Road Trip: Salzburg, Austria

Our last trip outside of Germany was to Salzburg, Austria. We've been to Austria several times, but never over night. We've driven and taken the train through Austria more times than I can count. We've even stayed in hotels only 5 minutes from the border, but never actually "visited" Austria. So, for our last trip, we decided to go to Salzburg. Salzburg was chosen as our last vacation over Prague, which is probably my favorite European city, but it didn't disappoint.


On the first day, we woke up late and wondered over to the altstadt (old town) for some brunch which we found in Motzart Platz. It was actually warm enough there to enjoy the outdoors by eating outside. I always miss this aspect of Europe during the 8 months of freezing cold that we get in Germany. After breakfast, we took a trip up to Hohensalzburg, the castle which overlooks the city.

Hohensalzburg from the city center.

Salzburg from Hohensalzburg

The castle offers beautiful views around the area and has a few interesting exhibits. Primarily, there is a very creepy marionette museum. Other than the views and the small exhibits, there isn't too much to do up there, but it is very beautiful and scenic.

After, we considered the idea of taking a Sound of Music tour. The Sound of Music was filmed and took place in Salzburg. I've seen the movie several times, but I didn't recall any specific locations. Greg was much more of the Sound of Music expert. We explored the idea of taking a tour, but realized that it would cost around 50 euros per person and decided against it. Instead, we wondered around and saw a few of the locations from the movie in the area. Towards the end of the day, we had to get back to the hotel because Greg had a phone interview for a job.

Cemetery from the end of Sound of Music.
(I actually didn't know that when I took the pictures, I just really like cemeteries)

Marabell Gardens...

... "Do, a deer, a female deer..."

The next day, we ventured outside of Salzburg to visit the Hohenwarfen Fortress. Hohenwarfen is up on a hill in the middle of the Alps. There is a short walk to the top or you can take a very unusual self-operated elevator. At the top, there is a 1 hour tour of the fortress which leads you up into the bell tower which offers some really amazing views of the Alps. There is also a show about falconry which apparently was a hobby of prior residents of the fortress. It was pretty cool to see that many of the buildings dated back to the 1100s.

Back in Salzburg, we walked around a little longer before heading back to Germany in the morning. It was a peaceful trip to a beautiful and quiet city.

Now, we're preparing to pack up our life and move back to the states. It's a bitter sweet feeling. I am ready to leave, but it is a little sad to see this chapter of our lives coming to an end. I'm ready to move on and start grad school. Greg is ready to put the Army behind him and succeed in his civilian career. We never really wanted to move to Germany, but we're thankful for the interesting experience. Hopefully, there will be more fun times and adventures ahead of us!