.  Unfortunately, what Mom and Donna really wanted wasn't strudel but pancakes, which the kitchen ran out of while we sat forever and waited for the waiter to take our order.  It turned out all right, though - the following day was "Pancake Day," the British version of Mardi Gras, so we ate pancakes for that instead.

My school was super nice to me and let me take Tuesday off, since one of the lessons was cancelled anyway, and the other was moved to Friday.  That meant we had the whole day to wander around the city, seeing the different sights like the market.  We also had the privilege of seeing tons of people in their ridiculous Faschings costumes.  For the Austrian version of Mardi Gras (Fasching) people dress up like they would for Halloween and eat marmalade-filled donuts.  After wandering around, we stopped for coffee at a cafe on the roof of a hotel with fabulous views of the city, then stopped for pancakes in honor of Pancake Day.  Finally, Mom and Donna joined me in my evening class, where my boys told them what they do for fun, where they live, and had the opportunity to ask questions.  It was fun having them there, showing them what my school looks like and introducing them to some of my favorite students.

That night we went to bed early to save our energy for the ski day ahead of us!

The infamous gazebo. Obligatory photo.

Standing in front of Wolfgangsee.  It was so cold!  Photo courtesy of Aunt Donna

A very cold Wolfgangsee

Aunt/niece

Mother/daughter

And all three of us

Sisters

 

Donna out on the dock taking photos

Mondsee church

My messy room.  Believe it or not, this is much cleaner than it was. Photo courtesy of Aunt Donna. 

The kitchen, courtesy of Aunt Donna

The kitchen from the other angle, with mom and my room in the background.  Another one courtesy of Aunt Donna.

If you're talking to me online, this is generally where I am sitting

Momma bear.  Photo courtesy of Aunt Donna

Aunt Donna on the bridge, photo from Donna's camera

At the market, photo courtesy of Aunt Donna

Flowers at the market.  This photo is actually my own, though it's a copy of one that Donna took. 

Strange veggies in the market.  Donna's photo.

Cow made of buttons

Some school kids dressed up for Fasching. Donna's photo.

Fancy schmancy McDonald's sign. Donna's photo

View from the roof where we had coffee. Donna's photo

Roofs from the roof. Donna's photo.

The recycling system at one of my boys' schools.  Donna's photo.