The Hills are Alive

From Geneva we headed northeast to two different cities.  For this week, our cast was living in two cities near each other.  This was the first of several split-cities on our European tour.  Half of the cast lived in Weinfelden while I lived with half the cast in Frauenfeld.  Throughout the week, we would do community service in our respective city, but we would come together for our shows.  We performed one show in each city.

My roommates for the week were Robin, from Sweden, and Brian, from New York.  We lived with a mother and her 19-year-old daughter.

Tuesday was the coldest Community Impact day I have ever experienced, yet it was one of the most interesting and unique opportunities I have had.  I went to work at a vineyard with eight other cast mates.  We were divided into two groups and one group went into the woods to help clean up the branches.  I had the opportunity to tie the grapevines to wires in order to help the grapes grow in an organized manner so it is easier to pick the grapes during the harvest.  We got to use this special tool that makes tying the vine to the wire very simple.  We froze outside because we were working in the snow, but our community service was so unique that we were not even worried about the cold weather because we were so fascinated with the process of growing grapes.

After a full day of working in the fields, we came in and got to taste some of the products sold at the vineyard.  We tried the most delicious grape and apple juices.  Furthermore, they make cheese at the vineyard, so we tried several different kinds of cheese in addition to the freshly baked bread they had waiting for us.  It was a perfect way to end such a fun day.

Wednesday was our first show in Weinfelden and Thursday was our show in Frauenfeld.  Our show in Frauenfeld was extra special because we had 60 alumni from Switzerland attend our show and they loved every minute of our performance.  It was a very energetic and enthusiastic audience.

Because it was Easter weekend, we were given three days off with our host families.  Our host family helped me, Brian, and Robin plan a trip to Salzburg, Austria.  Friday morning, the three of us headed to the train station for a six hour train ride to Austria.  As we left the city, we slowly began to get closer to the mountains.  They grew larger and more magnificent as we got closer until they were right outside our window.  I cannot even describe the stunning beauty and grandeur of these massive boulders jetting out of the ground capped with untouched snow at the peaks.  I felt as if the train ride was taking me into a postcard.  The six hours flew by as I stared out the window trying to take mental pictures of the beauty I was witnessing.

We finally arrived at 2pm and quickly headed to the hostel down the street to drop off our things and head out exploring the town.  We made our way to Old Town where the streets were laid in stones and the buildings looked like they were constructed in the Medieval era.  Salzburg is the famous city where the Sound of Music took place, so many of the sites we walked by were scenes from the film.  I could not help but sing Do-Re-Mi all afternoon as we roamed the streets of Salzburg.

We kept walking until we came to what looked like a mountain with a massive castle at the top.  It was the mountain fortess that overlooked the city.  We began an endless trek to reach the top-first with an infinite number of stairs followed by unending pathways that felt like 90 degrees straight up.  After several pitstops, we finally reached the top and began exploring within the fortress gates.  I felt like I had stepped back in time and was a knight living in a castle.  We made our way to an open area that overlooked the entire city.  It was like I was on Mount Olympus looking down at the Earth and all the commotion of everyday life.  I could have stayed on the top of the mountain forever with the crisp spring air blowing on my face, but we had to make our way back down the hill for dinner.

We walked back through Old Town stopping in all the cathedrals we could find.  The peace that I felt as I entered the cathedrals made me aware of my surroundings and how blessed I was to be standing in such a glorious place.   As we left the cathedrals we began looking for restaurants to have dinner.  We could not make a decision until it started raining, which forced us to find the closest restaurant.  We sat down and warmed up with a delicious bowl of beef soup and a beer.

That evening we made it back to our hostel and looked through our pictures from the day.  As we looked through the pictures we started realizing that we had visited almost every spot from the Sound of Music without even knowing it.  I laid in bed that night struggling to fall asleep because of my excitement for another memorable day in Salzburg.

The next morning we woke up and had a nice breakfast before heading back out to explore.  We spent the morning checking out a few stores and making some nice European purchases.  After buying some new clothes we made our way back to Old Town and found a nice pizzeria for lunch.

After lunch we decided to walk around the giant mountain with the fortress to look at what was on the other side.  We slowly made our way around the mountain stopping every once in a while to take pictures and make some funny movies.  Once we made it to the other side of the mountain, we realized we had a long way back to walk.  We decided to climb the mountain instead of going around, so we followed the path that cut through the mountain.  Little did we know that once we reached the top, we would find multiple castles surrounding the giant fortress.  We spent the rest of the afternoon walking around the mountain looking at all the castles and buildings.

We made our way back down the mountain as it began to rain, and eventually, made it back to our hostel to change for dinner.  We took a little break to rest at the hostel and then walked down the road to have a delicious traditional Austrian meal.  Once we had dinner, we walked around looking for a bar to have a drink and enjoy our final night in Austria.  As we sat down to have a beer, all we could talk about was our experience over the last two days and all the memories we shared together.

I woke up Easter morning with a smile on my face thinking about how blessed I was this Easter.  Spending Easter away from home made me miss my family, but it also made me grateful for the experience I was given in Austria.  We took the train back to Switzerland getting to enjoy the natural beauty out the train windows once more.  When we arrived home we greeted our host mom with flowers and she had prepared a special dinner for us called raclette.  We sat down and had a feast with melted raclette cheese covering potatoes.  She also made us some chocolate fondue that I could not stop eating.

After dinner our host sister, Rachel, invited us to go out to the karaoke bar with her friends, so we ended an incredible week relaxing in great company.