I finally have some
pictures! Hope you enjoy.
Bruce looking very
cold in Vienna
Stephansdom
Hofburg Palace (Part
of—it’s really big)
We left Vienna and traveled by train to Salzburg. What a beautiful
town. We booked a totally kitschy tour called the Sound of Music tour. It took
you all the places that were used in filming the movie. The best part of the
tour was that it was in a nice warm bus! The temperature continues to drop.
Trust us to visit Europe during a cold snap. While the filming locals within
the city are beautiful, we really enjoyed the trip up into the mountains where
they filmed the opening scenes and the wedding. This area is called the Lake
District and is stunningly beautiful. There was about a foot or so of snow. The
village looked exactly like what you would expect a small mountain village in
Austria to look like. It was simply charming. The church is even more beautiful
in person than in the movie.
We also were impressed with the town of Salzburg. I would
love to spend several days here (maybe in the spring or summer when it is
warmer)
View of the house used for the back of the Von Trapp family
home. The lake was completely frozen over and people were ice skating on it.
This is the lake that all the kids fell into from the boat.
I am Sixteen Going on Seventeen Gazebo
House that was used
as the front of the Von Trapp family home. The wall is where Maria walked down
singing, “I have Confidence”.
The Abbey
Pictures inside the
Church where the wedding was filmed.
Village of Monsie where the church is.
The next morning we woke up to find that it had snowed
through the night and was still snowing. Walking around in minus freezing
temperatures with more than a foot of new snow was challenging. We did tour the
Mozart museum before heading back to Munich.
Then came the only real glitch of our trip so far. The
trains had been delayed due to the storm. We knew we had left abundant time to
get our plane to Barcelona at 8:00, but we, (and by we I mean I) was starting
to worry a little bit. However, we were able to catch a 4:30 train. It was
packed with people standing up for the two and a half hour trip. We had seats
so I guess we were lucky. The flight to Barcelona was uneventful. We walked
around the area of our hotel and found a very fun little shopping area before
heading down to the port. It was wonderful to be in warmer weather, and by warmer I simply mean that we didn't freeze after ten minutes outside. It was still cold. My favorite
thing so far, is that they still have Christmas decorations up. I have decided
that I am really Spanish, and will embrace my native culture by leaving my
Christmas decorations up until after Three Kings Day (Jan. 6) OK. I know that I already do that, but now I
have an excuse.
Street by our Hotel with Christmas
Décor!
A music and cultural hall
in the area
Three kings and
Santa Claus hanging from a balcony.
We have been out of contact on the cruise. I am not sure why
cruise ships seem to lag behind the rest of the world when it comes to internet
access, but availability comes at too high of a cost for us at least. So to
catch everyone up, here are the cruise details and a few pictures. The weather
has still been cold. Barcelona and Palms are the only places where it has been
comfortable to walk outside for any length of time. I guess that’s what happens
when you cruise in the middle of winter. I just felt that Europe knew we were
coming and would have nicer weather for us. I know, a bit self-centered there.
God does have a sense of humor and always knows how to put me in my place.
It has been nice to just sit and relax on the ship without
making any connections or worrying about anything. We have a very nice room
with a private balcony that is too cold to sit out on, but we keep out drapes
open to see the sea. We spent a very pleasant day in Palma de Mallorca just
walking around the city seeing what we could find.
Street in Palma
Our Attempt in be
“cool” and take a selfie!
The next day was an “at sea” day. We played a few games of
trivia and found out that we are not as smart as we thought we were. However,
on the famous historical person identification quiz, we were one of the few who
got Teddy Roosevelt! Unfortunately, we
had no idea who Rasputin or the Duke of Wellington was. We also discovered that
there is another couple on board somewhere that speaks English. We just haven’t
found them yet.
Onward to Rome!
We decided to take a formal tour of Rome. Having just nine
hours in port did not seem like sufficient time for us to figure out
transportation and directions on our own. We were able to visit the Vatican to
tour St. Peter’s and also spent some time in the Vatican museums and the
Sistine Chapel. From there we had a bus tour of the city of Rome and walked
from the Musei Capitolini to the Colosseum. By then, it had started to rain, so we were
grateful to get back on the bus.
St. Peters
Vatican museums
changing of the Swiss Guard
Musei Capitolini area and the Colosseum
We then cruised to La Spezia. This is a lovely town in
northern Italy about 1 ½ hour drive from Florence. It has many stairs! We
decided to just stay in the town and climb them all. Not really, just a few of
them! At the top of the hill, is a lovely old castle of St. George.
We sailed on under rough seas to Savona. I am getting my sea
legs though, I only got sick twice. Savona has an amazing fort sitting along
the harbor. It is very well preserved and you could see the entire town and
surrounding port from there. It was easy to see why they chose to build the
fort there.
Next and last, we
stopped in Marseille, France. We had decided to book another tour here and head
up into the countryside of France, but sadly the tour was cancelled. So we
spent the day exploring the city. This was probably our least favorite stop on
the cruise. The city was not as clean and well-cared for. However, we did climb
up to the top of the mountain to see Notre Dame de la Garde. The guide books
call it a hill, but trust me, it is a mountain! The views, however, were
amazing. After our “little” hike, we were cold and exhausted, so we did not do
very much exploring—walked around the harbor which is huge and then headed back
to the ship. Haven’t got the pictures downloaded yet, so I will try to post
some later. You will just have to trust me on how impressive it is that we
climbed up instead of taking a bus.
We disembarked back in Barcelona and spent the afternoon
touring. I was surprised at how much I liked it. Barcelona does not seem like
the huge city it is. We saw Sagrada Familia and several other Gaudi creations.
But my favorite part of the city was the cemetery on the hill overlooking the
port. It began as a Jewish cemetery, but has grown to include others. The
afternoon sun hits the glass doors of the (I don’t know what you call them)
but they are the doors to the vaults built into the hillside and they seem to glow. There are also
many old crypts and monuments. It is a fascinating place, unlike anything I
have ever seen. I also enjoyed the Olympic sites. We had dinner at a small
place off the La Rambla. We didn’t get a
lot of pictures. I think we are starting to feel “toursited” out.
We headed back to Munich early the next day. It is -7
outside. We did a bit of walking around, visited an art museum, and had a
traditional German lunch. I am now sitting in the hotel room. It is too cold to
go outside and I gave my gloves to a homeless beggar this afternoon, so I
really have no desire to step outside. We leave tomorrow for Namibia. To be
honest, I am a bit jittery. I am looking forward to getting there and finally
seeing where we will be for a year. It has seemed like we have been talking
about this forever. Next post will come to you from Africa! Chow. Oh wait, I’m
back in Germany. I tell you I keep forgetting where we are, so it will have to
be just BYE!
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