A slice of Salzburg

The Mirabell Garden where parts of the Sound of Music were filmed, such as the "Do, Ri, Me" song was sung by the children and Maria. Salzburg views

Even McDonald's signs have to fit into the city square.

I sang with my high school choir and orchestra Mozart's Requiem. This was showing the night we arrived, but I wasn't quite familiar enough with the city to find my way back to our hotel by myself or I would have stayed. I bought the CD instead. I remember the words pretty well and it is all in Latin.

Hey, I can do that! Touch my nose with my tongue.

This is Hellbrun Castle - a very twisted Archbishop owned this and had dinners here. It was a water park. It was great as we got the park all to ourselves - about 15 of us. The guide would switch something and you could be pretty wet. He was kind to us. See the benches below? The arch bishop would have the ladies and gentlemen sit there and then he would give a nod and water would squirt up and they couldn't get up and leave, afterall he was the arch bishop.

Kayleen's birthday party.

Salzburg site

Kayleen's birthday - I sang "you are 58 going on 59" as we "danced" around the Sound of Music gazebo. We were crazy girls.

How many CDs did Vicki buy, anyone want to guess? Oh and 2 DVDs.

Amazing pianist and he pulls that grand piano out to play in Salzburg. He signed my CD- his name is Daniel Stenway and he plays a Steinway. Here are some more muscians. I didn't buy the water glass CD (he didn't have one out).

A contrabass and bailaka group were fantastic. Loved all the street musicians.

Hohensalzburg Fortress

Mozart's birth place and a wonderful museum now.

Dinner with some of our friends -

A taste of Prague~

Prague by night -

Unfortunately for Prague, with communism being gone and freedom of speech is new and cool the graffiti was horrific in Prague. It took a lot away from this beautiful city. I wasn't that impressed with Prague, but now looking back at the photos I think I need to give this city another chance. Maybe one day I will get back and see it. It had been built up to me so much that I guess I was expecting so much more. But as you can see it is quite beautiful. The Charles Bridge - we walked to the other side and had a Subway sandwich and a Coke. Just a little taste of home.

The main square of Prague. Does Disneyland come to mind here? This is part of our 38 touring friends.

The famous Astrological clock - the crowds are massive on the hour. Great pick pocketing area.

The symbols means "death is coming" - nice thought! So I have to hurry and see more - death is coming.

12 noon - look at the crowd!

Beautiful clock!

A gargoyle on a church - scares me so!

The guards uniforms were designed by the same costume designer from the movie Amadeus.

Kudos to our guide - he had just been diagnosed with MS and he did an amazing job getting around this cobble stoned town on Prague. He was full of information. We all worried about him getting around. He was very independent. Europe is not a very comfortable city if you have a serious walking handicap.

Bratislava

This day we had breakfast in Prague, lunch in Slovakia (Bratislava) and dinner in Hungary. Wow! This little town is where Kayleen's father was shot down and captured in the war. He was a prisoner of war. The farmers captured him and he said those pitch forks scared him pretty good. We walked the heck out of this town and it was just a short break before we headed to Budapest. Feeling like you are in a man hole? There was a lot of fun art in this town.

Do you recognize any of these people?

My favorite - Hans Christian Anderson!

The American Embassy - it was good to see the old Red, White and Blue again.

Aren't Americans just the best people? God bless our country.

A war memorial - we thought very fitting to see because of Kayleen's father.

Hey, has my brother-in-law, Devin, gone into business in Europe and not told me? There is a whole region around here called Devin. Hmmmm, can I get the family discount?

The darling little town of Cesky Krumlov - you will "bearly" believe what you see here

This is the absolutely beautiful town of Cesky Krumlov. It is a UNESCO World Heritage protected town and an absolute must see. It was a gorgeous day here and Kayleen and I hiked clear to the top of the Krumlov castle. Our motto was if there is a castle, you must see it. Below is an aqueduct, as the city is built on the Vlata River. This area is known as Bohemian Czech Republic. This type of art work is call "Scraffito" and yes that is where the word "graffiti" comes from. I tend to think this looks a lot better myself. It is basically several layers of clay in different colors and then the artist "scraps" away the layers until this comes out. It was truly amazing. We saw it quite often on our tours.

The beautiful city of Cesky Krumlov - that is the Krumlov Castle in the background.

The main square of town. I love the roofs, don't you? Especially with that sky! Wow! We met a very nice man from Australia that pulled out a huge knife - hey, he was offering to cut our sandwich in half and he did. Now that's a knife!

A young man from Torrance, California took this picture of me. Okay, all together now "it's a small world after all." This is my favorite picture of me on the trip.

From the top of the castle - a view of the city.

Now for the big surprise - two bears were just outside of the castle. Some guard system, eh? They must have been on a break when we went into the castle, but they were there when we came out. Great treat for walking to the top. I told you you would "bearly" believe this city.

Eagle's Nest - Happy 50th birthday Adolf Hitler

This is just a simple little tea house built in Germany by Martin Borman (Hitler's right hand man) and his team for Adolf Hitler's 50th birthday - the construction of this was amazing. I bought the video to let Allen and Vince see this as they would have loved this part of the trip. The air was thin up here - my little heart was pounding as Kayleen and I climbed to the top. By the way, the cross wasn't there when Hitler was there. This was Eva Braun's favorite little spot. This is Berchtesgaden, Germany. We took the day trip from Salzburg. Here is a website for you - http://www.letsgo-europe.com/Germany/eagles_nest/

Hitler's chauffeur would drive down this tunnel and drop Hitler off and then he would have to back out. Hitler was claustrophobic, so the elevator was built out of brass to make it look larger. Also, the put a bench in there for him to sit on. Kayleen and I left to go back to bus before anyone else and we got the elevator all to ourselves, except for the elevator operator.

Just along the road in Vienna

People, people - can't we all get along?

This is around St. Stephen's Cathedral - both shots!