Salzburg, Austria

We were now starting on week three of our vacation and beginning to feel every second of it. We had gone through France, down into Italy, and were now planning our jump over the border into Austria. We woke up bright and early at 6:00 am to catch a bus to Salzburg (bus fare was included in the Eurail pass). At the time we went to Italy, the border crossing was ridiculous. When we first left Nice, France and were on our way to Florence, we had to take a train to the border of Italy, hop on a bus to go over the border, and then transfer to an "Italian" train. It wasn't any easier to go to Austria. Instead of taking a straight shot train ride to Salzburg (like how we were told we could do before all the border restrictions), we had to take a bus to the Austria border, another bus transfer, and then get on an "Austrian" train. But the second we left the Italian border, the countryside (and train quality) transformed. The hills were literally alive, with the sound of music. We made that promise then and there that we would retire to Austria, and that hasn't changed yet! Here are the highlights of Salzburg:

Hellbrunn Palace (Trick Fountains) - DO NOT MISS THIS!!!!! We purchased the Salzburg card, which included tons of attractions and free public transportation. As of today a three day pass is 36 Euros ($46.20 USD), which was definitely worth it! The pass included the Trick Fountains, one of the most entertaining tours we did in Europe. We had a wonderful guide, and thoroughly enjoyed all the showmanship of the attraction.

Cable-Car Untersberg - Anyone can tell you that I'm terrified of heights (and dreading my reaction to the summit of Machu Picchu in 3 weeks!) but this was definitely worth the shaky knees on the way up. It took a while to finally find where the cable cars took off from (quite a ways outside of the city), but once we got there we weren't disappointed. Check out some of the views:

Getting higher....

And higher.....

At the top! and in the clouds....

Feeling dizzy yet? I was! We got to the top and spent a good while walking around. There are a couple of restaurants to grab lunch at, and we decided to go to the farthest one (away from the other tourists). We were presently surprised with the fare of such a secluded place, and the owner was very friendly.

People going up! The cars have a bit of a sardine feel...but its worth it to get to the top:

Mozarts Birth House - Something you need to know about Salzurg: they love their Mozart! He's plastered all over everything. Everything!

Found the Von Trapp family:

My boyfriend's niece at home was just about the size to be able to wear this. He was literally tearing tiny lederhosen out of my hands all of Austria and Germany. It won't be so easy next time...

Another thing we really enjoyed in Salzurg was the zoo. I was too excited to take any pictures, so the boyfriend took over. Now I may not be the best photographer in the world, but Alex will definitely never win any competitions. Here are the few that didn't come out too blurry :

 Now I am a lover of all zoos, but the Salzburg Zoo was pretty special. The zoo wrapped around a mountain, with most of the bigger animal habitats running up it, so they have quite a bit of room to roam around. When you get a bit farther into the paths, there is a hot house that you can step into with animals running all around you! Especially these little guys:

I hate monkeys, but these things were fricken adorable. Unfortunately, the only unblurry picture was one with

the monkey's face turned (Alex is officially fired from picture taking). 

But be careful, the llamas were mad dogging me:

Salzburg was one of the most enjoyable parts of our European Vacation, and next time we hit up Europe (and since I'm missing my family ALOT I'm sure it will be soon) we'll be going to Austria again. We only have one place we regret not seeing when we were there: Hohensalzburg. It looked like an amazing castle, and from what we heard it had amazing views (something you can't get enough of in Austria). And it's included in the Salzburg Card! There's no reason not to go, except for time.

But of course, time is something a traveler is always chasing. Remember to make the most of it!