the hills are alive

Sooooo, I’m officially down to my last week in Leeds…which is extremely bitter sweet but that also means that this week I will be finishing up all my travel posts. 😦 But, there’s a lot to look forward to this summer, like DIY posts with all the things I’ve collected from travels and more fashion and beauty posts. Yaya. Just wanted to mention it before I get started.

We arrived in Salzburg happy not only to see the sun shining but also to feel it’s warmth on our skin. And with that we began our Official Sound Music Tour. It took us to six different filming locations and our guide David told us so much about the movie that I didn’t know beforehand. There was quite a lot of trickery and planning that went into the making of movie….

Touring around Salzburg was incredible. I almost wished that we had skipped Vienna and spent more time in Salzburg. Just another reason to come back someday…..the Lake District was truly breath taking. And, we finally got to try some authentic Apple Strudel with vanilla ice cream, which we enjoyed right outside the cathedral where Maria married the Captain. Definitely the best way to enjoy strudel.

Once back in town after the tour we got to explore a bit before dinner. After dinner we headed back to the station to await our one and only night train of the Easter break trip. It was a 2:30am train that would take us to Zurich….more on that in the next post…but what I will say is that becasue we got the train in the middle of the night we couldn’t get our seats becasue people where sleeping and thus taking up extra seats for their legs. One guy had hung up a hammock and was sleeping in that. It was fing ridiculous. So we ended up sharing a coach with some freaky lady….no worries we survived and made it to Zurich.

And, it might have sucked, but it was totally worth becasue we got to go to Salzburg and do the tour.


                             Cheers.

~meesh

Pics here

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lazy and confused: vienna

The train ride to Vienna was as per usual. And we got to the hostel only to find we had 3 flights of stairs to climb to get to our room. But it was kind of cool becasue since there were other apartments in the buildings it felt like we were living with the locals.

Since we got in late afternoonish we took some time just to veg and relax as it was much needed. When traveling nonstop for a month, sometimes you just need a break. When we got hungry we found a place around the corner to grab a nice traditional Austria dish, Wiener Schnitzel…along with a nice Austrian beer it was just what we needed to refuel.

After a good night sleep we were finally ready to see what Vienna had to offer. And we headed towards what we thought was St. Charles Church, apparently it’s a must see. And, we got lost. Vienna is a really confusing city to navigate even with a map. The streets are all named the same thing and nothing really makes sense….we ended up at the Votive church instead, which was pretty nontheless, lol.

We managed to get our bearings and started to make our way to St. Charles (sidenote: when I wrote St. Charles the 1st thing I thought of was the road that runs through Elmhurst, got some home vibes going) and managed to see most of the city along the way. We finally made it to the right church, even though the girls tried to challenge me that it wasn’t the right place…hey I was just following the map.

The church was actually kind of a let down, they made it seem like there was this great panoramic view from the top but once you got up there you couldn’t even see out becasue there were grates on the windows. Not to mention the scaffolding all over the church just to support the stairs the lead up there. V odd, if you ask me.

From there we headed to the Nasch Market which was only a few blocks over. This might have been my favorite part of the city. It was everything a city market should be. Vendor after vendor selling veggies, fruits, dried fruits, sweets, falafel….anything and everything really. We found something to eat there before we headed to the palace.

It was a easy train ride over on their metro system. And once we got to the palace we got to walk the grounds for free and it was absolutely gorgeous. I wish that it was later in the season so that we could have seen the flowers in bloom, but still it was nice to enjoy the views. I was actually really jealous becasue there were a ton of people running through the grounds and I wish that Leeds had a place like that. But, it’s so hilly here running really is no fun. In that respect, I’m ready to get back to the flat land in Illinois.


                                                         Only about 2 weeks till then.

Cheers.

~meesh

P.S. Shoutouts to my viewers from the Netherlands and Philippines you guys are the best! ….now giving shoutouts so you know you want to get involved and maybe you’ll get one in the next post.

Vienna pics

the list

A complete list of all the cities and countries visited in order from start to finish:

1. Athens, Greece

2. Hydra, Greece

3. Poros, Greece

4. Aegina, Greece

5. Paris, France

6. Luxembourg City, Luxembourg

7. Brussels, Beligum

8. Amsterdam, Netherlands

9. Berlin, Germany

10. Oranienburg, Germany

11. Prague, Czech Republic

12. Vienna, Austria

13. Salzburg, Austria

14. Mondsee, Austria

15. Zurich, Switzerland

16. Milan, Italy

17. Venice, Italy

18. Florence, Italy

19. Pisa, Italy

20. Monterosso (Cinque Terre), Italy

21. Vernazza (Cinque Terre), Italy

22. Rome, Italy

23. Vatican City

…Hopefully I’ll have a post up about Greece in the next few days. x

~meesh

 

 

 

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