Get Rid of that Stress

Today was a tough day. Terry found out he'll be leaving for work again, for a month this time, and I immediately felt a wave of anxiety wash over me. I know I'll be okay; I've been alone for weeks at a time before and I'll have the cat to keep me company.

But it's never easy to be apart from the person you love, especially for an extended period of time. And when Terry goes to the East Coast, the time difference makes it tough to communicate. He works long hours, and we can usually only talk for half an hour each night before he needs to get some rest.

Anticipating his departure and thinking of the fact that he'll be all alone out there (with the exception of his coworkers, of course, and thankfully they're pretty awesome) made me particularly anxious today. So finally, around 5:30, Terry and I headed out for a little cardio.

We ran for two minutes, walked for one minute, for a total of 30 minutes. It was perfect. I felt myself relax almost immediately in the fresh air as I got my legs moving and got my heart rate going in a positive way. It wasn't an especially difficult workout--we didn't even complete three miles--but I needed it. And of course, it didn't cure me completely. Even as I write this post I'm still feeling bummed that Terry will be leaving. But I also know I have tools and methods at my disposal for tackling whatever stress comes our way in the next few months.

Exercise is my favorite stress reliever. On the worst days, a quick bout of exercise works wonders on my mood and general outlook, and I know the physical benefits even go beyond that. Exercising during the day helps me sleep better at night, which in turn starts the next day on a less stressful note.

But I like having multiple options for relieving stress and mellowing out when life gets a little rough, and I've found a few that work (some better than others, some more long-term than others):

• Cleaning house. I don't know why, but there's something therapeutic about tidying up, vacuuming, washing dishes, wiping counters. I guess when I can restore order to one area of my life, I feel a little relieved. I'm not the only one, though; friends have told me that cleaning makes them feel more relaxed, too. And is there anything better than coming home to a clean house?
• Deep breathing. It's a classic technique, but it works. A few deep breaths help me calm down if I'm in the middle of a really rough day. But this one only lasts a little while; some days I find myself taking breathing breaks every five minutes, and I know it's time to try something else.
• Writing. Obviously, writing is an outlet for me, and sometimes writing helps me vent, get my thoughts straight, or just take a time out. Usually as I write I discover that the problems I thought were so overwhelming are actually minor and manageable. 
• Cutting back on caffeine. If I notice a few days in a row are a little more stressful than usual, I skip the morning tea. I've already got enough adrenaline from whatever is going on in my life, and I don't need the extra pick-me-up anyway. It also helps me stay calm in the mornings.
• Talk it out. What's better than chatting with a friend, family member, or spouse about whatever is going on? Usually chatting with Terry or friends or family ends in a good laugh and feeling like I got a big hug. 
• Ice cream. If all else fails, ice cream is the answer.

Stress and anxiety have been issues in my life for as long as I can remember, but I like to think I'm getting better about finding healthy ways to manage and reduce my stress. And that's what today was all about; here's hoping the rest of the week will be even better.

What's your favorite healthy stress reliever? 

Pumpkin Challenge

Aaaannnnd we're back! Back to the usual around here, although somehow it's still not feeling normal yet. Perhaps because I'm not working full time this year, I feel like I'm still not back in the usual swing of things, despite arriving home almost a full week ago. Maybe it's the weird weather (rain, then bright blue skies, then more rain, but pretty chilly--unusual for LA), or the attempt to get back into our normal exercise routines, or the fact that I'm falling asleep around 9 pm and waking up around 5.

Whatever it is, I'm still glad to be home and am eager to get back to the usual blogging routine. It's also been nice to have a substitute job almost every day! (We're sort of in a limbo year, and we may end up moving, so I decided to switch to subbing this year, which has been a weird but not bad experience. The subbing part is actually pretty fun, because I had a lot of the students last year, but it's strange not teaching my own curriculum and having so much time on my hands. No grading or lesson planning? What do I do with myself?)

It's been really fun reading all the blog posts around the web getting psyched up for fall. I think it's safe to say that people love fall as much if not more than summer. People in hot areas seem grateful for a reprieve from the heat, and everyone loves pumpkin-flavored everything (how do you like that hyperbole?). I'm not into the Pumpkin Spice Lattes (I feel left out), but I do like pumpkin bread or muffins (especially with cream cheese) and pumpkin pie. I also bought an Autumn Harvest candle the other day, and I felt enveloped by the coziness that is a rainy fall afternoon.

