I had my first trip! A group of us decided to head off to Salzburg yesterday! The trip was incredible, seriously. There were 5 kids from Bentley College in Boston, 2 from University of Texas, and then Amber and me from Kentucky! We have all become really good friends, so the trip was sure to be fun!

The morning was a little stressful. I accidentally bought a ticket for the wrong day, so I had to convince the ticket supervisor to let me switch days. She must have thought that I couldn't read, but I explained to her that we had a group going, so she switched my date. Note to self: when buying online tickets, make sure that you don't click on the wrong date.... that's not good! :) After that, we realized that Joe couldn't read either, and that our train left at 9:30 instead of 10:00.... so we RAN to the train station! haha. All of that craziness aside, we finally got on our way and off to Salzburg.

Our group had to split up, since there weren't 9 seats all together on the train. Kelly, Kristine, me, Al, and Monica all sat together. We started talking to these two guys from Melbourne, Australia, who had been backpacking for about a month through Europe. They were so funny, and asked me if they could just follow me around all day and listen to my accent, because they'd never heard an American accent that was so pretty. (Props to Kentucky!) Amber and the Boston boys sat a little ways down the train, and met this guy who we think was on drugs. He kept eating these M&Ms that he dropped on the floor. Ironically, the crazy boy was sitting next to a priest! :) Oh, the people you meet on a train to Salzburg!

We arrived in Salzburg at around 1pm. Since the trip was the Kentuckians' idea, we were made the unofficial navigators of the journey. If anyone really knows Amber and me, they know that this was probably not a good idea. But fear not, we did Kentucky proud, and lead the group to the Cathedral in the center of Maribelle Plaza in Salzburg. I was very happy!

When we got on our Sound of Music tour bus at 2pm, we saw that we were the only people under the age of 40. Haha! I could tell that this trip was going to be interesting. Amber and I sat behind these two older ladies from Maryland and Virginia, who were reciting every line and singing every musical number from the Sound of Music by the time the bus even started up. It was also really funny, because Joe and Ralph (from Boston) had never even seen the Sound of Music.... boy were they in for an adventure. By half way through the trip, Ralph had already been taught the "So Long, Farewell" song by the old ladies of the trip. We laughed a lot at this! Ralph was a hit! :)

The tour took us all over Salzburg and through the lake district. We got to see where Maria and the VonTrapp children fell into the lake, the Abbey where the movie filmed some scenes (and where the real Maria first went to be a nun), the villas used for the VonTrapp family house, the gazebo used in "I am Sixteen, Going on Seventeen" song, the gardens where the children learned to sing, and, of course, the HILLS where Julie Andrews sang the opening number. This tour was incredible! Not only did I get to see where one of my favorite movies of all time was filmed and learn some behind-the-scenes info, but I also got to see some of the most breath-taking scenery that I've ever seen in my life. The small city of Mondsee, was probably the greatest! In this city, we got to go into the cathedral where Maria and Capt. VonTrapp were married in the film! :) I could seriously live here (don't worry mom... not without you!).

After the tour, we had some "crisp apple strudel" (also mentioned in the song "My Favorite Things") and headed back to Vienna. While on the train, of course, we made some more friends. One of the best things about this trip is the people. We meet random people wherever we go. We talked to a guy who is a professional photographer in Tokyo, his cousin who is a travel agent in Ft. Myers Florida, and their friend who is a local Viennian and the owner of a local coffee shop. We talked with them the entire ride back!

The trip to Salzburg was definately worth the morning stress and the several Euros that we spent. I'll never forget the perfect mountains and the crystal clear lakes! I was just so amazed by this amazing country that God has made. He really knew what he was doing when he made the Austrian landscape, and I was just in awe of that fact today. He never ceases to amaze me with the detail and perfection of nature. I also feel really responsible now. I planned and executed a successful road trip by myself! Yay!