September 29, 2006

I never got to finish writing yesterday. I was so tired that we turned in at 9:30 p.m. Yesterday afternoon, we visited Melk which was another beautiful abbey. We were a little peeved about the walking tour because the pace, but the whole experience became worthwhile when we got into the library. My goodness, it was beautiful! We walked back to the ship through the town and enjoyed the sights. I even purchased an edelweiss apron. After a hot tub break and dinner, we watched the ship go through a lock before going to sleep.Today was busy. We had an early breakfast and then boarded buses to Salzburg. Our first stop was Mondsee. It was the location of the movie wedding in ‘The Sound of Music’. It was exciting to see the aisle and the steps to the altar from the movie, and it was a great indication of things to come. Aidan and I made sure we walked down that aisle. Afterwards, we found an Internet café and check the e-mails before getting back on the bus.We slept most of the way to Salzburg, but were ready to sample the city's charms when we got there. Between Mozart and ‘The Sound of Music’ we could've been kept busy for a few days. The guided tour took us to important places. On the Mozart side, we saw where he was born and lived as well as the 250th birthday exhibition. Aidan and I visited the exhibition during our free time and loved it - Aidan was particularly good at the shooting game that Mozart used to play. As for ’The Sound of Music’, there were so many spots that we were able to visit - the graveyard in St. Peter's, the gardens where they sang ‘do-re-me’, the fountain from ’I Have Confidence’. It was great! We took the tram up to the fortress near the abbey (as in THE ABBEY from the movie) and had a traditional Austrian lunch. Talk about fabulous.We slept a lot on our way to Passau in Germany. We did get to see the crossing of the border. We then had a relaxing evening in the hot tub, dinner, 1 salsa dance, 1 cha-cha and 2 merenges!