bath

The hills are alive.....

Salzburg is renowned as the city of Mozart's birth and is also host to a famous five week music and drama summer festival. If you're a fan of The Sound of Music, you will also recognize beautiful scenery that was used to film the movie.   Our November 2012 weekend to Austria included a one day trip from Vienna to Salzburg.   We left Vienna by train early on Monday morning and two and a half  hours later we were in Salzburg.   We had decided to take a bus tour of the city which included  an audio tour of the history of Salzburg as well as sights (and a sing a long!)  that were used in The Sound of Music movie.  The great thing about the bus tour was that you could tune your earphones to either the history of Salzburg or the Sound of Music sights.  I decided to listen to the history of Salzburg tour since I certainly had the Sound of Music songs memorized years ago.  I was happy with my choice until we arrived at the first place where the Sound of Music movie was filmed.  

Schloss Leopoldskron~  the Sound of Music rowboat scene

This was the house and lake that was used for the rowboat scene where all of the children fell into the water.    I quickly switched to the Sound of Music audio tour  and sang along for the rest of the tour.  So much for my history tour of Salzburg.  

Do a deer, a female deer...  Steps where Maria taught
 the children Do, Re, Mi.

The gazebo from the Sound of Music

 Between our Sound of Music/History of Salzburg bus tour,  Christmas markets, Hohensalzburg Castle, Mozart's birthplace, beautiful cathedrals and walking around the city, the day went quickly. 

Salzburg's Advent markets were just as spectacular as the Vienna markets. 

Pretzel from the Advent Market in Salzburg

I remember when the Angel Choir sang "Kling Glockchen"  for our Christmas Concert. It was one of our favorites!

Nutcrackers of all shapes and sizes

Mirabell Gardens

 I'm sure when the summer flowers are in bloom, Mirabell Gardens are beautiful.  You can see Hohensalzburg Castle in the distance. Hohensalzburg Castle is one of the largest medieval castles in Europe.  Construction began in 1077 and it was enlarged and renovated up until the 17th century.

Riding the funicular to the top of Hohensalzburg Castle

The view from the top of Hohensalzburg Castle

After we toured the castle area, we went back down to the city center to the Salzburg Cathedral.  




  Salzburg Cathedral is a 17th century Baroque cathedral and it still has the font where Mozart was baptized.  

Main organ in the Cathedral  

I loved the horses and carriages!

Statue of Mozart in the city center

Mozart was born in the old town of Salzburg and you can tour the house and see portraits of the family and instruments that were played by Mozart.

Old town Salzburg

Our day ended with a long walking tour around the old town and then a walk back to the train station to catch our train to Vienna.

A pretzel is a great treat for a 3 hour train ride.  Especially the pretzels from the Christmas markets in Salzburg.

Our quick, one day trip was a whirlwind tour of Salzburg and we didn't begin to see it all, but it was a glimpse into Salzburg's rich musical heritage and history.  

Ely~ a town with Medieval roots in Cambridgeshire

Thanks to a recommendation by a good friend at home, one of the cathedrals on my list to visit in England was Ely Cathedral.  The town of Ely is located just north of Cambridge.  It's an easy train ride from King's Cross station in London and so Tom and I took advantage of a beautiful spring day last Sunday and made the trip to Ely.  The town of Ely is a charming town on the River Ouse.  It's an easy walk from the train station to the town center and the cathedral.  

Just a few steps from the train station, we found a lovely walkway that followed the river. Houseboats were lined along the river, all enjoying the blue sky and sun after a rainy winter.




The name Ely supposedly takes it's name from a word meaning "Eel Island" and taxes at one time were paid in Eels!  There is a long history of this area and the "Fenlands" which are marshy areas that have been drained to provide agricultural lands.  Higher lands became islands and this is how Ely began.

People eating lunch on the cathedral grounds  

Our goal for the day was to explore the cathedral, so we walked away from the river and into the town center, which is a charming town dating back to an abbey founded by St. Etheldreda in A.D. 673.  Etheldreda (love that name) was a Saxon princess, the daughter of the King of East Anglia.  At one time, it was the second richest monastery in England. It was easy to find the cathedral, as it towered over the rest of the town.    

Ely Cathedral is the fourth longest of the English cathedrals- Winchester, Canterbury and St. Albans are all longer.  

The ceiling in the Nave was part of an extensive restoration during Victorian times

While I was roaming around taking pictures, Tom went to get information about the cathedral and what kind of tours were offered.  He soon came back with two tickets to climb to the Octagon. The Octagon was built after the Norman central tower collapsed in 1322.  It took 20 years to build and was considered an engineering feat of Medieval times.  Before I knew it, we had joined a group of about 14 other brave souls and we were winding (literally) our way up a tiny staircase with only a small railing and then rope to help us up the stairs.

 If I weren't hanging onto the railing and rope the whole time, I would have taken some pictures of the stairway.  I did find this image that I'll include so you get an idea of the closeness and steepness of the staircase.  

We had perfect weather for our climb to the top of the cathedral.  This is a view looking out over the town and into the courtyard of the cathedral.  

the Octagon-the Angel panels in the next picture are seen here from the floor of the cathedral

The angel panels surround the octagon and represent the heavenly host.  Our guide opened the panels for us to look down into the cathedral.

view from the angel panels to the floor of the cathedral~  The monks used to sing from here. 

This was the door we went through to get to the second level of stairs climbing to the Octagon.  Taller people had to bend over quite far to get through the door.  

After we reached the top, it was humbling to think of all the workers centuries ago that built these cathedrals.

Enjoy the view!

After our exciting climb up and back down from the Octagon, we walked back through the town  and enjoyed the sights of early St. Patrick's Day celebrations.

We stopped for a tipple and some tea at The Cutter Inn before our 17:00 train back to King's Cross station. 

 It was another beautiful day in the English countryside and another "no guts no glory" moment for me, climbing up to the Octagon of Ely Cathedral.