“The Hills are Alive with the Sound of Music!” <3

View Full Album

We set off bright and early on Saturday morning for a weekend excursion to Salzburg, Austria! Yay! It was also the first major outing Dad was able to take with us! We drove down to Salzburg without anything more interesting than several staus (traffic jams)… Checked into the hotel and then took off to tour the city!

Salzburg is surprisingly easy to navigate on foot… We started on the North side of the Salzburg River… It was about a mile walk from our  hotel to the markt-platz… We spent the afternoon exploring all the cites in the historic city centre… The Salzburg Cathedral and fountains, Mozarts Geburtshaus (Mozart’s birthplace), the shops along Getriedegasse (Slazburg’s main street), Schloss Mirabell and gardens, St. Peter’s Cemetery, and the imposing Festung Hohensalzburg (the largest medieval fortress left standing in Europe) that rises above the city in the distance.  Ever the American tourists, we also managed to track down several “Sound of Music” sites!

Without a doubt the highlight of walking around Salzburg was the view from Nonnberg Abbey… It took a little exploring through the tiny back-roads off the city centre to find the path to Nonnberg… We climbed no less than 10 flights of stairs to reach it, but oh was the view of the city worth it! From there we were able to walk through the Abbey and along a paved path in front of Festung Hohensalzburg which led back down to the city and St. Peters Cathedral… It was so peaceful and a great way to get away   from the touristy crowds for a little while… It also gave us a chance to really stop and appreciate the architecture and charm of the city from a distance…

We returned to our hotel in the heat of the afternoon… And after recharging with a nap, headed out to explore the northern side of the city… We found a wonderful Bier Garten for some German/Austrian food… Mom, Carolyn, and I decided to venture back to the Salzburg River to take a second look at the city by night (a must if you ever spend the night in Salzburg)… It was much cooler and most of the tourists had cleared out of the marktplatz, giving us a peaceful walk with some wonderful musical accompaniments from local flautists…

We woke early Sunday morning to slightly cloudy skies, but decided to go ahead with our plans to visit Hitler’s Eagle’s Nest… And thank goodness we did because the day turned out to be beautiful! We reached the Eagles Nest (located only 20 minutes south of Salzburg on the German-Austrian border) by a short bus-ride (amazing views of Austria!), a walk through an underground tunnel, and then a ride in the famous “glass elevator” to the top! Once at the peak we were free to walk around, snap photos, and climb even higher for those not afraid of the high-altitude and a little heavy breathing! :-) It was one of the more memorable things we’ve done since moving to Europe….

All in all our weekend in Salzburg was a complete success!… We all had a great time and I found the architecture, gardens, music, and art of Salzburg particularly memorable… Fingers crossed I’m planning to return to Austria with Jetta over Christmas! We’re planning to make it to Salzburg and Vienna! I’m sure that seeing the Austrian country-side covered in snow will be quite a cite!

With Love from Germany… ~Mary

Life From Inside the Fishbowl… ;-)

So this was a little too funny a story not to tell… So mom and I set off this morning to a Red Cross volunteers appreciation luncheon… We were looking pulled together, professional… Which for anyone who knows our rather crazy-hectic family, is a real feat… But we were definitely the perfect picture of the new-Garrison Commander’s wife and daughter that morning…

So we get to the building and realize we’re running a little late, so in a very non-Bird move Mom decides today is the one day in the history of of family that we’re going to take the elevator up the three flights of stairs that stand between us and the luncheon… So we step into a very competent and clean looking elevator with glass doors… All is fine and we might even make it to the lunch before the opening introductions…

Three flights up we go… And a sudden stop… Confused looks, followed by frantic pushing of every possible button before realizing that we aren’t getting out of this little glass box anytime soon… :-) The next 45 minutes proceeded rather hilariously with mom and I nearly in tears from laughing about our rather public predicament… It was yet another example chapter in a long list of awkward Bird family moments… We watched and awkwardly tried to avoid eye contact as person after curious person passed through the hallway of this rather busy building… They’d walk by, pause briefly, do a double-take, before running up and plastering their faces up against the elevator… And then let the questions ensue… “Have you tried pushing the button?!” {Well no… we hadn’t thought of that, but thanks… We’ll get right on that}… “Can you breath in there?” {Well we’re obviously still alive, so yeah we’re good for the moment…}… “Is it hot in there?” {Well since we’re being honest… Yeah, actually it’s getting a little warm… Thanks for asking}…

News spread quickly to the Red Cross banquet that the Commander’s wife and daughter were stuck in the elevator… And of course, no one can just take someone’s word for it… They all had to come see themselves (see above for the step-wise events that followed)… :-) We decided that since we had a working cell phone we would give Dad a heads up while we waited for the fire-department… And good thing!  Cause wouldn’t you know Dad was in a meeting with General Ward not 2 hours later when the General received a phone call from his wife… “Hey Carl… Did you know that your wife and daughter were stuck in an elevator earlier this morning??” Needless to say we were out of the elevator without too much hassle and only about 45 minutes of waiting…

When we moved onto Patch Barracks our new neighbors told us that as the Commander’s family we would be living in a “fishbowl” with every move and action scrutinized… Little did we know that something as simple as an elevator-ride could make “life inside the fishbowl” a reality… :-)

A Weekend in the Swiss Alps!

