"...Warm Woolen Mittens, These Are a Few of My Favorite Things"

I don’t think anyplace compares to Salzburg in getting the most Mozart and Sound of Music bang for your buck (or euro, as the case may be) – all in one convenient location.

If you don’t like the “Sound of Music” you may want to stop reading here and skip to the end.

How anyone can see a view like this and not want to break out singing “Climb Ev'ry Mountain” is beyond me.



I’m sure you know what’s coming next – oh yes, we did…I talked DH into taking a Sound of Music tour. We booked with a smaller company that runs the tour on a minivan (maximum of 8 passengers) rather than a huge tourist bus and I think it was the right choice. Granted we didn’t have a busload of 50 people singing tunes from the movie, but we were able to go where the bus could not. We traveled a least 90 kilometers on this tour - it was nice to see the gorgeous countryside surrounding Salzburg.

But back to the SOM stuff...
We saw the fountain, the steps, and the arbor where Maria and the children danced and sang a portion of “Do Re Mi”







The gazebo used for the dancing shots.



The lane where the children were in the trees when Captain Von Trapp came back home with the Countess.



We stopped at a small restaurant for cake and coffee in the afternoon. This was the view from where we sat enjoying our break.



The church where the wedding was shot was quite a distance from Salzburg. Apparently, the producers wanted a church which had steps for Maria to climb for the full Hollywood effect of her dress and train. Unfortunately for us, this church is currently being refurbished.



And for some non-SOM content -

a view of Salzburg from the castle.



We also saw Mozart's residence (very worthwhile tour) but you're not allowed to take pictures in the museum, so I can't share its treasures with you.

And finally, some knitting content. Haven’t seen this in months, have you? Here’s the beginnings of “The Landscape Shawl” (Fiber Trends pattern) which is my train knitting. Yarn is Mountain Colors Mountain Goat.



How long will it take before you stop humming tunes from SOM?

I still am.

Help.

Hot, Hot, Hot!

In Budapest, we saw some marvelous sights - while sweating profusely. We were here during one of the worst heat waves they've ever had in May.

A huge indoor market – 3 levels.



A view from the funicular going up to the castle.



Matthias Church.



We spent one day at the Hungarian Open Air Museum at Szentendre and of course we chose the hottest day to go – the high temperature broke records. I was very interested in these exhibits.





Notice the ornate metal ball that holds the thread? I would love one of those for yarn!

I was able to get my daily fix.



Here it's not Diet Coke, but Coca Cola Light. A rose by any other name would smell as sweet...as long as I get my caffeine.

The place we stayed at was this close to the Danube River.



One afternoon we went to one of the many thermal baths or swimming pools on Margaret Island (Margit-sziget) called the Palatinus Strand. The outside of the main building is nothing to brag about (think uninspired communist-era architecture of concrete blocks). The locker rooms are the stuff of high school nightmares, except that no one speaks a word of English. But once you figure out the system and win over the attendant who is frustrated with your lack of Hungarian language skills everything works out. The confusion stems from the attendant looking like everyone else in the locker room - no special shirt/uniform/tag. The attendant has a key that opens ALL lockers. You pick a locker, she opens it for you and when you're done changing, she locks it for you. I was a little concerned that someone other than me had access to my wallet, but when in Rome...

You then go into the complex and glide into a cornucopia of swimming pools. There are 7 very large pools in this one complex. We only saw 4 – the kid’s wading pool and 3 adult pools that have different temperatures of water. One of the pools had jets that turned the pool into a water ride, shooting you around in a circle. That was a favorite. We completely missed the pools that have the big water slides. We spent a couple of hours there – cooling off from the heat.

I did spot yarn in Budapest. A couple blocks from where we were staying was a fabric store. They had a very small shelf of yarn, mainly acrylic Wendy brand yarn - nothing of interest. I didn’t bother to whip out the camera.

So no yarn purchases - I had to be content with the knitting projects I had brought with me. One thing worried me however - I had to be ultra-vigilant to keep my wool in the ziplock bag when not knitting. There are no screens on windows in Europe - none. Not one place we stayed had screens and none of the homes we saw had screens on the windows. I confess - I was afeared of the moths. What do knitters in Europe do to prevent their projects or stash from being invaded by unwanted guests?

