Salzburg: The Hills Are Alive

After spending the day in Salzburg, I will never watch The Sound of Music the same again. I will no longer watch it focused on the classiness of Julie Andrews or the stoicism of Christopher Plumber or how adorable Greta is. I will watch it focused on the beauty of Austria. The movie brings attention to some of the most beautiful scenes in Salzburg: the cemetery in which they hide from the Nazis, the gardens they sing and dance through, and the mountains they climb in order to seek refuge are just tastes of the city. 

Waking up at 5:30 to get to Mass at Franziskanerkirche (don’t worry, I have no idea what that means either) ended up being well worth the heavy eyes and uncomfortable half-sleep on the bus. After Mass, we went on a walking tour (headed by Dr. Hass) of the better part of Salzburg. It was really interesting to have Dr. Hass as our tour guide because he’s an American with a PhD in Medieval History so he may not have the affection for the city that an Austrian would but he understands what would be interesting to us as American college students. He took us through the old market where I got hands down the most delicious “donut” of my life. It was really just a pretzel covered in chocolate but if they call that a donut, I’d happily trade Dunkin Donuts for Austrian street vendors. He also showed us the most interesting McDonald’s sign in the world. Whoever is in charge of the aesthetics of Salzburg wouldn’t allow McDonald’s to ruin their beautiful, cobblestone lined, flower bed bearing street with the Golden Arches so there is a very elegant sign for the McDonald’s. We also got to see the oldest cafe in Salzburg, Mozart’s home, the smallest cafe in Salzburg, and the oldest bakery in Salzburg. Just past the oldest bakery is the cemetery that the scene from the Sound of Music is based on (when they’re hiding from the Nazis). It’s even more beautiful than the movie makes it seem. It looks like what we would think of when we think garden, not cemetery. On a humorous note, we got kicked out of this cemetery because, as we found out the hard way, private tours are not allowed. Little did they know, Dr. Hass was encouraging us to return when we had free time and spend money to go on the more extensive tour. It wasn’t such a bad thing because we were on our way out to get lunch anyway, but still a fun story to tell.



After lunch we had time to explore Salzburg on our own. We originally had a fairly large group but all got split up pretty quickly into our day. I wound up spending my day with 3 people I just met. And what an amazing day it was. It was so nice to be able to step out of my comfort zone and get to know three new, really great people. We explored the markets a little more, saw the beautiful gardens, drank Guinness in an Irish Pub (yes, I know it doesn’t really count), and ended our day by hiking up to a castle and watching the sunset over the city. I think I still prefer ocean sunsets to mountain sunsets but, by the end of this semester, I might be convinced otherwise. We had a great dinner with a great beer and spectacular view. Life really seems like it can’t get better than it has been for the last 10 days. 



10 days? That’s all it’s been? I sure hope the rest of the semester moves as slow (in the best way possible) that these last 10 days have. It continues to astonish me how many good memories can be made in such a short amount of time. I think of all the things I’ve done and all the places I’ve been and people I’ve met and can’t believe it’s been less than two weeks. It astounds me still further how many good relationships can take root in that same short amount of time. I’ve had some of the most intriguing conversations with some of the most sincere people I have met.  
I’ll post again tomorrow telling you all about my classes and school work. I guess that’s the important stuff, right?

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