12 of 12 November

Guga, Papa Jim and Grandma are visiting this week. What this means for all of you is that I actually have something worth photographing for this month's 12 of 12. Thanks to Chad for the idea; be sure to check out other participant's contributions.

We traveled up towards Brenham today, so all photos were taken in Washington County, Texas. We visited the Antique Rose Emporium, then went into town and ate lunch at Must Be Heaven. After that we went to see miniature horses at St. Clare Monastery's ranch. We couldn't leave the area without checking out the Bluebell Creamery. Finally we returned home, had dinner and Little Miss had a bath before bed. That was our day; hope you enjoy the photographs!

11:04 am; Bird


11:10 am; Wind Chimes


11:22 am; Hug Part One


11:22 am; Hug Part Two


11:34 am; Family Portrait


11:51 am; Meow


1:03 pm; Hats


1:42 pm; Horse


1:43 pm; Eleven


2:15 pm; Hat


2:32 pm; Ice Cream


6:45 pm; "Mooooooo"

Thanks and have a happy Friday!

Salzburg, Austria: St. Peter's Cemetery

As my closest friends can tell you, I love cemeteries. I cannot really explain why; I can tell you that it is not an obsession with death or the dead. Something about them is completely fascinating, calming and beautiful to me. I especially enjoy those that have markers that are old and weathered. That would be because I like old stuff. Yup, old stuff is the best.

Many people recognize Saint Peter's Cemetery because a scene in The Sound of Music took place there. That is to say that they created a set that looked like this cemetery for the movie. Most recognizable are the vaults that run along the walls. They belong to families who pay to basically rent them.


In fact, all of the plots in the cemetery are rented. As long as you or a descendant of yours pays the fee, the plot is yours. Once no one can or does pay for the spot, your remains are dug up, moved somewhere else, and your resting place is put on the market. Although this sounds very strange, especially to most Americans, it is fairly common practice, especially in places where space is limited.


There are a wide variety of markers in the cemetery. Some, like the one above, appear hand painted; quite a few of them were very worn from the weather. Others are made of marble and carved with names and figures that range from patriotic to grotesque. Others still are statuesque. Some plots are surrounded by stones, some by wrought iron gates, and others had no official border markings at all.


All of the graves within the cemetery are very well tended. The families of those buried there obviously take pride in caring for their loved ones' resting places. We saw lots of candles and even some flowers. The whole cemetery was crammed full of beautiful things; it was tough to decide where to look or which part was our favorite.

Saint Peter's is located right along the Mönchsberg which means that when they needed a catacombs, a natural solution was provided. The rock was cut to allow for a place to keep the remains of those whose time in the ground had run out. From below a window and door in some rather worn brick are all that is visible of the old catacombs.


Entry to the catacombs is partly hidden. Behind the vaults that run along the mountain is a tunnel that climbs up into the rock. The short skinny tunnel leads up to a room that at one time held the bones that had been disinterred.



These days all that awaits visitors are a couple of altars, murals and the barred off door and windows leading to a dangerous drop off of the cliff. The climb wasn't too long or difficult and the area was mildly interesting; I am guessing that is why the cost is one euro (if you don't have the Salzburg Card).


On the way up to the main catacomb room, there is a landing. There are also some windows along the way that provide views of the cemetery and Romanesque Chapel of the Holy Cross.


While we could not enter the chapel, we could visit Saint Peter's Church. This was probably the most beautiful interior we saw while in Salzburg. Photos were not allowed, but if you'd like to catch a glimpse, go here. It is done in the Baroque style and is breathtaking. The interior decorations of silvery blues and greens as well as the cream/white surrounding the paintings makes the church feel very lofty and light. This contrast with the exterior and one's general feelings after touring the cemetery combine to provide for an almost shocked feeling when you enter. It is quite literally like a breath of fresh air.

Salzburg, Austria: Schloss Mirabell

Our second day in Salzburg began at Schloss Mirabell. This palace was built for the mistress of one of the Prince Archbishops (who was also the mother of his children). It is most famous for its gardens. We were there one of the first weeks in December, and even then things were very pretty. I can only imagine what it must look like in the spring when everything is growing and blooming.


The gardens are done in the baroque style and are open to the public. There are a variety of flower beds as well as statues and reflecting pools. There is an open air theater as well. When we were there, the flower beds were mostly empty although some had been filled with appropriate plants for the season:


One of the draws of the gardens is that some of The Sound of Music was filmed here. I am not sure on all of the specifics, but we were told that the Pegasus fountain was a scene in the movie. I have no idea if that is correct, but the fountain was pretty:


Just over a little bridge from the fountain was the dwarf garden. Some are said to be modeled, though in a caricature fashion, after servants who were living in the palace at the time. Others were recreations of peasants and farmers in the area.


Some of the statues appear as if they could be from other lands.


For the most part, each one has something it is holding that explains its job within the palace.


