the whole way there was filled with breathless anticipation as we giggled and whispered like small children awaiting christmas morning. as the train trudged across austria from east to west and the alps came into view, we were taken aback at how beautiful and majestic they were. we had made a deal that the first person to see them had to alert everyone else, regardless of what they were doing, so that we could all experience the wonder together. i'm sure the other passengers in the train thought we were ridiculous as we snapped picture after picture and "oohed" and "aahed" for the next hour as the mountains came into full view. by the time we stepped onto the platform in salzburg, we were absolutely enthralled and giddy with excitement. 
from the train station, we booked it to our hostel, checked in, and within an hour of being in salzburg, we were settled into our window seats aboard the sightseeing tour of the sound of music, prepared to meander through the life of maria von trapp (especially julie andrews as maria von trapp) and experience firsthand the most exciting parts of the movie (minus the nazis, we did not experience those) since checking into our hostel took longer than we had anticipated, we ended up making the tour bus (of about 7 other people) wait 10 extra minutes for us. since we were a group of 5 younger girls and all boarded the bus with huge grins and adorned in our "salzburg skirts," the tour guide nicknamed us "the girlies" and often called on us to sing along, sing a capella, answer questions, and ride toboggans (i'll get there...) it definitely made the tour even more enjoyable to have the cutest little austrian woman treat us like little girls trapped in the middle of a fairy tale. i can honestly say none of us stopped smiling for the duration of the 4 hour tour. 
i won't go into complete detail of the tour as that would probably take hours, so instead i'll just give you the picture cliff notes: 
standing at the entrance to where the gazebo is that liesel and rolf sang to each other as well as the captain and maria. (it was relocated so that people could visit it with more ease) 
the scenes where the front of the house were filmed (the yellow house hidden within the bushes) 
in front of the palace of leopoldskon where the scenes of the back of the house were filmed: drinking pink lemonade with the baroness, the children and maria falling in the lake... 
the nonnberg abbey where the REAL maria and captain von trapp were married. also where the family hides and are found by rolf 
the church where maria and the captain are married in the hollywood version 
practicing inside the church! ;) 
the mirabell gardens where maria and the children dance through during the Do-Re-Mi song 
so-do-la-fa-mi-do-re... 
what a tour! 
We ended our night with complementary "Edelweiss" cocktails from our hostel. they were prettier than they tasted.
One of the funnest and most memorable parts of the tour, though, would have to have been the toboggan ride down the mountain. the perfect blend of randomness, thrill, and hilarity.
after the tour, we wandered around salzburg in hopes of satiating our tastebuds with a little home cooking, and stumbled upon some sort of festival complete with country singing austrians and fresh grilled bratwurst. we couldn't have been more pleased. we spent the rest of the evening dancing, laughing, watching men play giant sized chess, and eating very scrumptious food. it was so fun.
on our way home, we were awed and amazed once again at the beauty that exists in the world as god presented us with this:
overall, it was definitely my favorite day in europe in spite of the fact that somewhere along the way i lost my dearly beloved wolf blanket and now have had to resign myself to sleeping with the golden princess blanket from vinarska :(
the next day we mostly wandered around salzburg, taking in the sight of the mountains and lakes and shops and castles and markets and foods and horses and knights and anything else we could convince our eyeballs to process. it was such a fun trip and after being there, i have decided i could definitely live there when i'm older. anybody wanna join? :) like i said, words cannot do the city justice and even the pictures do not suffice.
here are just a few more of my favorite pictures from the trip:
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