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I have a dream and many songs to sing. Tomorrow is the big day. The day I’ve been waiting for since the first time I saw The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants back in 2005. And then again when I saw Mamma Mia in 2008. Greece! Maybe it’s silly that the reason I want to visit a place is because of a few movies. But hey, that’s a reason I visited Salzburg and I had a wonderful time there. Maybe it’s silly to want to visit a place because I saw Alexis Bledel fall in love on a beautiful Greek island with an even more beautiful Greek boy and I hope that will happen for me too. I want to run all over the island singing and dancing to ABBA songs. Maybe if I’m lucky some locals will pop their heads into the alley and sing back up vocals for me. Even if these reasons are silly this has been my dream for almost 15 years. And tomorrow I will be blessed to set foot in one of the oldest cities in the world. Regardless of if I fall in love, or if I get to traipse around singing ABBA songs, I’ll get to see the beginnings of civilization, experience centuries of culture, and enjoy the beauty that is Greece. I hope by the time I return home I will have found a love for olives, feta cheese, and ouzo (things I currently do not enjoy). I also hope that I return with a tan and a few stories to tell. Dreams are fun aren’t they? 
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When it rains in a beach town you have to find things to do. I went for a run on the beach in the rain, jumped into the water to cool off, checked some museums out, let fish eat the dead skin off my feet, and watched the thunderstorm over the sea. But the biggest thing that I’ve done has been catching up on work tasks. To many of you that sounds pretty boring, soul sucking, draining. But for me, I really am coming into my own with my role at Snowman Films. I’m finding new ways to make the company for successful and streamlined. I’m proving my worth and providing my expertise to our clients and Noah. I’m working really hard to put new practices into place within the company and I’m building my own travel show under the Snowman Films umbrella. Noah and I had some time to chat this week and discuss the future of the company. I am happy to announce that upon my return to the States I will be taking on more responsibility within the company! This change will allow me to continue to work remotely, from wherever I decide. I’m so incredibly happy about this decision. It took a while for me to realize this, but producing for Snowman Films is the dream job I never knew I wanted. I work my own hours, I get to be creative, I get to be a leader, and I get to use my impeccable organization skills. Plus my team at SF is the easiest group of people to work with. Creative, down to earth humans who listen to my poop jokes, and don’t get too annoyed when I nag them about deadlines. A huge bag of gratitude goes to Noah for being the most understanding and flexible boss one could ask for. Love you dude! And as for the picture below, there was ONE DAY with sunshine and no rain. So here is my little booty on the beach.  ...with the sound of music. With songs they have sung since 1965. I took the Sound of Music bike tour today and it was breathtakingly beautiful. Is it touristy? Absolutely. If you are as in love with this film as I am or even if you’ve only seen it a few times it’s absolutely worth the time and money. We rode our bicycles through Salzburg and up into the foothills to see the abbey, the house(s) where they filmed the movie, and through many other sites in the film. Everyone sang along to the songs and enjoyed taking photos in front of the famous sites. We learned about the real Von Trapp family and lots of behind the scenes information about the film. For instance, the people of Austria could care less about this movie. Also while edelweiss is national flower of Austria, the song was written for the movie and is not actually the national anthem. I’ve got plenty of fun trivia about the movie to share when I return. Sound of Music watch party!
I decided to do an overnight trip to Salzburg to see my friend Anna Barbara from my Pilobolus days and I’m so glad I did. It was so lovely to spend time and catch up with her. And to meet Simon, her incredibly hospitable boyfriend. He is also pretty funny- he had me convinced that he was part of the Von Trapp family for all of 2 minutes. Anna Barbara and I went to a dance improv jam, which I haven’t done in years. It was really wonderful to move around and play again. Thank you lovely humans for a great visit! Salzburg is such a beautiful city and so rich with history and culture. Mozart was born here and Silent Night was also composed here. I only scratched the surface of the things to do in Salzburg but hope to return someday. If you ever get the chance to visit, I highly recommend it! I’m not sure why Barcelona has it’s name, but it does not do it justice. Names like Bello, Hermoso, or Precioso would be much more fitting. Everything about this city is beautiful. The architecture, the people, and even the subways are clean and cared for. Back to the people. Wow. They are some of the most beautiful people I have ever seen. And so friendly too! The beach I sat on during the snow storm in Denver was gorgeous (sorry guys, not sorry). The food is amazing and I ate so much of it! Then there was the trip outside of the city to a town on a mountain called Montserrat. You can hike, drive, take a funicular, or ride up in a cable car. The cable car ride was amazing! The view was incredible. From the town, there is a 1.5 hour hike up to Saint Jeroni which is 1236 meters high, or roughly 4000 feet. It was long, but the view was so.....beautiful! And the best part of everything in Barcelona was that I got to share all of it with my beautiful best friend Christina! If you need recommendations on where to drink mezcal in Barca, let us know. So I definitely overused the term “beautiful” in this blog post, but it is really because this region of Spain has so much beauty to share.
