Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Spring Break and Salzburg











*Please take the time to read the previous  posts after this post.

 

My apologies for the very delayed post,

 I am sure that you all have been dying to hear about my spring break travels :)

 

I’d like to start my explanation of the trip by talking about the weather.  From the day that we

 left little ol Feltwell, UK to the day that we returned to Stansted Airport, Colin and I barely saw a cloud.  The weather was absolutely amazing and by far the best that we have ran into thus far.  The days averaged about 70 degrees F and got as high as 77 degrees at times.

 

We hopped from Salzburg, Austria to Munich and Dachau, Germany then to Nurnberg, Rotenberg, and Mainz/Oppenheim to finish the trip visiting my mother’s great

 Germany family.

 

Usually when I write these travel updates it is in th

e middle of a busy week and feels a bit

 forced.  To your misfortune, this usually produces a pretty lack luster blog post.  In an attempt to avoid boring you all to death, I am going to try and keep some constants for each leg of the trip.  These will be the following: Transportation, Favorite Beve

rage, Favorite Food (may have

 multiple entries), hostel/hotel accommodations, Favorite sight(s), and most often used expression/word in English or German.  I will try to keep each post short and sweet and

 include a bunch of pictures. Enjoy.

 

PS- I am posting each stop on the trip to encourage multiple postings of comments.  Make sure you read all the way down to the last post of the Spring Break trip!

 


Salzburg:

 

Transportation:  Flew into Salzburg airport via RyanAir and caught 2 buses to our hostel.

 

Favorite Beverage: Stiegl- It’s an Austrian lager that set itself apart from the usual lager style beers that each country usually sports (Heineken, Budweiser, Corona, whatever) due to its distinctive nutty aftertaste.  Good stuff manard.


Favorite Food:  I am sorry to say that we did not

 get to explore any traditional Austrian food.  In a close second place is the meal that we had at a Mediterranean restaurant with mine being a cheese tortellini dish with mushroom sauce a

nd

 uncooked spinach thrown right in.  However I am proud to say that the winner is a Kebap from a street vendor.  These Doner Kebaps (like a Gyro, but spicy and….different) are sold in every city that I have been to thus far in Europe and have proved to be a staple of my traveling diet.

 


Accomodations:

The Jufa hostel.  A gigantic hostel that included real eggs in its included breakfast (unheard of in the hostel world).  Great services and okay location with an incredible view of the fortress.

 

Favorite Sights:












1.)  The Sound of Music bus tour.  On this tour I got the opportunity to witness the locations of one of my mothers favorite movies ever.  The locations were the Mirabelle gardens where part of the famous “Do Ray Me” song is shot, the gazebo where the famous “16 going on 17” sequence was shot, both of the houses that were the Von Trap family mannor, some of the Austrian lakes and

countryside that are included throughout the movie, and the cathedral where Maria and the Captain get married.  These were a few of my favorite things.



2.)   The Festung Hoersalzburg (The Fortress over Salzburg).  Let me tell you that this giant fortress/castle cannot be escaped anywhere you go in Salzburg.  It is the gorgeous and enormous protector of the city and hold an incredible sight.  Long hike up, fun funicular ride down, audio guide through the major parts, and a medieval museum.  The most amazing view of my entire week were from the very top tower of the fortress.  Salzburg is an incredibly beautiful city from above and below.

 

Most often used word:

Wolfgang.  1-because Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was from Salzburg (we skipped his birthplace/museum….don’t be mad!).  2- because our sound of music tour guide’s name was Wolfgang, and 3- because one of the beautiful lakes that we visited was named Wolfgang (after Mozart as well).

2 comments:

Susan Iverson said...

I was a little worried this tour would be so corny you would be saying "thanks a lot mom" or something like that. It sounds like it was an incredible beginning though to an incredible week. I like the reference to your favorite things. Nice.

Anonymous said...

I bet those hills were Alive!

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