The hills are alive - with the sound of off key singing

Greetings from Salzburg, Austria. Just realised I wrote that out of habit - after starting every postcard I wrote tonight with that line...

Where to start, well I think starting at the very beginning would be very apt for this post, as it is a very good place to start (if that went over your head you may want to stop reading now).

From Zurich I headed to Vienna, but as I am headed back there tomorrow I will save that for another post. This is all about Salzburg. The city itself is quite beautiful.

Lots of nice, high vantage points to get a good look at the old city.

Like many cities in Europe, there is a love bridge - where you put the initials of yourself and the one you love on a lock, lock the key to the bridge and throw the key into the water, locking your love forever (might need to learn to scuba dive if you ever break up - that or invest in bolt cutters).

There also seems to be an obsession with unicorns in the sculpture in this town...

Salzburg as you may know is famous for three things. Mozart was born and raised here, this is where they filmed the movie The Sound of Music, and this is where the guy that created Red Bull is from. If anyone is interested, the Red Bull HQ looks like this

I headed off on a Sound of Music tour of Salzburg and surrounds (as you do). There were many important historical sights to see - like the gazebo. The one where Liesel sings "16 going on 17". Now it used to be, as I had hoped to do, that you could skip around on the seats and dance just like Liesel does in the movie. Sadly people kept falling off and breaking a leg, so now they enclose it in glass and keep you out. Bah humbug. Turns out Liesel herself did an ankle filming the scene and it wasn't as easy as it looks.

We visited the church where (spoiler alert!) the wedding is held at the end of the film.

One very creepy fact about the church - on the alter there are five mummified corpses on display. You can currently only see four (the fifth is covered by Jesus at Easter). Two men and two women. They were apparently gifts from Rome and have been there for about four hundred years. See if you can see them in this picture.

We also headed out to the lakes to see where some of the outdoor shots were done. How's this for a spectacular set for the opening shots of the film. Turns out this is the same village where Mozart's mother was born.

e also went to St Peter's church. It was this graveyard that was used for the scene where they hide from the Nazis at the end of the film.

Speaking of the nazis - interesting piece of trivia about the film - remember at the end when they are going up over the mountains to Switzerland? In reality, had they climbed in that exact spot they would have been toast. That was filmed on the Bavarian Alps (the border between Austria and Germany) and was in fact filmed only a short distance from Eagles Nest - aka Hitler's summer home. So they would have been realllly busted.

We learned a lot about the real Von Trapp family as well. Turns out one of the children they had after they got married was a missionary in PNG for many years (and adopted a son whilst she was there). We even went past the home of the real Von Trapp family. When they left Austria (for America in reality) Himmler actually took over the residence and went as far as to carve swastikas into the Von Trapps furniture. Apparently at one point Himmler and Hitler even hosted a little weekend getaway with Mussolini at the house during the war. The allied forces regained control of the house at the end of the war and in a strange twist two of the Von Trapp children (who fought as Americans in WWII) were sent there to help secure it and managed to convince the allies to hand it back to the family. These days it is a B&B and you can stay the night there. So, this is what the real thing looks like.

And this is the version from the movie (well, one of them, they used two villas for the film). The lake in front of this house was where they filmed the scene where the boat capsizes and Maria and the children end up in the water.

Throughout the entire tour the soundtrack was played in the van, and singing was strongly encouraged. I had some difficulty containing my laughter when our driver was very loudly, and badly, singing along to Do Re Mi, and when he got to the part about "once you know the notes to sing, you can sing most anything" he totally flubbed the words. Repeatedly. Turns out Maria was wrong and you need to know more than the notes to sing along. Like the words.

There was also a customary trip to Mozart's house.

Creepily they have locks of his hair on display.

I have tried a few of the local dishes whilst here. Everything appears to be of a similar colour pallet - beige/brown. There has been asparagus with hollandaise sauce

Some apple strudel

And of course a schnitzel

Had to have the schnitzel tonight, could not bring myself to eat their fish selection after spying this on the kinder menu (not just any fish is being served, but NEMO!).

But then again they even shape their bread like cute animals here...

Back to Vienna tomorrow and I think that my first job when I get there is to buy some new socks...

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How to destroy a snowman

I am about to take my 9th flight in 10 days. I am clearly nuts. Am currently in Zurich airport, so let's backtrack a few days.

After a rather eventful flight from Port Moresby to Australia thanks to some rowdy mining types, I made it to Sydney for leg one. It was 36 hours of personal admin, cupcakes, haircuts and a concert. We all know I have no luck with hairdressers. This time around when styling my hair she told me that she could "straighten it to be quite edgy - like Katy Perry wears hers". Now this is a step up from the time the hairdresser in Beverly Hills styled my hair like Justin Beiber - but I didn't think that Katy Perry was quite who I wanted to emulate given I was about to head to a John Mayer concert. That aside, John was the highlight of Sydney. Awesome as always - though everyone in the crowd was saying the same thing as me "is he okay? He looks really thin". I'm talking Matthew Perry with a pill addiction thin. Hopefully it is just Katy Perry withdrawal...

