Today we began our trip to Salzburg, Austria, home of "The Sound of Music," Mozart, and some really good beer. The trip out was really beautiful...it was great to watch the landscape turn into the alps from the plains of Vienna. Our route took us directly north of the Alps and we could see them through the clouds on the left, and on the right were rolling hills that reminded me of Pennsylvania.

When we arrived in Salzburg, we were not in the main part of the city, but instead looking at it from the outskirts on a hill. At first look, I wasn't too impressed. It was cloudy and so we couldnt see the mountains, and the city looked bland and had ugly architecture. When we got into the city, however, I found that things were the opposite. Salzburg was the most beautiful place I've ever been. We stopped by our hostel where we grabbed lunch and checked into our McDonald's inspired rooms (They were completely yellow...sleep inducing, obviously). Lunch was just baked chicken and potatoes. It was soooo nice to have a homestyle meal!! I really havent gotten much of that since I've been cooking pasta for myself.

From the hostel we walked into the city and saw Mozart's apartments where he grew up once his family had attained some money. It sat right in the middle of town, and was connected to a dance studio for children who needed to learn the proper etiquette and dancing skills of the time. This museum was really informative! I learned a lot through the audio tour (all of this stuff is free, its awesome..IES pays for it, which means that technically I did, but you understand). I got to see MOZART'S piano. yessss. Well, one of them i guess. It was pretty neat to see all of his stuff. I didn't really have an appreciation for all that he was before I came here. After the museums and readings and studies of his works that I've done, I think he might have been one of the smartest people that ever lived. It also helps that he had a brilliant personality that is legendary in this city. One can't get through Vienna without seeing a little cardboard cutout of him holding a box of chocolates- the famous "Mozart Kugeln"...thats right. he invented chocolate. NOT. I actually have no idea why they are called that, but they are kind of like an Austrian buckeye--- a pistacio marzipan ball on a stick is dipped in chocolate and let dry, then the stick is removed and the hole is filled with chocolate... voila. Of course, only the real ones are made in Salzburg, but they are still really good, even Vienna's are imitations. Anyway, back to Mozart. The museum was really informative and had so many autographs of music and paintings and originals of things. That was pretty exciting to see, because its rare that you find a museum with real artifacts around here! There was also a movie that was a biography of his life...I could go into so much detail- I can't comprehend someone 3 years younger than Carolyn running around giving concerts to the highest officials of Europe. he could just sit down and improvise or entertain with something he had written, and still be a pretty amiable guy. Another really fascinating aspect of Mozart's life is the influence of his father, Leopold. He viewed Wolfgang as a miracle and really pushed him to greatness. He would not be remembered as the composer and musician that he was were it not for his father. It's pretty interesting that one's story is not complete without the other...it brings new definition to parenting i guess; Leopold was a father, teacher, friend, and concert planner. Thats a lot of roles to play!

Anyway, we later went to the house where Beethoven was born. What a trip! Each room was redone completely, as all the museums have been. This one, however, was really really artsy. The first was pictures and ticket stubs and basically a scrapbook of Mozart's life covering the walls. in the center of the room was a creepy baby with a neon light above its head and its eyes wide open. Weird. Once we got past that room, though I was okay with everything. There was a room with white walls and little bubbles that you could look through and see Mozart's stuff, for lack of a better term. There were 3 of his violins, a lot of locks of hair, his wallet (! i really liked that) also his tabacco box or something ...it was really neat to see his personal items. in that room there were weird blue birds hanging from the ceiling, flying in a v toward a door, to represent his music going out into the world (??) but that was tame compared to the upside down rooms, in which there was a relief of Salzburg hanging from the ceiling, and every picture was hung upside down to represent his relationship with the city. He saw Salzburg as a place that he really didn't belong because he thought that terrible music came from there and that Vienna was really the place to be. The next room was the most objectionable... It was all black and there were silver words painted on the walls that either were or described the characters he had created through operas. There were also two headless mannequins in operatic ball gowns that were positioned opening two well lit doors. They were kind of creepy too. Overall, it was really cool to see a museum with a bit more personality than just saying that a composer had lived there... so i saw it as an attempt to portray Mozart in relation to Salzburg as the world does not think of him.

We checked out a few of the sights in the city and ate dinner at a cute cafe where we drank the local beer...stiegl. It was pretty good...not what I'd pick first, but still pretty good for being brewed within half a mile of where we drank it!

The night ended early because we were kind of tired and had to find our way back to the hostel. It was also really chilly and we were ready to just go sleep. First, however, we went to the famous cake shop (so famous that i dont remember the name), where we were serenaded by two creepy old men who wanted to know if we knew Stephen Foster...yeah. so we left pretty quickly and then hung out at the hostel and watched the Netherlands kick France :) I'm really loving the Euro tournament that's going on!!

So it was a busy and tiring day, but Salzburg is a really nice place to be :) More tomorrow---We have so much on our itinerary!