The Hills are Alive...

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Salzburg

We road with a van full of other people to get into Austria, then took a train to get to the city. Austria is a country that I've always wanted to visit, and the countryside couldn't have been more beautiful with the Alps towering in the distance. I just wanted to take photo after photo to capture it.

Salzburg is a small city, very walkable and clean, and we enjoyed our two days of sight-seeing. Of course, since "The Sound of Music" was filmed here we reconized many bridges, buildings, and squares, and tested each other of our movie knowledge :) We opted not to the the "tour" because it was a bit pricy for our liking! It was just all so "pretty", I guess that's the best way to describe it!

Some gorgous churches, a fortess on a hill overlooking the city, the river, and the green landscape. Our only recommendation to other travellers would be to NOT stay at the YHA "youth and family" hostel here...clean, but you'd enjoy paying a bit more for somewhere else and not having to put up with loud teens!

Zell am See

A change in plans found us training to this small alpine village/ski resort town in the heart of the Alps. (Think Wanaka, New Zealand or Grand Lake, Colorado meets Vail, CO) We had no map or anything, only the name of the town. We found a darling pension with the best breakfast EVER (we tried to be the first ones down at 7am so we wouldn't miss out on anything!!) The scenery was breathtaking, and people friendly, and the fresh air just what we needed to relax for a few days. We went on hikes around the area, both up the mountains and around the lake. A few of the peaks were covered in snow already.

The fog would sit low over the lake in the morning but clear for sunny blue skies by noon. We read books and took naps (well, I did :) ate a few local dishes and drank the local beer. After travelling as fast as we have been, it was the perfect break.

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