Family Bonding (aka Who's In Charge Here?)

After departing Munich, we headed over to Salzburg (that's Austria, in case you were wondering). Now as beautiful as Salzburg is, and as much history as they have, we all know the most important thing about Salzburg is the fact that The Sound of Music was filmed and takes place there. But before taking a look around Salzburg, we crossed back into Germany briefly to see Berchtesgaden, another charming little German town. There was a bit of...hem hem...discussion about whether or not we'd found the city center, if we were going the right way, if we should continue walking, where we should eat...etc. A bit of...confusion as to who was the rightful navigator. Daddy was used to navigating on our old family trips, but I ask you, who had been navigating all over Europe for months now? Who had gotten the European map following down to an art? Who had, by the sweat of her own brow, trodden mile after weary mile with hardly a single directional mishap? I'll tell you this though...having more than one navigator doesn't work too well.

Here's just one of the lovely views of Berchtesgaden.
Erm...I don't know who they are. Really. The weirdos.
Mmmm. It was cold. We consoled ourselves with hot chocolate and cake.
Gah! Another sideways picture! Anyhoo, in the city center of Salzburg, among other things, they have a Mozart statue. So standing in front of it we see me looking quite pleased, Mozart looking quite smug, and Beethoven looking rather grumpy. So the earth is still as it should be.
Poor Little Lod. Now they're ganging up on me. Of course Daniel was all too happy to join in.
Mother loves cows. Really. So I just had to get her picture with this guy here. He was standing up in the Hohensalzburg (Salzburg Fortress), and he looked rather lonely. I told him if he was more social he might actually make some friends, but I'm telling he still hadn't moved from that spot by the time we left.
That's the city of Salzburg behind us. And quite a lovely city it is too.
Yes, we did go on a Sound of Music tour. Of course we did. It would be completely un-American not to. This was outside view of the von Trapp family mansion. They didn't actually film inside this place, but it is the facade from this side in the movie.
Guess which gazebo this is? It's actually been moved from its original location, but it is the gazebo from I Am Sixteen Going on Seventeen.
Aren't my parents cute? The tour took us outside of the city to see some of the other locations they filmed in.
This was the bridge in Salzburg that was featured in The Sound of Music when the kids are learning to sing. And does anyone think that Maria gets too much credit teaching those kids to sing? I have a suspicion they already knew how. They sounded too good right away...anyhoos...I think I freaked my Mother out a wee bit with this one. Actually, I know I did. It freaks my sister out too, but she was more prepared. My poor Mother... >:-D It's also the Mozart bridge, so it has two points of interest. It was sometime after this that I lost my hat. I don't exactly know when. But it was sad when I realized. And no, it didn't fall into the river! I can assure you I have everything under control when I do this. I'm safer than a cardboard box on the freeway.
On our last day in Salzburg, while Mother and Daddy walked around the city some more, the three of us went skiing in the Alps. Dont' I look spiffy? Actually, we all thought the skiing wasn't as good as it is in Utah, but the view was unbeatable.
Don't ask. Well, you can, but I honestly have no idea why they have a fake and faceless man hanging in front of a tree. It's a bit morbid if you ask me. But no one did.
Our goodbye dinner. We parted on December 30th, after a hearty meal. And of all the German food I tried, I have to say I'm in love with Spatzle and Spezi. Did I already mention this? Well, anyway, Spezi is a mixture of Coke and Orange soda, and Spatzle is made of egg noodles. Mmmm. Great, now I'm going to be craving it. And it's all your fault.
After our goodbyes, we boarded the metro that would take us straight to the airport. It was a little strange to be on our own again, but we were looking forward to seeing our friends in England and finishing up the trip. And I was looking forward to being the sole possessor of the map again.

Did ew know...?
Most Austrians haven't seen The Sound of Music, though they make plenty of money from it thanks to tourists.
Thank you for choosing Lod's Little Tidbits, and have nice day.