Perfect moments in Austria

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I was first greeted by fields of sunflowers and wind turbines when I travelled into Austria on the train from Krakow. First stop was Salzburg...I wanted to visit the home of the Sound of Music!

In a bid to keep this blog from not being too wordy (as I am doing all these countries in one hit before heading into internet abyss of Romanian village life tomorrow), I thought I would share my two perfect moments that I was compelled to capture at the time.

A perfect moment in Salzburg....a day of exploring took me around the perimeter of the old town - fantastic city and mountain views...the absolutely kitsch Sound of Music highlight tour with two enthusiastic Scottish girls for company on an otherwise reserved tour bus...thirst quenched by great drop of Austrian organic wine and belly full from the day's special at Bio Bistro vegetarian restaurant all served up by a jovially friendly Indian waiter and Frank Sinatra echoing out from the window of a nearby apartment. Ahhh, bliss!

Then to Vienna, a couchsurfing heaven with over 1800 people in the city a member of the community...too many cool people to choose from!

My Viennese perfect moment....having just spent a chilled out night in plush inner city apartment with a very hip and chilled out couchsurfing couple, I did a morning trek to the palace...a morning spent lazing around in the palace gardens and then a small mission to a coffee house on top the hill where I have found the first coffee place I have understood to serve large coffees with milk on the side (as opposed to full milky lattes)...sitting here, sunning myself whilst giggling at the antics of Elizabeth Gilbert on the overseas trip she documented in the book "Eat, Pray, Love" (totally recommended reading). Ahhh, bliss again!

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Photos

The hills are alive...
Absolutely stunning scenary in the Lakes District just outside of Salzburg (yep, this is definitely Sound of Music territory!)

Salzburg City
Home of Mozart AND the Sound of Music - pretty impressive for a small city (pop 300,000)

The exact same steps...
The crazy Scottish girls and me doing our best to capture our enthusiasm for the Sound of Music on the exact steps that Maria and the children jumped down in Do Rei Me (I know, I know - I am a dag!)

Hmmm, coffee....
This was the grandiose coffee house I ventured to in the palace gardens...its easy to get confused and think you are in Rome rather than Vienna with so much Roman inspired architecture.

The palace
This was my view as I sat at the coffee house having one of my perfect moments...pretty nice eh :-)

Vienna's Naschmarkt
Vienna has this great marketplace with an amazing array of fresh fruit and vegetables and meats and spices and anti-pasta and well, lots of things!

Sabine and Eva
I met Sabine (left) on the train from Salzburg to Vienna so of course we had to meet up for a drink...we happily spent the afternoon with her friend Eva drinking in the Musuem Quarter.