Amanda on the Danube: The Sounds of Music by Darlene Foster Page B

that not what you came for?”
    Everyone clapped and cheered.
    Amanda stayed up late chatting with Leah. They had so much to talk about since they last saw each other. It’s hard when your BFF lives in England and you live in Canada. Amanda was so excited, she could hardly sleep that night.
    Sometime in the early hours of the morning, Amanda woke up to the strains of
The Blue Danube
. ‘Who would be playing a violin at this hour,’ she thought and fell back to sleep.

    After breakfast, they boarded a tour bus that took them around the city of Nuremberg. Elsa, the tour guide, explained the difference between ‘berg’ and ‘burg.’
    â€œA berg is a hill or mountain. So if a name of a place ends in ‘berg,’ like Nuremberg, it usuallymeans it was built on a hill. A burg is a fortified town. If a name of a place ends in ‘burg,’ it has, or used to have, a wall around it.”
    Amanda loved little pieces of information like that. Writing it down in a notebook, she planned to share it with her teacher and classmates back home in Canada.
    The bus passed a colourful cemetery with more flowers than graves.
    â€œOh my goodness! What a beautiful graveyard! I wish we could get off the bus and look more closely at those tombstones,” Amanda exclaimed.
    Leah shook her head. “I just don’t get your weird fascination with graveyards.”
    The knowledgeable Elsa provided interesting information about the history of the city including its part in World War II. Amanda paid close attention because in school they were learning about twentieth-century wars. Elsa was also funny and shared some amusing stories and jokes. Amanda liked her and thought being a tour guide would be a fun job.
    The bus stopped in front of The Beautiful Fountain situated in the town square Elsa called the
Hauptmarkt.
Amanda, happy to get off the bus, stretched and looked around.
    The fountain was indeed beautiful. It looked like a tall, three-tiered wedding cake, decorated withmany colourful figures. Elsa explained that if you spun the two brass rings on the fence surrounding the fountain, and made a wish, your wish would come true.
    â€œOne young woman wished that her boyfriend would ask her to marry him and the next day he did. So I guess it works.” Elsa flashed a generous smile.
    Amanda and Leah each took a turn spinning the brass rings while silently making a wish. They were interrupted when they heard a commotion on the other side of the fountain. A young boy with curly blond hair ran out from behind the fountain and through the market square. Two crew members from the boat chased after him. The boy darted in between stacks of hats on display.
    Crash!
    One of the piles tumbled to the ground. Hats spilled over the path like spiders escaping from a jar. The crew members dodged feathered alpine hats and tripped over
Deutschland
baseball caps with the black, red and yellow German flag. They lost sight of the boy, shook their heads and returned to the group.
    Elsa explained, “You have time to have lunch, shop and look around on your own. Remember to be back at the boat by two o’clock as that is when we will depart. Be sure to watch the metallic clock and
glockenspiel
on the top of the Church of Our Lady, at noon.”
    â€œNoon is only ten minutes from now. I don’t want to miss it.” Amanda noted the church at the end of the market square.
    The girls stopped to help the merchant pick up his hats. In return, he let them try some on. Leah put on a hat that looked like an upside down cone with a gigantic feather on the side. Amanda giggled and took a picture.
    The vendor pointed to the church and said, “The
glockenspiel
. Watch!”
    Bing! Bong! Bing! Bong!
    The huge blue and gold mechanical clock with a sun painted in the middle chimed twelve times. A large figurine, wearing a gold robe and a crown, sat in an alcove below the clock. Seven smaller medieval figures in red