S A L Z B U R G austria

From the top of Hitler's Tea House, we headed to our last stop for the weekend: Salzburg, Austria.

Just down the road, it was on the way home and a must-see for Starr and I even if the guys weren't as excited.

Sure, Mozart was born there, but we were all about The Sound of Music.

We knew we needed to stop at a gas station to buy a permit to drive on the Austrian highway. We haven't seen any tolls in Germany yet.

In France, there are tolls that I think you pay as you go through- maybe similar to the states.

In Austria, you have to stop at a border gas station and buy a little sticker {for your windshield} that allows you to drive on their highways.

After passing a couple gas stations and signs, we were relieved to finally stop and bought the sticker. After making sandwiches in the car and we were good to go. 

As we drove from the south-east part of Germany to the northern part of Austria- the bordering villages had so much charm.

Rolling {super green} hills, huge amazing churches and old houses. It was a beautiful drive. I'm pretty sure the boys don't agree- they were a little tired of driving at this point.

We made it, and we {as in Starr and I} were so excited. Salzburg is spectacular. Wouldn't you know- within minutes of arriving in the city, two nuns were crossing the street.

Oh, we were now in Sound of Music territory. I wonder how many times they've been asked, "How do you solve a problem like Maria?"

Yes, I'm pretty sure they were making fun of us. We didn't care.

The whole weekend, I couldn't stop singing- especially staying at a hotel called Edelweiss with Edelweiss written all over everything. I fell asleep singing in my head and woke up stuck with the same song. Makes it really hard to get a song {that one} out of your head!

Having already visited the gorge and Hitler's Tea House that day, it was 5:00 before we even reached Salzburg. With tired boys, we definitely cut our stay short. We still had a six-hour drive home.

Trying to buy some time, we bought ice cream cones for the boys and left them in the car while we ran to see a couple landmark {specifically Sound of Music} sites. They absolutely didn't want to run around and see anything more. We were exhausted, it was a little hot out and they were spent!

While only parts of the Sound of Music were filmed in Salzburg, we were able to see a couple of the sites shown in the movie. The bridge the kids ran across. Mirabell Garden where they sang, "Doe a deer, a female deer... ray..." I can't decide which part was my favorite. I loved it all.

The gardens were beautiful, the backdrop amazing with the ruins above. The huge churches were everywhere, the cobble-stone streets and alleys, the shops, the history- all of it so, so, so, old.

Charming- there's no other way to describe it.

After returning home, we checked out the movie {again} and watched it {well, most of it} with a new perspective. We didn't realize as we took these pictures in this walkway that Maria ran down the same spot in the movie.

If we had known, we might have had to do some kind of re-inactment.

I'm sure Mac and Jim are happy are grateful we didn't. We were tired, hot and sweaty.

Trying to make things better as we returned to the van, we stopped and grabbed dinner at a little hole in the wall from kind old man who spoke no English. Who says everyone over here speaks English?

I was able to put my extremely-limited German skills to use which always makes me that much more determined to get in a German class so I can speak for real. Able to say what I needed to, our food came out as ordered- I just feel so inadequate.

Happy that we made it even for just a quick stop, I would love to spend more time Salzburg. We need to go back now for the food {and the chocolate}. I hear it is their specialty.