Days 1 and 2

What a long 30 hours this has been!  We had three great flights, including seats in the exit row for our Newark to Frankfurt trip.  What a different experience that was when you actually have leg room to stretch out!  My favorite part of the flight was the snack on the trip from Frankfurt to Salzburg:

I LOVE hazelnut Manner wafers (especially when accompanied by a glass of water, right Ariana?)

We followed our flights with more adventures in transportation as we found our way from the Salzburg airport to our hotel via the local bus and trolley system.  After some tense moments where we weren't sure we were on the correct bus, all was well.  We even had a field trip of 20+ third or fourth grade students with us on the bus for most of the trip.  It was like we were still in school!

Once we checked in to our hotel we ventured to the Mozart Residence where Mozart penned the bassoon concerto on June 4, 1774 at the age of 18.  On exhibit currently are several paintings of Mozart at different ages.  It was quite interesting to be in his home and know that he and his family spent time there all of those years ago.  

After some top secret souvenir shopping, we made our way to the Fortress Hohensalzburg.  The ride on the funicular railway offered spectacular views even though it was quite rainy today.  The fortress was filled with interesting artifacts, include a number of period instruments which would have been played.  

We ended our evening with a tasty meal of McDonald's.  (We opted for this because we were so worn out and ready to get to our room that even McDonald's seemed like an adventure!)  I had a quite tasty Italian salad with spinach, tomatoes, and fresh mozzarella...not your typical McDonald's fare...and a quite delectable cherry vanilla pie for dessert.  For the more experienced and elder crowd, this was the old style fried pie, not the baked version...well worth the extra calories from the frying I think.

Marionettes from the Salzburg Marionette theater

Mozart Residence

Horse fountain from Sound of Music

Incredible hot chocolate from the Manner Cafe

The fortress from below

Just a little something for Connor

Michael Haydn was Mozart's friend, fellow composer, and younger brother to Franz Joseph Haydn

I couldn't stop singing Feniculi, Funicula when we were going up the mountain!

Views from the Fortress

Sound of Music fans, the black roof building at the front of this photo is in the cemetery from the scene where the family is hiding prior to escaping Austria.

They take their exit turnstiles very seriously at the Fortress!

In the cemetery from Sound of Music scene mentioned above

There really are Weiner dogs here, even though we are in Salzburg, not Wein.

Packed and ready to go (well, almost)

I can't believe it is actually almost time for our departure!  We will be leaving tomorrow, so today was a day spent with family and packing...lots and lots of packing.  We will be posting updates and photos on our journey and look forward to comments and questions from family and friends, so check back frequently.

auf Wiedersehen!

One more week!

It is really hard to believe that we are only a week away from our departure!  Here are some highlights from the past few weeks:

 

 We got our maps for our biking tour.  I must say that they are a bit intimidating and it is starting to sink in that we will be biking for 10 days in a foreign country with just this little booklet to get us from one town to the next!  Luckily, I'm quite skilled in reading this sort of map because I feel like my dad wrote them for me.  Years of experience driving different types of trucks all over the country have trained Dad to give directions based on landmarks as opposed to road signs.  However, I don't remember him ever telling me to "cross the road and climb to reach a small shrine in front of a large white house and turn right!" 

 

As a child I used to pretend that my bike was a horse and I was Laura Ingalls forging through the prairie.  I think these maps will take me back to my childhood and I'll feel a bit like a pioneer again!  (Let's just hope that the recurring Rocky and Bullwinkle nightmare from my childhood doesn't come back as well!)

 

 On the training front, we ran the Geist Half Marathon this past weekend.  This was my 8th half marathon, and I'm happy to say that I set a new PR, even with the hills and a rainy morning!  My previous best time was in 2010 in the Indianapolis Monumental Half Marathon which is a very flat course and run in November.  I think that Mr. Snoddy (my middle school and high school PE teacher) would be quite shocked that I enjoy running these days...I absolutely hated PE class and running during high school!  Now, I must say that I'm not a fast runner, nor is my technique all that great, but I think what is important is that I set goals and try to achieve them.  In addition, if one of our bikes breaks down when we are in Austria, I can run to the next town to get help!

