Hotel Dora Bad Reichenhall

... misty valleys and along sides of mountains, looking down on tiny towns below. The little houses in Austria are like chalets and look a lot like the homes in Switzerland. There is already a bit of snow in some of the villages that are a bit higher up.
Salzburg was a cute city and bigger than I thought it was going to be. It was nice to see anothertown in Austria, other than the capital city. We didn't have to ...

... punks... and surprise, they were super cute and loved to help us... I called them Peter Pan and my Lost Boys!! We arrived at the Hotel and booked our Sound of Music tour, it left at 9 am the next morning, so we called it a night and got up early to have a super good free breakfast and go on the the tour...
The tour lady was super cute... she was just like KB, she loved to sing ...

... we jumped in the van with all the other tourists...there were 8 of us in total, and headed to see the spots and scenes that you see in the movie the Sound of Music. I hadn't seen it in quite a while so I'll have to watch it when I get home to compare! But we were also able to see the gazeebo that is in the movie when they sing the song I am 16 going on 17...pretty cool. We took tons of pictures, and a lot of them were in the areas ...

... there for a day or something?” After visiting, we were like, “THIS IS THE MOST BEAUTIFUL PLACE ON EARTH OH MY GOODNESS I THINK I MIGHT JUST HYPERVENTILATE.” So in summary, check out Salzburg if you’re in the mood for some beautiful surroundings. Because as my friend said, “The hills are alive…over there! And there!”

It’s also quite an experience to see ...

... the film. Our last stop was a small town about an hour and a half out of Salzburg through amazing countryside where Maria and the Captain got married. It was a gorgeous church; all pink, black, dark cherry wood and gold detail! I think it was one of my most favorite churchs on the whole trip. We had some time to walk around the town so we went to a couple cuckoo clock stores and had some amazing lunch pasta at a ...

... br>
Monday arrived even faster than it normally does and with it arrived my family. It was a bit of a hoot to guide them via emails sent to my dad’s phone, but they managed to find everything ok, and it was great to go over to the hotel and meet them. We don’t get to be together much anymore (especially when I go off living in other countries) so it’s a treat to see them and catch up on all the happenings and show them my home ...

... I had seen earlier in my wanderings. It was a Chinese restaurant, and I had a delicious beef with carrots dinner. While I was eating various locals came in for dinner (I could tell they were locals by the way they greeted the staff), so I evidently had made a good choice. After dinner I returned to the Pension and typed up my travel blog while listening to first an orchestra concert and then Cosi fan tutte from the square below. On Tuesday I had an encounter with a different sort of ...

August 26-Monday
We left Kitzbuhel at 8:30. There was a brief stop in Berchtesgarden, in Germany, at 10:00. Up on the side of the mountain, we could see Hitler's Eagle’s Nest. It was rather chilling to see that part of history. The bunker is now a restaurant. Our rest stop overlooked a valley filled with wonderful homes. What a view! Back on the bus and on to Salzburg. Time 10:35.

... so beautiful. For lunch, we had Wiener Schnitzel (breaded pork)…my first. Everything was delicious.

After lunch, we walked over to the Mirabel Palace to view the gardens. The intricate patterns of the annual gardens were amazing. (The rose garden was not too shabby, either.) After leaving Mirabel, we went to the Salzburg Cathedral, first built in 774. I took a few pictures, but stopped ...

... played a lot of old Austrian folk songs, some Strauss waltzes, some light classical music and, to top it off, the Stars and Stripes Forever. I had chills running down my spine. Another perfect end to another perfect day.

August 28-Wednesday KitzbuhelWe woke up to rain again this morning and took a walk around town to do a little shopping (we discovered that rain in the morning is fairly common and doesn’t stop the locals from going about ...