Climb... Every... Fortress........

Today was another nice sunshine-y day in Salzburg! We started off with a frankfurter from a street vendor (Anna was craving one since last night). Then we headed off to Mozart´s residence museum that had a nice audio tour. The next stop of the day was the Toy Museum - it was cute.

Then, we started the trek up to the ´High Salzburg Fortress´ or Festung Hohensalzburg. It was a rather steep trip up, but we went slow and were careful not to tire ourselves and watched our footing. :) In the Fortress, we wandered around and to the Marionette Museum and a little audio tour up to the top of the tower where there were some lovely views.

We wandered back down a slightly different route and had a lovely dinner at a fancy but inexpensive little place. Now we are in for the evening!

Mark should be on his plane headed our way and we take a train to Stuttgart in the morning. More later!

Do, a deer... a female deer....

Today was our Sound of Music tour. It was another lovely day (although a bit chilly, we had sunshine) in and around Salzburg. Our tour guide was a jolly fellow who seemed to enjoy singing the songs as much as we did. We saw and learned about a lot of sights that were either used in filming or filming was modelled after (sketch artists came in after they got kicked out of various places they were trying to film). haha They were kicked out of filming in around one church after they put up Nazi flags on the outside without asking permission. ö We saw many sites and drove up to the beautiful Lakes District and took many pictures. We saw where the kids were in the trees while playing in their play clothes and the reconstructed gazebo and where Rolf threw stones at Liesl´s window and the back of the Von Trapp house and where the kids and Maria fell out of the boat into the water and many buildings. We´ll send out pictures later! We also ate a crisp apple strudel close to the church where the inside was used to film the wedding. And we got to sing through the whole soundtrack on the bus. :)

Then this afternoon we went back for the separate tour of the concert halls that included the site where the filming was done when the Von Trapps are singing together as a family just before their escape. This tour also included a couple other pretty opera and concert halls and Angela got to sing us a bit of opera in one to demonstrate the acoustics.

After that we wandered around the city some more and took an elevator up to the top of a cliff to see some nice views out over the city and a walk back down to the cemetary that inspired where they filmed when the Von Trapps were hiding behind the gravestones to escape the Nazis. The difference is there is no room behind the real ones, so they couldn´t have fit there.

Finally, we had a bit of dinner at an Italian place... I had some wonderful gnocchi (with broccoli for Anna) and now it is 7 and I think we are done for the day!! Time to go enjoy our fabulous hotel room.

The Hills are Nearly Alive!

Hi all! The trip is going great so far! Angela and I had a short time in London and a nice meal with friends and headed out early this morning for our flight to Salzburg, Austria. It was not crowded and on time and then we had a short taxi ride to our hotel where we were upgraded to the king suite! Our room wasn´t quite ready when we got here, so we took advantage of the beautiful sunny day and walked down by the river and shops to Mozart´s birthplace museum and then wandered back up through some more shops on the other side of the river after a bite to eat at a little restaurant.

We also went back through the Mirabell Gardens, where we recognized a few sites from the Sound of Music, although the gardens are in winter now and the movie was filmed during the summer.

When we got back to the hotel, our room was ready and wow, what a room! We did take pictures, but unfortunately, I didn´t bring my cord for transferring them, so pics will have to wait. The Haydn Suite has 4 rooms - bedroom, living room, main bathroom, and half bath! haha!! 3 of those rooms have a flatscreen tv... yes, there is a flat screen in the main bathroom! Angela is also excited about the robes that are provided. We popped in one of the provided Mozart cds to provide some lovely background music for our stay. Our hotel is also in an excellent location and is within walking distance of all the major sites.

Tomorrow, our Sound of Music tour starts at 9:30 am and lasts for 4 hours! We can´t wait!! We shall sing our hearts out!!

I'm JUST a Ruby.....

I have now arrived safely in NY. My husband told me to go to the 'Flagship Lounge' because it was for international flyers and had better food than the Admirals Club... so I walked quite a ways out of my way to the other Admirals Club location which looked like it had the Flagship Lounge with it. I went upstairs to check in and asked the lady if it was indeed the Flagship Lounge. She said 'I need to see your boarding pass.' I thought she had misunderstood me, so I repeated that I was just wondering if it was the Flagship... (as, I wasn't going to stay if it wasn't... since there was another Admirals Club much closer to my gate). She again repeated, while looking down her nose at me, 'I need to see your boarding pass.' So, I gave it to her... She punched a few things in her computer and said, 'You will be going to the Admirals Club since you are JUST in Business class and JUST a Ruby member.' I'm like... geez, lady... let's work on our customer service skills! So, I took my boarding pass back and turned around and left. Now I'm back in the Admirals Club close to my gate where they accept lowly Ruby members... Maybe when I am laying flat in my 'Next Generation' business class seat, I will feel like a worthy citizen again...

One Flight Down...

Hi all - Anna has made her short one hour flight from Austin to Dallas just fine and we are now in DFW waiting for the flight to NY. I'm rather excited about the 7 hr flight from NY to London, as I'm flying in the 'Next Generation' Business Class and I've never had business for an international flight. Click here if you'd like to take the tour of my next generation business class. heehee The seat reclines to a flat position and it shows this nice snuggly duvet they provide. I may wish I was on the 15 hr flight to Australia! Ok... maybe not... :D

Almost time for the Baby Moon!

Mark & I decided to spend some of his many airline miles to take a last big trip before the baby arrives. We decided on Austria & Germany (maybe a short drive to France & Switzerland) as our destination. My best friend, Angela, has next week off school and Mark actually has a conference in Austin, so I am going to meet Angela first and Mark will come later. So, I leave on Sunday!! YEA!! And I get to travel in business class! Whoo hoo!! Our itinerary is roughly as follows:

Sun, Feb 10 - Sarah leaves Texas
Mon, Feb 11 - Sarah arrives London
Tues, Feb 12 - Ang & Sarah to Salzburg, Austria
Wed, Feb 13 - Ang & Sarah take Sound of Music Tour
Thurs, Feb 14 - Ang & Sarah in Salzburg
Fri, Feb 15 - Ang & Sarah to Stuttgart, Germany to meet Mark
Sat, Feb 16 - Drive to Switzerland and back by Hohenzollern Castle
Sun, Feb 17 - Ang to London, Mark & Sarah around Stuttgart
Mon, Feb 18 - Wed, Feb 20 ... still deciding!
Thurs, Feb 21 - Mark & Sarah from Frankfurt to Texas

Ok, fine.... 5 months pregnant!

Since some readers requested it, I took a picture... this is me this morning, about 5 months pregnant. I think I look slightly deformed, but oh well. I was trying to pull the shirt tighter since I still am wearing mostly clothes that don't touch my tummy.