Austria & "the sound of music".

Paul & I had an opportunity to visit Vienna, Austria (another awesome "good neighbor" trip). Vienna is the "home of the waltz" & was once the center of culture in Europe. We hit the ground running & never stopped - taking advantage of its close proximity to many great sites...

...like the "glorietta" at the beautiful gardens of the Schonbrunn Palace (Home to Napoleon's mother-in-law's place).

We took the train for a day trip into Budapest, Hungary. I learned that Buda & Pest were actually two cities at one time, divided by the Danube River; Buda is on the upper side of the river & Pest on the lower side.

Budapest is now considered one city. Here we are on the "Buda" side - you can see "Pest" on the other side of the Danube.

The Danube River is NOT "blue" like the famous waltz suggests - it is merky, but I still had to stick my toes in the slimey water.

We took another day trip by bus into Salzburg, the home of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart & the famous Von Trapp Family from The Sound of Music. Our tour guide actually played the movie on our drive to the city, pointing out all the sites that we would see - absolutely beautiful country side. Here we are at the fountain at Mirabelle Palace...

... & the famous steps that the Von Trapp family were hopping up & down while singing Do Re Mi. (Yes, that is a wedding in the back ground - I guess the photographer will have to photoshop all the tourists out.)

They had these huge pretzels that were delicious...

Salzburg is on the banks of the Salzach River, with an old fortress up on the hill overlooking the entire area.

We took another day trip into Prague,Czech Republic. It was pouring rain, but it was still fun to be in such an exciting city.

I loved all the shops - especially all the handmade marionettes.

Of course I have to visit every Hard Rock Cafe that we come across - Rock & Roll is such a universal phenomenon that seems to bring the world together... "We are the world, we are the children." Oh, MJ...

I was drenched at the end of the day so Paul bought me a dry sweatshirt for the long ride back to Vienna so I would be comfortable...Czech me out!

Yes, we did see all the sites in Vienna, including the Hofburg Imperial Palace, a couple of museums, & the famous statue of Johann Sebastian Strauss in the Stadtpark.

We even ate "wiener schnitzel" which I learned was not a hot dog type of sausage...it is a battered & deep fried meat (typically pork). If you order "schnitzel with noodles" in Austria, they will know you are American - these are Not a few of the Austrians' favorite things, they never eat them together!

One of my favorite things we did in Vienna was to attend a concert; Strauss, Mozart & Hayden composed many great waltzes & operas & even ballets. We had a sampling of these masters at the Kursalon Theater. It was a wonderful evening (though this photo of me isn't so wonderful). The concert was a perfect way to end such a fabulous trip!