Salzburg, Austria

          If you ever get the chance to go to Salzburg I would definitely recommend it! It is beautiful and we even though so with rain and cloudy skies all weekend. We took the train from Weiden Friday morning next to the most obnoxious German kid who wanted to practice whistling. We arrived in Salzburg with it pouring rain around 3:00pm. We're still never 100% sure how public transportation works so we had to walk to our hotel which was much further than we originally thought. So off we went in the rain to find our hotel. We knew there was a chance of rain the entire weekend so we were already bummed and thought the rest of the weekend was going to be a drag. We got to the hotel, wet and cold, and had to dry our pants with the hair dryer. We were determined to get our monies worth for the weekend, so once we warmed up and dried off a little we walked to the city center (stadtmitte). We get to the famous walking street and guess what? Everything is closed!! Who knew the time to close on a Friday evening was 5:00pm! So we found a restaurant and had a very yummy dinner! Don't know if it was really that good or if we were just really hungry and cold and the hot food was exactly what we wanted. Either way we enjoyed it then had to walk back to our hotel... in the rain. The weather changed a little for Saturday. Chance of rain in the morning and cloudy the rest of the day which is exactly what it did. We walked back to the stadtmitte Saturday morning and found a bakery on the way. We had an amazing apple strudel with hot chocolate. It rained some more but we went to the Salzburg Cathedral and Catacombs. And somewhere in there is stopped raining but stayed cloudy all day. 

We finally made it to the Hohensalzburg Fortress which was awesome! We took the tram to the top... I wasn't about to walk up it, and got some great views of the city. While at the fortress these 2 girls stopped us and said "are you the Kings?" We were a little confused as to how they knew our name as we were in a different country. Turns out they are stationed in Heidelberg with a girl my husband went to high school with! If one thing is true, the Army is a small world!! But the reason she thought it could be us was because she saw my blog post about going to Salzburg! Awesome! So glad my blog is getting out there, thanks for reading!! Anyway... we explored the fortress and got to enjoy some great views! Most of these places we went to cost money! Well if you ever go to Salzburg they have a Salzburg card that most hotels sell. We bought a 24 hour one that cost 50 euro for the both of us. That Salzburg card got us into everything we did for free. After we did all of our sight seeing we would have spent 111 euro but since we had the card it was only 50 so we definitely got our monies worth! Also, since we had the card we could walk into a place that had a fee and if we didn't like it we didn't feel bad rushing through it because it's not like we wasted any money. For example, there is a modern art museum.... we are not the modern art type of people but you could take an elevator to the top and have amazing views. So that's all we did and it was definitely worth it! One of the best things about going to a city on the weekend is the street vendors. We sort of enjoyed our lunch from a vendor... wasn't quite what we were expecting for a meat and cheese sandwich but that doesn't matter, dessert definitely made up for it! A chocolate covered pretzel with some kind of jam inside. It was to die for! 

     We then went to Mozart's birthplace and residence. It was neat to see where he grew up and see some original scores hand written by him. Photography was not allowed, I snuck one, but I only have a picture of the outside of his place. We then ventured to the walking street which was filled with people!! We like to go to tourist places but there comes a time that my husband and I look at each other and say we're done. I can't handle the crowd anymore. I can thank my dad for that trait! But I did find a beautiful Christmas ornament! I plan to get a Christmas ornament from every place we visit which means we have to go back to Prague haha! 

     We decided it was about time to head back to the hotel and realized we needed to eat dinner. As that light bulb came on we were right next to a pizzeria so that is what we had for dinner and it was delicious! When we got back to the hotel I mapped out all the walking we did and it was about 15 miles!! And oh man did my feet and knees know it! We slept like rocks! Sunday morning we got up early and caught a bus (because we finally figured out the public transportation thing) to Untersberg where there is a cable car that takes you to the top of the mountain. And it was absolutely worth it. Breathtaking views, literally and figuratively! Once we got where the car drops you off you still have to hike a bit to get to the very top! It was very rocky, a little unstable and exhausting but I enjoyed every minute of it. Getting to the top felt like a dream. I had never seen anything like it and my pictures just don't do it justice. We enjoyed the peaceful views then had to make the hike back. After the car brought us back to the ground it was time to head back to the bahnhof (train station) and go home. We absolutely loved our visit and look forward to going back! Next time we'll stay on the outskirts of town and do more outdoor and adventurous things!