Beautiful Austria!!!!

Austria was by far one of the most beautiful countries that we went to.  I never imagined that a place could be so GREEN!!!!! It was the kind of green you see when someone photoshops a picture to make it brighter.  So beautiful!!!  We spent our time in Salzburg- a small town that is absolutely gorgeous!  It's the town that Sound of Music takes place in! The hostel that we stayed in played the movie every night at 8 (in english, thank heavens!)  How cute is that?

The very first thing we did when we arrived was the salt mines.  Salzburg played a huge role in trade and was responsible for a huge portion of the salt trade in Europe. (the Salz in Salzburg means salt) So cool!  First we put on these white jump suits then rode this train type thing deep into the mountain.  Then we got on these HUGE wooden slides that take you down underground.  It was cold down there!

We then went through the tour about the history of the salt mines.  There were videos, demonstrations, at one point we even rode a boat across this lake thing.....it was crazy.
This is Jenessa and me having a very intense game of chess.  It was our 'Harry Potter' chess set.

Our hot but drunk German boys. The one in the middle has a sack full of walnuts.  He took them out, CRACKED THEM WITH HIS bare HANDS!!!! and kept offering them to us. They were good.

 They kept offering us cigarettes and trying to get us to go to the bar with them and when we told them that we don't drink or smoke.....they couldn't believe it.  "No drink? No smoke? NO BOYS???  What do you do for fun???" they asked 

"Lots of things," we told them.   We told them we were on our way to see Mozart's birthplace.

"They guffawed and told us how boring that would be.  "Go see OUR mozart.  It's part of our history- over there at the...how do you say.....water garden?"

"The water fountain?" I asked

"YES! the water fountain- go see our mozart!"

Pretty confused- we walked over to the water fountain they had directed us to and sure enough............
............there was a Mozart in it.  These were little stands that were outside almost every little souvenir shop selling Salzburg's famous Mozart chocolates.  They had apparently stolen one and placed in in this water fountain. haha.  Boys are the same in every country.
Me and my friend Jordan in our fun little Austrian hats!  Too bad mine wouldn't open all the way because the tag was on it.
The beautiful Salzburg Castle.  On our free time one day, a group of us decided to climb to the castle and do the tour.

A picture I took of the view while hiking up the mountain.  This is my favorite pic I took on the entire trip.
Finally up to the castle.  It was so much fun- and there was so much to go see and do.  We looked in the dungeons, the armory, the ballroom and tons of other places.  They even had this huge room set up with antique marionettes and stages to look at. They were gorgeous- it made me want to go to one of those puppet shows the royals had put on.
View from the very top of the tallest tower.
And of course while we were there, we went on the SOUND OF MUSIC tour!!!!! So cool- we saw everything. The house, the theater, the lake, we saw it all!

Here is the cemetary....I'm hiding just like the Von Trapps did!
This is where they ride their bikes through......
These are the giant garden gnomes that Maria and the children march around in Do Re Mi.

The fountain that they all sing and dance around.
I LOVED Austria.....I want to go back! If you go to Europe- do not miss this beautiful country.