Blogs from Salzburg, Austria, Europe - page 4

Geo: 47.8, 13.0333Happy birthday to our beautiful girl - sweet sixteen!! She is smart, beautiful and our peacemaker - always caring and loving. What a special place to celebrate this special birthday. Grandad had given the kids a day of tours in Salzburg for Christmas - first to the Salt mines at Berchtesgaden (just over the border into Germany) and then the Sound of Music tour in the afternoon. What a wonderful day!!We joined the bus trip at Mirabellplatz, and Walter our guide entertained us with stories and anecdotes about Salzburg and the surrounding countryside until we stopped at Bad Reichenhall, the turnoff to Eagles Nest. Hitler loved this area and had a house/palace here, and for his 50th birthday, the Nazi party built him the Eagles Nest - a stunning mountain-top retreat. Unfortunately, Hitler was ... read more

Geo: 47.8, 13.0333The kids have been hoping, wishing and praying to experience falling snow- we didn't get a white Christmas in 2013 or 2016....but today in Salzburg, guess what happened!!!!Recapping - we arrived at 8pm last night and hauled our selves and our bags to our cute hotel in the pedestrian zone, under the Capuchin hill at Hotel Trumer Stube. Rooms were not as tiny as we feared, and at least had normal sized beds (the doubles in Munich were not double sized! Fine if you're in love, less fine if you're sharing with your brother!). A nice breakfast and then out into what at first seemed like light rain...but then we noticed that the snow stuck to our jackets (and nose and eyelashes, as the song goes!)We walked through Mirabell Gardens - frankly, not their ... read more

Without a doubt today was one of the surprises of the trip. We had intended to stay on board but changed our mind and instead opted to tour Salzburg and do the Sound of Music tour - and I am so pleased we did. Our tour guide, Sebastian, should be awarded Local Tour Guide of the Year. Dressed in traditional Barvarian costume (vest, coat, knee length lederhousin, and knee high leather boots) was so entertaining. On the 1.5 hour bus ride entertained us all the way, both the historical information and amusing stories. He could not for the life of him understand why so many people liked the movie The Sound of Music. On reaching Salzburg (which is an amazing city - so clean and fresh), Sebastian took us on a walking tour through the city, ... read more

It's been awhile since I have had to take a shuttle between destinations - I believe that the last time I did it was all the way back in Guatemala. Cesky Krumlov to Salzburg is quite a popular route for tourists to take so I was surprised that there was no direct bus service - or even a direct train. The gap has therefore been filled by about three or four companies operating shared mini-vans for fairly extortionate prices. And since the majority of tourism in these parts is made up mainly of wealthier Asian tourists, they are prepared to pay these prices. In my case, I didn't have a choice. I did enjoy the three-hour service however. The van was nice, new and comfortable and the driver even let me put on my tunes on ... read more

Geo: 47.8005, 13.0444 We awoke to mist and clouds covering the Alps. On a cold, rainy Pennsylvania day, this might have sucked. But the view here was almost ... natural. We had learned from talking to some folk in these here parts that for this time of year. It is natural. Once all awake we spent a lazy lazy Monday morning just hanging at the cottage. Around 11 we decided that we wanted to see more than just misty mountains so we headed out. On the way out we stopped at the store to pick up breakfast for tomorrow. Waking up to a house with no food kind of sucks. It's not lost on me that this is the norm for way too many people in the world :-(Visiting a grocery in story is, for the ... read more