I think we just drove straight to Salzburg but I gotta say it's not a week later as I write this and it's all a bit of blur!! Anyways we dumped our stuff at our cute little chalet style hotel and headed into Salzburg for dinner and the evening. We had a great dinner on a patio in the old town, then we just roamed around the city. Bruce and I had been there for an afternoon in March so we are familiar with the area. As usual Europe is full of suprizes though! Apparently Austrians are famous for how they love to dress up and go out. Well we were not disappointed! We ended up coming across the opera house just as everyone was arriving. Talk about an oppurtunity to people watch!!! The woman were either dressed to the nines, the outfits were fantastic! Or they were in traditional outfits, absolutely beautiful. It was like a red carpet event, paparazzi and all! Then we just headed through town and stumbled by these fantastic street musicians with the coolest instruments. They made the most beautiful sound. Then they played Ava Maria! That was one of the songs sung at our wedding! Magical!
I love Salzburg! What a great place. It is the perfect size, you can pretty much walk comfortably from one end to the other. It is touristy enough to have all the amenities yet still has a 'lost in time' kinda feel to it! Mozart was born there so there is a ton of stuff on him. It's a big area for chocolate too. They sell Mozart balls, Bruce and I seem to be the only ones that find the humor in everyone enjoying Mozart's balls!!! It's divided in two by a river. I love being on the water. There are mountain ranges in the distance! Really what's not to like?!
If you are a "Sound of Music" fan. It's like being on a movie set, more about that in a bit! And the food! I love Austrian food. Not as quite as meaty as German food and very kid friendly!
On Thursday morning we headed off to Werfen to see the Ice caves!!! After a beautiful drive through the area. The coutryside is full of big old fashion chalets with beautiful flowers in baskets overflowing the balconies. There is no way to explain how gorgeous the drives are to wherever we go. I swear if all we did was drive from place to place and never did anything it would still have been an amazing trip! We would have saved some cash too!
Anyways it's another one of those hair raising, crazy mountain drives. Bruce drives at break neck speeds up these tiny mountain, dare I say roads, I want to say paths with the glee of an 8 year old boy! The girls go from practically hanging out the windows devouring the view, to cowering and burying their heads in their knees! Usually by the end of the drive I've sucked it up enough to enjoy the scenery and have put to rest the thoughts of us all plummeting to our death!
Fianlly we're there! When I say there I mean we are in a parking lot about a 10-20 minute walk from the ticket booth, which is another 20 minute walk, all straight up hill, to the gondola, with is a 3 minute ride, literally straight up, then another 20minute walk to the cave entrance! Olivia seriously debated whether to take the gondola up or do the 90 minute walk. Since no one was willing or capable for that matter, Bruce had to drag her into the gondola with Shannon blocking her exit. I pretended I didn't know any of them! Within 30 seconds Olivia was marvelling at the view!!!!
One final walk and we are at the entrance of the largest ice cave in the world. Unbelievable! So now it's only 700 steps through the caves... It was truly amazing. We climbed all these rickety stairs with gas laterns held by about every 10th climber and the guide had magnesium that he would light to help us see the spectualar ice formations. Poor Shannon, clearly when they said wear warm clothing and appropriate shoes they didn't mean a hoody and rain jacket with a pair of Birk's and sport socks. She later told us she thought she was going to die of the cold in the caves and that she planned how to live her life after having had to have all of her toes amputated. Boy is she her mother's daughter! We all made it out alive and enjoyed a great Austrian lunch on the mountain top!
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