Its taken me a while to finally post our weekend of adventures in the Swiss Alps and at the “Passion of the Christ” play in Oberammergau… For starters, the scenery… Admittedly it, as always, took us a little longer to get there than expected… We went armed on our expedition to get last minute “Passion” tickets with every possible map-quest map possible… But lack of exit signs on the autobahn and, of course, the ever so handy ability to speak German managed to take us on a little more scenic tour of southern Germany than we had originally planned… I’ve learned very quickly that as a passenger seat navigator the one thing you want to avoid at all cost is missing your exit on the autobahn… Often exits are 20km apart with no place for one of my mom’s famous u -turns… So your in for a little extra ride if you aren’t paying attention…

Anyhow… The good part of our extended trip was that we got a   beautiful view of the German countryside and mounting Swiss Alps in the distance as we headed South that Saturday… Our ever-so-brilliant plan was to try to snag 4 of about 30-60 last minute tickets to the famous “Passion” play in the little village of Oberammergau. So we spent Saturday night in an the gorgeous town of Garmisch, just at the base of the tallest mountain in Germany, the Zugspitze (at 2,962m). Our little guesthouse was in the center of the quaint little shops and restaurants of Garmisch, so we had a fabulous dinner there before striking out exploring… As a side note, we quickly discovered that the Germans are VERY serious about their “no-dog-pooping” signs… we saw no less than 2 unique signs, such as this one! Ha! :-D With the breath- taking mountains as our backdrop… I mean really, take a look at the view from our room balcony!

The next morning we got up at the crack of dawn to head back up the road to Oberammergau… D rayton and Mom brilliantly managed to be the very first people in the box office line and we waited for no less than 4-5 hours until the last minute tickets went on-sale… Needless to say, Carolyn and I made quite a few friends while taking our turn in line… It was an interesting experience but well worth it because we managed to snag four tickets! And for way cheaper than the package deals that had sold out before we managed to grab one!

We spent the rest of the afternoon exploring Oberammergau before the passions play began… Mom wisely packed a picnic lunch and we shopped and, of course, found the gelato stand to keep us busy…

Now the Oberammergau play… the “Passions of the Christ” play is only performed every ten years by this little village. The play began in 1634 and has been performed once every ten years since then. Apparently, in the early 1600’s the village of Oberammergau, along  with surrounding villages were struck with the Black plague. Thousands were lost. The town elders gathered the town together and as a whole the entire town vowed that they would reproduce the story of the passion of Christ once a decade if only there village would be spared. Legend has it that not a single person died after that day. And even more surprisingly,  this little village has kept it’s promise ever since then. It is truly a community undertaking. The play is massive and at any one time there may be as many as a thousand actors on the beautifully massive stage. The play is only performed from May to October every ten years, thus making tickets nearly impossible to get. The gorgeous outdoor (sheltered for the audience) amphitheatre uses the Swiss Alps as the backdrop scenery. The theatre seats more than 4,000 people and plays 5 days a week… There wasn’t an empty seat in the place, so you do the math… Yup, that’s right… The “Passions” play reaches millions and visitors travel from all around the world to witness the incredible  legacy of this tiny village… And we got tickets! :-)

Words can’t describe the experience itself… It was long and in German but the music was to die for and the sheer magnitude of the play was what kept all of us in awe… From babies and young children, to donkeys, horses, and even a camel on stage! The crucifixion scene was definitely too much for words… Witnessing it in person on a stage truly brought the magnitude of the story to life. Definitely a once in a lifetime experience I recommend to all…

We were so happy Drayton got to be a part of seeing it with us… He headed back to the States for his annual week-long beach trip with Uncle Sam and the boys… And then he’s back off to VMI for his 3rd classman year… Carolyn and I have been enjoying a little more downtime and a little break from the constant traveling (not that it’s not exciting, but it sure is exhausting!)… Carolyn will start school at the end of the month, and I’ve got another month and a half in Germany before I head  to Oxford for the year…

Our next big adventure you may ask??… Salzburg, Austria this weekend! We’re going to go spend a long weekend with Dad exploring the hills, palaces, and cathedrals of Salzburg! I personally plan to run through a meadow with my yodeling hat singing “The hills are alive!!!” at the top of my lungs, but hey… That may not be everyone’s cup of tea… haha :-) I love me some “Sound of Music!”

More to come soon as our adventures this weekend unravel!

With Love from Germany… ~Mary Elizabeth