"I've Always Longed for Adventure, To Do the Things I've Never Dared"

Austria

Greetings from my current location, Paris, France! This blog post, however, is dedicated to my time in Austria! :)

Austrian Windmills

The first thing I remember seeing as we entered Austria were the giant windmills. They stood proudly on green fields, and although they’re much simpler than they used to be, I thought they were beautiful. I was looking forward to visiting Austria because I wanted to continue to speak German whenever I could!

 

Vienna

Stephansdom at night

When we checked into our hotel, there was a little heart shaped candy on my pillow that read “Herzlich Willkommen!” which means warm welcome. This simple gesture made me smile, and I took this as a sign that I was going to love Austria!  After checking into our hotel, we hopped on the metro and headed to Stephansplatz looking for dinner. Stephansplatz is one of the main centers in Vienna where Stephansdom (St. Stephen’s Cathedral) is located. Stephansdom is huge and was impressive lit up at night.

Hundertwasser Village

And now it’s story time: Here goes a great story that I will never forget. So, on my second day in Vienna I wanted to dress nicely hoping to go to the Opera in the evening. I put on a dress knowing there wasn’t time to change after our tour of the city, but I only had pumps to wear with the dress. I thought I might twist my ankle wearing them all day on cobblestones, so I Googled nearby shoe stores and actually found a cute pair of heels that looked supportive and were even on sale at a place called Humanic. Unfortunately I couldn’t find it before the tour and I didn’t have time to change clothes, so I wore my pumps. (The story continues in a bit….)

A view from the top of Stephansdom

On the tour we passed the big ferris wheel that I didn’t have time to ride :(, the ugly Nazi towers that literally can’t be destroyed, and we stopped at Hundertwasser Village, which is a cool set of houses with crazy lines and colors! It rained pretty hard during the majority of the tour. The tour ended in Stephansplatz, and there was a Humanic shoe store right in front of me! So I tried on the shoes I found online and they felt sturdy to walk in, so I bought them. (Story still continues….)

Katie, Lauren, and I climbed 343 steps up and 343 steps down Stephansdom’s South tower…in heels. The view from up there was great and it was a workout to get up there!

Inside the Vienna State Opera House

Next we toured the Vienna State Opera House. It was extravagant, elegant, and so grand! One of my favorite parts were when we went backstage and watched stagecrew set up the stage for Rossini’s Il Barbiere di Siviglia (The Barber of Seville). I also enjoyed sitting in the house surrounded by all the red velvet, gold, and ivory! The hall itself was actually smaller than I imagined, but the horseshoe shape was magnificent.

The lobby

Setting up for the show!

Standing backstage
(those are the shoes I keep refering to)

So happy to be there!

I told you it was bigger than the plate....

For dinner we headed to Figlmüller, which we had to make reservations for since the line was out the door the previous day. I got the most famous Pork Schnitzel in Vienna! It was bigger than the plate….no joke. But it was delicious. We had to eat it quickly though cause Kyle, Kristi and I were trying to get in line for standing room at the Opera.

See the gloves?

Now, this is where the story picks up. In order to get to the Opera House as fast as possible, I knew I couldn’t run or even walk briskly in heels. So, I decided to carry my shoes and wear the only thing I had left: my gloves. Luckily I have small feet so my gloves worked as shoes to protect them from the cold, wet ground. I had to laugh because I was probably the only person running around Vienna with gloves on my feet. But guess what? We made it into the line for standing room, got our 3 Euro balcony tickets, checked our coats, and got to the see Il Barbiere di Siviglia at the Vienna State Opera House! It was a comedy in Italian, translated on a bar reader above my head, and I enjoyed every minute of it! I even found a way to kneel and sit on the bar so I didn’t have to stand for over 3 hours, and it was an amazing experience. It is definitely one of my favorite things that I have done on my trip to Europe!

Tickets in hand

Coming back from the show, Kristi offered to give me a piggyback ride so I didn’t have to walk. Wearing new shoes for that many hours isn’t a good idea. Haha. Lesson learned. But at least I looked nice for the Opera, which was the goal for the day! As we were heading back to the hotel, it started to snow, and Kristi, Kyle and I started singing Edelweiss as the white flakes fell around us, completing our last evening in Vienna.

