Salzburg and the Sound of Music

We finished up a week of lecture with a social night last night.  We played a tournament of volleyball.  For some reason, I signed up to be on a team, even though I hadn't played in over 20 years.  I played with a few of the girls that I've come to know, along with a young man named Christoph.  They name our team the "Spikers," ironically.  I had a ball playing even though we didn't win the tournament. 

Salzburg

So today, I headed into Salzburg with several of the students on a trip that the school organized.  I had a chance to talk to one of the younger, very sweet girls on the bus trip and she asked me a question that really made me think about the response.  She asked me, "what do you wish that you knew at my age?"  Oh, boy.  But I was able to be honest with her and she seemed to really appreciate the insight. 

We arrived in Salzburg around 10am and a few of us headed up to see the castle.  The views from there were spectactular -- you could see over the entire city with the mountains and the river as the backdrop.  After this, we walked along the river and started to visit the locations where parts of the Sound of Music were filmed.  Several of us wanted to go on a guided tour for the Sound of Music, but the timing didn't work out, so we went around town to see some of the sights ourselves.  I think that the gardens were the most beautiful spot (almost made you want to sing 'doe a dear'), but we also saw the church pictured in the movie.  And I felt like I was on the set of the movie.  For the rest of the day, we walked around the narrow curved cobblestone streets.  There were tiny shops and cafes everywhere that we went.  At one point, we listened to a street performance with accordians and a couple dressed in traditional Austrian garb.  At that moment, I realized very distinctly, "I'm in Europe."

After a day of walking, my calfs are sore and we're all very tired.  But I can see why Eurpeans are so fit.  I can't wait to visit another city.