Grandpa
and Grandma Jones came to Germany to join us for a trip to Austria and Bavaria.
We began our trip by driving to Salzburg. Duane's motto for the
trip was all will go smoothly if we follow a philosophy given to him by a
former principal/boss of his. "Be flexible and have a sense of
humor." So as we piled all seven of us into a Mercedes rental van we
vowed to keep this motto in our front pocket. The mini van was roomy and
made for a very comfortable form of transport. When we arrived in
Salzburg we arrived in the dark and climbed into our cozy beds.
The
next day we woke up and descended down to the lobby to partake in the hotel's
breakfast, a typical European spread. One article in the buffet was of
particular interest, Nutella cereal. I made sure I filled my bowl with
this bit of goodness every morning. On the first day the weather was
sunny. We decided we must capitalize on the current conditions and go on the
"Sound of Music Tour." I had been looking forward to this tour since
our arrival in Germany. We first drove to the lakefront that was the back
of the Von Trapp house and the place where the children and Maria fell into the
water. Next we visited the lane where Maria sang, "I Have Confidence
in Me" and saw the gazebo where Liesel sang, "I am going on 16 going
on 17." We then took a driving tour of the town of Salzburg and all of its
charm. In town we saw the horse pond, Mozart Bridge, and the Benedictine
Convent of Nonnberg, one of the oldest nunneries in the world. We then made our
way to Mondsee Cathedral where the wedding was filmed. The first hour bus
ride afforded breath-taking views of Austria. Finally we ended in Mondsee where
we treated ourselves to apple strudel in the same cafe the cast used to eat in
and visited the Mondsee Cathedral to view the scene of the Von Trapp wedding.
On the way home we listened to and sang more "Sound of Music"
songs. On the bus riders could purchase beer or special Austrian lemonade
that we found particularly refreshing. We ended the tour at the Mirabel
Gardens, where many of the scenes of the "Do, Rei, Me" song were
filmed. The tour was positively delightful and our tour guide wore an
official looking Austrian dirndl and really played up the parts of the hostess,
comedian, storyteller and tour guide. We found out that the real Von
Trapp family did indeed have a story line similar to the one in the movie but
they eventually left Austria to move to VT in the USA where they now own a
hotel one can stay in.
Salzburg
definitely delivered a wonderful experience. The hotel owner gave the children gifts and candies
every day and we even found time to visit Mozart's birthplace, eat at the
Augustiner Bier Hall and do some shopping. We were all a little sad to
leave Salzburg but had our next location to look forward to, the Eagles' Nest,
Hitler's former stomping grounds. In the jaw clenching bus ride up the
mountain to Eagles Nest our bus did tricks I did not know a bus could do.
The bus turned 360 on a dime as it transversed up to the top of the
mountain. Some German buses have impressive turning radius. The
view from the cliff side road was otherworldly. At the top we saw the
residence clinging to the mountain. It had been a 50th birthday present
for Hitler and was quite a feat to build. Hikers could ascend yet higher up the
mountain for the 360 views at the top of the German and Austrian Alps. We
also saw the infamous fireplace, a gift from Mussolini to Hitler. Soldiers
chiseled pieces of the fireplace of to take as victory war souvenirs after the
fall of the third Reich.
In
Garmisch we went furniture shopping for a hand painted shrank and did find a
shop that we bought some hand painted items from. We also took the chair
lift up to one of the mountain peaks. The Bavarian and Austrian Alps trip
was most certainly a success.
No comments:
Post a Comment