Fitness Classes in Public Areas 

If you live in the Southern California area, you've probably heard here or there on the news that fitness classes at parks have been a controversial issue. Apparently some residents are complaining that the parks are too crowded with these types of classes and that some people bring heavy weights and tear up the land (to the latter group, I ask: What the heck are you doing with your weights?). Now there will be fees (according to this article, in the thousands of dollars annually) to host fitness classes and regulations about when and where classes can take place.

It's an interesting topic. On one hand, shouldn't we be thrilled that our community is getting fit and that trainers are able to run a small business with minimal upfront costs? Don't we want to encourage health and fitness? Also, how will you regulate a "fitness class" versus a group of "friends" getting together to work out (is the problem that people are paying for the class or that the class exists?)? Would running and cycling groups still be allowed?

On the other hand, it's understandable that some community members would feel that too many of these classes would detract from the park environment. Plus, you don't really see other "small businesses" meeting at a park to make money--with the exception of street performers. But I think they might need permits, too. When I spoke to my friend Jenn about this the other day, I mentioned that I thought it would be good to have certain sections of the park available, perhaps for a small fee (but thousands?!?) and maybe sign ups to ensure a fair rotation. But I think the initial plan here is a bit too harsh. Thoughts?

Partner Workout

Speaking of working out in public places, Jenn and I met up this week for a short workout in the park. It was simple and quick, but it can be modified to be more or less intense.

Pumpkin Challenge

Okay, I have a fun challenge for you all: While in Prague, Terry and I spotted something and said the exact same quote at the same time, which is why we are married. Then I sent the following photo to my friend and told her she had to guess what the quote was. She got pretty close but not exact.

So my challenge is this: What was the quote we said when we saw this post on the ground? 

The only hint I'll give is that it's from a TV show. Obviously.

And if you're the first to get it right (comment or e-mail), I'll send something pumpkin-flavored your way! Good luck!

To check out all the recent posts about our Europe trip and past trips, here are the links:

• Luzern, Switzerland (September 2013)
• Salzburg, Austria (September 2013)
• Munich, Germany (October 2013)
• Side Trips from Munich, Germany (October 2013)
• Paris, France (December 2011)   Post 2   Post 3   
• London, England (December 2011) 
• Paris and London December 2011

Side Trips from Munich - Dachau and Fussen

Continuing with the European adventures recap, today's post includes my favorite stop, Fussen and the King's Castles, and the most important stop, Dachau Concentration Camp.

Fussen and the King's Castles

We went to Fussen, the small town below the King's Castles, on our second full day in Germany. We woke up at 3:30 in the morning (!!!) to catch a few trains, and we arrived in Fussen around 7 am. Trust me, I wondered multiple times whether this ridiculous time table would be worth it, but of course I ended up loving every moment in Fussen and exploring the King's Castles.

(For this trip, we skipped the giant camera because we knew we would be walking a lot and opted for our camera phones. All photos were taken on the Samsung Galaxy 4; if I do say so myself, they turned out spectacularly! This camera phone is by far the best I've ever had!)

We chose to go to Hohenschwangau and Neuschwanstein after we read about them and learned that Walt Disney had based his own castles (Sleeping Beauty's Castle, for example) on these historic palaces. The pictures looked lovely, so we made the trip, and we loved the whole day. 

Since we arrived so early (we had reservations at the castles at 9 am and only really had one option for our arrival time), we decided to follow Rick Steves' Fussen Walk. The tiny town was eerily quiet (I mentioned to Terry that I felt like Harry and Hermione when they visit Godric's Hollow on Christmas Eve in the seventh book) and barely waking up, so we tiptoed and whispered, which made the whole experience more fun. I thought Fussen was adorable and made me feel like I was in a quintessential Bavarian town. Small churches, winding cobblestone roads, colorful buildings, tiny bakeries, crooked houses. I told Terry I wished we had opted to spend a night or two there (though that idea may have been motivated by the fact that sleeping in Fussen would have eliminated a need for the 3:30 wake up call). We finished the lovely walk and grabbed a few pastries before heading up to the castles.

