Salzburg, Austria

So after being home for a whole 5 days, we were off again.. this time to Austria. We were suppossed to go to Croatia but my motions hearing got in the way for planning/driving purposes.

I have driven through parts of Austria a few times now for work up in Germany, but I have not had a chance to stop and take in the scenery so this was really nice.

We arrived at the hotel around 4. Checked in and then walked around the town for a little.  Saturday and Sunday were more of the same: walking through the small town and looking at the hills, river and the castle.

Salzburg is probably best known for the setting of the Sound of Music.
Since I can recite most of the movie and can sing all of the songs it was pretty cool to see where it was filmed.  The Panorama Museum was even having an exhibition on it; so I learned some things about the film and the true story.  I also learned that despite being the home of the Van Trapp Family and the location for the story, the Salzburg is not a fan! Why you might ask - apparently because Hollywood changed some things. For instance, they blend locations, Captain Van Trapp was not as strict as they made him appear, and the Van Trapp family escaped to America not to Switzerland as alluded to at the end of the movie.

I am 16 going on 17 ...

Where they hang from trees in
clothes made from curtains

I believe this is where they hide after
thier performance at the end

The Van Trapp house - at least in the movie

We also visited Mirabell Gardens. Many of you might know Mirabell candy that comes wrrapped in red paper with a picture of Mozart on it. I didn't actually get to have or buy any, but Mirabell Gardens was really pretty even in the rain.

 Salzburg is also home to Mozart.  We went to Mozart's family home and again we learned some interesting facts about him and his life.  The last night we were there we went to dinner at the castle on the hill and a Mozart concert. The food was great, but the music and atmosphere were amazing.  This was followed by a moonlight stroll home (one of the few dry moments of the weekend).





 

View from our dinner table

View from the concert hall



The one bad part about our trip was the RAIN! It barely ever stopped the good news is unlike France we did bring an umbrella and Phil did bring a jacket BUT of course I only brought sandals for some reason so my feet were constantly cold. We really have to start checking out the weather before we go away and packing appropriately. 

Monday Phil took the train (with a bus mixed in) back home and I headed up to Germany for work again while the drive to and from Germany is truly beautiful speckled with castles and mountain tops it is long and I am sick of German staus (traffic jams) so I am glad to be home for a while (over a week before we go to a hotel again)!

Paris (Vacation Part 2)

So we arrived in Paris (to stay) on Tuesday we decided to drive in and drop our stuff off at the hotel before returning the rental car. That was an experience in and of itself. Of course when we decided to do this we didn't think about rush hour. So we landed ourselves in downtown Paris at 5:30 pm. While it was nice not to walk with bags through Paris it was an adventure. There are no lines on the roads and the roads are 4-6 lanes wide. There seems to be a lack of traffic signs saying who has the right of way etc. Luckily Phil got us through it unscathed, returned the rental car, and then took the train back to Paris. On our walk home we got a nice view of all the monuments lit up, great way to end the day.

 
Our first full day in Paris we went to Montmartre and Sacré-Cœur Basilica.  It was here that our 1000 steps a day extravaganza began. Sacre Coeur is a beautiful basilica up on the hill which gives a great view of paris.  It is about 300 steps to the top of the tower but well worth the view.  It was then across town for us to Saint Denis Basilica this involved a short walk down a very neat section of town. Lots of small market type stores. We followed that up with a trip to Napoleon's Tomb the Musée de l'Armée (as if I hadn't had enough war and history at that point).  Then we went to the Rodin Museum where we saw the Thinker and the Gates of Hell among other beautiful sculptures and gardens. The last stop for the day was the Eiffel Tower. Before going up we sat on the grass and enjoyed the local scene. People just hanging out it was really nice and relaxing.  People were just hanging out, reading, talking, drinking, eating and/or celebrating.

We decided to go up the Eiffel Tower for sunset. So we climbed the first two floors, not to save the five euros but to avoid the ridiculous line for the elevator. This was like 669 steps! We thankfully HAD to take the elevator to the top floor, because I can't imagine how many more steps that would have been. After going to the top we hung out on the second floor waiting for it to get dark, so the lights would come on, which didn't happen until 1015. A few pictures with the lights and we were on our way back to earth again.

Back on the lawn we decided to have a litle midnight snack (hot dog for Phil and a nutella crepe for me) while we waited for the tower to sparkle. 

This was our way of celebrating the Fourth of July.  It was funny because as the tower started to sparkle, a large group broke out singing the Star Spangled Banner.  It wasn't your traditional American BBQ or fireworks but it was something.

The second day we started on the outskirts of town at Vincennes Castle.  I think because this is a little out of town it is not nearly as crowded with tourists.  In addition to having a church and a castle, it is also home to the Naval Maritime History Department and the headquarters of La Germandiere. 

Then it was a day or arches.  La Defense was first. It is the business district of Paris with a Grande Arche (Notre Dame can fit underneath it). Really a lovely part of town lots of open space to sit and enjoy art, water fountains, and small garden areas. A sandwich by a water fountain, then a walk down Champs-Élysées the main boulevard with all the expensive shops etc.  Then it was time for more steps to go up the Arc de Triomphe.  



















