Saturday, July 23rd and Sunday, July 24th, 2011: Brasov, Probably the best city in the world!*

Day 15 & 16: Brasov, Romania

Day 15, Saturday, July 23^rd: Brasov

Steffi, Roxi, Costel, and Beca’s mom, had to work and run errands this morning so Beth and I happily volunteered to spend some time with the kids. We ventured off to Mount Timpa, the home of the “Brasov” sign (picture the “Hollywood” sign, but it says Brasov instead!) to ride a cable car up and hike down. We had great weather, clear skies, and each kid had their own backpack with juice, snack, and dinosaur toys (because you never know when you will need those and it is best to be prepared). We took the short two and a half minute ride up the mountain and began to explore the back of the “Brasov” sign and the amazing views the mountain top offered of the city below.

After a snack break at the top we made our way to the bottom. Our hike took about an hour—we were moving at a pretty good pace considering that we had two sets of six-year-old legs along with us. We had a great lunch of Shwarma sandwiches and the kids got a happy meal at McDonald’s. I forgot how much little kids love their McDonald’s—Beth will be their favorite person for quite sometime after that treat!

After dropping the kids off Beth, Mary, and I walked over to the Brasov Children’s Hospital to volunteer on the respiratory floor—basically we got to hold babies for a few hours (yay!). The kids come to the hospital from all over Brasov and 80% of the semi-abandoned children are of Roma ethnicity (gypsy). What is semi-abandoned you ask? They have parents, but the parents do not, currently, have the financial means to support their child. In Romania, the parents can temporarily drop their children off at an institution of some kind in the hopes that they will have the financial means to support their child at a later date.

They gave us scrub tops and crocs to wear into the well heated babies’ room. There were four babies (all probably around 4 months old) and one older (~7 years old) handicapped child. All of them had a respiratory infection of some kind (you could hear their struggles to breath as you held them) and many also had bites or skin rashes of some kind. Despite their illnesses they were still irresistible and pretty darn cute to hold. You could tell they were enjoying being held as much as I was enjoying holding them. The first baby I picked up was cranky most of the time. He had a pretty bad cold and just couldn’t get comfortable. After he threw up in my lap he seemed a little happier. Who wouldn’t be happier after that? (Beth certainly found it amusing) After his turn I picked up a second baby who was breathing as if he had smoked a pack a day for the first and only four months of his life. The poor thing also had little fleabites all up and down his arms and legs—despite all of this he was in a very happy mood. We had fun looking in mirrors, playing with my volunteer badge, walking over and visiting Beth and her baby, and letting him stand on his little legs, which seemed to bring the most smiles. He had a sweet giggle and was difficult to put down when it was time to go. As we all left, the babies seemed to know their playtime was over and created a mini chorus of cries. I’m not sure how Beth ever got used to walking away everyday! For all of the readers that know Beth I can see where she honed her talents and became the baby whisperer we all know and love today.

After our time at the hospital we headed back to Steffi’s for dinner and stick bread—a wonderful new camping tradition I plan on bringing back to America! * Steffi lives in a house that has been divided into several apartments that also house other volunteers that are working with Firm Foundations. Some are there for a short week visit and others have been in Romania for several years. It was an interesting evening to say the least as people had come from all over the world to work on the different projects Firm Foundations developed in the Brasov area.

We ended with Stick Bread. It is similar to s’mores: you wrap dough around the end of a stick, hold it in the fire until you have a very mini-loaf of bread that is hollow inside once you have removed the stick. You can then put a hot dog, jelly, peanut butter, Nutella (my choice, of course), or any other filling inside. It was a quite a treat. Yum!

Day 16, Sunday, July 24, 2011

Today was our last full day in Europe. We headed to Bucharest and spent a few hours in the city’s Ikea to help Mary and Sarah pick out furniture for their new apartment—they have a great land lord who is letting them pick out their new furnishings! We are settled into our airport hotel so Beth and I can get up at 4:00 a.m. to catch our flight home. We both agree that the final score for the big game is a tie: we totally dominated Europe by never getting lost, hitting awesome sites, navigating the different public transportation systems in each city, and by being us in general. Europe was absolutely amazing with beautiful buildings and scenery along with kind and generous people. We’ll call it a tie.

We can’t wait to see everyone when we get home and have already started planning on our next trip back.

Love,

Beth and Jesse

*"Brasov, Probably the best city in the world!": The city ordered many outdoor umbrellas with this phrase oh them. It struck us as amusing that they included the word "probably". They didn't want come off as too arrogant, we suppose.

**Liz, Beth and I have decided that you will need to build a fire pit in your backyard so we can build a fire to bake stick bread. Sound good? Great, we’ll see you when the first cold front hits Houston!

Wednesday, July 20th-Friday, July 22nd, 2011 "Welcome to Romania"

Day 12-14: Bucharest and Brasov, Romania

Day 12, Wednesday, July 20th: Travel Day from Vienna to Bucharest (via plane) and Bucharest to Brasov (via train)

Today was a long day of travel! Other than our first day of international travel, this one came in a close second. We started in a chilly Vienna, where we last wrote, and landed in a hot Bucharest. Hot, as in hotter than Houston and no moving air. We took a fast paced minivan ride from the airport to the train station. Several times the driver crossed himself—this, of course, made me a little nervous. I thought even the driver thought we were in trouble and was asking God for some favors with the traffic. Beth informed me it is very normal to cross yourself whenever you pass a church in Romania. Phew, death avoided once again.

Our train ride from Bucharest to Brasov was even hotter than the city of Bucharest, which is difficult to imagine. After finding some cool relief in the McDonald’s of the train station for a few hours before our train pulled out we found ourselves on a train car with no AC, windows that did not open, and a sun that was beating down on us creating a large oven. During the first 45 minutes of the trip both Beth and I were wondering if we would make it to Brasov without passing out (seriously) but once we hit the mountains and the outside temperature dropped we were in much better shape. In addition to being cooler we also gained an excellent travel companion. Apparently Romanians have discovered portable DVD players and have a love for Michael Jackson music videos. They do not however appreciate personal earphones. The soundtrack for most of our three-hour ride to Brasov was Michael Jackson. Luckily she had two DVDs of videos so it was several decades of music. It was at this point that Beth leaned over to me and said, for about the tenth time, “Welcome to Romania.”*

We were picked up in Brasov by Sarah and Mary, Beth’s good friends and former colleagues/roommates. We hiked up 80 stairs to their apartment to a picture perfect view of the town and surrounding mountains. After a quick glass of wine we all walked to dinner with Steffi and her three adorable kids: Roxi (8), Costel (6), and Beca (6). The kids had missed their Beth and welcomed us both to the city with a handwritten sign and balloons. I wish teenagers were this excited about seeing us.

Our Italian dinner in the city center was delicious. We finished eating in the middle or a torrential down pour. Steffi and kids got a cab, however, Sarah, Mary, Beth, and I were a little too close of a walk for a taxi driver to want to take us so we walked. We were drenched. Beth said again, “Welcome to Romania.”

Day 13, Thursday, July 21st: Brasov and Bran (to see Dracula’s Castle)

We had a leisurely morning after our long day of travel. Beth took me on a walking tour of the town of Brasov. We saw the Black Church (which got its name because of a fire in which you can still see some of the soot leftover), the two watchtowers of the medieval city wall, one of the narrowest streets in Europe, and a bank (which up until a few months ago) that still had bullet holes from the 1989 revolution. The bank, which you should see in the picture, recently repainted the outside of the building and left a small portion of the old wall framed in memory of the revolution.

After a delicious lunch at a German bakery (we can’t get enough carbs on this trip) Steffi and the kids drove Beth and I to the small and nearby town of Bran to see Dracula’s (really, Vlad the Impaler’s) castle. Ironically, Vlad only went to this castle a few times. However, the small town has quite a busy tourist section around the legend of Dracula. The castle was built right into the mountain and provided us with a brief history of Romanian royalty.

In the evening we had a nice dessert party with several other Canadians and Americans who work in Brasov. All had interesting stories of how they came to Romania and became involved in helping children, the poor, the sick, and in general less fortunate of the country. We all had a fun evening!

Day 14, Friday, July 22nd: Brasov and Budila (the Gypsy village)

We had another leisurely morning (I think this is mainly my fault, I can’t seem to get out of bed before 10:00! Too much traveling makes me sleepy! No one wakes me up and the room I’m in stays dark!) and started our day with a walk to visit the new apartment Sarah and Mary will be living in in August. My jaw dropped and Beth and I were both a little jealous at the space, quality, and beautiful views money can buy here in Romania. We are thinking maybe we live on the wrong continent…

In the afternoon Steffi had to take a baby from the hospital (at which Firm Foundation’s volunteer work is centered and where Beth spent her time while in Romania) back to his parents in Budila. The three month old grinning and absolutely adorable baby boy (thank goodness international adoption is closed!) rode quietly next to me out to the village. To say the village is like a different world is an understatement. There is poverty everywhere in the world and in each region it is extreme for a variety of reasons. Here it was tough to imagine what life is like during the harsh, 30 degrees below freezing winters, when there are holes in the shacks most of the gypsies live in. As we drove through the village the car was recognized and waved at by mostly smiling faces because they know the car sometimes comes with supplies. As Steffi handed the mother her baby back, which she had dropped off at the hospital for an unknown to us reason, the mother asked why Steffi did not bring milk and other supplies for her. It’s very hard to describe the scene and situation these people live in. Its also hard to imagine, after seeing it in person, how one can survive a lifetime in the village.

We have two short days left in Romania and then it is home to Houston. Tomorrow we will go visit the hospital Beth worked in and hold babies for a few hours. For anyone that knows Beth, the baby whisperer, I now see why she loved her work and being here for three years.

Love,
Beth and Jesse

*The other times she said this were when we ran into other nice surprises upon our arrival. My other favorite was when we went to exchange some money in the train station and a kind Romanian man whispered to Beth, “Don’t exchange there. It’s the mafia”. I was tempted to exchange there to try and get on the good side of the Romanian mafia (lord knows you don’t want to be on the bad side of any mafia!), but we moved on to another stand that was open, however, unattended. Again, Beth said, “Welcome to Romania. Allow me to introduce you to Romanian time. The customer does not always come first here. Actually, the customer rarely comes first.” Welcome to Romania indeed.

Sunday, July 17th-Tuesday, July 19th, 2011: “Danke Schoen, Vienna, Danke Schoen”

Day 9-11: Vienna, Austria (a city with expensive/slow/or nonexistent internet)

We apologize to our loyal readers for the lengthy absence. We were 1)exhausted and 2) had no internet. We did find free internet (and 1 Euro cappuccinos and 1 Euro bags of sliced apples) at McDonald’s but were never there with enough time to write a blog entry. So now, as we sit in the Vienna airport with some time to spare before our trip to Bucharest, we will try to catch you up on the past few days. We’ll give you the Cliff Notes version.

Day 9, Sunday, July 17^th: We took a beautiful train ride from Salzburg to Vienna and arrived to a closed European city. We forgot that much of Europe takes Sunday off, including stores, restaurants, and museums. After finding our hotel, which ended up being in the Times Square of Vienna (oops, a little noisy at night), we strolled into the beautiful and old city. Our excursion was not very exciting as everything was closed, but we did get a glimpse of the old, huge buildings that made up the center of the Austrian empire. We did stumble on a temporary art project—the hammock house (any city that has modern art which encourages patrons to nap in public is okay in my book!). We took a small break and had some nice views from the third floor of the house.

Day 10, Monday, July 18^th: We had been communicating via Facebook with one of my former students, who is currently studying at the University of Vienna, to try and arrange a lunch. We thought we were meeting up on this day; however, it turns out Katie, my student, thought differently. Whoops, communication lapse. Due to this we didn’t do much in the morning but discover a cheap breakfast/internet plan—buy fresh bread at the bakery, take it to McDonald’s, buy cheap cappuccino, and enjoy the lounge like atmosphere and free internet of Viennese McDonald’s. Seriously, the nicest McDonald’s EVER. Ladies who lunch, toting their Gucci bags, were everywhere as if it were a hip place to be. Bizarre.

After not meeting up with Katie we headed back into the old city to tour the Hapsburg Imperial Apartments, Silver Collection, and the Sisi Museum (Empress Elizabeth). Both Beth and I found the Sisi Museum the most interesting of the day. Her story was a sad one and confirmed our thought that we never want to be famous. Even in a time before 24-hour media coverage and the internet, this Empress still seemed to live a life under constant watch. She was described in multiple locations as the Princess Diana of her time. Her life ended just as sadly: she was assassinated (not for anything she did or did not do politically; her assassin was actually there to kill someone else who did not show and he decided she would be an even bigger target).

By late afternoon we found ourselves in front of city hall which hosts a summer long film festival on a large screen in front of the building. They show mainly operas and symphony concerts in an effort to bring some culture to its city (we didn’t actually watch the film; we figure we have enough culture after our time in so many different countries). In addition to the huge, temporary outdoor movie theater they also have a food circus set up with many different bars and restaurants from around town serving up tasty treats including NUTELLA CREPES! Mmmmmmm.

For our dinner we headed to the outskirts of Vienna (via a variety of public transportation, as there was no straight shot ride) to visit the wine gardens. We had a very nice glass of a local red wine and of course a salt stick (something like a pretzel only a stick instead of a twist).

Day 11, Tuesday, July 19^th: Today we actually met up with Katie for lunch. Beth never had the privilege of teaching her or her younger brother George (for many of our readers you know this family from Westchester) but they are both a delight! Talk about hardworking, interested and interesting, talented, smart, and just plain sweet kids. Katie is originally from Salzburg and has lived all over the world (her Dad works for Exxon) but decided to study in Vienna like her parents. She took us to a local and traditional Austrian restaurant in the center of the city and then for a short walking tour afterwards. She really knows her city and was a great tour guide explaining the Spanish Riding School, pointing out St. Stephens, the Opera, and many other famous old buildings. She also told us about a few of the traditions of the Austrian-Hungarian empire. She is headed back to Houston today, Wednesday, and therefore had to head home and pack, but pointed us in the direction of several cool spots we went on to visit on our own. *

We finally climbed to the top of a famous old cathedral—St. Stephens in the center of the old city. This huge gothic cathedral was cool on the inside and offered 360-degree views of the city from the top of the 343-stair tower. It was a long, claustrophobic climb but well worth it. Vienna was much cooler than Rome and Florence and far less crowded—we are glad we found another opportunity to climb and hadn’t missed our chance in Italy.

We then headed to the Vienna Opera House. Sadly most of the original building was destroyed by a bomb dropped during WWII and had to be rebuilt in the 1950s. However, there were parts that were not destroyed and kept in tact through the new construction. We both loved touring the backstage area where we caught a glimpse of what goes on behind the scenes. Crews of 150+ people work during the 10 month opera season to change the sets up to three times a day. Talk about a production! We both have a new appreciation for opera and backstage crews.

We are headed to Brasov, Romania for the last leg of our trip. Beth lived and volunteered here for almost three years before working at Westchester. This will be my first trip. Beth looks forward to seeing old friends and I look forward to seeing yet more new sites! It should be a great last four days before we head home.

Love,

Beth and Jesse

*It was so fun to see Katie! She had been in my class as a sophomore and had come back to visit throughout her next two years at Westchester. She’s only just finished her first year of college but was grown up and is so worldly. I’m so proud to see a graduate of our IB program really using the degree to its full benefit. All her former teachers should be proud.

Saturday, July 16, 2011: “Living On the Edge”

Day 8: Salzburg and Berchtesgaden, Germany

We had yet another wonderful day of motorized travel. We could really get used to this! From the Salzburg train station we caught the 840 bus to Berchtesgaden, Germany—in the states it is a bit more difficult than hopping on a public bus to get to a different country; in Europe it is that easy. We drove through another side of Salzburg, across the German border, and to (what the locals claim, and we agree) the most beautiful part of the Alps.

Once in Berchtesgaden, a picturesque Alpine town, we caught another local bus to the Obersalzberg, which is home to a Nazi Documentation Center and a bunker Hitler built after the Battle of Stalingrad, when his victory did not look as imminent. We visited this later in the day. We first caught yet another bus that took us to the highest point we could get to by road: Hitler’s Eagle’s Nest. He was given this alpine retreat as a 50th birthday present. What a spot for vacationing (according to our book he only visited this home 14 times). The weather was perfect for our trip high into the Alps: not a cloud in sight and we guess temperatures in the mid 70s. After our bus dropped us off we boarded an elevator that took us up another 400 feet. Our ears, and poor Beth’s sinuses, were going absolutely insane as we climbed higher and higher. Our pictures do not do the views justice! Simply stunning!

After a short lunch at the top of the Eagle’s Nest we headed back down the mountain to the Documentation Center and Bunkers. Sadly, for historians, there is not much left in the area. At the end of the war, the victorious allies destroyed most of the memorabilia, papers, and anything that could help to create a potential pilgrimage for neo-Nazi activists. We wish we had left more time in our day to listen to the English audio tour through the beautifully crafted documentation center. The center was full of reproduced propaganda and photographs from WWII. However, all the descriptions were in German! The English audio guide would take about two hours, which we didn’t have. Rick Steves has been our guidebook throughout this trip and this is the first time he has led us astray—according to his book the documentation center was not really that exciting. Both Beth and I agreed that a German perspective on WWII and the Nazis would have been fascinating. I guess we will have to come back!

After walking through a small portion of the bunkers (Hitler, via slave labor, had four miles of tunnels dug throughout the mountain to protect him and his government) we boarded one of the last busses headed back to Salzburg. We had another tasty meal and headed back to our hotel. If you are thinking we have been headed to bed early these past few nights, it’s because we have been. We travelled a little too hard throughout Italy and it is catching up to us. We are still seeing all that Salzburg has to offer but not enjoying the nightlife quite the way we did in Italy. Tomorrow we head for Vienna and our last few days in Austria. We can’t believe we have been here for a little over a week already—time is flying because we are having fun! Miss and love you all!

Beth and Jesse

Friday, July 15, 2011: “The Hills Are Alive!”

Day 8: Salzburg

Today’s entry will be slightly less writing (we think, as we start) and more pictures than previous posts. We didn’t see as high a volume of sites and places, however, we covered a much larger distance than normal because we were in a motorized vehicle—what a nice break for our legs! As Beth and I sat down to plan this trip we both acknowledged our love for The Sound of Music and decided that Austria would be a cool place to go for this reason. As we did more research we of course found many more places to see and things to do, but it was our starting point. Today we traveled with Galinda (Lindy) on “Bob’s Special Tours: The Sound of Music”. Do not let Bob’s name fool you; despite having a very American name, the tour itself was rich in history of the city of Salzburg, facts and myths about the movie, simply breathtaking sites of Salzburg and its surrounding lake district, and strudel. We went into the tour expecting a little bit of cheesiness, but walked away with a better knowledge of the city than we would have ever managed on our own walking tour. Our legs were also grateful for a day riding in a van to various parts of the region. As we head to bed early a second night in a row we are both feeling the effects of busy travelling.

Our tour with Lindy included two homes used to create the von Trapp home for the film, multiple churches used to create the abbey, and several gardens, fountains, bridges, and alleyways of trees used to create the scenes of Salzburg. We both knew going into the tour that the story of the von Trapp family had been changed slightly for the film, however, Lindy let us in on a lot of differences between reality and the movie. Lindy made it sound as though many American tourists are disappointed to hear the truth. Beth and I were both fascinated with the true story of the von Trapp family and the WWII history she included in her descriptions of the time period.

We ended with a tour of the Salzburg Lake District, which includes seventy-two lakes (of which we saw five). The water color was a perfect blue that our cameras captured fairly well. As we traveled through this area we also saw the huge and modern Red Bull headquarters—interesting fact neither Beth nor I were aware of, Red Bull was started in the Salzburg Lake District. Bizarre that such an impure substance would come from such a pristine and natural area.

Lindy dropped us off at the Mirabell Gardens (famous for the fountain, gardens, and stairs that Julie Andrews and the Von Trapp children sing through). To both of our mothers: do not fret, we took a lot of pictures of the gardens for you. Dale, you will have to see Salzburg simply for this garden (although you will tear up when Lindy plays “Climb Every Mountain” as you drive through mountains). These gardens were amazing and will be beautiful to you even if you have never seen the SOM.

We ended our day with a different stroll across the river and through the old city. We came across the Kapitelplatz, a busy plaza with a huge chessboard and pieces, an interesting gold sphere (modern art designed for the city), and lots of small shops and musical groups scattered throughout a market. All of the music groups were fantastic and even lulled Beth and I into another public nap on a bench in the sun (my brother is rolling his eyes at me right now; he always laughs that I can sleep just about anywhere). After our siesta we decided to find a bier haus for dinner and headed further into the old city. We came to the entrance of a cathedral we had no intention of finding and both looked at each other, shrugged, and decided to go in, what is one more? We both agreed after seeing this one that whenever in doubt if one should go into a cathedral or not, one should simply go in. This was my favorite one so far: Salzburg Cathedral. Not a difficult name to remember and we realized after looking at our map it is the huge green dome in many of our pictures of the skyline of the city.

We had another filling meal to end our day: Wiener Schnitzel. Traditional and good. Tomorrow we are planning a day trip to Berchtesgaden, Germany and Hitler’s Eagles Nest (his alpine retreat). It could be a bit of an adventure as we are depending on public busses to get us there and we have not seen as many signs in English on this leg of our trip. We’ll let you know how it turns out.

So long, farewell, goodnight!

Beth and Jesse

P.S. Look for the bonus post today! It includes a video of Jesse’s Alpine luge ride (the Mountain Bobsled) and Beth’s write up of the event! (because we feel that Jesse may leave out a few entertaining details about the way it all happened if she types it herself :) )

The Luge Ride

A little bonus blog to recap our adventure on the mountain bobsled. I had to take over writing this one because I feared that Jesse might leave out a few little details that I’m sure will bring those of you that know her well quite a bit of joy. Let me start by saying that Jesse is fantastic to travel with and she is getting braver by the day. First she drank water from the fountains in Rome, and today she rode a bobsled down a mountain.

We got to the ski lift like contraption, which took us up the hill backwards on our bobsleds. I thought this was delightful and a great view of the surrounding hillside. Jesse looked a little terrified, kind of squealed, but to her credit, still got on and went up. We did pass several small children sledding down the hill, and I think that might have boosted her confidence a bit. At the top of the hill, a very nice Austrian gentleman took our sleds from the lift and put them at the top of the track. To make the sled go, you had to push down on a little lever. Pulling the lever up slowed you down and made you stop. I went first and put the lever all the way down and flew down the hill. It was pretty fast and seriously so much fun!! Once I reached the bottom, I took my sled off, put it away in the shed and came back out to the bottom. Still no sight of Jesse. I was momentarily concerned that she had panicked at the top and decided not to do it, but then I saw her slowly making her way down the hill on a sled. When you see the video, it is not in slow motion. That was her speed. Apparently at the top of the hill, the man actually had to push her and tell her several times to push the lever down so she would move. Lindy, our lovely tour guide, is also in the video about to crash into Jesse because she caught up to her on the ride down. You can her Lindy telling Jesse to push the lever down and speed up to the end. I’m not quite sure if you can see the tears on Jesse’s face at the end of the video or not. She claimed they were tears from the wind. I’m not sure I believe her. In all seriousness, Jesse did a wonderful job and I am very proud of her for conquering her fear of unregulated, uninspected, small alpine village amusement rides. And I’m pretty sure she had a good time.

Wednesday, July 13 and Thursday, July 14, 2011: “Midnight Train to Salzburg”

Day 6 & 7: Firenze and Salzburg

We skipped a day of blogging because yesterday, Wednesday July 13^th, ended up being extremely long and did not end with convenient internet. Then, because of our long Wednesday day and night, Thursday, July 14 was a relatively short

day. We’ll try to describe in order the best we can and let you know when we switch days as each day also takes place in a different city—actually, different countries!

Europe definitely got a few points on Wednesday morning because we slept in until 10:00. Although, both Beth and I decided we deserved a few points because neither of us are normally able to sleep in until 10:00 anymore. Sigh, adulthood. Our sweet hotel owner, Antonio, knocked on the door at 10:00 and told us it was time to check out. Despite our slightly late check out he still allowed us to store our luggage at his hotel until 8:45 p.m. We had to pick up at this time to walk to the train station. Our tour around Florence started with a walk past Santa Maria Novella Cathedral—the church in the plaza about fifty meters from our hotel. We didn’t go in because, unlike every other church in Italy, they charged an entrance fee.

We continued on to the Academy Gallery, which houses the original “David” by Michelangelo. While waiting in a short line we met four college students from Texas—one who graduated from Stratford (the high school about three blocks from the school Beth and I teach at!). What a small world. Once inside we took several walks around David—he deserves the hype that has been built up around him in the art world. The veins in his hands and the curves in his knees are incredibly realistic. According to a small plaque near the statue Michelangelo found the piece of marble in a “scrap” pile and asked the Medicis if he could use it. To think, one of the more famous pieces was not even commissioned by a wealthy patron. Beth and I both agreed that this was our favorite collection of art—we love sculptures! In addition to sculptures they also have a large collection of paintings that are fun to look.

After a pizza (with eggplant! Beth is so brave in her eating habits; she had never had it before! Mmmm) we decided we

needed something else to do with the rest of our day. We looked at the tour book and decided the Galileo Museum might be interesting—it was also in the right neighborhood we were walking in and air-conditioned. This was our favorite museum of the trip so far! We both decided that we need to somehow take our ninth grade students on a field trip to this museum as it has an interesting, and beautiful, history of geometry, astronomy, geography, biology, chemistry, physics, meteorology, and the art of war. Basically the Medicis were looking to not only improve the city of Florence with art and architecture but they also wanted to expand their power abroad. A deeper knowledge of all of the above would help them achieve this so they invested in it. As a geography teacher I should probably be a little more interested in globes, but I’m not. I teach it, but it’s not my favorite topic we cover in class. These globes were AMAZING and would make anyone want to know more about how they came to be. I’m pretty sure my kids would agree. Beth is now inspired to teach a unit on the geometry of war—can you see a ninth grade boy who would not be interested in that? So maybe we won’t be approved for a trip to Florence but perhaps we can finally bridge the cross-curricular gap we have had between math and the other ninth grade core classes. Okay, enough teacher talk. Back to the gelato and wine…

After an excellent last meal and gelato in Florence we picked up our luggage and walked to the train station to catch the 9:52 p.m. train to Innsbruck, Austria. We invested in a sleeper car for four, which was a wise decision for several reasons. 1) We got a little (very little) sleep. 2) We were not in a six-person sleeper car. Sleeping with a ceiling and or bed that close to your face is not ideal. We’ll leave it at that and I am sure Beth can tell you in person someday my reaction to our accommodations last night. We changed trains in Innsbruck and by 7:00 a.m. we had arrived in a chilly Salzburg. Beth and I were feeling pretty groggy and disgusting at this point and went in search of our hotel. Luckily this

hotel is run by sweet Austrians who rushed to get our room ready while we had a cappuccino in a nearby cafe (the best of our trip! But not too effective on our sleep-deprived selves.).

After a load of laundry (1 pt us—we were in need of some clean clothes), a shower, and a short nap it was already 1:00 p.m. We set out for a walk around town and passed Mozart’s birthplace (we skipped this and went to his residence later based on our books recommendation) on our walk through the old city. We then stumbled on a path that led up the Monchsberg; this is what we think the large hill is called that we climbed up

based on our map. We reached the top, which also is home to Salzburg’s Modern Art Museum, and found scenic views of the entire city and surrounding countryside. We had a good view but sadly our pictures did not turn out as well as the actual view because of a decent amount of cloud coverage. Sad for you, but now you have to go to Salzburg to see it in person :).

After our hike (which was longer that we thought it would be because of some wrong turns) we went to Mozart’s Residence. We paid for the audio tour and both really enjoyed the descriptions, which included Mozart’s music in the background. They played some of the pieces he composed at eight years old. Wow. Both Beth and I wondered how it was our students, at fourteen, can’t even remember to bring a pencil to class, and Mozart would play the piano by invitation for kings and queens. We kid. We love our students, but seriously, bring a pencil to class.

We ended our day very early today because we both accidently fell asleep in the short movie about Mozart in the last room of his residence. Its not that we were not interested, we were just so tired, it was dark in the theater, they were playing nice calming Mozart music in the background, and this particular part of the tour was in German. The combination made it too much to resist a short siesta. We randomly went into a restaurant on the way back to our hotel and it was great. We feel that Austria will be a culinary delight as well. Pork chop with tomato, cheese, mushrooms, bacon all on top of a hash brown patty. Mmmmm. We are pretty sure it was fairly local too. None of the other customers were speaking any English.

Now we are headed to bed after our long days. We need to rest up because tomorrow is the Sound of Music tour. To say we are excited is an understatement. The hills are going to be alive with US.

Choos (sp?),

Beth and Jesse