Salzburg, Austria

The day after Christmas we took the train to Munich, Germany. The train ride was absolutely beautiful and so much fun going through the mountains and countryside. We really enjoyed it. Upon arriving at the Munich train station we rented a car for our drive to Salzburg, Austria. We thought we'd pick up a few sandwiches for the road since we weren't sure what to expect once we were on the road. At the sandwich shop (that was packed), everything was in German so we went by looks pointed to a few sandwiches, handed them our credit card only to be told they don't take credit cards...ok, we look at each other and the line behind us...we don't have any euro's yet. She points us in the direction of an ATM, I stand to the side to wait and Jon runs to get some money out. After a fairly intense sandwich ordering experience and an easy car rental (we got a Blue Chevy automatic) we were on our way to Salzburg! Thanks to our GPS we made it there without any detours. The scenery on the way was beautiful; we could honestly look at those mountains for hours and not get bored. We drove on the Autobahn, but didn't really know we were on it for sure until a few days later. It is a little strange because there are points where there was no speed limits and points where is slows down to 40...Jon just kept up with traffic and I was glad to be able to just sit back and enjoy the scenery.



We arrived in Salzburg in the afternoon and after settling in we ventured to "Old Town" (the historic district). We walked around the city that was beautifully decorated for Christmas and found an ice skating rink and Christmas Market. This happened to be the last day of the market that had been going on for 40 days! There were a few little stands selling beer and food and we enjoyed a pint of the local brew Die Wessie Beer while watching the people slip and slide on the ice rink. We decided to walk around some more and start looking for a place for dinner. As we were walking and looking at different menus we suddenly smelled something so good we had to go in search of the source. We found a tiny little Turkish food stand and we were sold on the aromas alone! We had our first Doner Kebab and Doner Durum...YUM! We headed back to our hotel and started planning the rest of our stay in Salzburg.



The next day Jon graciously obliged me by going on The Sound of Music Tour with me. I loved it! It wasn't just all about the movie; the tour gave us a great overview of the history of Salzburg and Austria. We went to the lake from the boat scene where they all fall overboard, the Abbey, the gazebo, the church where they got married, the outside of the manor they used in the movie and a few more sites. We went to the little town of Mondsee to see the church where the wedding ceremony was filmed. We were able to walk around here and explore. The only disappointment of this was on our way to the area where she's singing on the hill, it got so foggy in the valley's we couldn't see anything. Our tour guide and driver we're both great and very funny. They sold beer and soda's on the bus and when we were getting back on the bus after lunch Jon ordered a couple of beers and the bus driver asks if he wants "insert some German/English here"...we look at each other and have no idea what he's said and our guide says "just say yes"...so we do. The driver proceeds to get a bottle of clear alcohol looking stuff out and two shot glasses and now we're realizing what we've committed to. Ok, it looks like Schnapps...it can't be that bad, right? Wrong! It was likely drinking rubbing alcohol and Jon and I had to drink it and look happy about it as to not offend our driver! We realize this is probably his fun little inside joke he plays on all the Americans and loves to watch our reaction to the taste of this blazing liquid in a bottle.



After the tour we walked around Salzburg some more, being sure to stop by the place where Mozart was born and gathering our souvenirs, postcards and such. Then we walked up to the top of the hill overlooking the city where the Fortress is. We had tickets to have dinner and see a Mozart concert in the castle that night. We went up early to be able to see the views before the sun went down and to watch the sunset. It was a great view and watching the sun set behind the snow capped mountains from a Fortress was an experience I will never forget. The concert was great! It was really small and intimate and the music was fantastic! An interesting fact about the Fortress...certain areas of it have been converted into apartments and the government pays artists to live there, could you imagine!



On Wednesday, we left in the morning and headed to a little town of Hallein to tour the largest Salt Mine. This was such a great time! When you get there they hand you a pair of white pants and a white coat to protect your clothing from the salt. It is pretty hilarious though to see all these people in these oversized white uniforms...some might call it a fashion statement, I would not:) It was all part of the fun though because there is something about dressing up in weird clothes that makes everything more entertaining! Throughout the tour we learned about the history of the mine and what a major money maker it was. We also got to take a little train, the main way in and out of the mine and we got to go down two slides! Yes, you heard me two slides!!! These slides were used for the workers to get to the lower portions of the mine quickly and safely. This was probably my favorite part and would have liked to go down them again and again! I have to give props to our tour guide here as I was very impressed...he spoke at least three languages VERY well (German, English and Italian) and did the tour in all three! He probably spoke more since they do offer the tour in a few more languages.



After our Salt Mine Tour, we went to the little town of Oberndorf (right next to Hallein) for lunch. This was our first major language barrier experience. Since we like to go to places off the beaten path...I don't think the restaurant we picked got a lot of Americans. They did have pizza on the menu and since we know what Margarita Pizza is...we went with that:) We then headed to the birth place of Stille Nacht (Silent Night). We toured the little museum, which I'm sure was extremely interesting and fascinating, but I'm afraid I can't give much detail since it was ALL in German!



We headed back to Salzburg for some more exploring. We heard through our tour guide the day before about the largest beer hall in Austria and we couldn't pass that up! We walked fairly far from the main section of town and the touristy areas and after much looking around finally found the very poorly marked beer hall. After seeing the loads of people inside, I understand why they don't need to mark it very well...all the locals know about it all ready. We were again some of the only tourists in the place, but we forged ahead because we love seeing where the locals hang out. Here's where it gets intense again...we see a line, so we get in it, but we don't see a menu or any choices of beer, so we wait a minute or two for our turn. The cashier is an older gentleman kind gruff, well who's kidding who...really gruff. When reading this be sure to use an irritated, stern, gruff, curt voice for the role of cashier. Cashier: "something in German" (probably, what do you want) Us: two beers Cashier: "what size" Us: "what are our options" Cashier:"look behind me" (extra irritated here) Us: quickly glancing over his shoulder and quickly say "large" (we figure we'll need it to unwind from this encounter!) He takes our money, hands us two coupons and we get in the next line...here we realize everyone else has large steins already in hand, after a quick glance around we see a large case with steins in them along the wall. Jon grabs two steins, while I hold our place in line. We get to the front and the guys fills our mugs and we're on our way to...find a seat, which we accomplish with a lot more ease than purchasing the beer. After settling in, we see how this really is the local hang out and lots of groups of families or friends are gathered here. Oh, in case you we're wondering after a liter of beer you completely forget about how intense it was getting the beer in the first place:) We had a great time!



On our way back to the hotel, we stopped by another hotel that had a roof top bar and took in the great views of the city one last time. We love Salzburg and would highly recommend it!



Stay tuned for our adventures in Oberammergau, Germany!

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