After our long drive to Austria we finally got some sleep. We slept late into the morning, but we were up and moving by 9am. We had a traditional German/Austrian breakfast of rolls, meat and cheese, danish, tea/coffee or juice. It was terrific. Then we drove over to the little church, parked our car and hopped on the local bus #21 and headed into town. We got off the bus in the down town area and headed into the 'old' district and the walking area. We found the home where Mozart was born but then decided to walked to the home where he lived. We had 1 hour so we toured the home, his life was very interesting. I did not know he had a sister who was also very gifted as well. After the tour we made our way to another bus for the Sound of Music Tour. In the meantime, let me set the stage. Remember the high winds from last night, well they were still high. We had rain, cold blowing rain. I was happy to climb onto the bus, but we got off and walked around in the rain at various points. We saw the back of the home, where the kids fell out of the boat and into the lake. The front of the house, where Marie sang 'I have confidence'. The gazebo and the tree lined road where the kids were hanging like monkeys. After all this we headed for the mountains to Mondsee, the little village where the wedding scene was filmed.

This is great, because the church is beautiful and there is an interesting item(s) in the alter. However, remember the high winds and rain - IN THE VALLEY - well that turns to high winds and snow in the mountains - that is the AUSTRIAN ALPS! Not to be confused with the little hills we have in central PA. It was very pretty, but the roads must have been bad. We passed at least 2 cars in the ditch and watched the police van spin in circles trying to get to the accident scenes. No one was hurt, but it was great to watch. I felt like I was at home. We did make it to the church and got our pictures. Afterwards we had Apple Strudel with ice cream and then made our way back to the bus. The bus drive back into town was no big deal, except that the bus did slide once on the autobahn which was wild. I have never been in a bus that was sliding in snow. It would have been very uncool if the driver lost control, but he did not so it was just one more story for the blog.

It was cold and we were wet when we arrived back in town, but we found an Italian restaurant in the old district for dinner. After another great meal in Europe we found our local bus, #21, and went home. I was looking forward to my warm bed with the heavy German down comforter. I could hear it calling. As I snuggled into bed the wind started to whip outside the window it such a way that I was not sure if it was super cool to listen to Alpine Winds beat against the house or if maybe we should have gone south to warmer weather. But nothing ventured, nothing gained. I fell asleep and slept very well.