the hills are alive...

I know that Teny and Caroline are going to laugh when they read this, but my FAVORITE place that we visited during the week, was, hands down, SALZBURG. Yes, we went there for the sole purpose of going on the Sound of Music Tour. Which wasn't exactly all I hoped it to be (it was two weeks premature of the opening of "the season" so it was a little laid back and less exciting than expected) but I still LOVED LOVED LOVED Austria and we had a great two days there. I'm so glad we went. Mom, I felt like I could breathe there.

the view from our hotel window. apparently all the hotels in salzburg play the Sound of Music 

24/7 on repeat on channel 44. I'm a little disappointed we never turned the tv on!

you know how excited i get over blue sky...

old town salzburg

the river

YUM the HUGE pretzels

we found them at this darling open market

EDELWEISS

the oldest street in old town. look at all the cute iron signs!

what I wanted to wear on the tour the next day.

Caroline and me at dinner, where we each got a traditional Austrian dish: 

schnitzl (my new fave), sausage, and beef goulash. Yum!

DAY 2: THE TOUR

How could you not love a plastic cow with sound of music images painted all over it!?!

the von trapp family house. they actually filmed all of the scenes that take place in the interior of the house in a studio, but the studio was basically an exact copy of the interior of this house

just your casual back yard. this is the lake where they fall in from the row boat when they greet the baroness and the captain. the little girl who played Gretel didn't know how to swim and was apparently traumatized after shooting that scene because Julie Andrews was supposed to catch  her, but she fell on the other side of the boat and one of her siblings had to save her. Good thing she had 6 siblings to do so!

The gazebo! It was moved to this location because too many homeless people were sleeping in it in its previous home. It was much smaller than I imagined! When they were filming the scene with "16 going on 17," Charmian Carr, the actress playing Liesal ran through the glass and hurt her ankle (probably during the part that she runs on the perimeter bench). On the VHS version of the movie you can see the nude color bandage underneath her sock. On the DVD they have edited it out.

The trees that the children climb in their curtain outfits, while the baroness and captain drive by. They combined this shot with one of a lake so that in the movie it looks like the road is just beside the lake. "trick photography" like ned nederlander uses.

"i've even heard her singing in THE ABBEY"

Austria is so beautiful

so random - but Red Bull was created in Austria, and this was the first factory

the church where they got married

the steps from the end of "do-re-mi"

recognize this from the do-re-mi scene!?! the fountain!

our delicious picnic (all from the open market in old town) on the train to vienna. everyone around us was very jealous of our fruit, bread, and cheese feast!

SPRING BREAK -- PARIs

AH PARIS! I began my Spring Break with a weekend getaway with Teny and Caroline in the most romantic city in the world! And it was a fantastic weekend. I caught up to them on Saturday morning. It was a beautiful morning in Paris, the sun was shining (something that I appreciate more and more each day) and there were only a few clouds in the sky. I got a little lost trying to find our hotel after I got off the bus from the airport. And by a little lost, I mean extremely lost. It was only confusing because I was at the wrong metro station. And the French, as you may know, are not the friendliest of folk. This French man actually told me to buy the wrong, more expensive metro ticket, for the other station, which was completely useless. Two hours of "exploring" later, I have never been so happy to see the HOTEL IBIS sign in front of me. Caroline and Teny were waiting in the lobby. Time to do what we do best...EAT.

Look at that BLUE SKYYY

AND THE FLOWERS

We had espresso and sandwiches at this darling cafe near our hotel. I tried a Madame Croque. THE CHEESE. It really is better in France. Ah-mazing. Now, as you should know from my other blog posts, the three of us are very aggressive tourists, after all, there is SO MUCH to do and so little time! 

First, we made our way to Saint Chapelle. Oh my gah. Ms. Walker Oakes, you said the stained glass was pretty. But its SO BEAUTIFUL. So overwhelmingly pretty. You just don't have the same experience by looking at a picture in a book. I feel like I keep saying that with everything I am so lucky to see in Europe, but every time I'm just so overwhelmed with how amazing these things are to experience in person. I really am so lucky so get to have these experiences.

Then we made our way to Notre Dame. When we came outside it was sprinkling :( I guess I brought the London weather with me! We didn't let that slow us down though!

Check out those flying buttresses!

Notre Dame was amazing. The grandeur, the ornamentation. Literally, we had to crank our heads back to see the whole church because it is so massive. And every inch of it sculpted and ornamented. I just couldn't believe that here we were, in PARISS, looking at the quintessential example of Gothic architecture, IN PERSON! The height and light, classic Gothic. So cool. Dad, we looked for Esmerelda, but no sign of her. Probably up in the bell tower with Quasi. We stopped for crepes at this place called St. Honore. Since I gave up chocolate for Lent I was challenged to get something other than a crepe with chocolate sauce (my usual got-to). I settled (ha!) for an out-of-this-world crepe with coffee ice cream and whipped cream. It melted in my mouth. The perfect snack. I would move to Paris, just so I could have a crepe every day.

Oh, if the crepes aren't enough sweets, you get cookies with your espresso. KAY. This must be Heaven.

DAY 2

We headed out first things to the Museo d'Orangerie (spelling?) to see Monet's water lilies. It was such a beautiful museum. I just love Monet, and it was so cool to see his paintings in the setting he always wanted them on display.

Next we made our way to the Louvre:

GTM!! these construction signs were all around. We we freaking out!

and then... guess where!

for dinner we walked literally 15 miles to the oldest part of paris, where the world-famous (really, celine dion has eaten there) falafel place was. and it was AH maz ing.