The Hills Were Alive

On the last day of our holiday in Germany, we set out early. We packed our bags and left them at the reception of our hotel. Then we had a quick breakfast and then caught the train to Salzburg. Our plan ( actually, my plan) was to do the Sound of Music Tour, but we read such bad reviews that we decided to save our money and visit the sites by ourselves. I have seen the movie so many times and I just can't work out if I love it or really really really hate it. I think I hate it. I can't wait to watch it again.

Our first stop was the Mirabell Gardens where they sang "Do Re Mi" in the film.


Kev is obviously enjoying himself already



Mi - a name I call myself

Then we walked around the city for a bit. It is really beautiful, but very touristy. That's what we were hoping for! Then we started to make our way up the hill to see Nonnberg Abbey, where Maria was a novice. For those of you who have seen the movie, this is where the children come asking for Maria when she runs away.



The entrance of Nonnberg Abbey

The gardens of Nonnberg Abbey

After this we had a choice - walk up a really steep hill to visit the fortress, or take it easy and walk back down the other side of the hill. We decided not to exert too much energy, so we went down the other side of the hill towards the countryside.

Now, if we had of done the official tour, we know that they would have been singing all those tacky songs all day, so we decided to do the same. Poor Kev knew the melodies but not the words, but he did his best.... "Moonbeams on roses and blue coloured chickens...." Actually, it started getting a little ridiculous but we were having fun.

Nice, huh

Our destination was the place where they filmed the back of the Von Trapps home. It was only about a 20 minute walk from the Abbey. As we approached the lake, Kev exclaimed, "Awe....that's where Darcy dived into the lake!" I told him that he was getting his chick flicks confused.

This is where the kids fell out of the boat

We went for a leisurely stroll then started to walk back to the city. Once again, the scenery was lovely.

Fortress in the background

Not sure if Kev was taking the tour very seriously

Back in the city there were many sites to see. Including the cemetery of St Peter's Abbey where they filmed the scene where the fam were hiding from the Nazis behind the tombs, and Rolfe betrays them. Nasty boy!

St Peter's Abbey - the hiding place

St Peter's Abbey Cemetery

This was the last location on our list of places to see, so we went back to the train station. We caught the train back to Prien, collected our bags from the hotel, then got the next train to Munich. We had organised to stay in the parish house of the Emmanuel Community. We got in quite late so we didn't have the chance to look around. With all our train and plane connections, we have been to Munich four times within the last three weeks and never actually seen the city. (tick????)

We were pretty tired after all that walking so we had an early night. The next day we returned home (to Rome, not our real home - that's on the other side of the world)

Holiday in Bavaria

We left Paray Le Monial on Wednesday evening and headed for Paris for our early flight the next morning. We had booked a room at the airport hotel, but due to (language) problems with verifying the credit card, our room was cancelled the same afternoon. Luckily we had friends in the Emmanuel Community looking out for us - we arrived at the house of the consecrated sisters at about 10pm, with dinner waiting for us. We left at 4:30am for the airport.

We boarded the plane to Munich but still didn't know where we would go from there. While on the plane we looked at the maps at the back of the airline magazine and we noticed that there were a few lakes not too far from Munich. So when we landed we caught a train east and got out at a lakeside town called Prien.


Prien is about half way between Munich and Salzburg

It is such a beautiful place. We found a nice hotel right in the centre, put our bags down and then went for a wander. We were happy when the sun came out because it has been mostly winter weather since we left Rome. It has been almost perfect since we arrived!


The Catholic church in the main square of Prien

On Thursday we walked down to the lake. It is about 20 minutes away. We rented some bikes and made our way to the next town. We decided not to ride all the way around the lake because it is 60km and we're not stupid. The ride was marvellous. It has been a while since either of us has had a bike, so we found it difficult to walk for the next few days. I don't know why they don't make bikes with nice cushy seats. Anyway, the scenery was wonderful.









When we got to the next town we stopped at a lakeside restaurant for lunch. We thought it only fitting to have sausages, potato salad and beer.

(
Our new staple diet

Then we relaxed by the water and read our books and ate icecream - it's our holiday so we are trying to do things properly!



After a lazy afternoon we got back on our bikes and rode back to Prien, stopping at some pretty places along the way.


Lake Chiemsee


To save the trouble of saying this each time, take it for granted that we slept in each day.

Breakfast at our hotel is very substantial. There is a huge selection to choose from. This is what I have each morning : Muesli with fresh fruit, natural yogurt, honey and milk; bread with cheese and ham; orange juice; bread with homemade jam; coffee. It keeps me going until lunch!

On the second day we strolled down to the lake again and caught a ferry across to one of the islands. There was a very impressive Palace to be seen. We didn't go inside, we just played around outside. (It cost money and we would have had to wait for an english tour - you couldn't just walk around by yourself).











When we got back to the hotel we were surprised to see how the cleaners had tidied up our room. Instead of draping our pyjamas on the bed, or even folding them, they 'fanned' them!!



The following day there was a festival just around the corner from our hotel. Many people were in the national dress, which I think is fetching! We stayed for lunch (sausages and beer) and listened to the live music. It was great.


The beer only came in one size glass!


Very cute

Later in the afternoon we headed down to the lake again. I did something that I have never done before - I played mini golf. I really liked it. Kev beat me by heaps.

Then we went for a swim in the lake. It was beautiful! It was such a hot day so it was very refreshing to swim in the freezing water. I just floated on my back for a long time looking at the mountains - perfect.