The downside of my trip to see John was that it was combined with a 6am takeoff the next morning - so rather than sleep, I think I had a mere nap that night. As always when I fly on Emirates I embarrassed myself in front of the cabin crew - this time as a result of eating a too spicy for me curry during the lunch service. I was crying so much you would have thought I was watching Beaches on a loop for the 14 hour trip.

Eventually I made it to Zurich. Cold, grey, rainy Zurich. Saturday was spent wandering around making the most of the breaks in the rain. It was on this wander that I discovered the Boogg.

Yes boys and girls that is a snowman (Boogg) on top of a giant bonfire. Turns out for well over 100 years the good people of Zurich, on the third Monday in April, set this baby alight and watch it burn. But poor old frosty doesn't just get set on fire. In the olden days they would pack him with explosives before setting him alight. These days they 'only' use fireworks, not explosives. It is like a Groundhog Day type tradition. If the Boogg burns quickly, it will be a good summer. If he suffers and takes a long time to burn, summer will be bad.

He gets parades in his honour as well. Today was the children's parade. My German sucks, but I think they were doing tradition dress over the years (although where the baton twirlers fit in between 1885 and 1905 is beyond me). Most of the kids were happy in their cute costumes. Except the kids dressed as cows. They looked sad.

There were marching bands too. My fav was the one playing Eye of the Tiger. The parade had everything - even a piano accordion.

There were even camels, and alpacas.

The children showed off their hunting skills.

The finale of the parade was the Boogg himself - being led by a guy that looked like a Vladimir Putin lookalike executioner...seriously, that could be Putin.

This guy was at the parade too - I have no idea who or what he is...

There was also a little field trip to the Rhine Falls.

We had to take a little boat to an island and climb up the steepest and slipperiest flight of stairs in Switzerland, whilst trying not to get knocked down the stairs to imminent death by pushy Italian tourists. I am still amazed I made it out alive.

Have had many an opportunity to enjoy the local chocolate. For some reason eating chocolate shaped like a bug is all the rage. This little dude was super tasty (he'd wanna be given what he cost!).

The Boogg featured heavily in all the chocolate stores as well. Everyone had cakes in his honor.

Have also discovered a new delicacy here in Zurich. Turns out the cronut is old news, we have moved onto the duffin.

Next stop - Vienna - to see my three fav temporary Austrians.

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Europe - in Red and White

Yes, it is that time of year again. Time to travel north for the spring and enjoy the best (worst?) that European pop music has to offer.

This year's European pilgrimage will be a little shorter than the last few, but I am sure it will be as entertaining as ever. And just think - that is less posts that you have to read!

This time around it is dubbed the tour of the red and white flags - Switzerland, Austria and Denmark. Book ended with some fun in Sydney. There will be foraged food, chocolate, lego, inappropriate Mozart themed souvenirs and hills that are alive with the sound of music. And Eurovision. Of course there will be Eurovision.

Fun begins Thursday.

Candy, more candy and bizarre foods

Well this is coming to you from 35,000 feet, somewhere between Orlando and Los Angeles. In flight internet, a marvel of the modern world. So where did I leave the Disney adventure?

I think I left it somewhere near candy. Lottttttts and lots of candy. See, I went to mickeys not so scary Halloween party.

Not everything is open, but they only let so many people through the door, so the rides that are operating have almost no wait. Not surprisingly, the most popular ride was the Haunted Mansion. There were "dance parties" scattered around. A 'villain mix-n-mingle' near the castle, and a monster dance party in Tomorrow land (if you look closely you can see some of the Monsters Inc characters dancing away with the kids).

Everyone was given a bag and a map. You searched the parks for glowing orange orbs.

The orbs mean candy! If you were really lucky you found one of the 2 candy trails, which were a 500 meter or so stroll where every few meters there was another cast member handing you candy. Now, I was cool with the little kids getting a bit excited and pushing in front of me. I don't take issue with that. What I did take issue with though was the grown ups, people old enough to be my parents, pushing in front of kids and then not waiting for the cast member to get the candy, actually just grabbing it themselves and shoving it in their bags. The worst part of that was I twice saw very young (teenage looking) cast members get reprimanded by mangers for letting it happen. Really not cool.
Earlier in the day I had learned that Disney orders the equivalent of 2 tonnes of candy for each of these parties. There was everything from craisins to snickers to three musketeers to skittles to tootsie rolls and something called a whopper. Which I tried and it is nothing but a poor mans out of date malteeser. They went in the bin.

There was a special parade that night - led by the headless horseman! We were the treated to a special light show at the castle.

This was followed by the boo to you fireworks (man that song was a pain to get out of your head!).

The stroll back to the bus was a killer. I had been at the Magic Kingdom since 8am, it was now 10:30pm. My feet were contemplating a revolt, and I can't decide if I was over tired, or if it really was a man in a Fred Flinstone costume sitting next to me on the bus ride home...

