Enjoying Bavarian Holidays: Salzburg

Bavaria is a very religious part of Germany. So religious, they have an extra 18 days a year of vacation where the entire region closes. I'm not joking. Everyone gets the day off, and people sit around try to remember exactly what the day means. In June we celebrated "Corpus Christi Day" (still haven't figured out what it means) and Erik got the day off. We took a short ride to Salzburg, just to see if the hills really were alive...

Cool palace fountain.

It was scorching hot and being by the river felt nice

They were alive.

For the first time in weeks, it was 25 C. We were so surprised considering it had snowed three weeks before. We were definitely unprepared but it felt nice.

Salzburg is a very regal city. It's very old looking and all of the buildings are palatial.

 While walking through, we stumbled upon a graveyard. The gravestones were really cool and unlike any I've ever seen-they were made of metal. We looked to find the oldest one there. It was from the 1700's!!

Salzburg is situated next to a cliff face, the same cliff face where the castle is. Built into the cliffs is an old chapel. We walked up these dodgy stairs that had been carved into the rock, and came upon a very old church that was about 20 ft-20ft, had a few pews, and a place to put holy water.

Thank goodness for this place.. it was so cool inside!! It was a nice break from the heat!

After Erik and I walked around and looked at the city, and then we decided to take a funicular up to the top of the cliffs to the castle.

The view from the top of the castle was magnificent. You could see the entire city and the hills in the background. It was gorgeous.

After this, we were tired and wanted to go home, but we shared our tickets with some friends and had to wait for them. Erik and I went down to the river and took a nap on a hill. What a gorgeous setting.

Salzburg is a nice place to visit. I didn't do the Sound of Music tour, but maybe someday I'll go back and see where it all began.

Travel Addicts Anonymous

It's true. I think I have an addiction.

To all of those real travel addicts, please don't be offended. I'm sure it's really a problem for you that you have no control over... but would you mind if I attended some of your meetings once in awhile?

Here's my problem. I work 50 hours a week, 7 days. I never have a day off. I work with children, sometimes in German. and it's really hard. I whine and complain about I how I never have any money. So what do I do?

I book a trip to Istanbul.

Mind you, it was only 100 euros (bam!) but still. There's just something about the hunt. All the different websites, trying different days, seeing what you can find. Your heart skips a beat when you find the perfect time.  With a little bit of reluctance, you click "view this one" then the page comes up where you check it our further. You click "next" where the page comes up where you input your data. Your heart starts to race as you quickly type your name. Stop. Where my debit card? Sudden panic hits you when you realize it's no where to be seen. You search everywhere, and it is literally gone. Where's the last place I had it, you ask yourself. You search every bag, every corner, everything. When you've about reach your wits end, thinking, "oh my gosh the price is going to go up before I can book it" and "it's going to be sold out" you stop and almost began to cry. You look on your desk and there it is. You type in your data and hit click. Adrenaline is racing through your body. "Error". You go back.. Why do they never accept my telephone number? You change it to their preferences. Hit the "I agree to these terms and conditions" one more time and BAM. Confirmation. A deep sigh of relief as all the blood rushes through your body.

Oh yeah. Then you like get to go on a trip or something?