Off to the Salt Mines

Tuesday

On our way to the Salt Mines we passed into the Alps. I think I like the Alps better than the Rockies. Certainly better than the Appalachians, and they beat the Sierra Nevada's too. You will see more pictures of mountains as we go on; are they not beautiful? I think what I like best is that they're not so desert-y. Lots of vegetation.We got to Durnberg where they had us put white clothing over our regular clothing. Don't we look cute?!!
Reela and I were 'partners' in the mine--it helps to have a friend to go down the slides with. She went first on the first slide, but insisted I have a chance to go first on the second slide. Near the bottom I thought I was going to take off flying!

Ah, the salt mines! The source of Salzburg's wealth and prosperity for hundreds of years!
The descent involved two slides--they gave us lots of instructions about not trying to break, keeping your feet up, holding on to the person in front of you... this particular picture is of an old slide that is no longer used (good thing--looks like we might end up with splinters if we used this one!)
We passed from Austria into Germany, where the majority of the mining took place--hence the need for a fort to prtect Salzburg since the Bavarian's weren't too thrilled about them 'stealing' their salt.
They mined using a technique called 'solution mining'. They would carve out huge chambers--one of which we crossed in a boat--and fill them with water. The salt would leach out of the rocks into the water over a period of about 6-8 weeks. They would drain the water to the town at the bottom of the mountain where the water would be boiled off, leaving only the salt behind. Yum! This is inside one of those chambers--you can see the little diorama if you look carefully.
Returning to Austria The Salzburg Citizens were not the first to mine the salt here--about 500 BC the mines were opened by Celtic miners. We know this because the miners in the 1600's found one of the old Celtic miners--perfectly preserved by the salt (until they took him out of the mine and he disintigrated). Here's a mock-up of the mummy. Hmmm, do I sense a "Mummy 4" down the line?
St Rupert, patron Saint of Salzburg, was the one to build the monastary we ate at the night before. He also built the original Dom Cathedral in the 700's, which burned down around 1634 and was rebuilt by Wolf Deitrich.
Here's Wolf Deitrich--the story is that one of his chamberlains knocked over a candle and caused Salzburg to burn down. When he heard Salzburg was burning, he said, "Let it burn." He wanted to rebuild it in the Italian style, with 5 Plaza's or Squares. So he did :)
After the Salt Mines we went into Germany briefly (above ground this time) to Berchtesgaden, a little touristy town in the mountains. We followed this little river. You can see the water is green--that mean's it's being fed by a glacier. Cool, huh? Or maybe 'freezing' would be a better word...
The mountains above Berchtesgaden. Complete with glaciers.
Then a return to Salzburg, where we had about 15 minutes of free time before dinner at the Garten restaurant.
Diane, Rebecca, I forget (sorry!) and Reela, my dinner companions this night.
After dinner it was time for our third concert at our church's building where Salzburg Saints meet. The buildings there have far more character than the buildings here... but they still serve red punch! (that's an LDS joke--you know the church is true because everywhere you go in the world they serve red punch/Kool-Aid with the refreshments)
And the fort in the distance, from the other side.

On the way to Salzburg

Monday

We got up early, and went for a ride... a very long ride... to Salzburg!

We took the scenic route... In all the roundabouts, the towns placed fun things. Here we see a sailor, land-locked.
Now this is the Blue Danube. There are those that say it's not really blue (it is a river, after all), but it looks pretty blue in this picture.
Along the way we passed many farms. Here's a fun way to store your hay.
Austria is home to the oldest monastary in that part of the world. We passed by. I understand they have a good school there, as well as making and selling good beer (though I wouldn't know about that)
At last, Salzburg! And here's the hotel where we stayed.
An evil cat. I just had to take a picture.
Once in Salzburg, we grabbed a bite to eat, then went on a walking city tour. Our first stop, Mirabel Gardens, built by Wolf Deitrich, the Prince-Archbishop of Salzburg in the early 1600's. It was built by the same architect as Belvedere Palace, but it got bombed in World War II. They rebuilt, but it's not quite as fancy as before.
The steps in the background are where Maria/Julie Andrews sing Do-Re-Mi whith the vonTrapp children.
the long view of Mirabel Palace with the gardens and fountain.

The Salzach River (I may have the spelling wrong).

A very famous street, with signs dating back centuries. Obviously not all of them (the one on the right in particular)
Mozart's birthplace. I took a tour a couple days later; very cool.
We passed by the Kolliegskirche (University Cathedral). We performed there that night.

