The hills are alive...

I'm going to Austria in the morning. That sounds exotic to me, even though it will take about the same amount of time as a drive from Columbus, OH to Lansing, MI. I've never been to any other German-speaking country. (For that matter, I've never been to any other English-speaking country outside the US of A, either.) And we get to see the Alps! I'm excited.

So anyway, our train goes through Munich and Salzburg and east across Austria until we get to Vienna. I tried to find The Sound of Music to look at the background scenery, but it is not well known in Germany (hm, I wonder why? Maybe because the Germans are the bad guys in that one?) All I could find were music clips on line. Unfortunately, we don't have enough children to teach them the do re mi song and have them parade through the train in lederhosen made out of curtains. Pity. (Don't worry. I'm sure we'll get enough curious stares as it is.)

Speaking of the Sound of Music, someone really should have looked at a map before scripting that. Salzburg lies on the German border--the main train station is actually in Germany, in fact. If the von Trapps were escaping on foot over the Alps, where were they escaping to?? Switzerland is a long, long ways away, even by car. The real von Trapps apparently told their friends they were going on tour in America, hopped a train to Italy, and from there went to America. But that's not quite dramatic enough for a musical, I guess.

So, blog silence commences for a few days...