It was bittersweet to come to the end of the day of Saturday, July 19, 2008. For all intents and purposes, this was our very last day in Europe. It had been a busy one from the start when we visited the Olympiapark in Munich, then on to the horrifying Dacahu concentration camp, the frantic drive to Salzburg, and The Sound of Music tour. In fact it had been a very busy two weeks! We had just enough time (and energy) left to take a brief walk into Salzburg and grab something to eat before officially wrapping up our trip.
It was 6:30pm by the time we finished our film locations tour, so we didn’t have a great deal of time to spend. Salzburg is a beautiful city, most famous of course as the birthplace of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – in addition to the gorgeous alpine setting used in The Sound of Music. It is divided into two sections, the area north of the Salzach River and the “Old Town” (or Altstadt) area south of it. Our final movie locations were in the Mirabell Gardens on the north side, so we began walking south to delve into Old Town.
Before crossing the Staatsbrücke (bridge) over the river, we quickly saw one interesting location, the Mozart Wohnhaus, his residence from 1773-1780. His father had passed away in this house in 1787. We opted not to tour the house and were satisfied with photos outside.
Outside the Mozart residence in Salzburg
The Old Town section of Salzburg was exceptionally charming. Basically all we did was briefly walk the streets admiring the cathedrals, shops, and buildings at the base of the Untersberg alpine mountain. The only site of which we specifically stopped to take note was the home that had been Mozart’s birthplace, known as Mozart’s Geburtshaus. Again, we did not have time to tour, but grabbed some photos of the exterior.
A nice view of Old Town before we crossed over the river. The cityscape and cathedral can also be seen in The Sound of Music. Up on the hill is the Festung Hohensalzburg castle fortress.
The house where Mozart was born in 1756
Browsing Salzburg
Nearby was quaint restaurant simply called Spaghetti & Co., which even with its decidedly generic name, served up authentic Austrian pasta…supposedly. I didn’t care. I was hungry and this was our last meal and I was happy to just sit back and enjoy some delicious gorgonzola penne and an orange juice spritzer. It was about 8pm by the time we finished and walked back to our car. As you can see, we spent very little time in Salzburg, but it was a place I would greatly enjoy visiting again.
Our last European dinner. Note the gentleman sipping soup in the background. No reason, just note him. And also the magnificent goatee and gut I had grown over the course of two weeks.
One last shot of the scenic area taken from Staatsbrücke
Two and a half hours later, Jimmy had safely driven us back to Munich where we had our second, but different hotel booked – this time the Kempinski Hotel Airport. This was a rather fancy affair with a lobby of glowing green tiles. It reminded me of what you might see in a European spy movie and think that it was a fancy futuristic, but far-fetched high class lodging that you would never actually get to stay in. But here we were. And I couldn’t have cared less. There was no internet service, no famous European breakfast: I was exhausted, sad that we were leaving, and having to get my stuff ready and packed up for an early flight. I dozed off not long after 11pm with little problem at all.
Big Jimmy checks the flight schedules in our state-of-the-art hotel in Munich
The next morning, we got up at 5am and walked our luggage over to our Lafthansa flight that took off at 7am. I grabbed a sesame soft pretzel along the way. This flight was only an hour long and my seats were separate from the Wileys. We arrived in Frankfurt where we would each make our American flight connections. The Wileys flight back to Los Angeles left at 10am, but my flight didn’t leave until 12:05pm. We bid a tearful goodbye to each other and separated at the airport. It had been a long, eventful, busy, frantic, and incredibly enjoyable week. And now it was over.
Munich 5am
I had purchased some additional Euros from the Wileys the afternoon before to make sure that I had enough to get through the last day of the trip and flight home. I bought a few too many, so I felt like I had to spend most of them…and also to eat as much as possible before I came home and checked the scale and went on an immediate diet again. So I went back to Kamps in the Frankfurt airport (where I had started the trip two weeks earlier) for another puddingbrezel…but unfortunately they didn’t have any. So I settled on a Schinken-käse-Croissant (which contains ham and cheese).
Saying goodbye to the Wileys…until we meet again in October…
Then once I found my terminal, I went directly to one last European McDonald’s. This time I tried some unique food to the region. In addition to the Big Mac and fries, I got a chickenburger (which oddly contained chili sauce). Then for the next two hours, I sat at McDonald’s and worked some of the Dayton Daily News crossword puzzles that I had gotten out of Darlene’s garbage on the Fourth of July.
The plane ride back was largely uneventful other than the fact that it was nine and a half hours long. With the time change, it got me back into Cincinnati at 3:30pm. Once I got my luggage, went through customs, checked my luggage, and then got it once again, I went out to wait for Mom on the curb and it began to viciously pour down rain. I didn’t have my cell phone and she wasn’t showing up quite on time, so I made another one of those credit card pay phone calls – which I found out later cost me $24. Ah, to be back in the grand old U.S. of freakin’ A.
She hadn’t been far away, so she arrived momentarily. She took me to her house to get my car and then I drove home. There awaiting me was Jackie, looking as beautiful as ever. I gave her just a few minutes with my new beard before shaving it off. The extra bulk would take longer to remove. It had been the trip of a lifetime but I was finally home.
Return to the beginning of the trip here…
Continue with 2008…
I enjoyed reading about your trip, and am sorry that the postings, like the trip itself, had to come to and end. It was most definitely the trip of a lifetime!
Aaron
January 30th, 2009
Unfortunately I can’t promise you so many new countries when you come to Italy. You’ve already seen Germany, Switzerland, and France. Well, we’ve got Vatican City and San Marino, if you can find it.
One of the great things about living here (not to rub it in) is that, while you didn’t have time to enter some of the sites (which is understandable considering the amount of things you pack into a trip), we get to go into and see things that tourists rarely are able to see. I don’t know if we’ll be able to promise such a fast paced trip as you’re used to.
Chris
January 30th, 2009