 We have a busy few days ahead prior to our departure.  This weekend we are packing up our gear and going to Brown County to go camping and have a chance to train on some hills.  Wednesday, I am traveling to Ball State for my first of several bassoon lessons.  In addition, I am well past page 300 in my Mozart biography and listened to another 7 hours of an additional Mozart biography while painting Elise's room this week.  I plan to finish reading/listening to both books this weekend and read the "Twilight of the Hapsburgs" during our flights.

It is exciting to think that we leave in just 8 days!  Salzburg, here we come!

(By the way, thanks for the suggestions on the bike names.  I've decided on Marty, after the Brady Bunch episode where Peter gets the job at Mr. Martinelli's bike shop. )

Training

I've now survived 2 band trips in one month!  As I mentioned in my last post, our Ireland trip with Rick's North Central High School band was a huge success and was amazing.  I started a blog for them if you are interested in our adventures, please check it out nchsband.blogspot.com.  I'm not sure if the band staff will continue to use the blog for things other than Ireland, but it was a great chance for me to practice posting while on an international trip, and parents were able to keep track of us and see lots of pictures of their children.  Speaking of pictures...here are a few from that trip:

I also survived my Symphonic Band trip to the NAI festival in Atlanta, Georgia.  We had a wonderful trip and the kids played beautifully.  The weather cooperated, and NO ONE GOT SICK while we were there!

Luckily, the weather has steadily improved and I've had the opportunity to take my first longer ride on my new bike.  (I really feel like my bike needs a name at this point...feel free to send me your suggestions.  It is light grey with aqua/green accents and it is a Giant brand if that helps inspire you at all!).  The kids and I rode to Holliday Park for my inaugural ride (see, this is where I could insert the bike's name).  It was a little chilly, but as you can tell from the photos, the sun was shining!  Ah, spring at last!

I haven't had much of an opportunity to do other longer rides lately, however, I have been cross-training.  We are now officially registered to run the Geist Half-Marathon on May 18th.  In the past 3 weeks (and 4 of the days while we were in Ireland!) I've exercised everyday except one for 60+ minutes per day.  I'm on a streak here!

And last, but certainly not least, I've begun practicing bassoon as well as continuing with reading Mozart.    It is somewhat frustrating to practice bassoon (by the way, my bassoon's name is Joe) when you haven't played on a regular basis for the past 14 years or so.  Just like exercising, your muscles get out of shape!  It was a bit humbling to do so, but I recorded a quick excerpt of one of my favorite Milde etudes for your listening pleasure.  This will sort of be like the before picture when you are trying to lose weight.  It's not really very flattering, but it will make me feel better in the long run!

Let the training begin

It has been a busy few weeks since my last post.  Here are a few of the highlights:

• March 15th-Congratulations to all of my Sycamore School band students for superb performances at the ISSMA Organization Festival-both bands earned gold ratings!
• March 16th-Rick and I had the opportunity to go to BGI's annual sale and purchase our biking equipment!  It was an amazing experience.  More about that below.
• March 22nd-29th-Our entire family had the amazing opportunity to travel with Rick's bands to Ireland.  It was an awesome trip, full of visits to historic sites and concerts.  It also was also an opportunity for me to take on the task of writing a blog for all of the parents and friends of the 120+ travelers!  It was like a trial run for our Lilly Teacher Creativity Fellowship blog and a chance for me to see how things will work when we travel to Austria this summer.  The Ireland blog had close to 7,500 page views and lots of comments from appreciate parents.  It was an excellent learning opportunity for me and a great tool to keep everyone here updated on our travels. 
• March 31st-My first ride on my new bike!  Okay, so it was only around our neighborhood with the kids, but it was still pretty awesome!  I can't wait to go on a longer ride, hopefully with Rick.

So, more about the bike buying expedition...

We were able to make arrangements for a babysitter in the afternoon because although our children are excellent "helpers" in the store, this really seemed like an event that needed all of our undivided attention!  It isn't every day that you are spending this amount of money on a bike and equipment that will last such a long time. 

