Salzburg, Austria.....(June 15-16, 2008, I think)

The hills are alive with the sound of……football!

I am in the beautiful city of Salzburg, Austria, surrounded by the Alps! My hotel room is on the 12th floor, and it has an incredible view of the city and the fortress from a huge picture window. I’ll try to post a picture at some point…..when I have more “internet” time. This place is famous for The Sound of Music, but currently it is reminding me of Camelot, because it has rained both evenings after dinner, but the weather has been gorgeous during the day! The European Cup is being played here, in Vienna, and in Switzerland. Tonight Austria and Germany are playing in Vienna, but the fans here are CRAZY! Last night the Turks won, and they went absolutely crazy in the streets, honking horns, screaming….it went on for quite some time. We finally had to put ear plugs in to get to sleep! So tonight there will probably be a repeat….either Austria or Germany is going to be happy. I’m trying to watch the game, but in typical soccer style, they’ve already played an entire half and the score is still 0-0!

We had a delightful walking tour of the city today with our guide named Heidi. I think she was the real Heidi, because she was as old or older than I! We saw where Mr. Doppler was born and grew up. We tried to take a picture to send to Ron Roberts, but mine didn’t turn out so well. Maybe someone else’s did! We saw these Sound of Music sights…..the Mirabel Gardens, the Festival Center, and the cemetery. Lisa, Pam, Jan and I decided we wanted more, so we took the four-hour Sound of Music tour which took us to the palace, the gazebo, by the abbey, the mountains, and finally the church where the wedding took place (in the village of Monsee). I’ve seen a lot of churches, but that was one of the prettiest ones I’ve seen. Of course, they played music on the bus and we were encouraged to sing along, which we did! There were four young kids from Midland on the bus, and we took turns taking pictures of each other in the various spots. It was really quite pleasant.

So tonight we’re getting ready for an early departure tomorrow morning to Munich (and trying to watch the soccer/football game/match. Olé, Olé, Olé!