The Hills Are Alive

We were slummin' it in Salzburg, as we were booked into a hostel, but the hostel wasn't too bad and its  always nice to have access to a kitchen. We arrived July 29 and got settled. It was raining so we weren't tempted to go outside.

July 30, it was still raining, pouring actually, but we decided to brave the weather for a few hours for a quick tour of the city.

Salzburg is very beautiful... even in the rain.

We were just wandering around and we came across this:

Anybody recognize it? If you don't, you need to watch the Sound of Music again. It is the fountain and gates that they dance around when Fraulein Maria takes the Von Trapp kids into the city. 

As we were visiting these gardens we saw a group of girls singing 'Do, Re, Mi' from the Sound of Music and dancing around a fountain. When I saw 2 members (a mother and daughter) from the song and dance crew a few minutes later I complimented them on their song and dance and they informed us that they were a team in a race (kind of like the Amazing Race but low key) and that they gathered all the other people to dance and sing with them for part of their competition, but did it around the wrong fountain, so they needed more volunteers to sing and dance around the proper Sound of Music fountain. They asked Andrew and I and we couldn't say no (trust me, I tried) so we sang and danced around the Pegasus Fountain. Unfortunately... the video has been posted on youtube... Andrew looks like he is pregnant because the camera bag is underneath his jacket, and I am mostly hidden behind the dancing daughter (thank god).

Here is the link: http://www.youtube.com/momdot2310#p/u/4/4uURiXsRvYQ

I think Andrew might be retarded.

We didn't get to see too much of the city because it was really pouring out. We decided to head back to the hostel after a few hours.

July 31 we decided we were going to go to Hellbrunn (just outside of Salzburg) to see the Hellbrunn Castle. This castle is known for its 'trick fountains'. I think it is better known for having the glass pavilion (where Liesl and Rolfe sing 'Sixteen Going On Seventeen') from the Sound of Music in its gardens. 

Getting to the Castle was a huge event. We decided that since it was a beautiful day and because we hate waiting for buses, we were going to walk. It was quite a walk, at least 6 km to get to the Castle, but we were always surrounded by beautiful scenery. 

Here is the famous glass pavilion. It was locked so I couldn't run around on the benches like Liesl did.

Here is a 'trick fountain'. At this one, the owner of the castle would invite guests over and eat dinner at this table. Sometime during or after the meal he would turn the fountain on and a stream of water would be squirted up the middle of all of the seats except his, which is at the head of the table.

August 1, we went to Werfen to see the largest ice caves in the world. 

We were really tired of walking from the day before so we opted to use public transit to get from the train station to the top of the mountain. THANK GOD!! It would have taken months for us to make it up to the top. This picture was taken from our gondola.

The hole is the entrance to the ice cave.

View from the inside of the cave.

The ice cave was amazing. We weren't allowed to take pictures inside the cave but they were beautiful. We learned a lot of very interesting facts, most of which we have forgotten or will soon forget. The temperature inside the cave was close to 0, it was really nice to feel cold again. A lot of people got really cold during the 70 minute tour, include a little girl who was maybe 4 and crying before we even got into the caves because she was so cold. We were fine in our spring jackets.

On our way back to the hostel from the train station we walked through the Mirabell Gardens again (the Sound of Music Gardens). This time, it wasn't raining.

We had a busy couple of days in Salzburg but we are now in Vienna (and in a hotel again!) and although there aren't any Sound of Music sites I'm sure we will keep busy.

Brussels, London, Wimbledon and The Wimbledance

It has been a while since the last blog and we have been up to quite a bit. 

June 27 Andrew and I spent a night in Brussels. We didn't really do that much, just walked around the main square and of course watched some World Cup Soccer.

June 28 we caught the Eurostar (train through the Chunnel) from Brussels to London. Once we arrived we checked into our hostel, got some groceries, cooked dinner (it has been a long time since we had hot food!) and went for a stroll in Kensington Gardens.

June 29 we decided that we were really going to be tourists and see all the sights that we could possibly see because we anticipated spending most of the week watching tennis matches at Wimbledon Park. So we first went to Trafalgar Square,

then we went to Buckingham Palace to watch the changing of the guards (much better than in Monaco), 

had lunch at St. James' Park, 

went to Westminster Abbey, 

saw Big Ben, 

the Tower of London, 

Tower Bridge,

took a river boat to the London Eye, went back to the hostel for dinner and then back out to go to Hyde Park to read and play some crib. 

June 30 we had to get up early to make it to Wimbledon to stand in line for ground tickets. Just as we got our tickets and got on the grounds we turned to our left and I spotted Federer warming up for his match. Andrew and I were so excited to see him!

After our encounter with the Greatest player of all time, we went and setup our blanket on the Hill to watch the matches on the big screen. Andrew went wandering before the matches started and he ran into Nadal who was on his way to warm up for his match. 

So we had a great day at Wimbledon (even though Roger lost... he was injured). These guys below really helped make our day. They were 4 of them (one is missing from the picture, obviously). They were getting smashed watching the tennis matches, cheering for Andy Murray. They were all dressed in white tennis gear (which is mandatory for the players at Wimbledon). They were constantly standing up and doing this weird dance thing, which was really funny. They would point their hands out to either side above their head, and then pump them up and down. After the last match of the day we saw them and were about to walk right by them when Andrew said "Heyyyyy" and started to do their dance. This really got the guys excited and they wanted a picture of them and Andrew doing the dance. They called the dance the "Wimbledance", and were quite certain that it was "going to catch on next year". Hopefully we will see them again Sunday for the finals.

Yesterday (July 1, Canada Day), we went to the British Museum. Andrew really enjoyed looking at all the really old stuff, while I preferred to scout out benches and to admire from afar. The museum was really neat, I can't believe how much stuff the British stole (even though in the description of what the object is it usually said something about how the Brits "paid" for the article or saved it from being demolished, etc.). Then we spent the afternoon at the Camden Market. We were on the hunt for a few pieces of clothing... but left empty handed even though they had a thousand stores there!

Then last night we went to see Billy Elliot (I couldn't convince Andrew to see Grease or Dirty Dancing, both of which are playing in London). It was a really good musical and we really enjoyed ourselves.