Day, 1: The reason we went to Europe

Our first day we had an 11 hour flight to Frankfurt, which actually went by quicker than we expected, followed by a 5 1/2 hour train ride.

Our flight was delayed by a 1/2 hour, so we missed the earlier trains, but managed to get one at 5:30, which would connect into Munich and then onward to Salzburg.

We first sat down, and enjoyed our view around the table seats on the train, until someone kicked us out of their seat, so we moved to the next seat, only to find out that we sat in someone else's place as well. We later found out that this was a very popular route and one needs to make reservations for this specific route at this time. Makes sense. A very kind man, offered his seat, while one of the four seats had no reservations, so Mark and I were able to stay where we were until we reached Munich. Note, to self, remember to make reservations. Others were not as fortunate, and ended up standing the entire time.

We arrived late into Salzburg, while expecting to see the rest of the gang already in the hotel bar, but later found out that they missed a train and arrived shortly after we did. It had been a long day, and both Mark and I were looking forward to sleeping.

The next day, after breakfast, Mark and I took a stroll around the gardens that were close to where we were staying, before meeting up with everyone for our 2 hour walking tour. We started off with some light drizzle, followed by a good hour's worth of heavy rain. Once the rain's stopped we had absolutely beautiful clear blue skies.

The tour guide was excellent, showing us where Mozart was born, where he livid, why he didn't like Salzburg, as well as where parts of the Sound of Music scenes were shot, and so on. The city itself is very quaint, with the castle on top of the mountain looking down on Salzburg. It was tourist season, so there were lots and lots of people walking around the old part of town.


After the tour, we decided to have a beer, before everyone went their separate ways. There was shopping to be done.

The reason we came to Austria, two gals celebrating milestone birthdays.

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A nice surprise from Jo and Kim, for both Barb and Vicki before heading out to dinner.

Dinner was at the Art Hotel Cellar restaurant, again, thanks to Jo who found this place. It was a culinary delight, with deer, liver, and some Austrian speciality dishes. The food was fantastic.

After dinner, most were exhausted and went back to their rooms, while a few of us forced Barb to stay awake and ring in her 50th birthday. She managed to stay up, have a toast, and wandered back to her room around 12:06am.

We followed shortly thereafter.