I took what is called a "Keys to the Kingdom" tour earlier that day. It was one of the more fascinating things I have done in a long time. It is for adults only (for reasons that will become obvious) and we were taken around the park for five hours by a cast member named Claire who was so amazingly passionate about her job that you could not help but getting caught up on her every word. We learned all about Walt and his brother Roy and the thought and imagineering that went into Walt Disney World. We got the secrets of two of my fav rides and then got to try to find those secrets on the ride itself. We even got to go backstage and down into the tunnels that are under the Magic Kingdom. We even learned things like why the rubbish bins were where they were (which was more interesting than it sounds). I can't tell you more than that, because we were asked not to say or write anything that may be seen or heard by a child and "spoil the magic", nor could we take pictures, but it was an absolute highlight.

Another highlight came on Friday morning. I dragged my tired feet out of bed, and hit Epcot for a "Kitchen Memories" lunch - a lunch where a well known chef cooks for you and tells you about their food memories. Mine was with Mr Bizarre Foods himself Andrew Zimmern.

We were all slightly terrified about what he would make us eat - and he didn't disappoint. First course? Frogs legs!

They were tasty, and I ate the whole thing! Main was a little less challenging, his fav prawns, and then for dessert we had his family berry crumble. We got to meet him and have a chat afterwards and it turns out he is super keen on a show in PNG - he has already tried twice to get there.

That evening I went to the other end of the scale and went to the 3D dessert party. This is a party where they feed you dessert. And nothing else. Because after the candy fest the night before I needed more sugar.

My fav thing of the night (and apologies for the crappy pictures - it was really dark) was the ice cream and cake hot dog.

We finished the night with fireworks - complete with 3D glasses that made Mickey Mouse explode out of every firework. Coolest trick ever!

When I got home that night the housekeeping staff had been at it again with the towel animals. There was a ray in my bath tub!

I also got a chance that evening to go to an Air Supply concert. Nothing like a big "all out of love" sing along with aging rockers. There should be an age limit on leather pants though. Just sayin.

I finished up today with a few more dishes from the food and wine fest. I even ate the escargot. Snails AND frogs legs in one day. The French would be proud.

Sadly, it is now time to go home. Though the fun part of going home is getting to start planning the next adventure. Until next time, thanks for reading, I am always so pleasantly surprised when I see the hits on this site :)

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Pumpkins, apples and The Mouse

Do you know who I think is the richest person in Florida? The person who had the genius vision to start up the company that hires those motorised scooters out to tourists who think they can do theme parks without walking a step. I have easily seen hundreds of them a day. Multiply that by four parks just at Disney, add in Universal and Sea World and I suspect there would be thousand of them hired out on a given day. Saw one of their billboards today and prices start at $25 per day. Talk about a license to print money. Wish I'd thought of that, would help soften the hatred I have of those scooters...

Monday morning started with a bang. I hit the road to the Magic Kingdom for a Royal engagement - breakfast at Cinderella's castle. It was sugar and spice and all things nice - literally.

One of the signature items on the menu is the caramel apple stuffed french toast. I can't walk past a menu item like that - though I should have. It was stuffed not only with the caramel apple pieces, but also cream cheese. I think one bite gave me my weekly recommended daily intake of sugar! The portion was thankfully small. I had many a visitor at my table including Jasmine, Aurora, Ariel and Snow White. The Princesses just added to the sugar overload.

Following breakfast I headed out to check out all the Halloween decorations.

The whole of Main St was decorated for fall.

Since I was here last they have opened the new Fantasyland, including the new Beauty and the Beast section. I had lunch at the beasts castle - where they try to replicate the magic of the dining scene in the movie. It is still a mystery to me exactly how my food found me in that giant place (yes, my food had to find me!). For dessert I had the "masters cupcake". It was chocolate cake frosted with 'the grey stuff'. You should try the grey stuff, it's delicious. Don't believe me? Asked the dishes (double points to anyone who started to sing the last two sentences).

I went on a bit of an adventure around in the afternoon and was flabbergasted as to what Americans do to apples (beyond my sugar fest breakfast). They even dress some apples up as pumpkins!

In fact they will do apples as almost anything - frogs, cars, monsters...

One of the other big changes since my last visit is that they now have a Starbucks in the Magic Kingdom. Who knew that not even the mouse was immune from having old school coffee shops turn into a Starbucks.

Tuesday I went on safari at the Animal Kingdom. I saw lions and cheetahs and elephants and zebras and giraffes and dinosaurs. Yup, dinosaurs.

At lunch I was wooed by a crazy menu item. The mac and cheese hot dog. Yes, these is a hot dog sausage under the pasta. My tummy did not feel so great that afternoon. Could be the dinosaur ride, could be the the hog dog - it may need to remain a great mystery of the universe.

Despite the self inflicted tummy ache, I hit the food and wine fest for dinner. The entertainment tonight was courtesy of the Go-Go's, featuring Belinda Carlise.

The booths that supplied dinner included Greece, Argentina, and Poland - the latter came with a sour cream 'hidden Mickey'.

For dessert - I ventured to Australia.

Coming up next - too much Halloween candy, and a 3D dessert extravaganza (a post which has to be delayed being written by at least 24 hours because the mere thought of what I ate tonight is making me feel not so great...). There will also be a surprise appearance by a tv star. Stay tuned.

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