Prague

After leaving Ste. Foy de la Grande, we traveled back to Paris, meandered to the airport and flew to Prague, arriving late in the evening. The owners of the B&B we stayed at were incredibly helpful and kind – with lots of advice on getting around the city, the most worthwhile sights to see, and good restaurant recommendations. We happened to be visiting during Prague Spring – an international music festival – and were lucky enough to be given free tickets to an organ concert held at St. Nikolaus Church.



After the concert we strolled through Old Town and watched as the town clock struck the hour – a must-see for the tourists.



The following day we toured the Strahov Monastery’s Library. (Yes, one would think from the previous post that I'd had my fill of monasteries on this trip, but apparently not.) One of my favorite pictures is of a part of the library which contains the banned books. (Hint: click on the picture, then look closely at the middle of the room towards the ceiling at the two “doors” outlined in gold.) I'm not sure what exactly a monk needed to do in order to get permission to view any of the banned books kept here.



The main hallways of the library are filled with specimens. DH was fascinated with the dodo bird.



At the Prague Castle, we toured St. Vitus Cathedral





and the Old Palace. They used to hold jousts in this room for the amusement of the ladies of the court. In fact, they built the doorways high enough so that the knight and his horse could ride into the room.



On our third day, touring the Jewish quarter was a somber experience.



We also went to the site of the original castle in Prague, called Vysehrad, which is now a lovely park overlooking the city.

Everywhere you go, there is beauty to be found, from buildings



to bridges



to cemeteries.





I didn’t find yarn in Prague – but then I wasn’t looking very hard. I was trying to avoid making this a fibre tour while DH was with me – the fibre tour comes later on…

In Which Our Heroine Realizes She is a Flawed Human Being

After spending our one brief night in Paris, we boarded the high-speed train to Libourne, then a regional train to Sainte Foy la Grande. From there, we were met by a cousin who lives here





and is studying to become a Buddhist monk. It was a full day of traveling, but the countryside was beautiful, especially as we traveled south into the wine country of Bordeaux.

We spent an interesting 2 days here. I managed to knit some while here, but the days were quite full of activities – and evenings were short since bells began waking the community at 5 a.m. The only “down” side was the weather – it rained most of the time we were at the monastery but the countryside was still beautiful.



We had the chance to visit an 11th century church located about 6 km from the monastery.





We lived (as much as we could in our uneducated way) as the monks do for two days…two loooong days. And I’m sorry to report that the experience made me realize that I am a completely shallow human being – because two days was more than plenty for me. And I could never give up the stash in order to lead a life of poverty. I really respect our cousin for the choice he has made. As for me, I came away grateful to get back to the world and happy to feel re-connected to what is happening in the world.

The strong yarn mojo has continued. (In retrospect, I firmly believe it was the yarn mojo which got us bumped up to business class on the flight. Or was it because the knitting gods don't mind when I go into the state of Illinois as long as I have the intent to leave the state as soon as possible and do not engage in any knitting activities there?)

Well, the yarn mojo continued – even in rural France. On the day we left, our cousin drove us to Ste. Foy la Grande early so he could show us a little bit of the town before we had to board the train. We were walking down a street, in search of a specific bakery he wanted to take us to, when all of a sudden my head whipped around so fast I’m shock I didn’t end up with severe case of whiplash. My knitting subconscious saw a shop - across the street - named PHILDAR. I stood in the middle of the sidewalk for a minute, wondering why I was starring at that shop, until I realized what my knitting instincts already knew.

This could only mean one thing, children.

Yarn.

They tried to camouflage the fact that they sold yarn by having only clothing in the front windows and clothing in the front of the store. But the knitting mojo was not so easily fooled. Unfortunately, I did not have the presence of mind to take a picture of the shop. I controlled myself – only purchased enough for a child’s scarf – mainly because DH was there and I didn’t want to load myself down with purchases this early in the trip.



Excuse the crap photo - it's hard to surreptitiously take a photo while DH is completing his morning ablution. I can't think of any reasons I could give that he would not immediately question. Any ideas for when DH finally does catch me photographing my yarn?