And then we encountered one of our famous adventures. Thankfully, Terry and I have a pretty good sense of humor when things go wrong on our vacations (after all, it's vacation, so the problems aren't usually that big of a deal), and whenever we find ourselves lost, confused, or in an uncomfortable situation, we try to find a way to laugh about it. From Fussen, Rick Steves told us we would have a two mile walk to get to the castles, so we left with 35 minutes to spare. (There is also a bus, but we thought the walk would be fun. Ah, famous last words.) We were about half a mile in when we saw a sign suggesting that it would take us 35 more minutes to walk to the castles, and that the distance from that point was still 5 km. WHAT?! We practically sprinted the rest of the way, trying to laugh and hoping our reservation wouldn't be canceled if we were late. 

Thankfully, we made it to the ticket booth only a few minutes late and still got our tickets. And then we were able to relax and enjoy the rest of the chilly day at the awesome castles.

Hohenschwangau (High Land of the Swans--there are swans in the adjacent lake) Castle and Neuschwanstein Castle were fun to explore and particularly beautiful nestled among the trees and mountains above Fussen. We bought tickets to take a guided tour, but I was unsure whether I thought it was worth it to pay. The tickets were fairly expensive, and the tour groups were really big (at least 30 people per group). We only saw about four rooms in each castle, and while the information was interesting, I'm still not sure it was interesting enough to warrant the price of the tour. (Without a ticket, you can still walk around the exterior of both castles and see the most beautiful parts of the whole experience. Photos are not allowed inside.)

Hohenschwangau 

Neuschwanstein 

My favorite part of the day was just walking around. We walked for miles and miles as we explored Fussen, meandered around the castles, crossed the high bridge over the mountains (I was terrified), and hiked an off-the-beaten-path trail that made us wonder if we had gotten ourselves lost. The scenery was peaceful and breathtaking, and there were dozens of other hiking options that we didn't have time for. If we got back to the Bavarian region in the future, I really hope to spend a night or two in the town of Fussen and do more hiking. 

 At the end of the day, we walked back down to Fussen and grabbed a snack, happy to see that the town had woken up and become a busy center for shopping, eating, and socializing among locals. This day was a contender for one of my favorite days of the entire trip.

Dachau Concentration Camp

Since we knew we would be going to Germany, we made sure to plan a half-day visit to Dachau, the first concentration camp established during the Nazi regime. We took a short train and then a bus to get there (very inexpensive), and the camp itself was free for walking around.

I was a little apprehensive about our trip to Dachau, but we knew going to a camp was important. I found that the exhibits at Dachau were extremely well done and balanced in such a way that I came out feeling more educated, humbled by the prisoners' strength and perseverance, and awed at both the tragedy and the outcome, and the information was presented in a way I could handle.

The main part of the camp is a huge museum with photos, historical timelines, information as to how Dachau began and played a role in the Nazi regime, and detailed accounts of how the camp was run. There are profiles of specific prisoners, which makes the experience more tangible, and it was heartbreaking to see photos of the prisoners before they left for the camp living such normal, happy lives.

Many people died at Dachau, but its gas chambers were not used for mass killings; they were more likely experimental at that stage. But many, many prisoners stayed at Dachau before being shipped east to Auschwitz. Of course, the living conditions were absolutely horrid; the prison was built to house 6,000 people and at one point contained more than 70,000 prisoners. People were starving, dying of diseases, and tortured regularly.

We learned a great deal from the informative posters and exhibits throughout the museum, and we were also able to see a bunker, the barracks, the gas chambers, and the crematorium. The grounds were quiet and now have a few memorial works of art to commemorate those who were imprisoned or died at Dachau.

The entire tour (on our own, though guided tours are available and seemed like they might be a good investment to hear more of an overview instead of reading each poster) took us about two hours, plus an hour of travel each way. It was absolutely worth the half day trip, and I certainly recommend visiting a concentration camp if you have the opportunity. My parents visited Terezin, a side trip from Prague, and also said it was a valuable experience.

