Planning is My Favorite

It's hard to believe that we're less than 6 weeks away from Austria!

Flights and hotels have been booked and passports have been accounted for. (Those little buggers always manage to vanish in between trips...) While planning always brings its fair share of stresses - which hotel? how to prioritize sights? - I absolutely love the "looking forward to" part of traveling.

In addition to planning the basics like transportation, lodging, and top sights, I also try to do a little "extracurricular" research prior to traveling. From reading up on an area's history to watching movies based in the region, I think a little pre-work leads to a much richer experience. Or maybe it's just my way of managing my excitement. :-)

The first movie we watched in preparation for Austria was The Third Man, a 1940s classic set in post-war Vienna:

As much as I try to enjoy classic films - and this one is considered as one of the greatest films of all time - my attention span just isn't compatible with film noir. But it was interesting seeing the rubble of post-war Vienna, as the movie was filmed on location in the mid-1940s. Apparently, there's even a museum in Vienna based on the movie. (Yeah, that one's probably not making our top sights list...)

So for my next Austrian movie, I moved on to:

Whooot! Now that's more my style. Eastwood. Action. Unrequited love. The biggest scenes were set near Hohenwerfen Castle, which is near(ish) to Salzburg. And it featured a young Clint Eastwood and a young Richard Burton. The things I do for research.

I also just finished reading On Hitler's Mountain, a memoir by a woman who grew up outside Hitler's Eagle's Nest retreat in Berchtesgaden, Germany during WWII. We're planning to visit the Eagle's Nest on a day trip from Salzburg, so I enjoyed learning more about life in that area during the war. My Papa Joe was stationed throughout Bavaria - including Austria - during WWII (more about that in an upcoming post), so I definitely feel a connection to the area's history.

Speaking of books and movies set in Austria during WWII ...man, I really wish there was just one more movie that we could watch in preparation for our trip... maybe one that also has singing and dancing? OH WAIT:

Brendan, I think I found our next movie! :-)

Until next time… Auf Wiedersehen!