At the Opera with Kyle and Kristi

 Foods I enjoyed in Vienna:

            Sachertorte at Aidas

            Apfel Strudel

            Chicken-schnitzel cordon bleu

            Pork schnitzel at Figlmüllers 

Sachertorte

Apfel Strudel

Salzburg

On our way to Salzburg we stopped at Melk Abbey. It was beautiful, and Mass was going on inside. I enjoyed hearing the German songs and text lilt through the air inside a church with ornate gold details and paintings.

Melk Abbey

Snow in Salzburg

When we arrived in Salzburg, it was snowing and there was a light layer of snow covering the city. Almost everything was closed since it was Sunday, but some restaurants and souvenir shops were open. For lunch Katie and I ate at Saran Essbar, which Rick Steves ate at when he visited Salzburg. I got a dish with 3 types of Austrian sausages with sauerkraut and potatoes, and it was delicious.

Our Tour Bus

The following day we did the Sound of Music Tour! It was four hours of music, stories, sights, pictures and pure fun! We stopped by the lake where the boating scene was filmed, and learned a little bit about the filming process. We passed Hotel Bristol where they did the make-up for the movie, and Hotel Sacher where Julie Andrews stayed during filming.

Singing "Confidence"

 I also got to see Maria’s Nonnberg Abbey, the front of the Von Trapp home, and skip and sing down the same lane where part of "Confidence" was filmed, which is where today’s post title is from. I sang in the same spot that Julie Andrews did!!

Singing and dancing to "16 going on 17"

My favorite part of the day was getting to sing “16 going on 17” while dancing around the gazebo! Interesting fact: Liesel didn’t have rubber on her shoes originally and she slipped during filming causing her foot to go through the glass nearly tearing a tendon. Luckily she was ok, got bandaged, and continued filming with a smile, now with rubber on her shoes.

During the tour we sang every song from the Sound of Music, and I tried Austrian Lemonade! It was beautiful to drive through the snow covered Alps overlooking the city below!

Hanging out in the Alps

I also got to see St. Michael’s Church in Mondsee, which is where the wedding scene was filmed. I walked down the same isle as Julie Andrews!

St. Michael's Church

Inside where Julie Andrews walked

All featured in the Do Re Me scene, I pranced and sang in Mirabell Gardens around the Horse fountain, water fountain, dwarf statue, vine arch, fencing statues, the Mozart footbridge, and the famous steps where they end the song! It was a lot of fun to run around the gardens singing Do Re Mi with Katie!

Dwarf Statue in Do Re Mi

Fa, a long long way to run!

Fountain in Do Re Mi

Fencing statues in Do Re Mi

Horse fountain in Do Re Mi

Mozart Footbridge used in Do Re Mi

On the steps where Julie Andrews sang the high note in Do Re Mi

Although I didn’t get to tour it, I saw the Hellbrunn Castle which is a place that I learned about back in High school German class. It’s called Wasserspiele, which translates to water play. It has this name because the Archbishop of Salzburg at the time liked to play practical jokes on his guests and built trick water fountains all over the castle!

Riding on the Mine Train wearing miner's clothes

I took another 4 hour tour that day to a Salt Mine. Salzburg means “salt city” so I knew I had to see a salt mine. On our way we saw Hilter’s Eagle’s Nest perched on top of the mountain. Crossing into the Bavarian alps, we arrived at the Salt Mine. While visiting the mine we put on miners’ clothes, rode a mine train, slid down the miner’s slide, took the shaft elevator, and crossed the salt lake inside the mine by boat. I learned how the salt is formed and how they extract it from the mine. The experience was more like a Disney attraction rather than an informative tour, but it was still fun!

Hitler's Eagle's Nest

Going down the miner's slide

I have decided that Salzburg is one of my favorite cities so far! It is an enchanting place where charm and magic fill the air. Traveling in Salzburg was like living in a snowglobe. I hope I can return one day to experience the city when it is green and there won’t be any snow to prevent me from hiking the Alps.

Stay tuned for more posts and more countries! Thanks for reading!

Till next time!

-Courtney <3