We stopped in the Petit Palais and then went to Concorde Place at the end of Champs-Élysées (which we couldn't get to because of the barriers and stands in preparation for Bastille Day). That was followed by a short visit to the Tuileries Garden for a break and some gelato and then the Musée de l'Orangerie. The l'Orangerie houses Monet's Water Lilies which is of course beautiful but also very peaceful. By day 2 of Paris (day 6 of the trip) we were exhausted, so we went back to the hotel a little early for a break before heading to dinner.

The third day we saw the French Statue of Liberty (given to France by the U.S.).



Then we headed to the Jardin du Luxembourg. Luxembourg Garden is another of Paris's amazing green spaces, lots of people - locals and tourists taking in the sun, eating, and just relaxing. We even got to see an orchestra perform in small gazebo while we ate a small lunch. 

From there we took a short walk to the Pantheon and Saint Sulpice Chapel (from Da Vinci Code).

















We ended the first part of the day with a trip to Notre Dame Cathedral. We actually got to see mass going on, which was really cool. Went to the top of the tower in a rain storm and then back to the hotel for a short break before heading out on a dinner cruise.

The dinner cruise had great food and it was nice to be off our feet but still enjoying the sites.

 


The Fourth and final day we started at the Louvre, where we of course saw the Mona Lisa and Venus de Milo among other amazing works of art. You can spend all day here, IF you have patience for the crowds.

Mona Lisa by Leonardo Da Vinci
(packed and a little over rated though the smile is  intriguing)

One of my favorites
Psyche and Cupid by A. Canova

Our favorite room of the Louvre
even without the Art it would be wonderful

After that we went to Place de Saint Michel had a nice sandwich sitting by the fountain just before the rain set in and then headed to La Sainte-Chapelle and the Concierge. While Notre Dame is gorgeous, I have to say Saint Chapelle might be even better. The Concierge gave us one more dose of history about the French Revolution as it served as both the prison and court room during 1793-1795. We ended the day with a quick stroll through the Musee d'Orsay, in addition to being a truly amazing building (an old train station) it also had some great art.  



La Sainte Chapelle
(and this doesn't do it justice)


We saw so much and had a great time. Even managed a few mid afternoon naps and breaks at parks to make it a little relaxing as well. Everything was fantastic.

Due to my trial schedule we had to cancel Croatia for next weekend so we are headed to Salzberg instead (I know rough life) so stay tuned.

Outside Paris (Vacation Part 1)

In short vacation was great and we need another vacation to recover from it (good thing we have a four day weekend coming up).  This is the point of blogging I feel like giving up because I have no idea where to start or what to tell you about since so much happened. I am going to do my best though and will start by separating our vacation into two parts Outside Paris and Paris.

We started our journey at 0430 with a bus ride to the airport to catch a 0730 flight, which was pretty uneventful ending with us at Charles de Gaulle.  We had planned to take a train down to Normandy, but when we had to wait 3 hours for the next train we decided to look into renting a car instead. We really didn't do a lot of planning for this trip other than the flight and hotels. Turns out not only was the car cheaper than the train it was also a necessity, once we got to Normandy.  We had thought we would bike between the beaches which would have been cool, but it was quite a bit chillier than we expected with a lot of rain showers (Phil had to buy a fleece) and we would not have seen as much (turns out the beaches are pretty far apart).

We arrived in Arromanches (Gold Beach) Saturday afternoon and the history lesson from Phil began almost immediately. I joke (and won't admit it to him), but it was really cool to learn things about it that I either never knew or merely had forgotten since my High School history class.

We spent two days exploring the beaches and museums. Phil was like a kid in a candy store and I was along for the ride. We went to Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno, and Sword Beaches as well as Carentan, the Easy Company Memorial, Point de Hoc, Pegasus Bridge,  and Sainte Mere Eglise. My favorite was Sainte Mere Eglise which is where members of the 82nd Airborne Landed on the early morning of 6 June 1944. The museum there is really well done and the town is very friendly and quaint.

The most interesting aspect of all of Normandy is that in almost 70 years little has changed. They have repaired houses, churches roads and bridges, and there are museums a plenty, but it doesn't have the resorts or tourist traps one would expect for a beach area. You can still very much see what it was like in 1944 with the German pillboxes still riddling the coast and countryside.




Outside the historical significance, the most interesting thing that happened was that we got interviewed by someone writing an article for a magazine (no idea what his name was or what magazine he was writing for so he could have been lying) but it led to an interesting conversation and some cool probably unknown stories. He asked us why we were visiting, apparently there were comments made after the 60th anniversary that people would stop visiting because there aren't many veterans from the war still around. I personally think this would be a travesty and hope that people never forget what happened on those shores or anywhere/time else men and women have fought for a greater cause. They deserve remembering.



We especially remembered Papa

& visited Phil's Grandmother's First Husband's Grave

We also took a day trip out to Mont Saint Michel.  This is a very beautiful old castle on an "island" (it is attached by a channel). A few bad things were that it was a very overcast day, we didn't have the whole day to spend there, and there was a lot of construction which interrupted the beauty of the place. But the town around the castle is really amazing and I think would be very cool to explore a bit more than we could. We said that "next time" we would stay on the Mont for a night.




The last thing we did before going to Paris was stop in Versailles. Versailles is another beautiful place with amazing palaces and grounds to explore. Fortunately it was really nice when we went to being outside and wandering gardens was perfect, but it is yet another place where you can spend all day if not two days - we didn't even walk around the city.