We saw the oldest coffee shop in Austria--yes, opened in 1703.
And the smallest house in Salzburg (A young man was told that he needed to have a house if he expected to marry a particular young lady, therefore he found some space and built a house)
This fountain was also featured in The Sound of Music; on this day it was the center of the Fan Zone--where the people of Salzburg could watch the World Cup.
Mozart worked for a while at the Dom Cathedral. Inside there are five organs; this is the position he liked to play (the actual organ has been replaced several times since then)And what would a Cathedral be without a Rotunda?Our Tour guide, by the baptismal fount. The fortress that guards and watches over Salzburg.

St Peter's Cemetery, where some of the final scenes of The Sound of Music were filmed. It's a lovely old cemetery; you have to be someone important in order to be buried there.
We had dinner at the monastery, which was built back in the 8th century. Very cool. Europe has a sense of history that America just doesn't.Inside the Kolligeskirke (and I would be very surprised if I spelled that right--I shall have to check when I get home). The ladies in ther outfits, awaiting the concert. It's hard to tell, but I'm on the far left.
Can you see what I mean about the impossible scarves?

Vienna, Austria

Sunday
Here is the hotel we stayed in:


We went for a city tour first thing after breakfast. We stayed on the busses, so not a lot of ability to take pictures. I really would have liked to stop, particularly in the central park where the statues of Strauss and Mozart are. We did stop at Belevedere palace, though.

Here are Diane, me, and Rebecca, my roommates :)
This is the Prince's backyard. St Stephen's Cathedral is the tall spire covered in scaffolding (it's in the process of being cleaned). On the left side of the picture you can see the two spired of the Votive church that we vistited last night. At the bottom of the hill to the right you can see the edge of the Winter palace--the on at the top is the Summer palace. Man, to have two palaces!!

Another short ride through the city, seeing palaces and artsy things everywhere, then the final stop of the tour at St Stephen's Cathedral, or rather, the square in front of it.

Here is the spire:

And here ^ you can see the efforts of the cleaning, from where it hasn't been cleaned yet to where it has, to where it continues.

While there, the World Cup was being played in Bern, Switzerland, and Vienna. This particular evening the Italians and the Spanish were playing, and you can see the fans all dressed up in the background, waving flags and everything. It was very fun to see their excitement (Spain won that evening)

That afternoon we went to our church in Vienna, and attended the International (English Speaking) ward:

We had free time after Sacrament Meeting, but not enough time to load up the busses and go through an art museum or something (there are a lot in Vienna), so we basically just hung out--some of use went to a park near the church, some stayed at the building. I started at the park, then took a walk down by the Danube Canal (not the actual rivier, that comes later).

We had a performance that evening at the church, our first one in Austria. One reason for sticking close to the church was to add in one more rehearsal before the performance. I thought it went very well. There were exceptions (Home on the Range did not go well), but in particulare "The Dream Isaiah Saw" was wonderful. There was a brother there with the most magnificent baritone; we had him do the opening solo. It was amazing. Note for next time: bring recording equipment and a friend to work it.

I liked this building ^. You can see where it says, "Urania" on the building. Uranus is the seventh planet in a (current) family of nine, as am I, so I'm partial to the greenish-blue marble and anything that has to do with it, or its mythology. so of course, I had to take a picture of this building.

And here is where we had dinner:

No interesting trees this time, but across the street was the Hotel Sacher, which is famous for its unique chocolate cake (we had some at this restuarant, although it wasn't the official cake). Across the nearest intersection was the Opera House. Not too bad a shot, even if it was dark.

And so it begins... in New York City!

"I'm leavin', on a jet plane, don't know when I'll be back again..."

Thursday morning, June 19, 2008
My home teacher, Charlie, picked me up about 8:30 am. I was having a crisis--not everything I wanted to take would fit into my carryon, and I really didn't want to take more stuff, and it was just stressful. I went with a canvas grocery bag, but even that really wasn't what I wanted to use. We got to the airport in plenty of time, Charlie helped me get checked in--he was rather surprised I had 10 days worth of clothing in only one suitcase, but I figured I didn't want to haul around too much junk, and I had to have room for souveniers (hence part of the crisis--if I already had a carryon plus my purse, how would I manage getting my souvies home???). I bid farewell to Charlie, and then made my way through security, still unhappy about the luggage situation. I know, I know, I really should have left some of that stuff home, but was just too stressed to think rationally.

