Taking a step out of Germany, we landed this morning in….AUSTRIA!  The town most associated with the Sound of Music – Salzburg!  We quickly found a place to park and headed down the Salzburg River to the new town.

Beginning our tour of the city in the gardens at the Palace of Mirabell we drank in the sites of perfectly groomed flower swirls, hedges, and majestic fountains.  In the Sound of Music, Maria and the children dance around the fountains and run up the steps singing “Do-Re-Mi” and use the steps as a symbolic scale.  The movie then continues up to the dwarf statue garden where we patted the one with glasses on the head – just as they do in the movie.

{Maria and the children dance around this garden – however it is absolutely beautiful in its’ own right} {cameron was the only one who got the message i guess} {entrance to the dwarf statue garden}

Exiting the garden on the opposite side, we came to the pale pink childhood residence of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart; Salzburg’s original claim to fame.  Although Mozart was infamously kicked out of Salzburg after a disagreement with the archbishop, after which he moved to Vienna, this was where he and his sister grew up.

Moving through town, we began the ascent (not climb…) to the monastery for fabulous views of the city and the fort on the opposing hill.

{views of the town from the monastery} {mom taking a picture of us taking selfies 😉 and the resulting shot…} {we are pretty sure someone lives in that little hut – there was even laundry on the line outside}

Climbing back down we moved into old town for some shopping and exploring before we headed back up to another birds-eye view of the city – this time via the nearly vertical vehicular to the Salzburg Fort.  The fort was never taken – although it was surrendered once – but the impressive size and security it provided to the city also meant that no one attempted to take it for quiet some time.

After touring the fort and drinking in the tremendous panoramic views, we rode the vehicular back down the mountainside to continue sightseeing before we found our way to our hotel.  We rested for a bit and primed ourselves for some fabulous food, great beer, and a quintessential European ambiance at dinner that night.

{see the chunk out of the bottom of the building on the right?  legend says that an American solider during WW2 drove his tank through the alley and crashed on his way to the brothel…oops!  regardless, this street used to be the starting point of the only route that crossed the alps}  {our Mozart chocolate!  daddy already ate his}

{bustling shopping route}

{i spy with my little eye…} {maria danced in this fountain on her way down to the von Trapp family}

{the street performers are incredibly talented}

In addition to the site of the Sound of Music, Salzburg was familiar to me as the University of Portland’s main study abroad local – they have an engineering specific summer program that many of my dear friends participated in.  I was excited to see the city after their fabulous stories of time abroad and when we arrived I was able to text some of my best friends for a recommendation.  Their recommendation was marvelous – thank you oh so much Kevin and Carrie!!  We ate at the Augisteiners Beer Garden where the monks who live there brew the beer.  You enter on the second floor where about ten vendors have booths set up with various kinds of German food – from whole roasted turkeys to pretzel twists, spiraled radishes to brats.  Mom got half a chicken and Cameron, Dad, and I shared three different kinds of schnitzel – a traditional pork schnitzel, a cordon bleu schnitzel, and a seasoned schnitzel.  We sat under the chestnut trees, ate our meal, people watched, and talked for a long while.  Such a great evening with even better people.

And then we were off to Munich!