Let's start this post with this:
If you haven't heard, Ray and I are moving back to the United States! We will officially depart Germany on March 24th. The decision has been a long time coming, but that doesn't make it any easier or less scary. We're giving up a lot. However, the most convincing reason to leave is that we are no longer growing here. Because of the way the military hires for jobs overseas, the chances of us receiving further advancement opportunities is slim to none. The ability to attend school is more difficult, and chances to fulfill career dreams are non existent. For all of these reasons and more, it's time to return to our homeland and look forward to the adventures that await us there. Plus, we really miss our friends and family... and Mexican food.
With March 24th quickly approaching, we're trying to get in all our last minute travel wishes. Yesterday we accomplished my goal of going to Salzburg, Austria. Although it was only one day there, we saw the things I cared about most and enjoyed our Valentines Day together.
Salzburg was much... sleepier... than I expected. Even for an off-season. It may have to do with the fact that it was Carnevale/Fasching this weekend, so everyone was at big-ticket cities like Frankfurt, Munich, Venice and Rome. We enjoyed the practically empty streets and beautiful Alps scenery. I felt like I was surrounded in white; the snow, the painted white fortress, the capped mountains, buildings, and even the gravelly ground that had a light khaki color I can only assume comes from the salt rich ground and surrounding mines.
Our bus was late coming in due to a two-hour stau (traffic jam), but we quickly walked ahead of the group following our map to the tourism office. Once there, we purchased tickets for the tour I've looked forward to since the day I found out it existed probably 2 years ago: The Sound of Music Tour. Yep. We had a few hours before that to continue exploring the city and do some light souvenir shopping before boarding the bus.
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| Ray found this McDonald's sign too classy to pass up. |
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| Here with are with a gherkin. Several others were off to our right. The artist found joy and humanity in creating gherkins in all shapes and sizes. |
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| Slightly terrifying display down in the crypts of a cathedral. |
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| Ray and I both loved these depictions of Daniel in the lion's den. |
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| Eating a chocolate covered pretzel in front of the largest medieval fortress in Europe = Happy Kailin |
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| Salzburg from the "Love Lock Bridge" |
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| Quite possibly our favorite store we've ever been in. "Christmas in Salzburg" makes hand painted decorations from real egg shells. Right now they're gearing up for Easter and all the Easter trees people will shortly be decorating. If I had the money and means I would have bought crates of the beautiful decorations. We did end up buying one large goose egg painted silvery blue, with the edelweiss flower and "Salzburg" etched into it. |
The Sound of Music Tour was really fun- the tour guide was excellent. It included several stops to scenes where the movie was filmed, background stories to the film, the original story of the Trapp Family Singers, and of course: some show tune singing as we drove through the Alps.
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| While this palace was not used in the film, the backyard was. This lake is where Maria and all the kids fall in when the captain comes home. |
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| Great view of the fortress. |
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| The Gazebo! No one can go inside nowadays. I really had been looking forward to to that, but some years ago, our guide told us, an 80 year old woman tried to dance and jump from one bench to the next and promptly fell and broke her hip. After that the doors remained locked. |
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| "Weeeeeee!" No, I did not just kiss a Nazi post boy- but I did spend the day with my sweetheart. :) |
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| Here is the von Trapp family home from the film. As you can imagine, years of crazy tourists have made it illegal to stop on the road... so I had to get a drive-by picture. The trees in front are the ones lining the lane that the captain drives up when he sees his children climbing in them. |
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| Wolfgangsee |
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| This may have been our favorite picture of us if there weren't random people and a trash can in the background. Bummer! |
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| And finally, in the little town of Mondsee, the cathedral where Maria and Captain von Trapp are married. Aww!!! Really though, it was gorgeous. |
Tomorrow is President's Day which means no work- but a full day of cleaning and packing. Our last big European Adventure happens in two weeks when we leave to Rome, Florence and Pisa!
