The Clark's European Vacation, Part IV

Wednesday morning we checked out of our hotel (leaving a lot of things there, so we didn't have to attempt to travel with everything we had brought) and boarded a train for Salzburg, Austria! The total ride was supposed to take 3 hours and we had to switch trains in Munich and only had 15 minutes to do it. Never having been in a "real" train station before, I had no idea what we were in for. There were lots of people everywhere and we had to almost sprint through the station to make our connection. But, we made it, with about 5 minutes to spare. I had a lot of anxiety about traveling with my adorable babe, and for the most part, it was all for nothing. The people we met along the way were all very kind and didn't seem to bat an eye when she would start to get fussy. The only real issue we had was that she wanted to be down and walking around. And, that's understandable, I think we all did!

Traveling (click to enlarge)

The bottom, middle photo is a child seat in a cab - the regular cab seat just folded into this amazing child seat, and Abby loved it!

Tuesday night we stayed up pretty late trying to plan our trip to Salzburg... trying to find a hotel and figure out what sights to see and restaurants to eat at. We found the perfect hotel through Trip Advisor. We stayed at the Wolf Dietrich Hotel and Residence. It was the picture-perfect European hotel. I loved it from the moment we entered the door. We had a "king" sized bed for Jordan and I (two twins pushed together ~ I love it!) and Abigail had her own nook with a twin sized bed. It was perfect! (Okay, the "king" sized bed things was a little annoying, but it was still cute) It was only a 5 minute walk from the Old Town and the most recommended restaurant was just around the corner. Oh yeah, and they had cake and coffee every afternoon!

Our hotel ~ after they made up our beds with Abigail's stuff

(again, click to enlarge)

We checked into our hotel and relaxed a little (Abigail tried to make some phone calls - as pictured above - this happened so much I unplugged the phone) before setting out for dinner. We decided to check with the front desk (and Jordan wanted to grab a cup of coffee ~ apparently the best coffee ever!) to ask about a restaurant that had "authentic" Bavarian food. While we were in the lobby/sitting room we met a great woman named Claire. She is Irish, but from England now, and we had a great time chatting with her, and ended up inviting her to dinner. Dinner was... okay. It was the most recommended restaurant on Trip Advisor and the one our concierge recommended, but it was just okay. I ordered the bratwurst and sauerkraut and the brats were okay, but the sauerkraut was really good.

SIDE STORY: On our way to dinner we let Abigail walk - she was learning that she had to hold onto Mommy or Daddy's hand if she wanted to walk and not be carried or in the stroller. Well, there was another little girl (who we later learned was almost exactly Abby's age) walking, too. The girls locked eyes and ran, literally ran, to each other. They held hands and took off walking down the street!! It was adorable!! We only got one picture and it doesn't come close to doing the moment justice ~ it was so funny!

~ Lily and Abigail ~

Later that night we put Abigail to bed and watched WALL-E (did I mention our awesome hotel had movies you could borrow?!). I had wanted to see this movie since it came out and it turned out to be a really cute movie. Jordan and I both enjoyed it (don't tell him I told you that!).

Thursday morning we started our day with a traditional Bavarian breakfast ~ breads, deli-style meats, Nutella, yogurt and coffee (or in my case juice, and Abigail's milk). Abby really liked the Nutella with bread, and I really miss their rolls now that we're home. {I actually tried to bring two home with me (from Germany, not Austria ~ that would have been pushing it) but they didn't fare too well.}

Once we ate breakfast we set out for a walking tour of the city. Jordan had copied a few pages out of a buddy's travel book that had a self-guided walking tour of Salzburg spelled out. We attempted to follow it the best we could, but we skipped over a few things. For example, Salzburg is Mozart's birth place. Okay, well, we both enjoy Mozart's music, but neither of us have a real desire to dig too much deeper, so we skipped some of the Mozart stuff.

{Side note: We took the Kelty Tour backpack carrier for Abigail and it was wonderful. I can say that because Jordan carried her, but she loved being up high and never whined about having to be in it. I was able to check it as a "baby item" on the plane, too, so it was free. I would highly recommend it ~ I bought mine from a co-worker, so I don't know that they actually make this style anymore, but I do know that Kelty's are the best!}

Here are a few pictures from the beginning of our day. If anyone is interested in all of the places we saw, let me know and I'll try to get another copy of the pages, so I can get the names of everything correct, we gave our copy to Claire on Friday morning.

The city of Salzburg, Austria

(click to enlarge)

In the morning we explored the city (via the walking tour) and then went  up to the Hohensalzburg Fortress. We took the little tram-thingy {yes, that's the technical term :)} up but walked down. The views from the top were amazing and I took a lot of pictures. We took a "guided tour", which translated to "here's an hand-held audio guide, walk around", and Abigail loved it! She loved it because she had a hold of one of the audio guides at all times (or she would scream), and got to learn all about the fortress.

Abigail and Dada at the top (almost)

Hohensalzburg fortress

~ Abigail and the audio guide ~

All of the armor things...

~ Our Family ~

Does this look familiar??

It should if you've seen The Sound of Music!!

On our walk down the hill/mountain from the fortress we found an Amber shop and went in to browse. Jordan found some Amber that had a mosquito in it that wasn't horribly expensive, so we now have an ancient mosquito in our house and I'm thinking of bringing back the dinosaurs ~ anyone want to help me?? :) Anyways, while we were in the Amber shop Abigail fell asleep in the backpack and it was so adorable!

Our Sleeping Beauty

We made it down the hill/mountain, grabbed a pretzel and finished up our walking tour of the city. We wanted to rest up a little bit, and hopefully let Abigail continue her nap, so we made our way back to our hotel. Well, we rested, sorta, and Abigail called home. Don't worry, the phone was unplugged, but I don't think she slept for one minute, and spent most of her time "calling" people.

We realized, after our nap, that we didn't go to the Gardens in Mirabell Palace. It wasn't really near the other sites we saw during the day, so we decided that would be our next destination. I was slightly disappointed because we could tell that in a few weeks the place would be breath-takingly gorgeous. There were tons of flowers planted everywhere, but nothing was blooming yet. Here are a few pictures.

The Gardens in Mirabell Palace

Abigail had her first gelato cone on one of our walks, too. We ordered one scoop for the three of us to share, and sat down to enjoy it. A few minutes later the lady brings a cone that she had just barely dipped in vanilla out to Abigail. We let her go to it. It was really funny because she thought she should eat the point first! There wasn't anything inside the cone, so I didn't think anything of it (she was sitting on Jordan's lap) well... they both ended up a sticky mess and Abby got a new - and very expensive - shirt out of the deal. 

Thursday night we ate dinner at a little cafe that was good, but really slow. We were growing frustrated, because Abigail was getting restless, but it all turned out okay in the end. After we put Abby to bed, Jordan and I watched The Sound Of Music for the first time (for both of us!). It was a wonderful movie, and I'm honestly glad that I got to see the city of Salzburg before I watched the movie. It was so fun to watch it and say "I was there!". 

My two favorite people drinking up!

{notice Abigail's adorable shirt : )}

Friday morning we checked out of our wonderful  hotel (after another great Bavarian breakfast!) and took the train back to Garmish and our resort. We had dinner that night at the Pullman Place (the nice restaurant at the resort) and Jordan and I both ended up with food poisoning, so Saturday was mostly spent in bed.

Phew ~ that was a long post! Can you tell we loved Salzburg?!