Much Salzburg

Soon we were on our way to Salzburg. The bus ride was obviously stunningly beautiful. Austrian country homes are like the ones in the movies. They look like what I imagine cute little elf houses look like. The Alps separated whole towns, and it was a very scenic journey:

Lauren with her neck pillow. I always feel like those are so weird:

We watched The Sound of Music on the way there, this was because it was filmed in Salzburg. This was my first time ever seeing the movie. I thought it was alright:

There was of course the casual windmill:

The beautiful snow covered Alps. The pictures does not do it justice at all:

Salzburg is a sweet little city where one can see a snow covered mountain almost anywhere they turn:

The gardens in Salzburg were delightful. I found this tree particularly interesting:

The gardens were so gorgeous. It was just unfortunate that most of the things in the garden weren't blooming yet, so I imagine it is 10 times prettier in the summer:

The gates into the gardens, because they used to be private:

The unicorns by the entrance: 

Some really great designs:

The trees were pruned regularly from the look of it:

All four of us posed by the statues:

The beautiful buildings of Salzburg:

On this bridge all the lovers come with their names on their locks and put their locks on the bridge. There were thousands of them and it was actually a nice scene:

The view from the bridge:

The other view from the bridge:

Me and Haylea on the bridge:

A nice little window design:

Another mountain just in the middle of the city:

The Alps were such a great backdrop:

This was the old palace which is now a museum but still very pretty:

The cathedral from the outside:

The cathedral was amazing on the inside. I was so happy we went in. The ceilings especially were amazingly decorated:

After touring the church we got some of these soft pretzels. I don't really like olives but I got an olive and cheese pretzel and it was really good.

So we attempted to hike up to the Fortress which is literally in the middle of the city on a mountain. We got a little lost but I thought this water mill was very cool:

Halfway up the fortress, it was such a long climb, but the view was worth it:

Afterwards we were headed to the brewery to try some local ales:

The city was stunning at night:

I got two half-liters; it was probably the best beer I've ever had:

We then headed to Shamrock's Irish pub for some drinks. There was live music and we stayed a long time. It was soooo much fun:

I got back at around 1 and was woken up at 5:45 for mass which was in Latin with pre-Second Vatican council traditions. The homily was in German so I literally understood none of it. Afterwards I had breakfast, packed up and walked around the city some more. We came across these tripping stones which are from when Jews were taken from a place during the holocaust. It says who was taken, when they were taken, what camp they were taken to, and when they died:

We then came up this little monument to Mozart while walking around:

After all this my phone freaked out and didn't turn on for three days but we hiked the rest of the way up the mountain and I ate an apple struddle at the restaurant at the top. It was good. The views were truly amazing. Afterwards I took my ritual stop at Subway and then we were headed home. Our bus ride was supposed to be 8 hours but it was 9 and felt like torture. We watched Aladdin, Bridesmaids, Despicable Me, and Crazy, Stupid, Love. Afterwards I essentially came home and slept. Although I could definitely live in Salzburg. It was a nice place.