Wow Paris, you did not disappoint! What a beautiful city full of people, life, love, and culture. I didn’t have a ton of time to spend here, but what time I did have I used wisely. On the train ride from Bordeaux I was thinking to myself that I wished I knew someone in Paris to have dinner with. I was feeling a little lonely, but wanted to spend a night out and have a good meal. After I arrived at my hostel I went out to find a snack and explore. I heard a girl speaking American English, spoke to her, and ended up spending the entire day with her. It’s crazy how a small thought that I had manifested itself. The next day I spent the day exploring on my own. I got my lunch, and very much like a tourist ate it in the park by the Eiffel Tower. But it made me so happy, and I am a tourist, so who cares? After Paris I opted out of Amsterdam and went up to a small town in the north of the Netherlands called Den Helder. I slept in a tiny little pipowagen with no heat that smelled like horses and didn’t have WiFi, and I loved every minute of it. I rode one of said smelly horses on the beach, I spent time alone, and it was amazing. One of the other pipowagen guests and I chatted at breakfast, and he ended up going with me to the Navy Museum where we toured a submarine and some other boats. So why did I title this post “Falling in Love”? Because I am falling in love with solo travel. I get to do things on my terms, if I want to, when I want to. I’m taking the time to do more of the things that I love like people watching and writing. I get to spend more time focusing on my work with Snowman Films. I’m eating a ton of great food and meeting some really nice people. Sure it can be a little lonely at times, but it’s been great for getting some mental clarity. So yes, I’m falling in love with myself and I couldn’t be happier about it.  London was much better than I expected it to be. People were nice, it was really easy to get around, plenty of cool things to see and do. I’m actually surprised that I enjoyed it as much as I did. I figured that it would be just another city, but I really had fun. Maybe that means I’ll enjoy Paris more that I originally thought as well. I guess we will see! I was really nervous about traveling solo and I still have my reservations. I have to say though, having my friend Melina for the first day of the first city really gave me the confidence I needed to continue on. It’s crazy how having the first day to spend with a friend can really make a difference. I’m confident that my choice to go ride horses on the beach of Den Helder instead of going to Amsterdam is the right one. Will I regret that decision, maybe. But at least I’ll go into it confidently. Another thing that I did not expect to have such a big impact on my travels is the fact that I’m taking footage for Snowman Films along the way. Getting out there and exploring merely to explore has been wonderful. I’m appreciating some of the little things that I see simply because I’m taking time to view them through a camera lens. I like to take pictures and document what I’m doing but sparingly. This opportunity to host a travel show and gather my own footage seemed like a great way to turn this into a work trip, but honestly I think it has been a great way to get me explore more. I’m in Bordeaux and I’ve spent most of my time here drinking wine, working, wandering and it has been wonderful. I forgot how much I love the small towns in France. These old villages have so much history along with them. It’s fun just to walk along the streets and admire the architecture. I spent much of my time in Bordeaux speaking with a wine shop owner, Anthony. He taught me how to taste wines properly and about the many different types of grapes in the Bordeaux region. We talked about farming grapes as well as farming corn. We compared stories on what it’s like running a bar and a business. I really enjoyed my time at Tchin Tchin Wine Bar with Anthony. If you have the chance to visit, please do! You won’t regret it. On to Paris!
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AuthorTaylor is a travel enthusiast and recently left her job in Denver to travel throughout Europe. Archives
November 2019
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