Stop Five: Salzburg, Austia

We arrived in Salzburg in the dark and cold, and had a bit of trouble finding our way to the hostel, since the directions were a little vague. We found WiFi at a McDonald's and figured out where we needed to go. We checked in to the hostel, and it has been the best one we have stayed at so far. It was pretty big, but the people were friendly. We even met some Americans, Canadians, and Aussies we could talk to. There was one guy in our room who was particularly talkative, and he was interesting. The next morning we set off to explore the city. The hostel has a really nice map with suggested walking routes and sights to see. We started with the Mirabell Gardens (where parts of the Sound of Music was filmed). Then we crossed the river, which had gorgeous views. I wasn't expecting so much scenery and mountains. We found Mozart's birthplace, then wandered down some of the old streets and plazas. We saw a few churches and horse drawn carriages. It was so cute! Then we bought tickets to take the funicular up a mountain to see the fortress. The view from up there was spectacular! And the skies were clear and bright. It was really awesome. We walked through the fortress grounds and through the exhibits inside. It was a lot like the Tower of London. The view was defiantly the best part for me. After we descended, we found some lunch at a cafe. I had hot ham and cheese (served with ketchup!). We then wandered through a few more markets and shops and headed back to the hostel to regroup. We decided to try out a coffee shop the hostel suggested and do some homework. We went to the coffee shop, but it was not what I was thinking. It was a lot nicer of a place,but the coffee was super fancy! My cappuccino had a mountain of foam on top of it! We finished our drinks and went next door to another cafe that had vegan food for my friend. This was more of a homework place. I had another cappuccino (I was exhausted), but it was a "Mozart Cappuccino" and had his face in the foam on top, and caramel. It also came with a famous "Mozart-ball" which is a chocolate and pistachio truffle created in Salzburg. It was delicious. I also had some apple cake, which was like a cold apple cobbler. Then we (tried) to do some homework before heading back tithe hostel for happy hour and the showing of the Sound of Music! We got a beer and settled in to watch the movie. The bar tender was a strange man, and would come in randomly and make funny comments about the movie and talk to us. I ordered wiener schnitzel and fries for dinner while we watched. It was my first time actually watching the movie all the way through. After the movie was over, we got talking to some other American girls and a girl from New Zealand. We shared stories from our travels and were talking about Halloween, since it was Halloween. Austria was strangely not in to Halloween. Others European countries seem to celebrate it, but not Austria! We decided to go out to the Irish pub, since surely they would be celebrating. And they were! But it seemed that everyone's idea of a costume was just blood on their face and bodies, like a bunch of zombies. Not very creative! It wasn't the same, but we still felt better having celebrate Halloween somehow! The last day we slept in a bit (as much as we could, considering there were two Fins talking to each other in our room all morning!). We checked out, stored our luggage, and got some breakfast. We left to catch the bus out to Hellbrunn Palace and the trick fountains. It was a ways out of the main city and was very pretty. The palace was yellow and had some cool rooms inside. We got an audio tour, but I didn't use it much. Then we got a tour of the trick fountains. They were really cool and fun! They are a series of fountains that all have some sort of "trick" to them, and make include you getting sprayed with water (a few times). It was a lot of fun, except when you got wet, and it was chilly out! We explored to grounds a bit and found the pavilion used in the Sound of Music (seeing a theme here??). We headed back to town, got some last minute souvenirs, picked up some lunch and our luggage and made way to the train station. The ride to Munich was also very scenic and pretty. And we got to ride on the top of a double decker train! Next stop: Munich!