I found a seat, got something to eat, and then went to a shop for some water (since they won't let me bring my own anymore). There I found the cutest shirt that fit my mood (I'm Crabby--Don't bother me), and a small travel bag that I'd looked at before but couldn't justify. Well, now I could. I walked out of that store with a rolling travel bag, new shirt, and my water.

After some repositioning (and putting away the grocery bag that was now doomed to travel with me), I was finally happy and ready to go. Too bad my plane wasn't there. I didn't realize it then, but this was to be the theme for the next 7 days (yes, I know the trip was 10 days)--late, late, late. I did have about three hours between the time I was supposed to land and the time I was supposed to be at the hotel, though, so I wasn't too worried. Yet.

The plane finally came, I finally made it to JFK, and I had an hour to figure out where to go and get picked up by the bus. After waiting at the hotel pick-up and drop-off point for about 15 minutes, I called the hotel from the phones inside, and they promised to send a bus right out. 15 minutes later... but I did make it to the hotel, meeting the Abbot's and the Bristol's on the way. They had come in the night before and decided to spend the morning in NYC; they were returning to our hotel on the same hotel shuttle as me.

Got to the Howard Johnson's, checked in to find neither of my roommies had come by yet; I would meet them later. I went downstairs, music in hand, to see many more people with black folders similar to mine. Here I met Angel, another Alto II, and my fifth friend so far on the trip. We shuttled over to the local LDS church meetingplace (located in a store front by a Farmer's Market in Jamaica, New York), and passed out our bags that had our red nametag-things and scarves (ties for the men). These scarves were huge purple things, that I liked, but not to wear as a scarf. Way too bulky. We managed. We had a meeting on the second day of rehearsal to decide what to do about them. Which was to rip or not rip, and to wear as we liked. Which was the starting position, but I think the women felt better after airing their concerns about the scarves.

So, rehearsal started, once the second group of busses came (we had to be bussed over in two groups, using two shuttles--there were over 80 of us). Dr Brady Allred was our conductor. He is amazing. If I ever have the opportunity to sing with him again, I will certainly take it. He's the kind of conductor that makes the people in his choir better just by participating. This whole experience reminded me of just how much I enjoy singing in a semi-professional choir. Simply fabulous.

We rehearsed for about 5 hours, with a break for dinner (subway--yum!), then got shuttled back to the hotel. Angel and I were in the second group, so we--and others of us--walked down to the Walgreens where we purchased those last few things that we might need. I needed glue sticks for my journal, which I managed to keep fastidiously this whole trip, pasting in all the tickets and momentoes and even post cards of everywhere we went. The shuttles finally came, and we were taken back to the hotel. I then met Diane and Rebecca (Don't ask me last names; I haven't recieved my roster yet), who were to be my roomies for the next 9 days, and we settled in for the night--our last night in America.

Friday morning, June 20, 2008

Up, packed, and ready to go fairly early. They had us leave our suitcases and paraphernalia in a locked room at the HJ, then shuttled us over to the LDS meetingplace again. This is Afton, who also sat by me during rehearsal:

The church is right behind us. And you can see our red nametag things, too. I did mention we were in Jamaica, right? During our lunch break Angel and I went into this fabric store, which had the lovliest fabric. It was hard to remind myself that I was going to Europe, I couldn't spend all my money here.

But it was tempting...

All-day rehearsal, followed by shuttling back to the hotel, grabbing our stuff, and then being shuttled to the International terminal at JFK. Where we got to check in, find our gate, and then wait. And wait. And wait some more. Our plane was very late. Which means our flight was very late arriving at Frankfurt the next morning. Which means we missed our flight to Vienna. It was a very, very long day. But I did get a picture of the waning moon as we flew over the Atlantic:

Here is the Frankfurt Airport, which I became all-too familiar with. Because the plane they put us on was--you guessed it--late.

At last! The plane that was to take us to Vienna!!

And away she goes...!

I'm going on vacation tomorrow. I'm very excited. Last year about this time I got an email from my ldssingles email group about gathering a chior together to sing at the Passion for Music Festival in Oberammergau, Germany, in June 2008 (choir info here) . I was excited, and really wanted to go. So I decided I would. And I leave tomorrow.

