Some sing-alongs, some sun, and some star-spangled fun

Sorry for the bad rhyme in the title. I was feeling less than inspired, but I managed to come up with something, at least....

There is nothing better than filling every minute of a weekend with exciting sights and activities. There is nothing better than the feeling that if you try to take in one bit more of information from an audio guide, your brain might explode. There is nothing better than driving through the hills of Austria, singing Do-Re-Mi. There is nothing better than hot dogs and patriotic sing-a-longs on the 4th of July. (Well, maybe fireworks beats it by a little). But really, there is nothing better than having the last weekend of my 6 week stay spent at a little town called Salzburg, and a wonderful Sunday in Vienna.

Our first goal was to get on the right train and be on time. We were (kind of) successful. A little confused at first, and realizing that the Westbahnhof German-speaking workers were not much help, we finally found the right platform--headed to München and stopping in Salzburg. Who knew? Not us.

The train ride to Salzburg was very entertaining. We met a little girl named Vienna. Vienna had no front teeth, big blue eyes, and thin blond hair pinned neatly back with a headband. She whistled to herself as she played her Leapstart handheld game, and told us all about the imaginary lands she was creating in her drawing notebook. She had just finished kindergarten, and 2 months in school in Vienna, even though her hometown was in Toronto, Canada. Vienna and her parents didn't reserve seats like we did on the train, so Emily and I scooched over and had tiny little Vienna sit with us, so her Mom could sit down opposite us instead of standing for 2 and a half hours! Vienna's mom was very kind to us and conversed with us and asked us questions the entire ride! Apparently, this woman grew up in Wien, moved to Toronto, and at some point in her life, she was part of a band with her husband and toured around lots of places. She sent Vienna to school in Wien to help her with learning German better, a language that is very important to her and her family! Sounded familiar to me! She was interesting, and I enjoyed watching her interact with Vienna. I could tell she was a great parent by the way she was with her, but also with the way Vienna behaved! Vienna showed us her talents a little while after I asked her if she liked to be onstage. She stretched her feet by getting up and putting on a little dancing and singing show for us in the aisle of the train. She belted out clearly and perfectly on pitch songs such as "You're never fully dressed without a smile," "I can do that," and "Broadway Baby!" I loved her so much, as you can probably imagine, and wanted to take her with me.

Salzburg was busy and beautiful. We allowed ourselves to be as touristy as possible, so we went to the Mozart museums and we took the famous Sound of Music tour to see the Gazebo, the Mirabell Gardens and the lake, among other things. Since I had taken this tour with my family in 2006, I had a little different view on things. I had a moment where I realized that when I toured Europe in 2006 and relied on everyone else to take care of where we were going and what we were doing, I surely did not appreciate it as much as I should have! Even at age 16, I wasn't mature enough to really know just how much my parents did for me while we visiting Salzburg, Innsbruck, Zürich and Wien. I didn't have the same musical and general knowledge and appreciation for art and history, which I feel has been so necessary to making my experience in Vienna and Salzburg all the richer. I did appreciate it before, I know I did, but not in the same way, and I really can't remember if I thanked my parents just as much as I should have. We saw so much while we were here!

We lucked out with an amazing youth hostel in a great location (which I found, and booked ;)), and we were lucky to be able to see Mozarts' living houses, eat great food, see the Sound of Music tour, and tour the Hochberg Fortress on the mountain side in Salzburg. We were exhausted by the end, and slept soundly. We were lucky with amazing bright sunny weather, although some of the girls got a little sunburnt, even in the short amounts of time when we hopped off the air-conditioned Sound of Music bus. I also got lucky, and got pooped on for the first time ever by a pigeon in the train station! Luckily, not on my hair or clothes, just on my skin--and I managed to stay calm. Lucky Ducky! As Suzie would say, "I got spitted on."

Tonight we had everyone from our program over here for dinner. Everyone was responsible for buying/making something for our 4th fest party. I made a delicious looking platter of Liptauer, Brie, Gouda, pretzels and crackers. We also had fresh veggies, grilled zucchini, watermelon, hot dogs, potato salad, and fruit shortcake and chocolate cookies for dessert! I have reached my eating capacity, I think! We were crazy and sang patriotic songs and flew an American flag from the fence around our terrace on the top floor. There are some in my group who are just crazy in love with America. Personally, I could live here forever. Claire asked everybody what we missed most about America, and I found it hard to think of any. I guess I miss people the most? My boyfriend, my family, my friends? Non-smoking areas? That's about it.

Trying to plan out the next 4 days is hard to think about. Now that it's 1 am, I better lay my head down for a few hours before trying to make the most out of my manic Monday....