Also here's a brief update of the day's I haven't posted about yet.... We had 3 nights in Salzburg and 4 nights in Vienna. We also flew down to Athens yesterday, did a tour of Delphi Greece today, and we fly to the Greek Island Santorini tomorrow.
5.6.08
This morning we got up really early to return our rent car and meet our The Sound Of Music Movie Tour bus in downtown Salzburg. I didn't know what to think about this going into it because it seemed like a real girl thing to do. Before we got on the bus we picked up an Austrian breakfast from a little stand/grill that was quite interesting. When we walked up everyone was eating what looked like hotdogs and rolls.... Well they were eating frankfurters and bread, and we thought it must be the thing to do, so we ordered a couple! We liked it, and would order it again too.
Our tour guide was hilarious and sounded just like Jon Lovitz. We drove around most of Salzburg while he gave a good general history of the city as well as pointing out different spots used in the musical Sound of Music. He also gave an interesting background on the movie itself. Germany actually made an accurate movie about the Von Trapp family first, then Hollywood saw the success it had in Germany and Austria, eventually bought the rights, paid off Maria Von Trapp (because Hollywood's version wasn't accurate), and the rest was history. For example at the end of Hollywood's movie, the Von Trapp family was hiking through the mountains towards Switzerland to escape the Nazis when they were actually walking directly towards Germany haha! In reality the family dressed like they were going on a hike but took a train to Italy, boat to England, then flew to America where they settled in Vermont! The Von Trapp family to this day has a hotel open there and still run by an actual Von Trapp. Despite the huge amount of money generated by tourism, Austrians don't like the movie because of it's inaccuracies and because Hollywood pushed their way onto the scene. Many Austrians haven't even SEEN the movie!
We stopped at the famous gazebo, the walkway were Maria skipped/sang down at the beginning (same one the kids hung from the trees), the house they used for the 'frontal shots of the house' (they used a different house for the back view), and the backyard scene with the lake (FYI- the scene when Maria and the kids fall out of the boat, Grettle almost drowned! When you watch it you see her head pop up a little and go back down). Next we drove into the countryside. On the way we stopped in St. Gilgen to take some pictures then drove on to Mondsee. Here we got to go inside the church where they filmed the marriage ceremony from the movie. We also had our first true Austrian apple strudel with vanilla cream in a local cafe! Delicious! We rode back into Salzburg while they played the soundtrack to the movie....that was funny. Several people sang along too.
After the tour we walked around the gardens in town where they filmed the song Do-Re-Mi, a really pretty place. We walked back to the hotel for a break. Brooke fell asleep and I went to speak with management about switching rooms or getting a discount because the vomit smell had gotten worse than the night before. I almost didn't go talk to them but decided to because we were spending a good amount of money to stay there. I started with honey instead of vinegar by being nice, but the hotel ended up being very difficult and changed their story several times throughout this ordeal.
I approached the front desk and asked for the manager. The manager wasn't there so I went over the problem with the lady at the desk. She said they had NO more rooms to offer and also played dumb about the smell and mold above the shower. She said to wait until the manager got back so I sat in the lobby to get online.
I got on the internet to check our credit card account because a hotel in Venice, that we never official booked, was trying to charge us a no show fee. Our travel agent initially tried booking our stay on their website but they emailed him back and said they didn't take American Express. We had found a better place to stay anyways, and let our agent know. He said he emailed them back to tell them forget it, but they say he didn't....which doesn't matter anyway. If you cannot make a reservation with an American Express, how can you charge that same American Express (that you don't take) a no show fee for a non-existant reservation????? I noticed the charge went through online...... those bastards did it. So I called AMEX to start the dispute process. FUN.
Out of no where, and while I was finishing up my call to American Express, the same hotel lady walked up and offered a 10% discount on the smelly room (the price of a meal basically). That was not good enough because I knew they had another room, plus it was about the awful smell and mold not the money.
THEN they said....."Well, we do have another room but not in 'that' price range". I told them that wasn't acceptable and we wouldn't be paying more. I even said we would downgrade rooms just to get away from the horrible odor and mold.
THEN right in the middle of this process they let someone else switch rooms because it wasn't big enough for them!! They catered to their every need...I got nothing but resistance (probably because I'm young).
THEN the lady went back to saying they didn't have ANY rooms available, which made no sense...
I obviously called them out on 'not having any other rooms' because another couple just switched, leaving one open. Management gave in finally. THEN THE TRUTH CAME OUT.
While the manager showed me to new room, she said the odor is a KNOWN problem with particular rooms in their hotel and they are slowly renovating those bathrooms. So they knowingly do this to people! She didn't think it was their fault though because the building is very old and "old buildings have these problems" .....In Venice we stayed in a hotel twice its age, with elevators, without odor or mold.....
She also told me since our travel agent booked the reservation through booking.com, we weren't normally allowed in the main hotel building but only in the sister building with the bad rooms. I didn't know that, but they had to make the situation right and bend that policy. I mean come ON it was gross.
While she was showing me the new room she goes on and on with excuses, and is basically arguing with herself at this point. Once she told me we could move to the better building with elevators, no mold, and no odor, I shut up. She made it out to be OUR problem that we couldn't cope with the odor and mold on the ceiling, instead of owning up to the fact the hotel is behind on renovating known problems and continue to let out the rooms. So I went and woke up Brooke to fill her in on everything. We moved our things over into a smaller, but bounty fresh room with no mold!
The end of the day was very nice though, with a real Austrian meal......Wiener Schnitzel!!! I always thought it was like a bratwurst or something because of the word Wiener but it's pronounced with a "V" not a "We"....so it's not a weeny at all. It's pan fried veal. I WAS WAY OFF. It is served with boiled potatoes and a lemon wedge to squeeze over the Schnitzel. It might sound a little weird but it was SO good! Another great find was a drink called Almdudler (pronounced ALMDOOODLER), made in Austia. It's the the second most popular drink in Austria after Coca Cola and kinda tastes like ginger ale but better. I've already been searching online for importers in Texas :)
