Day 7

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Amber's Journal:
Today we left the Czech Republic. I think Preston was a little sad to have to leave so soon. I admit, I wish we could've spent more time there too. There seemed to be a lot of other cool places that we didn't get to see. Hopefully some day we will get to go back. We got up early this morning and left for Austria. We passed through Linz which wasn't too impressive- just a regular big modern city. We finally got to see the Alps, but unfortunately fog, clouds, and rain kept us from being able to see them in their full splendor. We passed a lake/town which I think was called Mondsee and it was gorgeous. I wish we could have stopped there. The B&B we are staying at in Salzburg (Haus Ballwein) is SO cute! It is a little outside the city backing to beautiful green meadows and views of the mountains. It has the typical Alpen Cottage look on the outside and it's very bright and clean on the inside. We took a bus into town around noon. The old town center was actually surprisingly small, especially compared to Prague. We went inside the Salzburg cathedral which was beautiful, St. Peter's church and cemetery (from the Sound of Music) and a Franciscan church. We attempted to see Toscanini Hof (the auditorium from Sound of Music) but I don't think it is open to the public and we couldn't see it. We ate some ice cream which was very rich and creamy. By the cathedral there is a life size chess board where people come and play. We spent the last half of the day touring the giant Fortress (Hohensalzburg) on the cliff overlooking the city. We rode a funicular up the mountain which was pretty cool. It had a museum in the fortress that was pretty cool to walk through. We also took a tour to the top of the tower. The views were absolutely breathtaking!! The one side looked out over the city with the river and the churches. The other side looked out over an expanse of trees and meadows dotted with houses and ponds and the Alps in the background. I so wish it would have been a clear, sunny day! You could also see the mansion that the Sound of Music was filmed at. Afterwards we went back to town for dinner. Preston got a sausage/hot dog thing and I got pizza. Not very Austrian I know, but we didn't want to spend a lot of money. Then we went to an Internet Cafe for a bit, then walked across the bridge to the other side for a few minutes. All in all I have to confess that Salzburg was not everything I had dreamed it would be. We got to see a couple of cool sights and the setting/location are gorgeous but the city itself was not that impressive to me. I'm still very glad we came but I am no longer disappointed that we only had one day here. Perhaps if I did have more time I would come to love it more but I don't think it will ever be what I had imagined.

Preston's Journal:
It was our "Sound of Music" day today. We left Cesky Krumlov early this morning. Traveling through fog, rain, and some traffic, we made our way to Salzburg, Austria. The Alps are very pretty mountains and everything is still so green. We got to our B&B, checked in, and actually rode the bus into town with the girl that was cleaning our room (which is the nicest one we've had, with a great balcony view of the Alps). She helped us and we got to know her a little bit. Once in old-town Salzburg, we wandered around just looking at stuff. Most things were free to see. Several churches, other cool buildings, the "Sound of music" cemetery, and some shops. We each had an ice-cream cone (the ice-cream here is soft and creamy). In the afternoon we rode the funicular up to the fortress overlooking Salzburg. Here we got some amazing panoramic views, toured the museums which had some cool stuff from a lot of different topics (torture, WWI, the fortress itself, Salzburg, armor and weapons) and walked around. It's a very big, very old castle, and is very commanding as it overlooks the city. It's been fun here, and maybe I'll write a little more about it later.
It's only the next morning so I'm not going to officially put the date. So a couple of things... Amber loves pictures, and wants to take lots of them to remember out whole trip. Well, it seems the world is out to get her becuase almost every time she goes to take a picture (especially when we are driving) something gets in the way... trees, signs, cars, people... it gives me a good laugh. They make their beds differently here in Europe; no sheets, a large square pillow, and a comforter as the blanket (one for each person). We're not sure if its just the way hotel beds are made or all of them... oh, and no sheets either. We found that here is much more expensive than the Czech Republic. If getting souvenirs, get them in Eastern Europe! I really hope we can take more trips, staying longer in each place so we can get to know some people and instead of just seeing things, get to do some things too.

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Photos

"Egg" shop in Salzburg
One of the local crafts is blowing out the inside of eggs and handpainting the shells and turning them into decorations or christmas ornaments. This store had thousands of them.