The side trips from Munich, though very different from each other, really rounded out our experience. With more time, we would have liked to see Nuremburg, about an hour away from the city center and the location of the famous trials after World War II. Next time!

One last trip recap coming up: Prague!

Munich, Germany

We’re back home! We arrived in LA on Saturday afternoon after a long day of travel, and we took two nights to get back on California time. A certain someone is especially happy to have us back, and I admit I was pretty desperate to get home to him, too.

After Salzburg, Terry and I said so long, farewell to my parents and hopped on a train for only two hours to get to Munich. I’ll split this post into two parts: Munich & Oktoberfest (this post) and Side Trips from Munich (tomorrow’s post).

We spent four nights at our Munich hotel. Thanks to Oktoberfest, we had a choice between outrageously priced hotels near the city center or reasonably priced ones a little farther out. We opted for the latter, and it really didn’t affect our trip too much. We stayed at Suite Novotel Munchen and found a very modern, spacious room awaiting us. We also stayed at a Novotel in London in 2011, so we weren’t surprised to find many of the same amenities: a workout room, a restaurant, a bar in the lobby, snacks and drinks, 24-hour front desk service, room service, an ironing room (?), and a big room. I was thrilled to find a bathtub, too, and I used it every single night. Again, I would recommend this hotel if you don’t mind being a little away from the city center. Including the ten-minute walk to the metro station (U Bahn), it took about 20 to 25 minutes to get to the heart of Munich each day (and usually we could find a direct train there and back). 

After we dropped off our bags at the hotel, we headed back out for our first afternoon and evening in Munich. Marienplatz, the city center (“platz” means “square”) was stunning. The buildings look gothic and creepy and reminded me of a medieval town. We grabbed sausages and beer at an outdoor vendor for a quick snack, and I think it was one of my favorite foods over the entire vacation. Simple but delicious! By the way, the most common ketchup in Munich is actually a curry ketchup. I wasn’t a big fan, but it’s what the locals prefer.

We spent the afternoon walking around, guided by another Rick Steves walk. The weather felt much colder than Salzburg, but we bundled up and kept moving. Unfortunately, Sunday evening turned out to be a terrible time to walk around downtown Munich because the city was pretty quiet and several of the sights were closed. But it was a great orientation tour, and we saw plenty of churches, boulevards, and historical sites.

Throughout our time in Munich, we noticed a lot of construction. In Salzburg, our tour guide had mentioned that Salzburg has two seasons: Winter and Construction. I guess it’s true in Munich, too, because at least half a dozen famous sites were partially shut down for refurbishment.

For dinner on our first night, we found seats at the famous Hofbrauhaus, a huge beer hall with multiple stories of places to eat and drink. It was an excellent warm up for the beer tents at Oktoberfest and far less rowdy than I expected. The atmosphere fulfilled every other expectation, though: live traditional music, giant beer steins, strangers becoming friends, tiny waitresses carrying about a dozen full beer steins, huge pretzels, and loud singing (we learned the words later that night, but we lip-synched and pretended to know what we were saying). I absolutely recommend Hofbrauhaus, but if you can’t make it all the way to Germany, there’s a replica in Las Vegas that apparently does a good job of getting the atmosphere right.

The next day, Terry and I slept in a little and bundled up for a long day. We started in Marienplatz again and rented bikes from Mike’s Bikes. An American and a Canadian greeted us, took our payment (17 Euros for two hours for both of us), and kept an ID as a deposit, and we were off! We focused on the English Gardens, a sprawling park that really is best to see on bike because it would take multiple days to see it all on foot. Even on bikes, we didn’t see everything! But it was a beautiful (if freezing—I wish I’d had gloves) ride, and we loved all the lakes, trees, peaceful paths, locals, tourists, and surfers (!). I actually felt really proud of myself and grateful to my adventurous husband during this part of our trip. I normally play it very safe and more often than not chicken out of trying new things. But Terry convinced me to rent a bike, and I couldn’t have been more nervous. You know how, in reference to something you’ll never forget how to do, they say, “It’s like riding a bike!”? Yeah, well, apparently for me, riding a bike is something I need a little refresher on before I can actually remember how it goes. I don’t even know the last time I rode a real bike before this trip, and I was ridiculously wobbly and terrified as I rode for the first twenty minutes or so. I even made Terry let me walk until we were at the gardens so I could avoid swerving into traffic. But I finally figured out what I was doing and got the hang of it, and thankfully the majority of the ride was a blast. Riding through the English Gardens was actually one of my favorite parts of the entire Europe trip!

