European Vacation - Salzburg

We are home from our trip and adjusting to the jetlag. It was a wonderful trip and we saw and did as much as we could while travelling with a toddler. Jaret did great on the trip, despite having a cough off and on during our time away. But, he wasn't the only one who was sick, Terry and I also suffered from a slight cold while away.

SALZBURG

We started in Salzburg. It was a quaint, little city. We stayed at an amazing little hotel called the Hotel Elefant. Iris was the receptionist and she was super friendly, answering any questions we had about sightseeing. Each time we came into the hotel, she would greet us by name and ask us how our time had been. The hotel itself is housed in a 700 year old building in the heart of the Old Town area. It was so close to all the sights. The first day we got there we checked in early and then just walked around and got aquainted with the area. We walked by Mozart's Birthplace and through the Mirabell Gardens. We also used this day to get adjusted to the new time zone.

Then on Tuesday, July 8th I got to fulfill a life long dream and go on The Sound of Music Tour. It was fabulous! The tour was a four hour tour by bus and took us by most of the landmarks from the classic film. One disappointing part was that we could only drive by the Von Trapp Family home (Frohnburg Castle) which currently is being transformed from a music academy into a hotel which opens later this summer. There were a few other landmarks that we only drove past and did not stop at. However, we did see Leopold's Crown Palace that was used for the terrace scenes and the scene where the children fell out of the boat into Lake Wolfgang. The gazebo was one of my favourites, as was Mondsee Cathedral (Wedding Church) that actually brought tears to my eyes.

After the tour, I returned to the hotel to get Terry and Jaret so we could do more sightseeing. We ended up taking the tram up to the Festung Hohensalzburg, a fortress. This castle gave amazing views of the city. It began with Prince Archbishop Eberhard building it in 1077. Then as other Prince Archbishops came to power, they would add on to the castle in the style of the time. This castle was later used as a prison and an army camp.

On Wednesday, before leaving I was able to go and see Nonnberg Abbey. It was a hike up the stairs to get there and I thought for sure that I was lost but then turned and saw that I was standing right next to the Abbey. That afternoon, we took the train to Vienna and made our way to the airport and flew to Amsterdam. We arrived that evening and Mark picked us up at the airport.