THE HILLS REALLY ARE ALIVE!

 Oh I don't think I've ever been so grateful to pull out the sunscreen. Because that meant that the rain had finally stopped, and the sun was out to greet us. After we lathered up, and tied up the girls' sun hats, we were ready to explore salzburg. We had the first half of the day to explore by ourselves before our Sound of Music bike tour began.

After a short walk from our parking lot, we were officially welcomed to Salzburg with this killer view! Can you see the hills? Those are the hills. The ones that are alive, and have their own VERY famous song written about them ;)

Can I just preface this by saying that we are almost literally a walking circus. I'm sure that many of the tourists who see us walking around in these big crazy cities are almost as entertained by us as they are doing the actual touring. There is a reason you hardly EVER see other families with little kids out galavanting through Europe.  But I love creating new and fun memories together, even if the two kiddos will never remember it. I suppose that's why I'm bent on documenting it all. Traveling, to me, is a lot more than just seeing cool things. It is actually refining me and stretching me as a person, opening my eyes to different people and cultures, and it has given me ample opportunities to calmly improvise and smile, even when everything isn't smooth sailing. Still working on all that, and there is a lot more growing to be had, but I have come a long way!

 My sister casually gazing at the lock bridge. 

 Jeff scouring each and every information board, and adding his own commentary because he somehow knows random facts about every thing in this universe.

 Rachel was on Lyla duty for part of the day. It was nice to roam freely for a bit.

 Mozart was born in Salzburg, and although he moved away to Vienna shortly after- Salzburg milks it for all it is worth.

 We shopped around a bit, and stopped for ice cream and then snuck over to eat it at a McDonalds. McDonalds are like a safe haven during a long day of travels because they have bathrooms AND wifi! So we took full advantage of that. Everyone finished off their ice creams, I changed some diapers, gave out some snacks, wiped some faces, and then we were off to kill some more time before our tour started.

"My wife better know how much I flippin' love her because I'm letting her do a photo shoot of my ice cream cone before I even lick it!" (what he is thinking, almost definitely)

Lyla's first taste of sugar. BIG MISTAKE. A long drawn out tantrum resulted after refusing to give her more licks. I guess kids these days are starting tantrums at 11 months?

 "Lyla doesn't get ice cream. Only me! She is too little." Her world will be rocked one day when Lyla too gets to enjoy an ice cream cone.

 Lyla was giddy to be out of the carrier!

This castle and this building both make cameos in the Sound of Music. That is literally all I know about them, besides the fact that they look really awesome. I'm real thorough with this tourism thing.

 Mirabelle Gardens was so delightful. We got both the girls out of the carriers to let them run and/or crawl to their hearts' content!

Alright alright alright lets get to the good stuff already, yeah? If this trip was an artichoke, this part would be the artichoke heart. And no, I won't apologize for that awful analogy because that's exactly how I felt about it. We are shameless Sound of Music fans. Ok, I am a shameless sound of music fan, with my mom right up there with me, and rachel and jeff lagging far behind.

 The only problem was that I haven't rode on a bike for....oh, I don't know, like 15 years! But after a few hundred feet of wobbling my way to the crosswalk, tipping over, then begging the tour guide to lower my seat, I was doing pretty good. After I had adjusted the seat, I took it on a little practice run to the stop light and back. There were lots of pedestrians and I was a little annoyed that they didn't part like the red sea when they saw me coming, but I learned to swerve and miraculously, didn't kill anyone!

I then proceeded to take about 25 pictures of these girls in their bike trailer and simultaneously melt and shout all synonymns of "adorable" that I could think of. 

Our first stop on the tour was another portion of mirabelle gardens, but like the really cool part. The stairs where she finishes the song "Do, Re, Mi" (which, by the way, Jane belted the entire bike ride) with the children hopping up and down. I had to pull some serious teeth to get this picture and it was worth it. We had prepared Jane for this day by watching the movie on the drive down, listening to the songs all month, and telling her we were doing the Sound of Music tour. So when we got on these steps there was some legitimate disappointment in her eyes when she asked: "Where are all the kids? And the singing lady?" As far as she was concerned, I had betrayed her. Life's tough sometimes, especially when you think you are going to meet Julie Andrews, only to come to find out that your mother duped you.