We're meeting up in NYC tomorrow afternoon for rehearsals--it's the first time we will have sung together as a choir, although we've all had the music for about 2 months. Friday we're rehearsing all day together, and that night we fly away to Germany. We'll go to Austria first--Vienna and Salzburg. yes, I'm taking the Sound of Music tour! How could I not??? Then on into Germany, to Munich and Oberammergau. There will be several tours, and lots of places to get souveniers, and the final day will be the Festival, all day long, with choirs from all over Europe, and of course us. There's actually two choirs participating through this venture, I'm in the Chorale (I forget the name, I just know I signed up for the tour through Austria).

So basically I haven't been posting much because I've been trying to wrap up all the loose ends before I leave. I haven't really had an evening to myself--that I haven't stolen by cancelling whatever activity was there--in about 3 weeks. Funny how all these obligations show up right when I need time to get ready to leave. And practice my music. Which I wasn't able to do as much as I should have. Oh well. It will be a long plane flight...

I will be sure to blog and post pictures when I get back :D
Auf Wiedersehen!

Another meme from LJ...

You know how sometimes people on your friend's list post about stuff going on in their life, and all of a sudden you think "Wait a minute? Since when are they working THERE? Since when are they dating HIM/HER? since when???" And then you wonder how you could have missed all that seemingly pretty standard information, but somehow you feel too ashamed to ask for clarification because it seems like info you *should* already know? It happens to all of us sometimes.

Please copy mine below, erase my answers putting yours in their place then post it in your journal! Please elaborate on the questions that would benefit from elaboration! One-word answers seldom help anyone out. :)

1. First Name: Julia

2. Age: 40 (not as bad as I thought it would be)

3. Location: Laurel, Maryland

4. Occupation: Satellite Analyst. Yup, and I can sing, too ;)

5. Partner: None (I assume the cat doesn't count)

6. Kids: Other people's--and I can give them back when I'm done.

7. Brothers/Sisters: 4 of each:

• Blaine: wise older brother who's always there for a hug or a calm perspective in a crazy world
• Kathy: older sister, almost mom-like in the way she'd boss the rest of us, but mellowing a lot as she gets older
• Mike: older brother with Cliff Claven-like tendencies (sorry, mike!)
• David: the car guy in the family. Fun-loving, and family loving.
• Debi: the older sister I used to do everything with.
• Glen: the older brother I used to fight with (we get along ok now, though)
• Beckie: the younger sister I was able to visit a lot when she lived north of me (not so much anymore now that she lives more than 8 hours away by car)
• Dustie: the younger sister with a strong, independent spirit

8. Pets:Padme-Kitty; orange tabby who decided she lived in my house long before I agreed to it. Persistance pays off, though.

9. List the 3-5 biggest things going on in your life:

1. Getting ready for my trip to Europe (Austria and Germany) next week
2. Being in charge of the Single Adults in my church--not an easy task, especially since few people want to help out, and some of those that say they will don't.
3. Getting ready for Shore Leave, MDRF, and any other escapist place where I don't have to face reality
4. finishing off the never-ending project of requirements at work.

10. Where and for what did you go to school for?:

• Ricks College: to figure out what I wanted to do
• Utah State University: to get a degree in Physics so I could be an Astronomer
• University of Iowa: to get a Masger's degree in Astrophysics so I could become...a spacecraft analyst? Wait... but since the satellites I work on are astronomical in nature, it works for me.

11. Parents:

• Mom, Jeanette, passed away in 2000 of liver complications brought on by the pain medication she'd been taking for close to 20 years.
• Dad, Dave, 78, remarried to Nancy about 3 years ago, still playing his clarinet for three different bands and taking lots of trips.

12. Who are some of your closest friends?: Beckie, Dustie, Daely, Danja--oh, did you mean non-family friends? How about Autumn (5), Bonnie(8), Malena (5), Teralyn(8ish), Sheeyly (8), and loads of other kids I know? You want older people? Try Helen, Dina, Tess, Shannon, Clare, Mendy, Cami, Jenni, Corrine, Jim, Russ, Tim, Steve, Mike, Dash... I know if I keep going I'm going to forget someone. If you're reading this, you're most likely a friend of mine. *hugs*

taken from a friend on LJ...

If you read this, if your eyes are passing over this right now, even if we don't speak often, please post a comment with a memory of you and me. It can be anything you want -- good or bad. When you're finished, if you so desire, post this little paragraph on your blog and be surprised (or mortified) about what people remember about you.