I got the distinct impression that this one was the food taster. You know, to be sure there wasn't any poison in the edibles? Then again, this could be someone's idea of a singing dwarf...


Once again, we had to go for a photo-op. This one was too cute not to smooch.


As this was either the only or one of only two women, Rocket Man chose her for his kiss.

In addition to the dwarf garden, the fountains, theater, reflecting pools and beautiful plants, there was also a maze section of the gardens. It was rather useless due to the time of year, but I got a couple of good photos out of it:


Who is that in there all fuzzy-like?


Why, it is Rocket Man, looking at me like I am crazy for taking longer than necessary in all of this cold weather!

From the gardens we visited the Baroque museum, which was very informative and then also Mozart's residence while in Salzburg. Both allowed no photos, so I don't have much to show you there. That afternoon however, we visited St. Peter's church and cemetery, which was very interesting indeed. So tomorrow, that is where we'll visit here! See you then.

Salzburg, Austria: Store Signs

Throughout the old town of Salzburg are fantastic signs advertising everything from where you can get your hair cut and styled to the best place to purchase a Christmas ornament in the form of a real egg that has been painted.

Oh, yes. You can.

Actually, you can buy a large variety of painted eggs for every season or event imaginable.

Most of the signs are wrought iron and have gold-leaf embellishments. Even the McDonald's has a sign that includes golden arches. Literally.


Some appear to have only been painted to match the items sold within.


If you are ever in need of traditional Austrian clothing, I imagine that these people would know how to help you:


Then again, they could just sell clothing or be tailors.

Rocket Man and I went to this toy museum one afternoon:


It was full of old toys, musical instruments and marionettes. 'Twas a fun way to spend an hour or so.


This fancy schmancy looking stylist's shop was located very close to a restaurant, called Nagano, that we chose one day for lunch. This was the beginning of our tradition of finding a sushi place at which to eat whenever we went somewhere new. As it was fah-reezing the day we chose to eat there, it really hit the spot. They had warm soups and Japanese grill items as well as squishy, jiggly things, so it had something for both of us. A word of caution, however: fresh fish in a land-locked country in the middle of Europe? Not the most inexpensive place to eat sushi. Very tasty, though.

Salzburg, Austria: Evening

[And now we return to our regularly scheduled posting...which I should point out details a trip we took in December of 2006 while we were living in Spain.]

When Rocket Man and I travel, we like to go see as much as we can. We only people watch a little bit, and while I am sure we are missing out on that front, we have done a trip where we didn't go see much and we weren't very happy with it. We feel like trips to the beach are for sitting around and doing as close to nothing as possible. When you're finally visiting a part of the world you've never been to, we agree that you should see and learn as much as possible.

That being said, it can make for some very tiring days. We usually plan to go back to the hotel in the afternoon for a rest and/or a nap. This becomes very entertaining when you add foreign television into the mix. We had no television in Spain really, only about 4.5 channels or so of completely spanish channels, so going to other countries to see their television was always a bit of a treat - mostly because the game shows? They are awesome.

Each afternoon in Austria we would head back over the river to our hotel and rest up for a bit (and dry out, if needed) before we would head out on our side of the river (newer side of town) to find a place to eat.

This is where I should point out that I do all of the planning for our travels. Rocket Man was always working and it was like pulling teeth to even get him to take the vacation days as it always meant even worse hours leading up to and following the trip. He would just come along for the ride, and that was fine by him. I do the research and just lead him around the town telling him whatever I had already learned from my reading and planning.

Usually I try to include places to eat in my plans. In London, this was very necessary as the city is so big and time was of the essence. It was also very easy because many places were listed online with reviews, etc. Not that I am saying they weren't listed for Salzburg, but for whatever reason I didn't plan places to eat for this trip.

This meant, especially for dinner, that we would simply walk around and eventually choose a place on a whim. The night we arrived (which was after the huge luggage debacle and late airplane which led to running mess), this wasn't a big deal as not too many other tourists were there.


We ended up choosing the Gabler Brau. In fact, we ate here two of our nights in Salzburg. It was very good. One thing that was different about eating out in Austria is that at least in some restaurants, you don't wait to be seated; instead you simply find a table with enough empty seats for you and have at it. I think this is fairly common in Europe as we experienced the same thing in Dublin.

As we did not know this bit of information there was some awkwardness at first, but eventually it all got sorted out. We enjoyed our meal and a bottle of very good Austrian wine.


Many travel to Europe for the Christmas markets that pop up in many towns near the holiday. We walked around and stall-shopped for a bit. We also purchased some mulled wine while there.

And that, my friends, was basically enough to end the evening.

We'd already split a bottle of wine at dinner and adding the mulled wine from the market made for a rather entertaining walk back to the hotel where we both crashed. I am fairly certain that the rest of the evening looked a bit like this:


Oh, yes. Blurry indeed.

It was tasty stuff, and a little will go a long way.

Needless to say, we did not drink any more mulled wine during our stay...