The Hills Are Alive (in Salzburg, Austria) with the Sound of Music

So Tom and I set off in the car on our epic three-week adventure around the European Alps, and our first stop is just 3 hours away in Salzburg, home of The Sound of Music.

Nothing says, "Welcome," like a cow, right?

We had to prepare for this by watching The Sound of Music, and I'm glad we did.  I'd watched the play numerous times over the past years, but hadn't actually watched the Julie Andrews version of the film in quite some time.  I started recognizing places everywhere!  And when we were on our tours around the city and the surrounding hills, singing the songs and experiencing the nostalgia, I was able to go all out.  :)

We toured the hills that are alive on "The Original Sound of Music Tour", of course, and yes you could hear them singing (unless that was the other tours in the hills (or the echo of my loud voice)).

Back in the city we saw some of the sights such as the main house from the film,

the trees that were made for swinging (even though they told me I couldn't ):),

well, you know what happened here...,

the wedding chapel,

inside said chapel

and we definitely had to come up to Nonnberg Abbey.

They wouldn't let us in - apparently it's only for nuns.

It had already started to rain steadily at this point

We could see the rain coming

(which became a constant for the next couple weeks), but it was still a nice hike.  After the Abbey, we decided to go to the castle on the hill that overlooks the entire city.  That was a less-friendly hike in the rain.  Just so you know, my way of preparing for the rain is by donning a hat, Tom at least had a jacket.

Abbey from above - it's the red-roofed tower

 
The castle was huge!  You can see if from virtually everywhere in the city, but you don't realize how big it is until you walk around in it.

We walked in through the courtyard to get to the exhibitions and other things on display, as well as to the view point.  Wow, Salzburg would be gorgeous in the sunshine.  But it was still pretty in the rain.

Animation showing what it looked like in 1560

After a ride down on the funicular and playing a game of wizard's chess (not really, but the board was not one for the kitchen table!) in a plaza, we walked the old town.

For the Win!

Looking back up at the castle

The rain had picked up and we were getting drenched again, so we ducked into an ice cream parlor (a regular thing, whether raining or not) for some frozen goodness and waited out the rain while watching the World Cup match. 

Salzburg is also the birthplace of Mozart, so we switched back and forth between learning about him and The Sound of Music on our next city tour.

Mozart Bridge

The downtown gardens were beautiful, and it seemed every flower was in full bloom.

Church was interesting.  We found the Salzburg ward and, of course, it was a German-speaking ward, and I hadn't (still haven't ;)) learned any of the language yet, so we got a missionary to translate.  Funny thing, I think I understood as much as he did.  He did warn me, though, that it would probably be the worst translation I've ever received.  Turns out, missionaries tell the truth. :)

Great way to kick off the excitement of the trip, and gave me plenty of songs to sing in my head (and outloud) for the next few days.

Budapest, Hungary

Budapest, Hungary (yes Kellie Pickler, there is a country named Hungary - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cey35bBWXls) is only a 3-hour drive from Vienna, so we just had to take a weekend trip there, right?  Right!  And since we've both spent a considerable amount of time in post-Soviet lands, we figured it would be a fun stop to visit a Soviet-era monument park (celebrating the Hungarian revolution from Stalin's regime) on our way into the city.  Well, I know I had fun. :)

Watch out world, here I come!

Budapest is a beautiful city!  It's split in two: Buda, and Pest, by the Danube River, and we explored both halves a bit.

View from the Citadel

One of the coolest things, I thought, was that during the World Cup games, they had a big screen at one of the central parks (not to mention practically every cafe) where they'd show the game.  Hundreds of people came to the park to cheer on their teams and just be football fans.  It was a fun atmosphere to sit down and watch a bit of the games.  Right by the park they had another statue, this time of an American, woot woot!

This kid kept photobombing the pic - I guess I just have to share my admiration of President Reagan.

We couldn't have chosen a better weekend to be there, because in the main square on the Pest side there was a book festival!  Those of you who know me well know I'm quite the book nerd, and Tom really learned this throughout our travels.  I'd see a bookshop and we'd have to stop.  Anyway, there were a couple hundred kiosks filled with books, and I spent a good amount of time sifting through the stacks, trying to find something in English I might like.  It was a good time, and I didn't even make us late for the river cruise.  :D
A couple sites downtown:

We also took a bus tour around the city, and I have to admit my favorite part was when the bus driver ran into the bridge!  I'm sure he'd driven under it hundreds of times, but today was not his lucky day, apparently.  Pieces of the bus went flying, everyone screamed as we slammed to a halt.  We barely did any damage to the concrete, though.

Pest is on the flatland to the East, while Buda is on this hills, dominated by the Castle District.

The first Christian in this city of Pagans was rolled down the mountainside in a barrel laced with nails.  I think persecution has changed a bit since then.

Castle District

Castle District

Castle

Mattias Church - Most famous church in the city, appropriately named after me :)

Yeah, another statue - they were everywhere!

The bridges across the river all had to be rebuilt following the destruction during World War II.  Other city tours were a bit more subtle with their wording of what happened, but Budapest just stated simply, many times over, "This bridge was blown up in World War II."  I thought that was funny - no beating around the bush in Budapest.  They also weren't too happy with the Russians when they came in after the war and ended up doing more destruction during their 'clean-up' efforts than during the war.  Anyway, I'm glad the bridges were rebuilt.

Chain Bridge

Margaret Bridge

The Margaret Bridge sits alongside Margaret Island, named after a poor girl who was essentially banished there by her father.  During a war, Margaret's father, the ruler, prayed to God that if he won the war, he would give his daughter to God, to live in the convent on the island for ev er.  And well, they won the war.  But hey, the island has ritzy hotels and parks and things, so it can't be that bad, right?

Along the river sits the most beautiful and most recognizable buildings in Budapest: Parliament.  It's amazing!  We hiked up the hills across the river for some evening shots of it and we got a closer-up look from the river.  I think the building is amazing.  We passed the building a few times, so I have a few shots.

Then we went back in time to the black-and-white days for a few pics from that era.

Naturally, we couldn't be in Hungary without getting hungry, so we stopped in a small village by the border at an "American" restaurant for a thick, juicy, 16-ounce steak.

For the record, I like Kellie Pickler.