Lounging around Salzburg

Posted by Chelsie on Aug 22, 2012 in Europe 2012 | 6 comments

Today we had a very relaxing day in Salzburg. We ate another fabulous breakfast at our hotel (again we forgot to take pictures of it) and spent the entire morning and early afternoon reading in the garden. Then we freshened up before borrowing the bikes again to head out on the town. We had a very leisurely dinner (and by very leisurely I mean 2 hours or so) at Cafe Sacher where we enjoyed the views of the river and old town Salzburg. We also did lots of people-watching. It was like we had our own private human aquarium. We ordered local favorites like Lake Char (a fish similar to salmon) and Weinerschnitzel. Both were great, but the cafe is really known for its fabulous desserts. We of course ordered a piece of the world-famous Sacher Torte and we also followed the local trend and had an iced coffee float with homemade vanilla ice cream. Both desserts were delectable.

After dinner we walked to a pedestrian bridge that we hadn’t been on before to take some pictures. From a distance we could see tiny things attached everywhere to the bridge and as we got closer we realized they were little locks. Apparently, the recent trend is to bring a lock with you and your lovers’ initials or names carved into it, lock it onto the bridge, and throw the key into the river. How charming! We looked online later and it seems that this trend started in Italy and has started to gain popularity all over the world. Andrew remembered seeing locks on a bridge in London, but apart from that we have never seen anything like it before. We pretty much stayed on the bridge enjoying the fantastic views until the sun set before returning to our bikes. The route we have been taking back to the hotel every night goes through some palace gardens called Mirabellgarten and since this was our last night, we decided to explore it a little bit more taking advantage of the last bits of light. Good thing we did because on the other side of the gardens, there was a free concert going on. We sat and watched for a little while before finishing the bike ride back to the hotel.

We ended the day as it began, back in the garden on the lounge chairs. We had to pack up and go back to the room though because a thunder and lightning storm was brewing and it started to rain. Every day here rain has been in the forecast, but we have been really lucky. It seems like the rain holds off just until it is time to go to bed every night so it hasn’t affected our travels. It has, however made it pretty humid. Tomorrow we head to Fussen, Germany in the BMW where we will spend the last few days of our trip.

Cheers,

Chelsie & Andrew

 

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Hohensalzburg Fortress, the Countryside, and Königssee

Posted by Chelsie on Aug 21, 2012 in Europe 2012 | 2 comments

Before starting our recap of today’s events, I wanted to mention what happened late last night after I posted the blog post. Since it is pretty warm here and Austria typically doesn’t see too many warm weather days, none of the buildings have air-conditioning, including our hotel. This means that we need to sleep with the windows open and the fan on to be comfortable at night. As soon as I settled into bed with a good book, Andrew and I heard what sounded like a small helicopter enter our room. We both watched as a giant wasp flew across the room and settled near our headboard…and by giant, I mean 2 inches+ in length. We weren’t really sure whether or not they are aggressive so Andrew waited until it had walked to the bed and then quickly trapped it in a glass. We carefully released it outside (a 2 person operation) and shut the window. I think we really made it mad though because for about two minutes it was buzzing against our window trying to get back in to likely take revenge on us. Once the coast was clear, we opened the windows again and shut out the lights since we read online that they are attracted to light. You would think that would be enough excitement for one night, but no, at about 2:00 a.m. we were woken up by the heavens unleashing the largest amount of rain we have ever experienced. To say that it was coming down in buckets would be understating things. We stood at the window and watched for about 20 minutes until the rain had subsided. Finally we could sleep in peace.

When we woke up this morning, the sun was pouring in like it had never rained at all. We headed down to breakfast and were surprised by the amazing selection they had. Cereal, toast, meats, cheeses, fresh fruit, dried fruit, raw honey, spelt porridge, cottage cheese, homemade yogurt, fresh juice, pastries, coffee, tea, etc. And most of it is organic! Hopefully tomorrow we can get a picture of it all because it really is unbelievable. This hotel came highly recommended to us and we were told that the breakfast was good, but we weren’t prepared for this.

After we ate and sat in the beautiful courtyard planning our day, we borrowed bikes from the hotel and headed to Hohensalzburg Fortress. Since it’s perched on top of rocky cliffs, you take a funicular (a type of tram car that goes up the side of the mountain), to the top. While inside we visited a few different museums and walked around the grounds, but the highlight was definitely the spectacular view from the back side of the fortress of the valley below and the Alps in the background. We liked it so much that we ate lunch on a terrace overlooking the valley. Since it was pretty hot and humid today, we decided that after we rode our bikes back to the hotel, we would take a drive into the Alps in our air-conditioned BMW. We drove south toward the mountains and ended up in Königssee, Germany near Hitler’s Eagle’s Nest at a beautiful and pristine Alpine lake with the same name. Before we left town, we picked up some sushi from a little takeout restaurant near our hotel so we could enjoy a picnic dinner by the lake. It was a great end to a great day here in Salzburg.

Two quick things we have noticed in Germany and Austria…one, people love their dogs and bring them everywhere with them (it makes us miss our own pugs at home) and two, being as though this part of Germany and Austria is so close to Italy and France, people here speak four or more languages and it’s not uncommon for menus to include a wide variety of items from the region.

Cheers,

Chelsie & Andrew

 

 

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