Monday April 20, 1998
Definitely the best day. I woke up feeling sick – I am not sure if it is a result of the lack of food, the cold weather at MSM, or staying up until 6 in the morning a few days ago – probably a combination of all three. The experience of today soon made me forget how I was feeling. We caught the morning train to Salzburg. The train stopped 1000 times before it got there, but it was so beautiful, I didn’t mind. We arrived around 12:30pm and made our way to the city center to catch the Sound of Music tour. The weather was absolutely perfect – clear and just right. We ate lunch at a restaurant next to the square where the tour started. Another fine meal of Wienerschnitzelin a cozy atmosphere.
At 2pm we boarded the Sound of Music Tour. We toured some of the sites used in the filming of the classic movie musical – all to the rousing music of the movie soundtrack and a CD of the real Von Trapp Family. We saw many of the sites where they filmed the movie including the Von Trapp house and the monastery – and we even caught a glimpse of the mountain where Julie Andrews spun around during the title sequence – apparently boozed up on Brandy or Scotch to keep warm (according to our tour director). Another thing we did was ride the crazy Luge out in the alps. Basically a little cart on a smooth metal track. The scenery was outstanding. Clear blue lakes framed by rugged alpine peaks.
Mondsee had by far the best scenery (it is the home of the church used in the wedding scene of the movie). St Wolfgang was a close second. The tour was different than what I expected, but still a highlight of the trip. By the time we started back to Munich, I really started to feel sick. When we got back, Mom and Gary headed off to a mini-Oktoberfest, while Wesley and I headed to an Internet Café. I felt the need to be plugged in to the ‘net and hoped it would make me feel better. After some excessive wandering around, we found it. We had to wait about 20 minutes for a table, but man did the internet feel good. I e-mailed Matt and actually ‘talked’ via e-mail to him. I also e-mailed Cooper and Roger. I was feeling better as we hit the hotel, but I still had a tickle in the back of my throat.
