silver white winters that melt into spring

The small villages out from the big cities are often the highlights you overlook in visiting somewhere new. As we drove to Salzburg, our guide was explaining to us the small villages in Austria and their culture. The country has spent mllions of dollars to put up blockades along the freeway to keep the noise and pollution out and to preserve the peaceful nature of their community. Most are closed to buses, meaning obviously they were not an option.

However, one by the name of Mondsee ("moon lake"), is an exception. With the snow in full force, we made a brief stop to walk into the village. There we were able to visit the church where Maria and Captain Von Trapp are married in the Sound of Music.

The altar area and the aisle directly preceding it were closed for renovation. Even so, the church was striking. It was smaller. Certainly not pretentious. The coral pinkish ceiling was not edged in gold or any other material to attract attention. Perhaps it was the simplicity that really caught my eye.

That and I will say that as a child, I loved the Sound of Music. Probably the two movies I loved the most were the Sound of Music and Annie. I wanted nothing more than to dress in the Austrian dress the children wore, sing with the Alps as my backdrop, or to dance in Liesel's place with her handsome admirer. I still remember singing the final song the children sing with my sister, playing all the roles. To see the sites, the area in Salzburg where they sang "Do-Rei-Me", I'll admit, was pretty cool. It made me feel eight all over again.

These are a few of my favorite things...

--

Lunch: Zipfer Bierhaus
Salzburg (Old Town Area)


Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile