How I spent the rest of March...

Here are some little tidbits from my life recently:

-I went hiking the other day and discovered that it is still a little early in the year for my beloved hiking sandals. After 4 miles, my feet were very muddy and very cold. Sorry toes!

-I had some Land o Lakes hot chocolate for the first time in years. It brought back many happy memories of Christmas mornings when a package of raspberry chocolate or mint chocolate was a stocking staple. So yummy...

-My running buddy got me a flippin' sweet present: a Nike Plus. I just hook it into my iPod and it tracks how far and how fast I run. It has given me a renewed love of running. Only three months until the half marathon!!

-I found out that "The Marriage of Figaro" will be performed by the Seattle Opera in May. I was so excited that I downloaded the album onto my iPod and have been listening to it ever since. The timing is perfect as I saw "The Barber of Seville" earlier this month. Now I just have to convince someone to come with me.

-Milkis is my new favorite drink. Those Koreans sure know how to make a soda!

Journal about Austria trip

This post is more for my own benefit than for the entertainment of my readers but feel free to read it anyway.

Sunday
-We arrived early in the afternoon. After getting settled in our hotel, Carma and I took a walk through the old city. Despite the time difference and repeatedly getting lost, we had a great time wandering through the city. It was a beautiful clear day and had I known how rare that would be during the week, I would have enjoyed it even more.

Monday

-I took a Mozart tour of the city. It was a very informative tour and at the conclusion thereof, I received a voucher to visit the Mozart house where he lived for a large portion of his adult years. I met up with Carma for lunch. Afterward we had planned to go on a city tour which turned out to be the exact same tour I had taken in the morning except that there were no vouchers involved. It was still enjoyable and repitition is a great teacher. When Carma went back to her seminar, I went through the Mozart house, did some shopping and bought a ticket to Switzerland. After dinner, I went to bed early in anticipation of my trip in the morning.

Tuesday

-My train left at 6:30 in the morning. I had hoped to enjoy the view of the Alps on the my 7 hour train ride but unfortunately, it was too cloudy to see very far. Instead I watched a little "Lost" and read the highly recommended "A Walk in the Woods" to pass the time. I arrived in Zollikofen (just outside of Bern) an hour before I was to meet up with my former mission companion so I wandered around the town and came across the temple. What a happy sight! When Tamara finished work, she took me around Bern and we had a lovely dinner of fondue together before I had to leave. I had a hard time sleeping on the train through the night as I was so concerned about missing my stop and waking up in Prague. But when the train pulled into Salzburg at 4:30 am, I was awake and took a taxi back to the hotel where I promptly fell asleep.

Wednesday

-I woke up in time to get ready and have lunch with Carma. Afterward, it was time for the highly anticipated Sound of Music tour. There were a few other people on the tour but I think that Carma and I had the best time of anyone. We sang along with the soundtrack and snapped pictures at every stop. In the small villiage where the wedding scene was filmed, Carma and I found a charming Austrian clothing store where we couldn't resist buying an authentic drindl for our little niece who loves "The Sound of Music" so much that she insists on being called Gretel.

That night we attended a concert where the performers dressed in period clothing. They performed pieces from some of Mozart's operas. Due to a series of mix-ups, we ended up at the best table in the room. We were so close that I kept worrying I would inadvertently trip the singers as they moved through the room.
Thursday

-I spent the morning on a Bavarian salt mine tour. The drive through the mountains was beautiful, though I learned more about Hitler's occupation of Austria than I would have preferred.

The salt mines were so fun! We slid down large wooden slides into the mine and took a boat across a lake of fresh water (which leaches the salt from the mountain).

After lunch, it was raining so I walked around downtown and went in all of the old churches. They were so beautiful and I kept thinking of all the people who must have sacrificed so much for their love of God. That evening we were treated to a concert at our hotel. A violinist, a flutist and a pianist played selections from some of the great composers of Salzburg.

Friday
-I had been waiting all week for a clear day to take the cable car up to the Untersberg mountain. At this point my time was running out so I decided to go despite the cloudiness. It was very cold but I would have regretted not going. After 10 minutes at the top of the mountain in the snow, I was ready to go back.

Carma had the afternoon off so we explored the Salzburg fortress and then walked across the ridge to the Museum of Modern Art. The view from both locations were amazing. We treated ourselves to apple strudel and hot chocolate before making our way back. That night while Carma attended the seminar's closing events, I went to see "The Barber of Seville". The music and singing were incredible though I was taken aback by the costumes. The influence seemed to have come from the 1980's as Figarro showed up in black leather pants and a mullet (and riding a motorcycle no less).

Saturday

-Carma and I took an early train to Vienna. We had decided to do a hop-on-hop-off bus tour in order to maximize our short time there. Due to the high winds and fierce rain, we hopped on and enjoyed the city from the warmth of the bus. After the weather calmed down we walked around downtown and ate a charming little restaraunt where we naturally had weinerschniztel. We returned that night to Salzburg to pack. I found that I had acquired more possessions that I had realized during the week.

Sunday

-The Salzburg airport proved to be much easier to navigate than I expected. We flew to Frankfurt where we had a layover. Our mom and dad were scheduled to have a layover there at the same time. Unfortunately our cell phones didn't get any service and we had to imagine that we were participating in "The Amazing Race" in efforts to finally meet up with them at their gate. We had time only to say hello, share some chocolate, and show them Grace's drindl before they had to board their flight. Our flight back was much less crowded and equipped with more entertainment so the time passed quickly. The Lincoln boys were there to welcome us home. We were excited to watch "The Sound of Music" that night at Carma's apartment and point out all the places we had just been.