The Hills Are Alive With the Sounds of Salzburg, Innsbruck and a bit of Zurich!

Caroline and I were looking very forward to our time in Salzburg, Austria. This was mainly due to the fact that the Sound of Music was filmed there and we had heard about a sing-a-long tour that we knew would be amazing. We were pleased to hear that Bernie's Dad was a fan of the musical, so when we left her house in the morning, we ate breakfast while listening to "The Sound of Music" in German. It was awesome because he couldn't speak any English, but we were all able to hum along to the tunes together. Bernie prepared a great breakfast for us (and we were able to pack a lunch)so we had a great start to the day! We were very sad to leave the countryside, but we were looking forward to a new city!

When we arrived in Salzburg we were greeted by, you guessed it-rain! We found our hostel relatively quickly and it was the best hostel we have stayed at thus far. We met one of roommates, Vanessa. She was from Vancouver, but studied at the University of Calgary so that was really cool. She had been traveling for nearly 4 months alone which just seemed crazy to me, but she said she had really enjoyed it. The three of us went into town together and she got to experience the magic of Rick Steves. We walked around the town and saw the cathedral, Mozart's square, St. Peter's Church and walked through the graveyard (the one that was similar to the one where the Sound of Music was filmed!).




We wanted to see some other sights that Rick had recommended, but we were soaking wet and so cold that we took a "rain check" (bahahahahah) on the sightseeing and saved it for the next day. That night, we were going to go out for dinner with Vanessa, but then we discovered that the hostel had its own dinner menu. It was quite cheap, so we grabbed some food there and then sat down with a couple from Australia. Their names were Josh and Cecily and they. were. awesome. We talked, laughed, swapped stories and spent a LOT of time talking about the differences in how we speak. Here are some of the highlights of words that they shorten:
Suspicious=suss
Sorry=sozz
Air Conditioner=Aircon
University=Uni
Registration=Reggo
Caroline=Caz
And...my nickname became "Audi". In a round about way it relates back to my name but it's not important. It doesn't matter because Josh kept calling me that for the entire night and it was AWESOME!!! We just had wonderful, wonderful conversations and it was so much fun! We were also entertained by the random older gentleman that awkwardly asked to join the conversation. He was from somewhere in the southern United States and kept making super random comments that were just unnecessary and irrelevant to the entire conversation.

BUT the rest of the people were awesome and we ended up talking until after midnight. Even the creepy guy was able to capture a picture of us candidly laughing...


We had to be up bright and early for the long awaited Sound of Music tour. We had been told by our Australian friends that the seats at the front of the bus were the best so Caroline and I were at the front of the line ready to go before our tour guide even picked us up. We got on the bus and were so excited about all the Austrians scenery that was ahead of us! Our tour guide was sort of weird and definitely liked to perform. Her commentary was very scripted and she would often have long pauses in the hopes that everyone would "ooh" and "ahh" but it was really just awkward silence. Caroline and I loved it all anyways!





The first major sights that we saw were the Vontrapp Mansion. Unfortunately, we were only allowed to view it from across the river because it is actually private property. But it looked exactly like the movie! We were very excited. We also saw the tree lined streets where the children hung out of trees, and the road where Maria sings part of "I Have Confidence" before arriving at the Vontrapp's house. IT WAS AWESOME!



Then, it was off to the famous Gazebo where Leisel and Ralph filmed "I am 16 going on 17". Caroline and I decided to pose as the two characters in case any of you forgot the famous scene.

Then, we were taken to a small town outside of Salzburg where the church was located. Caroline didn't realize until about halfway through our visit that this was the church where the Captain and Maria get married. She was even MORE excited once she found out about that! I have decided that I could get married in that church, if need be. We both practiced our walk down the aisle (just in case!). Then, we had lunch at a little cafe and went down to the waterfront. We sang "The Hills Are Alive" and danced around like little children. It was fantastic.





And then...of course, we made a video to capture the true spirit of the tour!

We got off the bus, but the tour wasn't over yet! We were given a map of other sights around the city that we could get to by walking, so we saw a lot more. Try and see if you can recognize any of the places! If not, watch the movie again!





And that was Salzburg! I am so glad we got to see everything related to the SOM. I always loved the movie and now I have danced where Julie Andrews has danced!! Very cool. The next stop was Innsbruk. We had a bit of a rough arrival as it was a long walk to our hostel and of course, we got lost. The good thing was, it was a beautiful city! It reminded me a lot of Banff because it was completely surrounded by mountains. Caroline and I thought it won the award for prettiest city we had been to.



There isn't really much to see in Innsbruck, so we went hiking the next day to the ski jump and the other parts of the Olympic Villiage. Again, the city was just so beautiful we wanted to spend as much time outside as we could. We also spent a lot of our day making a video to pay homage to the "Sound of Music" and document Caroline and I's traveling experiences. (Unfortunately, it is not working on this post, but you can check it out on facebook by clicking on this link: https://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=10150210697867653)






That night, we went out for dinner and had the best meal ever. We shared Weinerschnitzel and Goulasch soup with sweet tea and apple strudel for dessert. It was a great way to end our time in such a beautiful city!


The next day the sun was shining, and as we were leaving we couldn't help but take a few pictures before we left for good. The train ride to Zurich was stunning, and you can bet your bottom dollar that Caroline was snapping pictures the entire time.




Our train was kind of random because we met a family of 15 that had traveled to Austria to visit their distant relatives for a WEEK. They came all the way from Casper, Wyoming! They were great to talk to, and we tried to meet up with one of them later on but unfortunately, things didn't work out as planned! Still, it was really nice having some people to talk to and made the train ride go by a lot faster.
When we got to Zurich, we met up with my friend Mikka. I met him going to school in Norway and I was very excited to see him again! As soon as we unpacked our stuff at his house, we ran some errands with him and then we to the river. It seemed to be a very popular place for the locals. We met Mikka's brother, his friend, and just enjoyed the sun while it lasted. Then, we went swimming! Mikka even convinced me to jump off a bridge into the river with him and his brother. It was really scary-but AWESOME!!


Then we headed back to Mikka's and he made us a wonderful, traditional Swiss meal. Caroline helped with the salad, but other than that...it was all him!



The next day, Mikka took us on a full city tour. We also met up with my friend who we both studied with in Norway, Calum. It was a complete surprise to me that he was in Zurich so it was really nice that he joined us for the day! Mikka took us along the waterfront, bought us some Swiss chocolate (macaroons, to be exact!), then we had lunch and saw some really beautiful protestant churches. It was such a lovely day spent together with friends.



In the late afternoon, Mikka also took us shopping at some really cool stores. We didn't buy anything, of course but it was still really fun. And then it started to start pouring rain. So...we had another great meal at Mikka's, made brownies and watched one of my favourite moves: "Nacho Libre". Needless to say, it was a fantastic visit with him and he was such a wonderful host. Next country-GERMANY!