Weekend Shenanigans!

Linking up with Sami for the first time! Too bad there aren't too many shenanigans to report!

Friday: I had work and went to a co-worker's housewarming party.

Saturday: I went to the Winter Park Farmer's market, ran a few errands and caught up on Brothers and Sisters that I didn't get a chance to watch during the week. Then I met my parents at my church's Easter Vigil and rejoiced in the risen Lord :)

Sunday: I spent the night at my parent's house Saturday night because I had to be up early to go to church again (What can I say, I love Easter Mass). Then I added my FSU plates to my  new car (finally), helped cook Easter dinner, opened my easter basket, and watched Harry Potter. Then we ate our delicious thanksgiving feast and I vegged for a while at my parent's house. Then I got home and got ready for another week!

Definitely not too many shenanigans to report....

Bucket List: Sound of Music Tour in Salzburg, Austria

I could barely contain my excitement as we got closer to where we were meeting our bus!We wandered, mystified through the Mirabel gardens, which is where the filmed several scenes from the movie. My cousin Hannah and I tried to re-enact several scenes from the movie, running around the fountains, running through the hedges, jumping up and down the steps (there are outtakes of these shenanigans, but I think my aunt accidentally on purpose didn't post them on shutterfly) Then it was time for the tour! My sister did the tour earlier in the summer while she was in Austria, and my parents had also done it a few weeks before I got there, and we all ended up having the same tour guide, who used to live near Orlando, how strange! All 4 of us going on the tour, in 3 separate groups, in the same summer, and getting the same guy.

Let me back up to why I even cared about this. My mom grew up loving the movie as a child, and we owned it on VHS, so my sister and I watched it a lot when we were little, and my sister and I used to crack up at the part when Julie Andrew's is approaching the Von Trapp house for the first time, singing the "Confidence" song (which yes, I am listening to right now), and she stumbles and trips, then marches up to the house like nothing happened, which we thought was the most hilarious thing in the world. It's still pretty funny. (I tried finding a clip, but no luck :() So that is the backstory of the love of this movie, plus the music is awesome. I LOVE musicals (Oklahoma, Sound of Music and Wicked are my favorites, do not judge). So going on this tour was a dream come true. I went with my cousin and aunt (who also loves the movie, and cried several times, as I did). The songs that get me are Maria (my mom), Edelweiss, Climb Evry Mountain and The Lonely Goatherd, they always make me laugh and cry at the same time). My cousin and I were the only ones singing on this "interactive" tour, and we sounded awful because no one else was joining in, but we didn't care. The tour took us into the mountains to see some of the sites where things were filmed (gazebo, back of house, lake, church where she gets married, abbey scenes) They actually shot some of the scenes in the US, and ran into some SNAFU's while trying to film in Austria. It was so cool to listen to be listening to the music on this bus, in the middle of the Alps, going to visit these places where they filmed this movie. 

So I'm a dork, who cares! I loved it!

Yodel-eh-he-hoo! :)

Austria Germany RECAP--FINALLY!

Now that I am waaayyyyy overdue for this post (seriously, who waits this long), I can hardly remember all the things we did in Austria. I am currently listening to my Sound of Music soundtrack (yes, I own it and listen to it frequently, don't judge).

So as you  may remember from this post, I was having some stress during my time in Spain. The idea of meeting up with my aunt, uncle and other cousins was most welcome. We flew from Barcelona to Zurich, Switzerland, where we were picked up and motored toward the Austrian countryside. The moment we got in the car, I felt most of the stress of the past week melting away. My aunt, a meticulous, fantastic, well-prepared travel planner, had taken over our trip from there and I was so relieved. I felt like I could relax and truly "vacation" without stress. We wound ourselves into Austria and encountered truly breathtaking views. We stopped in Innsbruck, Austria to walk around. It is such a cute little ski town, with gorgeous houses, flowers spilling out of every window box, and a calm and peaceful feel. From there, we drove through tunnels and bridges and mountains, and finally arrived at our destination the Sheraton Schloss Fuschl, Salzburg, Austria. Words can't describe the beauty of this place. Nestled between mountains and a gorgeous lake, we arrived around dinner time, tired after a long day of traveling. I instantly felt refreshed and renewed. The air was so clean, cool and the views were breathtaking. We ended up a baller 2-story room with a balcony looking over the gorgeous, blue-green, glacier fed lake. We freshened up and located the hotel's casual osteria (casual dining). We ordered pasta carbonara and spaghetti bolognese pasta (you can't take the Italian out of us, even in Austria), and proceeded to stuff ourselves silly with food. It was so delicious, I can't even describe it. After pigging out beyond belief, we decided to take a swim (awesome to put on a bathing suit after inhaling pounds of pasta) in the indoor pool and various spa facilities. This ritual would further be referenced as the "Bloat and Float", which we proceeded to do every night we were there. There was a pool, hot tub, cold water  reflexology pools for your feet, experience showers that had hot and cold water shoot at you from various angles and at different speeds and strength, and there was a lot of shrieking from us (the loud Americans) as we "experienced" these showers. There was also a steam room, salt room, relaxation room with lounge chairs, a dry sauna and another foot pool. Running back and forth between the different amenities and avoiding the nudie euros (eek) trying to enjoy the experience, who probably wished we would go away and stop shrieking, made for quite the adventure. The next day we were up early for the gourmet breakfast buffet with every possible breakfast food you could think of. Yum. Then we ventured into old town Salzburg, wandered around the old squares in Salzburg, Mozart lived there and there are tributes to him all over town. Salzburg is a beautiful, old, European town, with beautiful buildings, a calm presence and a very European feel. It reminded me of a greener Florence, with lush mountains in the distance, and bridges over a peaceful river flowing through town. The water was a gorgeous icy blue-green color, apparently from all the salt (Salz=salt).  All of this old town exploring was leading up to one of my favorite parts of the trip: Going on the Sound of Music Tour!!!!