Our "romantic" dinner

Yup. I shit you not, one of the only places open to get a bite to eat
was at the romantic hotel. So, we lit the candle, and made the most of
our lively dinner setting! Ha.

Making myself laugh in the fresh and crisp mountain air

Quiet resort town

A booming resort town in the summer and winter... We hit it just right
this time of year (in between seasons), and practically had the town
to outlrselves!!

Town (and lake) of Zell am See

Little ski town on a lake about an hour south of Saltzberg. Stunning
landscape surrounded by snow capped giants.

The VW's first adventure out of Germany!

Looking oh so pretty surrounded by mountains! :)

The trusty iPhone

Surrounded by giants, my head was spinning trying to decide if the
next picture was in front of me, or behind! My iphone was working
overtime.

All the pictures on this blog have been taken (and posted) with this
handy device. While it has some limitations, it also captures some
gorgeous and spontaneous moments.

Farmhouses and cows everywhere

Approaching the snowy giants

These are some of the big-ones!! While the earlier mountains looked
like they had started to get their fall dusting of snow, these guys
already had a good blanket on them.

The road ahead

Rough edged and sharp inclined

As Jana drove, my nose was pinned to the window taking pictures. Such
beautiful mountains, so unique in comparison to the sierras. Where the
sierras are imposing giants, these mountains are sharp and steep
mounds that the roads weave in and out of.

Layers of mountains in the distance

Very quickly after navigating out of salzberg to the south, the
mountains piled up on either side of us, and we could see the outlines
of many layers more to come.

Salzberg with some sunlight!

McSalzburg signage

Frou-frou shopping

The streets of the old town were lined with boutiques, and designer
shops. Cute area, but I think I finally maxed out on window shopping.
Such a classic town has turned into a stomping ground to see and be
seen with the right merchandise. After 4 hours in town, we were ready
to continue on with our adventure, and drive deeper into the mountains.

The operahouse

A mix of old and new

The skies opened up, and we once again had some blue skies!

A good hearty lunch did us well

Jana had some amazing pumpkin soup, and I had the local goulash...
Followed by some yummy roasted pork and beef, slathered in gravy. We
completely studfedxpursrlves on local fares.... Then went back outside
to explore some more.

Mozart's birthplace

First point of interest we found was the museum dedicated to Mozart in
the house he was born in.

The need for food won out, and we decided to return after lunch to
check it out. We did return, but didn't end up doing the tour after all.

Girls on tour... Once again!

And we made it to Salzburg, in time for lunch

Old town Salzburg is a cute little town set into the rocky hillsides
of the alp foothills. We proceeded to act our best tourist, wander
around town.

The foothills of the alps

As we appeoached the Austrian border, the subtle rolling hills of
Germany rose up into the towering foothills of the alps. As soon as I
saw the mountains rising, I was so glad we planned the trip! I do love
mountains. :)

On our way...

On a mission, Jana and I were up at 6am this morning to get on the
road for our final hurrah to Salzburg, Austria... After a few false
starts, we had coffee in hamd and were on the road by 7:30. We hit
some construction traffic around Munich, but it was otherwise an
uneventful trip.