The Hills are Alive... Part 1-1.5

When I was a kid, it seemed like The Sound of Music came on tv every couple of years, and I looked forward to it so much!  I love that movie, and so I was excited for our end of summer European stopover in Salzburg and Vienna.  The hills did not disappoint, however I didn't find a perfect spot to twirl and sing, much to Nate's disappointment.  He really wanted to record me and use it for blackmail later.  I did sing in the car though:)

The weather was beautiful, and our little guesthouse was about a 15 minute walk into the old city.  This awesome fortress could be seen from everywhere, which I guess is kind of the point of a fortress:)  We got to ride a tram up to the top one night, and explore and see the city. 

One thing there is no shortage of in Europe - beautiful cathedrals.  After reading Pillars of the Earth, I have a new appreciation for them.  We even got to hear some organists practicing for all the concerts that were happening every night. 

That little window in the rock is part of the catacombs.  I think I expected a few less stairs, and a few more caves with skeleton remnants, but there were just a couple of small caverns and a small alcove with a cross.  It looked cooler from the outside.

I do love taking pictures out of the windows though:)

One challenge of traveling in Europe with small children is keeping them quiet and contained in all the cathedrals and museums, so finding an interactive toy museum was pretty sweet.  Finley was alternately terrified by and in love with this slide, and we finally got Will to go down it - but we had the camera on the wrong setting so the pictures are all blurry and didn't capture the priceless look on Will's face. 

A room full of trains was a hit, and it continued into a whole floor of electric train displays - pretty cool.

Both kids were asleep in the stroller, and Mozart's birthplace didn't have elevators (imagine that:)), so I did I solo tour while Nate walked around a bit.  No photos allowed inside, but seeing the old instruments and paintings, and reading all the history made me want to watch Amadeus again, and listen to some Mozart.

 

 To end our first night, we took a funicular (elevator) up the mountain for more views and took a little walk through the forest.  It is so what I imagine when I think of Austria, the Alps and Europe in general.  Salzburg has jumped to if not my favorite European city, for sure in the top three. 

 Day 2 - a drive into the Alps.  We had to go about an hour outside of Salzburg, and I thought that was the drive, but then we got to the beginning of the Alpine ascent and actually drove up into the mountains.  Spectacular - there is just no other word, and probably many others needed to do it all justice.  I loved Will standing there to get an idea of the scale of the "hills".

 It started out so green and lush, with beautiful waterfalls coursing down the mountain and even a spring that they had put a spigot on so people could test out the delicious water.  It wasn't a short drive, so we stopped a few times to get out and stretch and clean the granola bar crumbs off the kids.  That is another trick with traveling with little people - finding food they will eat.  Finley pretty much survived the whole week on her bottles of milk and fruit snacks, with an occasional bread crust thrown in. 

Look closely and you will see our little mountain goat "kissing" (licking) his baby mountain goat sister.  He had a blast climbing around all kinds of rocks and little hills.  But enough for now - this post is already too much!