August 16

It was raining pretty hard when we woke up today in Salzburg, so I bought a poncho at the front desk for our walking excursion around the city. I felt like an idiot in it, but at least I was dry. We walked to the main part of the city where all the touristy shops were located. One of the main shopping streets reminded me of Diagon Alley from the Harry Potter books because it was so small, but so full of people and colorful window displays. While walking around the city, I was entranced by all of the beautiful buildings and statues. It reminded me a little of Vienna, except it was smaller and more compacted. I love the way that the river ran right through the city because it allowed for the view of the beautiful mountains surrounding the city to be seen more clearly. I especially liked to look at the castle-like fortress that was built on the top of a hill in the middle of the city. The fortress was built in order to protect the city and to ward off any outsiders who had the idea to come and invade the city. At 2 pm, all of us met at the tour bus for our Sound of Music tour. All the girls were so excited and were singing the famous songs from the movie throughout the entire tour. A few of the places we visited were the famous gazebo, the locations of both buildings used for the Von Trapp family house, the tree-lined lane where Maria danced in the movie, and the church where Maria and the general got married. Even though it had nothing to do with the movie, my favorite part of the tour was when we stopped for a little mountain-luging, which is where you ride down a metal track on a mountain side while sitting on a little cart. It is a little like bobsledding, but without the ice chute. It was really fun and I hope that I get the chance to do it again sometime. At the end of the tour, we walked around some more and ended up eating dinner at a restaurant that Rick Steves had been to several times. All in all, the day was pretty great. I think that I like Salzburg a little more than Vienna right now because it is easier to get a feel for the whole city and the people seem to be a little less pushy and rude to Americans.
The German word of the day is zelten, which means “to camp”. “Ich gehe zelten” is “I’m going camping”. My German is not great, but I am trying. J