And then we headed to Oktoberfest. As you may have read, I was more than a little apprehensive about how it would go, but thankfully we didn’t have to deal with any more obnoxious people. Still, Oktoberfest was INSANE.

I knew there were big tents, and I knew there would be beer and food, but I wasn’t sure what else to expect. Turns out, Oktoberfest is a huge fair on steroids: rollercoasters, family zones, fair games, food vendors, a gigantic Ferris wheel, souvenir booths, and more.

And then there were the beer tents. Germany’s biggest brewers each host a tent (or two or three) and fill them with hundreds of tables and long benches, which are then all filled with people. Every bench, completely full, all the time. The tents obviously only serve their own beer, but there are some varieties (ale, lager, wheat, dark, even alcohol-free). And each tent also has a specialty food. The tent we successfully squeezed into, Spaten, was the ox tent. They kept a running total of how many oxen had been consumed.

We sat with a nice German couple, an Irishman, and two Brits that day. They graciously explained some of the words we didn’t know and helped out with some traditions we didn’t understand. But once we finished lunch and our first giant beer, we wanted to walk around—little did we know that move meant we wouldn’t find another seat for the rest of our time at Oktoberfest.

Still, while we were there we got to try a lot of different beers and traditional foods, and we got a good sense of what Oktoberfest is all about. Unfortunately, our second visit (a different day) was far more crowded and turned out to be overwhelming. We ducked into a few tents but never found a seat, and it became draining to walk around with so many people without finding a place to even stand and enjoy some food or drink. So that second trip didn’t last too long.

We did really enjoy walking around Oktoberfest and people-watching, trying foods, buying souvenirs, taking tons of pictures. It was a blast, another favorite part of our trip, again despite the cold. We found another outdoor biergarten (we were able to find space because it was so cold out) and enjoyed another beer plus chicken and a pretzel for dinner. Talk about delicious!

Other restaurants we tried in Munich:

Ayinger Wursthaus, a smaller brew house across from Hofbrauhaus. It was decent but nothing special. They did have a salad, which we gratefully devoured, since we hadn’t eaten many fruits or vegetables yet in Europe.

Haxnbauer, famous for their pork knuckle. We got to sit right next to the butcher (post-cooking), which was fun to watch. And the pork knuckle really was delicious.

Bakeries, which are abundant and excellent. The entire Bavarian region has incredible pastries!

The next two days in Munich were side trips, and I’ll write about those in my next post. Overall, we really liked Munich, and Terry said it’s definitely in his top favorite European cities now. I felt very comfortable and safe in Munich, and we liked the variety in beer and the sheer amount of things to do. I feel like we could have spent a week there and kept busy the entire time. 

We're still recovering from our jet lag, so I'm off to bed! Back tomorrow with Munich side trips!

Salzburg, Austria

[I wrote this post several days ago, but our Internet was super spotty in Salzburg and Munich. I tried to post with photos, but I became so frustrated with how long it took (and didn't want to spend all of my time in Europe uploading photos) that I eventually just quit. Now we're in Prague, and I'll continue writing updates, but some may need to wait until we're back in the US.]

I’m writing from a train on the way from Salzburg to Munich. Talk about an interesting and uniquely European experience! When our train arrived at the station, half a dozen men, some in lederhosen, spilled out the doors to smoke a cigarette before the next leg of the trip. They were obviously—and obnoxiously—drunk, singing songs, chanting, yelling, laughing, completely oblivious to everyone around them. Terry pushed past with our huge bags and managed to find a spot for our luggage in the overhead racks, but then we were greeted by another dozen or so men, also mostly in lederhosen, also completely wasted. They were all singing “Wonderwall” as we walked past them, and I noticed the empty Jaegermeister bottles strewn all over the place.

