After leaving the Hallstatt area we drove towards Innsbruck. The countryside was stunning.     We stopped at a McDonald’s at one point for Russell was having a bit of trouble staying awake and thought a frappuccino from McDonald’s like they serve here in the US might help… but they do things a little different from here in the USA.   Quite a beautiful selection of sweets were available.   Their coffee station was serious business. No frappuccino’s like they offer here in the States was available. They had no idea what Russell was talking about. He tried to explain and they tried to understand. They made him up something…

Day 6 of our Austria trip was spent at the most picturesque village ever. (pop. 1,000) The name of the village was Hallstatt. We left Salzburg and drove through the countryside to reach Hallstatt. I took some pictures of the houses just to show how the architecture is different than here in the States.       We arrived in Hallstatt and parked in one of the parking lots provided for tourists. The road to the old center of town is closed during the day and so you must park in one of the designated parking lots. We rode the funicular (a funicular is a similar to a tram car…

When I heard that Europe’s oldest restaurant was located in Salzburg, I was quite intrigued by its historical past. Wow! 1,000 years old. Charlemagne, Christopher Columbus and Mozart are said to have ate at the Stiftskeller St. Peter. It was operated by monks since it was a part of St. Peter’s Abbey. Until not too long ago, it was still ran by monks. It was a lovely restaurant with food prepared fresh using healthy ingredients and beautifully presented. They also offer Mozart concerts in the evening times – which we did not do since we had already attended the mini orchestra concert at Hohensalzburg Fortress. This part of the restaurant…

We were told by more then one person that we should take the Sound of Music bike tour while in Salzburg, so we booked tickets for Sunday morning, April 22 which is the actual anniversary date of our wedding. Although it was our 29th anniversary, we were actually there in Austria celebrating our 25th…. just 4 years late. haha So on this Sunday morning, we met on the street where the bicycle tour was to begin. As I mentioned in an earlier post, most Austrians have never heard of The Sound of Music but this company has found a thriving business appealing to all those that are fans of the…

I almost skipped over this part of our stay in Austria but it was such a special evening that my trip journal wouldn’t be complete if I didn’t include a mention of the musical quintet we heard the first night we were in Salzburg. We finished up our day in Salzburg by seeing where Mozart was born and lived for the first 17 years of his life. His family lived on the 3rd floor incidentally.   This trip will always be a fond memory. We had such a wonderful time.     Highly recommended in Salzburg is the Mozart Concert that is given at the Hohensalzburg Fortress. We decided to…