The Sound of what? Music!!

The drive from Germany to Austria was nice.  On the way we had two stops. We stopped first off at Salzburg. The sole purpose of stopping was to allow mainly the female population to see where the sound of music was filmed. I did not care as much, but the shopping and the area were gorgeous. I enjoyed walking around and taking photos, so I was happy that was stopped even though it was for another purpose.  While we were in Salzburg, we were in charge of finding lunch for ourselves, but Ashlyn, Kelli, and I just walked around and found interesting landmarks. By far the tunnel that we had driven through to get to Salzburg was the best. The tunnel looked as if it was taken from Lord of the Rings. Ha! Random reference, but I enjoyed it. 

From Salzburg we stopped at Mauthausen Concentration Camp. I enjoyed the tour, but it was hard to believe that something like the Holocaust actually happened. It was a sad experience and an eye opener that there have, there are, and there will always be people in a worse spot than you are. The various stories and accounts of the thousands of prisoners were depressing. At the same time, the concentration camp looked staged, which is terrible to say, but many of the buildings were under construction and it was hard to picture that something of that magnitude occurred here. There were dozens of memorials near the entrance, but the memorial that touched me most was near the rock quarry. At Mauthausen, the prisoners were sent into this rock quarry and were charged with carrying stones up this step hillside. If you stumbled backward, you were a dead along with everyone else behind you. I enjoyed my experience here and I hope to never forget it.

We arrived in Vienna around nine pm and noticed there was little to do. Besides the fact that half the group was tired, I wanted to explore. I gathered a couple of people to join me on my exploration of Vienna. We did not make it far before Kelli wanted to head back. She and Butters ended up walking a longer way home than Sarah, Michelle, Adam, Rogelio, and I. Sarah and I were trying to find the Schonbrunn Palace. The palace is actually the royal families summer home. The actually palace is in the heart of Vienna. Before we decided to call it, we asked someone how far we were from the palace. They told us that we were 45 minutes away. However, he was talking about the city palace. In all honesty, we were on top of the summer palace. We were block behind it. I did not figure this out until the next morning when we walked to the palace.

Wednesday was a free day, but it was a different free day because it was also a holiday in Vienna and across Europe. Ascension day stands for the forty days after Christ resurrection. I have never thought about celebrating this, but I was today. A large group followed me to the Schonbrunn where we walked around the palace grounds as well as the gardens. The gardens were amazing. A lot more color than Versailles. When we walked over to the main courtyard of the gardens, we noticed a huge stage, which was later used by the Vienna Phil Harmonics orchestra in honor of the celebration. Around one, we all met up and walked over to the subway station where we caught the U4 to the Opera house. We took a tour of the Opera house once we got there and were very impressed. As the tour came to a close, a group decision was made concerning the Opera performance later on in the evening. The decision was that we would all go; however, we had to figure out the ticket issue. We decide to quickly go home and change into appropriate clothing before we dealt with the ticket issue. We arrived back at the Opera house around five. Part of the group went to the standing line while the other half of the group bought box tickets.  I went with the standing seating because I personally do not like the Opera, but I wanted the experience. Standing was deadly because of the all the people that surrounded me. It was like a human sauna. The Opera was in Italian and was surprisingly very good. However, I do not think I will ever attend another Opera. Ha! The experience is what I paid for. Ha!

All those that had been in the standing section left halfway through the performance while the other group stayed twenty minutes more. I left the standing group and waited for the others because I wanted to hand out with Sarah Pitts. Ha! The other group left and I was finally alone. I walked around the Opera house and explored the city a little bit more. I love walking around a city that I do not know anything about. When I am alone, I feel like a local and I learn more about the culture. The culture is mainly learned through people watching. Ha! I walked back to the Opera house after 25 minutes to find the other group walking down the stairs. We gathered together and made our way to the station to catch the next train to the concert. We were not the only ones with this idea because our subway car was full of people.

We finally arrived at the palace and witnessed a scene that I had never before seen. The park that early that day was filled with a couple thousand people was now packed with around a hundred thousand people. It was amazing! The music was beautiful and the atmosphere made the experience that much better. We walked up the hill to this other building, which overlooked the palace. While we were walking around, we noticed that there were dancers performing. We stopped and watched for a bit before we made our way back to the hillside to watch the performance and the crow around us.  I have no words to describe how I felt, but hopefully my pictures can explain how I felt. While Adam and I were sitting we thought how we should only come back to Europe when there is a holiday because Europe knows how to through a party. Ha! Sarah Pitts tried to explain that Oklahoma putts on a fourth of July show like this, but we discounted here comment because nothing like this could ever happen in Oklahoma. Sarah Pitts did not take this well, so I had to apologize a couple of times.

When we finally arrived home, I looked at my bed and thought about the sleep was going to receive in that bed. Ha! By the way, the beds in Vienna were by far the most comfortable we have had.  P.S. I talked with my family tonight, which I enjoyed because I was able to talk with my brother before we headed off to camp.

I woke up the next morning wishing that I did not have to get up, but I had to. We had another business visit, but it was okay because the visit was with Broadmann pianos. The visit was amazing. They manufacture the best sound systems in the world. We listened various genres on those speakers. Though they were expensive, I would buy one. I have never heard quality sound like that. The pianos were a site as well. In one of the rooms, we were able to sit down, but I did not have a chair. I was given the opportunity to sit on a piano bench. The piano bench was spectacular. The piano was even more impressive because it is made out of granite. The process for the piano is tedious because the granite has to be cut into 1 cm slices. Besides this piano, we were able to play on their nine-foot concert piano, which had an amazing sound. I wish I could have played longer, but I just touched a key. While Jon played the piano, we sang the luckiest together. It was unrehearsed, but it was good.

After the visit, we were given about two hours to wonder around the downtown area. The only place worth visiting was Techy’s ice cream. It was by far the greatest ice cream I have ever tasted. I even went back for seconds. To describe the ice cream is hard to describe, but it was delicious to the taste.

Following these two hours, we were on the road again. This time we were heading to the UN. The UN was an interesting experience, but I could have done without it. I did not learn anything that I did not already know. We received a tour of the UN, so we did not have the time to ask question about certain policies, etc. When we finally arrived at the hotel, we were exhausted. We gave everyone until six to do whatever they wanted. Butters and I decided to spend our time getting a haircut. We went to this barbershop three blocks away. The lady gave me one of the best haircuts I have had in awhile.

At six a group of us toured St. Stephen’s Cathedral, but we went at the wrong time. There was a church service going on, so we were confined to a small space. We left the Cathedral and walked around the city for a bit before we decided to find food. We all stopped in Stephansplatz where we found a restaurant the served Weiner Schneil. It was pretty good, but I rather have chicken fried steak at Texas Road house any day. Ha!

I would continue writing or editing my entries, but everyone knows I never edit. Ha! Also, the bus is making me sleepy, so I am going to finish writing. My Friday night ended early because I had a headache. Ha! Well I am done with speaking, enjoy your day.