Suddenly, I’m feeling a little less excited and a lot more apprehensive about Oktoberfest! When we sat down, I said to Terry, “All I can think is why did we decide to come to Munich during Oktoberfest?” It seems like an awful idea. Then again, hopefully once we arrive and get into the tents (and down a liter of beer?) we’ll feel more part of the atmosphere and less overwhelmed by the obnoxious drunkards.

Anyway, I’m here to recap about Salzburg, not fret about Oktoberfest (talk about first world problems). We all loved Salzburg, and I liked it better than Luzern.

Salzburg is famous for its people (among them, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart), for its music (The Sound of Music is based on a true story and takes place in Salzburg, plus many of the scenes were filmed there, and the Salzburg Music Festival lasts all summer), and for its salt (salz means “salt”). We only had one weekend (one full day plus two nights), so it was a quick trip, but we felt we took advantage of the highlights of this small city in that short time.

We arrived to Salzburg after a stunning train ride from Luzern,Switzerland. I had been looking forward to this specific part of the trip for weeks, and it absolutely surpassed my expectations. I must have been staring out the window for four of the five hours we were on the train because I could not believe how gorgeous the views were. I wish I could describe how beautiful the hills, waterfalls, cliffs, mountains, clouds, villages, buildings, farms, and houses were, and my pictures certainly don’t do the sights justice, but hopefully you’ll have a chance to make the trip yourself someday. (I'll post these photos when I can access my phone photos--so technically I lied about writing only one post per city. Okay, I'm a liar. You caught me.)

We made it to Salzburg around four in the afternoon and found ourselves in pouring rain. Thankfully, we had already agreed to take a taxi to our hotel, which would have been a twenty-minute walk away. The ride only took a few uneventful minutes, but my dad decided to spice things up by leaving his backpack in the car and sprinting after it down the streets of Salzburg. While he ran, the front desk worker at the hotel (I believe it was Marianne, daughter of the owners) quickly started making phone calls to help locate his bag. I was immediately impressed by the customer service, even though my dad (thankfully) was able to stop the taxi and get his backpack.

The rest of check-in at Cityhotel Trumer Stube moved a lot smoother. Maybe Marianne checked our passports and sent us to our rooms; Terry and I were on the third floor and my parents were on the fourth. Both rooms were small, but ours was a little bigger, with room for a couch and a small desk in addition to the huge, comfortable bed (the pillows left much to be desired). The closet was small but good enough considering we didn’t need to hang much, but I was bummed at the lack of a dresser. As with our hotel in Luzern, we had to live out of our suitcases, but obviously we survived.

The hotel is dated and feels cramped, but it has character and provides excellent customer service. We were offered a continental breakfast for 7.50 Euros, which Terry and my dad opted to do the second morning. I joined but only had tea, and they didn’t charge me. They had a spread of croissants, cereals, yogurt, hard-boiled eggs, a few fruit options, salami, cheese, and bread, plus tea and coffee. I’d say it’s worth it if you’re tired of eating pastries for breakfast every day.

Our first order of business in Salzburg was Rick Steves’ self-guided walk around the Old Town, which was far superior to that in Luzern. Thankfully the rain had let up, and we saw all of Salzburg’s most iconic Old Town sites within about two hours and stretched our legs. It seems late September is a quieter time in Salzburg; throughout the weekend we never hit crazy crowds, even with the occasional tour group here and there.

My favorite stop along this walk was the Salzburg Cathedral (Salzburger Dom). I find myself drawn to big churches wherever we travel, and this one was as beautiful as some we saw in Italy (actually, Salzburg is known as the Italy north of the Alps, so much of its food and art reflects Italian influence). St. Peter’s Church (Stiftskirche St. Peter) was also stunning, along with the cemetery behind it. We also loved and ended up spending a lot of time on Getreidegasse, a busy street of shops with ornate signs.

For dinner, we ate at Saran Essbar (we tried the recommended St. Paul’s Stub’n Beer Garden but were promptly turned away because they were full—we weren’t sure whether to feel offended or whether restaurants prefer to send away customers rather than making them wait). Luckily, Saran Essbar was fantastic, and we all ordered Austrian specialties: schnitzel, sausage with sauerkraut, and goulash, plus an apple strudel. We also enjoyed some beer and wine with dinner and stopped at two more bars (Fridrich and Saiten Sprung, which were great but smoky and therefore difficult to enjoy) before calling it a night.