We have spent the last day or two just eating, sleeping, walking around and playing mini golf!

(I have added some photos to the last post)

Youth Forums - Altotting and Paray Le Monial

We have attended two Emmanuel Youth Forums in the last two weeks. The first was in Altotting, Germany. It was great. At the same time, there was also a Priest Forum, a Teenager Forum and a Family Forum. It is a tiny town, so it was amazing to see so much life! There were 1700 participants in all. Most of the stuff was in German, but we managed.



The Shrine in the main square

It was good to have two of the students who just finished the ESM year: Jess from Australia, and Hannelore from Begium. We had a lot of fun together. One night there was supposed to be a musical in the Square of the town (put on by the ESM Altotting students). The weather was terrible...terrible. We were all sitting outside and they made an announcement that everyone should wait in the Basilica until the rain stops and then we would come back and start the musical. This was strange because it hadn't even started raining yet. Kev said, "I don't think it will rain. The clouds will pass". At that moment it started to pour. We ran to the nearest undercover area which was a bar. We were drenched. We decided not to waste time so we had a beer.


Filling in time


Sun shower at dusk

After this we went back to our places to wait for the musical. It was still raining so everyone prayed a decade of the Rosary. The rain stopped, so the musical began. It was a great night!

On the last day there was a Mass in the main square. Afterwards we had to say goodbye to many friends.

Hele, Kev, Jess and Hannelore

After Altotting, we travelled to Paray Le Monial in France. This is the town where Jesus revealed His Most Sacred Heart to St Margaret Mary in the 17th century. Paray is also the heart of the Emmanuel Community. Every year 20 000 pilgrims visit the shrine here. So we have been here with about 3000 young people from all over the world. Again, we got to catch up with many friends. But don't get the wrong idea - we have been working very hard.

Youth Forum - the main tent

Paray Le Monial is such a beautiful town. Here, have a look!


Check out the guy in his pyjamas in the background!


Wags in front of the Basilica

This is one of the few days since we left Rome that we have seen blue sky. Most of the time it has been cold, cloudy and rainy. But we are not allowed to complain, because we complained about the heat in Rome so we have to like it!


The Basilica at night

The Forum has finished now and we are trying to organise a holiday. We don't know where we are going yet so you will have to wait until the next blog entry.

Blessings to you all......

Counting down to WYD Madrid

It seems like just a short time ago that we were in Sydney for WYD, but it was two years ago.

Now we are preparing for WYD in Madrid. It is only one year away - 375 days to be exact.

WYD is a wonderful event that has touched the lives of millions of young people over the last three decades. In these gatherings with the Pope, he offers the young people of the world a message of hope, joy, peace and encouragement. This is particilarly important in these times when many people feel sad and alone and have little hope for the future.

It was at WYD in Rome in 2000 that I first experienced the joy of being a Catholic. Until then I felt that I was the only young person who still went to Mass. I felt that I had to defend my beliefs and morals. At this WYD, I looked around and couldn't see the end of the crowd - there were about three million joyful young people gathered together for the final Mass. I remember saying to myself, "I am not alone. These people belive what I believe". This changed everything!

The Emmanuel Community is busy planning for WYD, and would like to invite you to join us. Our aim is for WYD pilgrims to begin the journey (El Camino) now.

Please take 3 minutes to watch the video, using this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ndCSAkeTKgg

I invite you to send this link to any young people that you know. Even if you are not sure if they would be interested, be bold! It could change their life!!!!

See you in Madrid.

36

Although I have been told lately that I am not young any more, I hung onto the fact that World Youth Day is for people from 18-35 years old. So, it didn't matter what people said...... because according to the Pope, 35 is still young.

But now it's official. I am no longer numbered among the 'youth'. Does that mean that I am all grown up now!!!?

My birthday was on July 26th of July. Thank you for all the kind messages, cards, etc. Thank you to the Central Catholic Bookshop in Melbourne for having a cake in my absence!!!!

Kev kindly organised a special lunch for me, and invited our friends who remained in Rome for the Summer. He decorated the dining room of the ESM beautifully and had all my favourite summer food.


Party - complete with loud, annoying whistles!!

Mark Anderson and the kids made a great cake. I am so impressed because they made it from scratch, which isn't easy here as the ingredients are hard to find. They couldn't find any smarties to put on it, so they cut up bits of kinder surprise. It was great.


Birthday cake

In the evening, Kev and I planned to go to the movies and see Toy Story 3. There is only one english speaking cinema in Rome, and we have heard that it isn't very reliable. So I checked the website and made sure that I had the right day, date, time, etc. Everything was right so we went into the city. It was a balmy evening - just perfect. Except that the cinema decided to close for the Summer! It was open the day before, because we spoke with people who had been there. Isn't that madness? In Australia, all the big movies premiere in the Summer because that's when people are on holidays, and also because it's nice to go to an airconditioned cinema when it's hot outside. But not here.....nooooooooooo. They close instead.

So, we decided to go for a nice stroll, and found a shop which sold cheap dvds. We don't have a tv, because we don't want to be subjected to the rubbish that makes its way into our homes through the box. But, we watch dvds on the computer, so this was a chance to stock up. We are especially happy about finding the first season of The Mentalist, which we used to watch at home each Monday on 'family night'.

So, it was a good birthday, and I can say from experience that I find it very pleasant being old!