We just returned from visiting, among other Italian destinations, Florence and Pisa. The obvious attraction in Pisa was the famous leaning tower. It really is leaning very precariously, and we decided NOT to climb the stairs to the top. We did attempt to take photographs that make it look like we're holding up the tower, but we didn't get great ones.
In Florence Mom and I climbed the 436 steps up to (and back down from) Il Duomo. Inside the dome are beautiful, elaborate frescoes. We still enjoyed the views from the top of the dome despite rain and poor visibility.
The other fun part about Salzburg was visiting many filming locations of The Sound of Music. The first photo on this post is the hill in the opening scene where Maria (Julie Andrews) sings "The Hills Are Alive." Below is the actual gazebo where Liesl sings "Sixteen Going on Seventeen." (Some of the shots of the interior were re-filmed in Hollywood to make it look bigger inside, but this is the original one.)
We took a trip last week to Bavaria and Austria, and we were amazed at the beauty of the Alps in the summertime.
I mentioned in an earlier post, when we first visited Neuschwanstein castle, that I had wanted to see the castle since childhood. Since it was so snowy/cloudy when we were there before, I had to delay my dream of seeing the best views of the castle--from the famous Marienbrücke (Mary's bridge). So we made the steep hike up to the bridge, and at the climactic moment I walked onto the bridge to see the view I've been waiting for, this is what I saw:
Yep, that's the entire façade of the castle in scaffolding. At least it was a breathtakingly-beautiful day, and the rest of the (scaffolding-free) scenery was GORGEOUS!
We also sampled Welsh cakes, which my boss Paula recommended (because she has Welsh ancestry and grew up eating Welsh cakes made by her aunt). They look like little pancakes, so I expected they would have that texture, but they totally didn't. They were delicious, crumbly little cookies with currants in them. Very tasty!