When we were writing our grant proposals in the fall, we visited BGI to get quotes on the equipment we would like to get for our trip and to prepare for our ride in Austria.  We will actually rent bikes in Austria, but in order to train for the trip we included bikes for us to use here leading up to our adventure.  In other words, we had a shopping list of sorts based on our grant proposal.  However, it was still a bit overwhelming!  If you've ever had the opportunity to go to the BGI spring sale, you know exactly what I am talking about!  They have tents full of bikes and the store is full of clothing and equipment...all on SALE!  After a few hours of shopping, we were able to get nicer bikes than we originally budgeted for due to the sale, and I was also able to get shoes, a helmet and some clothing.  It was like Christmas in March.  I think the strangest feeling was that of just spending the money without the internal debate of "this could pay for XXX piano or clarinet lessons" or "I can't spend this money on me when I know that the kids all need new XXX for school"!  Through the entire shopping trip the one thing that I couldn't stop thinking was how incredibly lucky we are to have this opportunity!

Next up, training, more reading, and getting ready for a summer of bassoon and conducting lessons.
Until next time, here are a few photos from our shopping experience:

My new bike.  Rick thinks it looks very girly, but I don't care!  The guy that helped me with my selection thought I was nutty, I think, because I couldn't get over the difference in how this bike feels compared to my pre-1995 model Huffy I am used to riding!

Rick's new TREK bike.  I love that his is so bright!  You'll be able to see him coming!

Checks!

We had the once in a lifetime experience this week of depositing two $10,000 checks.  I know I've said it before, but it is like winning the lottery.  The only difference is that I have a budget of exactly how I'm going to spend this money and I don't have a budget prepared in the event that I win the lottery.  (Oh, and I guess I'd need to buy a lottery ticket to win, huh?)

Rick was the one who actually took the checks to the bank.  I asked him if the teller said anything.  He said that he just acted like this was an everyday occurrence,  depositing $20,000, so she didn't comment.  My thought is that she probably sees deposits of this amount more often in one week than we will in our lifetime!

We have already spent $500 each on our trip deposit.  Tomorrow we will be purchasing our bikes and gear (helmets, shoes, rain gear, shorts, etc.) so that we can begin training.  BGI just happens to have their spring clearance sale this weekend so we will hopefully find some great deals and be able to get nicer equipment than what we originally budgeted for.  What great timing!  Now all we need is a week with no snow so we can start riding, or perhaps we should invest in some bicycle snow tires with chains.

Let the spending begin!

Reservations and books, books, and more books

This week has been pretty eventful.  We began making arrangements for our Austrian tour and have secured the dates for our trip.  Now the hunt for airfare begins!  It is pretty amazing the number of sites available to reserve airline tickets.  You can find 15 different sites, all with the same exact flight numbers and airlines with 15 different prices!  It seems like having the internet sites should make this easier, not more complicated!
The other big event this week was getting the first of four books that we will be reading before we travel.  The books range from biographies of Mozart to in depth analysis of Mahler symphonies, and a history of the Habsburg empire.

I've started reading the first of two biographies on Mozart.  This one, Mozart; a Life, by Maynard Solomon, is a 519 page account.  I've found it interesting in the first two chapters that his father was a bit of a hypocrite.  I've always known that his father played an important role in the nurturing of Mozart's talent and that he didn't allow Wolfgang to travel alone...ever...even when he was in his twenties!  Talk about a helicopter parent!  Leopold held his son to the strictest musical and morale standards, and yet when Leopold was young he was kicked out of school and lied to the officials in his hometown, Augsburg, in an attempt to maintain his citizenship.  It seems to be a classic case of "do as I say, not as I do"!
I'm interested to find out more about Mozart's defection from his hometown of Salzburg.  Having traveled to Salzburg once, I know that Mozart is an important part of the economy.  However, it seems that it was years after his death before the town embraced him or his family.  I wonder if the change was due to a smart business-minded official who saw the tourist potential or if they realized the historic importance Mozart and had a desire to share his hometown with the world?  I'd like to think it is the latter, but I have a feeling it wasn't!