Wednesday, March 07, 2007
The hills are alive!
Hey hey
So a few weeks back now I went to Austria to meet up with old school buddie and all round great mate Debra and two of her fellow teaching assistants for a short but sweet 3 day holiday. They had all come from France, but the main reason for Salzburg as our meeting point was to partake in the wonderful 'Sound of Music' tour, as this is where it was filmed! Now I realise some of you might find it hard to see the attraction here, and I feel very sorry for you.. hehe.. I know its not everyones cup of tea (from a copper kettle) but if you dig the movie this is truly the place to come!
But firstly, after all meeting up late on Monday evening and resisting the urge to talk and catch up all night, we all got up Tuesday for a look around town.. its a beautiful place with an old town full of little streets and turrets and domes and old stuff. Saw the main sights including Mozart's birth place (OK, so the city is known for another musical connection, not quite as much fun but I guess he was alright).
Next day up bright and early for the tour - got to see such locations as the Abby up on the hill where Maria runs to, the house and lake where all the kids go boating, the rotunda (see photo) and then out into the countryside for churches, tree lined avenues and lots of hills alive with musical sounds.. and we got to sing along to the songs (well, us lot did, everyone else weren't quite as enthusiastic, why?!?) in the bus along the way! Brilliant! Lots of cheesy good fun and quite interesting too.. back in Salzburg we checked out the gardens also in the film, and saw Miss Universe doing a telly shoot there and all!
Then we took the cable car thingee up to the big ol' castle on the hill - and learnt a bit about the city before the singing nuns came along. Great views too. Except I was feeling really burnt out by then and had to go back for a nap before flying home that night.
Cool little excursion and really enjoyed seeing Debs again - we both had to remind ourselves we were both in Austria, who would have thought it from our days back at Cobham?!
Since then its been work pretty much - doing as much as I can whilst I can, as I now have less than a month of me visa left!! These 2 years have, cliche and all, flown by! Might be a bit hairy but all going according to plan I will get a tourist visa extension to last me a month or so before Tabs and I head off on the Bike Odyssey - May is the set off.
Unfortunately St Matts has been served with eviction, been to court and after a year and a half we're being chucked out - got 28 days left. Pretty good though, time to find someplace else, even if it will only be for a bit.
Ummm, yeah everything else is dandy though, bit weird thinking of leaving London and the UK, really going to miss people here, going to be hard to say goodbye, and its really crept up on me... right, better go before I get too emotional and teary eyed..
MUCH LOVE
claire
So a few weeks back now I went to Austria to meet up with old school buddie and all round great mate Debra and two of her fellow teaching assistants for a short but sweet 3 day holiday. They had all come from France, but the main reason for Salzburg as our meeting point was to partake in the wonderful 'Sound of Music' tour, as this is where it was filmed! Now I realise some of you might find it hard to see the attraction here, and I feel very sorry for you.. hehe.. I know its not everyones cup of tea (from a copper kettle) but if you dig the movie this is truly the place to come!
But firstly, after all meeting up late on Monday evening and resisting the urge to talk and catch up all night, we all got up Tuesday for a look around town.. its a beautiful place with an old town full of little streets and turrets and domes and old stuff. Saw the main sights including Mozart's birth place (OK, so the city is known for another musical connection, not quite as much fun but I guess he was alright).
Next day up bright and early for the tour - got to see such locations as the Abby up on the hill where Maria runs to, the house and lake where all the kids go boating, the rotunda (see photo) and then out into the countryside for churches, tree lined avenues and lots of hills alive with musical sounds.. and we got to sing along to the songs (well, us lot did, everyone else weren't quite as enthusiastic, why?!?) in the bus along the way! Brilliant! Lots of cheesy good fun and quite interesting too.. back in Salzburg we checked out the gardens also in the film, and saw Miss Universe doing a telly shoot there and all!
Then we took the cable car thingee up to the big ol' castle on the hill - and learnt a bit about the city before the singing nuns came along. Great views too. Except I was feeling really burnt out by then and had to go back for a nap before flying home that night.
Cool little excursion and really enjoyed seeing Debs again - we both had to remind ourselves we were both in Austria, who would have thought it from our days back at Cobham?!
Since then its been work pretty much - doing as much as I can whilst I can, as I now have less than a month of me visa left!! These 2 years have, cliche and all, flown by! Might be a bit hairy but all going according to plan I will get a tourist visa extension to last me a month or so before Tabs and I head off on the Bike Odyssey - May is the set off.
Unfortunately St Matts has been served with eviction, been to court and after a year and a half we're being chucked out - got 28 days left. Pretty good though, time to find someplace else, even if it will only be for a bit.
Ummm, yeah everything else is dandy though, bit weird thinking of leaving London and the UK, really going to miss people here, going to be hard to say goodbye, and its really crept up on me... right, better go before I get too emotional and teary eyed..
MUCH LOVE
claire
Salzburg pictures
Here we are, some photos from my mini break to meet up with Deb and co in Salzburg!
The crew: Dimity (Oz) Millie (Canada) and Debs
View of mountains from castle
The house and lake from Sound of Music
'I am sixteen going on seventeen...' the actual
rotunda from the film
More mountains from the tour
By the fountain as seen in the Doh Ray Me
song
Debs and I in the street...
The crew: Dimity (Oz) Millie (Canada) and Debs
View of mountains from castle
The house and lake from Sound of Music
'I am sixteen going on seventeen...' the actual
rotunda from the film
More mountains from the tour
By the fountain as seen in the Doh Ray Me
song
Debs and I in the street...
Me being arty with black and white of the Dom (Cathedral)
Posing with the great Mozart
City street at night