The next day, Terry and I took a walk to the train station to try to find a currency exchange (closed on Saturdays) and found an ATM instead, which Rick Steves actually says is better than a currency exchange for the rate. Then we met my parents at the hotel for our Bob’s Special Sound of Music tour!

The Sound of Music tour is absolutely a must if you like the movie. People warned me it would be cheesy, but I have to respectfully disagree. Our tour was in an eight-person van, much more enjoyable than the giant buses packed with dozens of people we saw along the way. We got to know our guide a little bit as well as the other four people in our group, and pictures only took a few minutes, which meant we got to cover more ground. The tour included:

• Start in Old Town or pick up at the hotel (they picked us up)
• Stop across the bridge for some scenic photos of Salzburg
• An extensive history of the real von Trapp family, the making of the film, and the scenes from the movie, all provided by our guide in excellent English
• Visit to the lake to see the building used as the back of the von Trapp house in the movie (lakeside)
• Stop at the small road where Julie Andrews sang “I Have Confidence”, plus the trees where the children hang off the branches, and the gazebo exterior (the interior had to be reconstructed on a movie set to be big enough for the “16 Going on 17” dance)
• A drive through the hills, which took my breath away and wouldn’t have been accessible on a bigger bus; we got to see small villages, gorgeous views of the Alps, and beautiful hills like those where Julie Andrews sang the opening scene of the movie
• A stop for a (optional) toboggan ride down one of those hills—so fun!
• Lunch (not included in the tour) at a small authentic Austrian restaurant high atop the hills, where Terry and I split the schnitzel and a pumpkin-apple strudel with homemade whipped cream
• A stop at the church where Maria and the Captain are married in the movie (not where they wed in real life, though)—and we actually got to see two wedding parties here! One wedding was just ending and the other was just beginning when we arrived. The town here was adorable.

I would only recommend this tour if you’ve seen and enjoyed the movie, but it showed us parts of Salzburg and Austrian culture we never would have seen or learned about otherwise. All four of us (eight of us, if you include our tour group) loved it and said we would recommend it to others. It was four hours total, including lunch, and we paid 40 Euros per person (Rick Steves book gets you 5 Euros off the normal price of 45).

We made it back from the tour around two in the afternoon and stopped at Universitatplatz, where a market fills the square every day but Sunday, and grabbed some sausages and a pretzel (giant by our standards but about the same in taste). Then we headed up the funicular (same as the one we took up to Mt. Pilatus in Luzern, but only about three minutes instead of 30) to get up to the top of the Hohensalzburg Fortress. It offered beautiful views and some interesting history, plus a huge array of exhibits. Some of the rooms provide English explanations, but those that don’t are less than thrilling for non-German speakers. On the way back down, we met a couple who had just gotten engaged on top of the fortress! They were adorable, and we told them we had just seen a lovely little church where they could get married.

Terry and I did a little shopping next and my parents stopped at the police (polizei) station (my parents were in law enforcement and try to visit police stations wherever they go; they give a police patch from their station and usually receive one in return). For dinner, we chose Biergarten die Weisse, an awesome place with spectacular beer and terrific food (and no smoke!), plus incredible service. We ended up staying for several hours and several beers. We had more Austrian cuisine, including the spinachtoken (sp?), a cheesy pasta-like dish similar to gnocchi, which I loved.

This morning, before leaving Salzburg, Terry and I took another long stroll around the city but focused on the New Town area (we followed Rick Steves’ Steingasse Stroll in his Salzburg book). We even found a stairway (mentioned but not elaborated upon in the book) that led to a Capuchin monastery after LOTS of stairs and also gave us some more gorgeous views of the city. Then we gathered our bags from the hotel and walked (almost all downhill, no rain) to the train station, stopping for a pastry along the way.

Salzburg was a lovely city, and we would definitely go back in the future. And now we’re off to Munich! Wish us luck at Oktoberfest…here’s hoping we make it out alive.

[Obviously, we survived, but it was quite an adventure! We'll see if I'm able to get Munich up tomorrow. Otherwise, see you back in the US!]