It would have been a disservice to Julie Andrews if we didn't take this picture. I mean the woman deserves some props. Not only can she teach a bunch of kids to sing and hit a high C; but she can rock a boy haircut and still look like a stunner. HOW?

I had to get Jane by the famous horse fountain that the kids skipped around in the movie. She wasn't as animated as I had hoped, but it'll do ;)

This door was in a few scenes, I think when they were fleeing from the nazis!

Our tour guy leading the group in a stunning rendition of Eidelweiss. And when I say "the group" I really mean it was basically a duet with him and me. I'm sorry but I'm going to jump at any opportunity where belting classics in public is socially acceptable.

The dad of the year right here. He pulled jane in the trailer, and held Lyla in the carrier. And at one point we went up a huge, killer hill that most people couldn't even get up with just their bikes. But if you know Jeff, then it won't be difficult for you to imagine him leaning forward with a fierce and determined look on his face as he pedaled his way up that hill and passed a whole slew of others, and at one point yelling for me to get out of his way so he could get through, and up, without stopping. STUD.

Maria splashed in this fountain while singing "Confidence in Me"! I don't know why that little fact makes this statue 1000 times cooler, but it does.

We stopped to learn about some cool facts in the Old Town Square, and to Jane's delight, there just so happened to be a woman selling balloons. I think Jeff was just as delighted!

Stop. How cute is this?

They were also selling these thick and soft pretzels in all different flavors (cinnamon sugar, cheesy, bacon and cheese, apple pie, etc). Lunch! PERFECT.

Remember the hill of death I mentioned earlier that we had to ride up? Well it lead us to this view so I can say it was definitely worth it. Hard things almost always are. 

Nonnberg Abbey! The Abbey where Maria stayed at in the movie. Also the abbey that the actual Maria went to! It is the OLDEST abbey in the world. AND, the coolest thing about this place is that there has only ever been ONE marriage performed here in the history of ever, and it was Maria Von Trapp and Mr. Von Trapp. Boom. History and Hollywood collide.

The man, the myth, the legend.

When they were filming in the backyard, they filmed with this house ^^ and the front of the house is an entirely different house. This little lake is where the kids rode their bikes along and also where they rode in a canoe in this scene:

The front of the Von Trapp house:

Once we went to all the places in the main part of the city, we ventured out into the beautiful austrian countryside. We were on weaving paved paths and were whizzing by greenish golden fields of grass with the magnificent mountains as the backdrop. There were poppy fields, grassy, flowery fields, and the sun was shining its warm glowing rays as it was beginning to set, just to add an extra punch of gleaming beauty to all the surrounding views. To add to the loveliness, I was riding along side some of my very favorite humans and had a speaker in my bike basket that was blasting the soundtrack of the Sound of Music. I felt like I was transported to the actual movie, as the light breeze flew through my hair and the sunshine and the melodies and the amazing scenery all worked together to create some of the most surreal and happy moments of my life. Tucking those memories away in a safe, and forever preserved place.

Does anyone know if you burn more calories if you are singing and biking at the same time? Because if the answer is yes, then I burned far more calories than anyone in Salzburg that day. During the times where the path was wide enough, I rode next to Jeff and me and Jane would serenade him with either My Favorite Things or Do, Re, Mi. All the while riding on the paths where that song was very first sung. I don't know if it gets better than that. I really don't.

Our end point was Hellbrun park, and OH how I wish we had 4 more hours to spend there. But I had 2 little girls that were telling me via excessive whining, that bed time needed to come STAT. So we had to walk away from the biggest and most kid friendly park, with a palace and trick fountains, I've ever seen in Europe! We will be back for it, promise.

 Had to get a little mushy in front of the famous gazebo. And if you look closely you can see Lyla trying to get in on the action.

We ended the tour and gave our tour guide a big old tip because we were just drunk on Sound of Music and happiness. Our legs were tired but we were all so happy and smiling as we shared a few of our favorite things about the day. ;) And we all slept realllllly good that night.

So long, farewell, auf wiedersehen, goodbye Salzburg!