Saturday July 9th.
Today I took a trip to Salzburg, Austria. Evidently Salzburg is the setting for the classic movie "The Sound of Music." Our motley crew departed the barracks (ahh the barracks) bright and early at 0730. Our plan was to stop by and pick up the newest, and apparently most green Lieutenant in the Army...2nd LT R.
Ok...side story. I met 2nd LT R. the other day while I was kissing babies and making the rounds at my new battalion headquarters. 2nd LT R. was in need of a ride to a battalion social event and no one seemed to want to help the guy out. Without knowing anything about the person seeking the ride, I volunteered to help a fellow officer out. After I met the guy I knew immediately why no one was helping him out. The poor guy is a fish out of water...Armor (Tank dude) in an Infantry world....and he's not going with us in a few weeks....what a drag. So I took it upon myself to sit with him at the social event and three majors took him along today to Austria.
On the way to pick up the LT we were side tracked by the spicy Thai food I enjoyed Friday night...so we arrived a few minutes late to pick up the LT.
After we finished all of our administrative details for the morning....four of us set out for Austria; a trip that I had somehow convinced myself would only take two hours.
Four hours later we arrived in Salzburg. After driving with our doors locked through the heavily Turkish part of town...home of 1001 Kebab stands...we found the walk-platz and set out on foot.
Salzburg was pretty cool. It is the birthplace of Mozart and home to a University, a monastery, and a convent. We even had the opportunity to tour some catacombs today.
Salzburg also has a flare for the arts.
Check out this picture of a grandma in a sports bra and a dagger...WTH.
We found this guy floating in a no-floating zone in the walk-platz.
While were walking through the streets I was compelled to capture the image of a woman in a black dress walking alone with a single white rose. It struck me as odd that a woman would be walking alone in the city with a single rose in no apparent hurry. But seeing as we were in Salzburg I was feeling a little artistic. I usually wouldn't give a scene such as this a second thought, but I recalled a picture that one of Karen's friends had uploaded this past week of a woman who was caught in an equally telling moment. Unfortunately the picture my friend snapped of the lone woman and the rose is not nearly as good as the picture of Karen's friend (name omitted for privacy). Anyway, both pictures are below.
Timeless picture of one of our friends.
A woman in black with a single rose is an interesting subject...its a shame we couldn't get a black and white quality picture of her without looking like stalkers.
The lone woman with the white rose....strange.
So we followed the lady for a bit and found she was traveling to the ages old church that lay below and equally old rock quarry and fortress perched upon a hill. The church had a stone that indicated it was built in the 1400's with the rest of the church built another 1000 years before that.
A few extra pictures are below.
S.
She's hot... the white rose chick that is.
ReplyDeleteHmmmm...trips to Mountainous Salzburg, early morning wake-ups, substandard living arrangements, "fresh out of the water" soldiers, "special, unplanned" trips to visit the commode, trips that take longer than expected, numerous fast food kabob joints, beautiful and historical sites, off-the-wall ad campaigns and lots of picture taking. Your travels remind me of our trip to North Carolina. Karen, Rachel, six kids and one dog...our trip to the mountainous of NC, very early wake-ups (sometimes 5:30AM), fresh-out-of-the-womb children (five kids under five and one kid still in the womb), countless stops at restrooms along the interstate for diaper changes and pee breaks, Cracker Barrels at every exit (enough said), 5 hour trip that took 8+ hours, day trips to mountain streams and museums, our add campaign that was so beautifully written on the van which evidently made all who passed us on the road wonder if the "two women" were "together" and through all of this we had probably 1000 pictures on our memory cards. Yup, very similar trips indeed! Oh, and the substandard living arrangements refers to Ft. Meade housing and most emphatically not your in-laws house! Loved it there!
ReplyDeleteSounds like you are having a great time! TTYL. Rachel
Thanks for the "nod".
ReplyDeleteThank you for being kind to the fish out of water! I have been in that situation myself, and kindness is always appreciated!