4th stop: salzburg (austria)

We got up our last morning in Fussen, ready to hit the road and get to Salzburg. But...a moment of panic hit me as I looked out the window and saw this: lots and lots of snow falling. We tried not to worry too much and instead focused on our decadent and very large breakfast instead. :) And then, we were on our way. Luckily our rental car had winter tires (we never thought we'd need them), so the drive was safe - it was snowy and white the entire way to Salzburg. We got a bit of a late start, but that's the beauty of it being just us two, with no schedule.

The morning we left Fussen...our car is down in that parking lot

The snowy drive to Salzburg

The first day in Salzburg was a bit snowy and wet, so I found myself grumbling as we explored the city. I was damp, cold, and not happy about it! It was a nice reality check when we met an older American couple who reminded us to never let weather ruin our plans :) Those words (and some yummy food) somehow warmed me up a bit. The rest of the day we did some shopping and took in the sights. Salzburg is SUCH AN AWESOME CITY!! And for those of you who don't know, this is where the Sound of Music was filmed (we didn't take the tour though).

Walking around Salzburg - this river pretty much separates the old town from the new

The second day in Salzburg was spectacular. What a cool city. The sun was shining and we decided to take the funicular train up to the Hohensalzburg Fortress. The funicular is basically a train that goes straight up the side of the hill - yes, a bit scary. Up at the fortress we were able to see all of Salzburg, the mountains, and the river running through it. This crazy structure up on the top of a hill was used for protection from enemies, and even includes a torture chamber. The tour was very interesting!

You can see the Fortress up on the hill

View from the Fortress

We were lucky to have another spectacular day - view from the Fortress

Up in the tower

Another highlight of Salzburg was Mozart's house and museum. I was surprised to really enjoy this. The house displayed some of his original music, as well as the pianos he played on. He was such a genius! We also visited St. Peter's cemetery and catacombs, grabbed bratwurts from a street cart, walked through the gardens at Mirabella Palace, ate roasted chesnuts, and went to a typical Austrian pub for dinner (Jeff's request, definitely not mine).

Mozart's house and museum

Yummy pretzels - these are everywhere

The catacombs and cemetery at St. Peter's - the catacombs were built inside that rock wall above

It was so interesting to look at the dates on the headstones!

Old Salzburg

The gardens at Mirabella Palace

Enjoying some yummy beer after a lot of walking and a long day!

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Interesting observations about Austria...
*Families rent gravesites for their lost ones, rather than owning them like here in the US. Every ten years, a bill is sent to whoever is responsible, and if the bill is not paid, the remains are dug up and chucked.
*Smoking is allowed in all restaurants, etc. Haven't seen that in a long time!
*Not sure if this is typical, but the (skinny) people sitting next to us at the restaurant each ordered an apple strudel (it was huge), finished them and then ordered two more!
*Food is SO fattening. I felt like fat was stuck in my lungs or something after that one Austrian dinner Jeff made me eat. And I got the fish!
*Wein-spritzers are yummy. These are probably everywhere but the first place I tried one was at a food cart in Salzburg. It's wine mixed with bubbly water and is oh-so-refreshing!