It's no surprise to the people I grew up with that I'm a journalist. I've always been curious, inquisitive and eager to explore. It's served me well over the years and now it's leading me in an exciting new direction. I'm obsessed with traveling! I want to see the world!
I'll have to do it a little at a time, though. Seeing the world isn't cheap. I just
got back 
from a two-week European vacation that took me more than a year to save up for. But it was worth it!I went to Germany, Austria and Switzerland with a group of friends who also have a passion for travel. We've sort of formed a little travel club. Over the last year we met several times for "planning
sessions" to discuss our trip, book hotels, decide what tours we wanted to do and how much luggage we'd allow ourselves to take (I'm known as an over-packer, but I'm getting better!).The first stop on our journey took us to Munich, Germany, where they were celebrating the 200th Anniversary of Oktoberfest. I'm from Louisiana, a state known for excessive celebration. I've survived several Mardi Gras weekends and Tiger Stadium on Saturday nights after big wins. But I've never seen anything quite like Oktoberfest!
To mark the occasion my friend Mike and I decided to dress in traditional German attire. We had so much fun shopping for his lederhosen and my dirndl. I think we looked great!
We mingled with locals and other tourists on the grounds of Oktoberfest. Huge wooden structures they call "Beer Tents" are assembled just for the occasion each year. They are packed and you have to get an early start if you want to get a table. Bands continuously play German folk songs. By the end of the day we'd either learned the words to most of them, or made up our own. They only serve beer and just one kind. For food, it's pretzels and wiener schnitzel. But the cuisine isn't really the attraction here.
We spent three nights in Munich. We also toured Nymphenburg Palace and spent at least an hour roaming the beautiful grounds. We made stops at Olympic Park and outside BMW Headquarters. The building is shaped like a 4-cylinder engine!
While in Germany we also toured the concentration camp Dachau. It was a somber experience to say the least, but well worth the trip. It gives you a better idea of the atrocities that happened there, a lesson you can’t learn in a history book.
From Germany we made our way to Austria. First stop Vienna. Our hotel was right on the Danube River, which is wide and blue.
One of my favorite stops in Vienna was St. Stephen’s Cathedral. It’s in the heart of the city and a truly spectacular piece of architecture, both inside and out.
We also visited two palaces in Vienna. The Belvedere and the Schoenbrunn. I love palaces. I love touring them thinking about the royalty that used to gather there. I also love exploring the meticulous grounds, their flower beds exploding with color.
Dining in this part of the world is always interesting. One night at dinner I told the waiter I wanted a traditional Austrian entree’. He brought me a huge slab of some kind of fried meat. We think it was pork. It was good, but I barely finished a fifth of it.
On the way back to our hotel one night, we stumbled across the carnival at Prator Park. On a whim, we popped in. We ended up taking a ride on the bumper cars and a spin on one of the tallest swing rides in the world. It took us up 300 feet. It was windy and cold, but probably the best view of the city we could have asked for!
From Vienna, we headed to Salzburg, perhaps my favorite stop on the trip! It's a beautiful city. I could get lost in "Old Town" for days with its cobblestone streets, cafes and endless shops. The Salzach River runs through town and is the most beautiful turquoise color I've ever seen.
Highlights in Salzburg included the Mirabella Gardens, Fortress Festung Hohensalzburg and another Oktoberfest Celebration! But the Sound of Music bus tour was the best way to see the area. Not only did it take us to several of the sites used for filming in the movie, it also took us to the Lake Region just outside of Salzburg. Stunning doesn't even begin to describe it.
But for fans of the movie, this was an exciting and informative adventure. We saw the lake where Julie Andrews and the children fell in and we learned the child who played Gretl couldn't swim! She nearly drowned while filming! We also saw the gazebo where Liesl and Rolf did "I am 16 Going on 17". They had to lock the doors to it, though, because so many people were trying to reenact the scene and kept falling and getting hurt.
We wrapped up our trip in Lucerne, Switzerland. We'd had perfect weather up until this point, so we were due for rain. And we got it. It rained most of the time we were there. Lucerne is still beautiful, even in a fog. The Chapel Bridge connects "Old Town" and "New Town". It's a beautiful, old, wooden pedestrian bridge flanked in colorful plants. White swans crowd around it hoping the tourists will toss them a treat.
We took a cog train up to the top of Mt. Pilatus, which we're told offers a breathtaking view of the city on a clear day. On the way up we saw lots of cows and goats with big bells around their necks. By the time we made it to the top, the rain had turned to snow and we were not dressed for that!
I can't say enough about this trip. It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. I love seeing other parts of this beautiful planet and can't wait to start planning for my next adventure!
