Salzburg, the beautiful.

Salzburg, Austria was an amazing 'final' trip. There was 8 of us and the town was so beautiful, just like the photos online! We got 1 snowy day and 2 sunny days, a bit of rain but nothing too bad. The small-ish town was very walkable and was surrounded by the Alps. Salzburg is known for being the birthplace and home of Mozart, their Fortress [as seen above on the hill] and The Sound of Music. I will admit that I do not truly believe I have seen The Sound of Music, or if I have it has been a VERY LONG time. After my 3 days in Salzburg, with help to a channel that ONLY played that movie, I have seen it almost 10 times. No joke. I actually ALWAYS missed the 'do re me' scene... so maybe I haven't seen it entirely :) The picture above is of the Old City and the Fortress.

They love their Mozart.

Me, Connie, Jen and Melissa [the girls of the trip] looking over Salzburg from the Fortress.

The view over the city from the very top look out tower in the Fortress.

One of the breweries in Salzburg called Augustinerbrau is a beer hall like those in Munich I went to. It was right behind a church and connected to the city's hospital - clever. You basically grabbed a mug, paid the money [only 5euros for that bad boy!] and a monk filled it up for you. Again, no joke. Let me just say, the Austrian beer was good. Very good. It is up there with yummy Belgium beer... mmm.

We also did The Sound of Music tour [it was a must] and the tour started at this beautiful colored cow. We had a couch bus and was taken to all of the filming sights of the movie: the back of the Van Trap's house, the front of the house [two different houses], the gazebo, the church, the gardens.. and everything else. My favorite thing was this tour took you to the Lake District right outside of Salzburg. I have never seen something so beautiful and would DEFINITELY return!

The trip was relaxing and a lot of fun. We spent a lot of time walking around the city, eating apple strudel and gulash, drinking Austrian beer, looking at the beautiful sites and bar hopping at night. We stayed in a hotel, not a hostel, which was A-MAZ-ING and made a huge difference, plus included an excellent breakfast in the morning.

Those Alps are so stunning.

In other news, my last day at work is Friday the 13th and I fly home for good on March 15th. After returning from Austria, I was on such a traveling high that I got a bit bummed to leave Europe. Then, I woke up in the morning and realized, like I have always said, that I am only truly happy and carefree here when I am traveling. Plus, I really want to be near my daddio and family... so I woke up, feeling that this indeed was the best decision for me. I am dreading packing up my room, yuck. But, I am excited to be home to do the Mercer Island Marathon! I need to start running again... :) I will figure my life out from there and will work hard on getting a job hopefully in April and then hopefully moving back to Seattle in the summer.

See you all soon!

More Salzburg photos here:

http://picasaweb.google.com/megsldn/SalzburgTheBeautiful