July 11, 2010

The day started out with breakfast in the courtyard of Linzergasse Salzburg Austria... the street is only cobblestone, no vehicles allowed except for shop owners. We headed for Mozart's home. Born in old Salzburg acrosse the river, soon they had more status and needed more room, so rented a large apt. house on the river in the new part of Salzburg. We were both amazed that Mozart, while very gifted in his youth... writing complete compositions at age 8, suffered through his life socially and politically. Also, he came from a very talented family, although Wolfgand was the genius. We then booked a tour of all the important sites, of the non-fiction story "The Sound of Music" based on the life of Maria von Trapp, a once committed nun at the Salzburg Abbey, who become the nanny and later the mother of the large von Trapp family. I never knew this was a true story. Our tour took us to the many sites and beautiful villages of Austria, including the serene mountain villages. Once of the most impressive was the village of Mondsee in an Alpine lake setting... married in the cathedral of St. Michaels. All I can say is "Wow".....this is the finest beauty of nature. While there we observed a drunken celebration of swiss finery in their liedehossen and driedels playing in the city fountain when one young man decided to come and throw me in as well. My husband had to intercede. It was a very hot day and although I wanted a cooler venue... I was thinking the AC on the bus would suit me well. Once arriving back we found suitable lodging in a bit more upscale hotel...yes, we had fans, running water and TV for the final game of the soccer World Cup. Lyle was delighted and I was exhausted. We both quickly crashed!!