Spring Break 2013: Salzburg, Austria

For our Spring Break trip 2013 we took a road trip to 2 different countries, 3 different cities. I already shared our visit to Vienna, Austria and Budapest, Hungary. 

Our third and last stop was Salzburg Austria!

Salzburg was a quaint little town on the river surrounded by the beautiful Austrian Alps. It's right in the middle of all the Sound of Music filming locations. I've never seen the film (insert gasp here) so I wouldn't know but I loved the area!

There were so many churches. There was one point in the town where we were standing and we could see at least 6 steeples. There was of course a castle on the hill overlooking the town.

 Mozart's birthplace was a popular spot for tourists. 

Mozartplatz was a nice square where some kids were playing futbol (soccer) and there was a big statue of Mozart on one end.

 (See even in this picture above, you can see 3 church steeples!)

We dined at Cafe Mozart where we had some yummy food. I had a beef stroganoff and Richard had a goulash and dumpling and red cabbage. We had to try the Salzburger nockerln which is a famous dessert in Austria. It was a sweet souffle and to be honest we didn't see what all the fuss was about. There wasn't really much special about it. But now we can say we've tried it. 

Salzburger nockerln

Ariana loved having her own little nook in the hotel. Here she is "reading" in the chair by her bed.

The next day it was raining so we drove about 30 minutes to the Saltmines to tour them and stay out of the rain. We each got to wear a salt-miner getup and ride a train down 5 floors into the mines. It was pretty interesting (especially the huge slides) but we couldn't take photos inside since it was a working salt-mine.

Mirabell Palace and Gardens were pretty nice that time of year. Maybe in a few more weeks they would really be blooming but we still enjoyed them.

Ariana had a great time taking pictures of all the flowers and statues, especially the unicorns!

Love locks on bridges are common in European cities. You attach a lock to a bridge with your names or initials on them and throw the key in the water. It's suppose to signify your everlasting love. We've never done it but  I really liked this jumbo sized lock.

Mozart toys in shop windows and classical clothing/costumes from the Sound of Music.

Salzburg was a pretty old city! This was our view on the way out of town heading home.

Spring Break 2013: Budapest, Hungary

For our Spring Break trip 2013 we took a road trip to 2 different countries, 3 different cities. Friday I shared our visit to Vienna. 

Our second stop was Budapest, Hungary!

Hungarian food is really yummy! And cheap! Above is a picture of one of the delicious pizzas we had, yes that's an egg on it, it's the very European thing to do.

Below is 2 of our breakfasts. Sliced deli meats and cheese is a popular breakfast in Europe and then we had Hungarian Eggs that were basically made with some goulash.

Riding on the open top bus tour around the city.

"0" kilometer marker that begins the marker for all the roads in Hungary.

Our little photographer!

Train up to the castle district. Ariana loved riding on this.

From the castle district looking down on the Danube River and the Pest side of Budapest. The city is split by the river and one side is called Buda and one side is called Pest.

This entrance sign was in 4 different languages. Hungarian on top, then German, English, and Russian. 

We found a little archery station set up near the Buda castle so we let Ariana try her hand at being like Merida from "Brave". This face cracked me up, so much determination!

These were like funnel cakes, a yummy snack.

Castle district was so pretty! We enjoyed a carriage ride around the area.

Fisherman's Bastion below overlooked the river and offered great views of the river and city.

Dohany Street Synagogue was very pretty with it's gold embossed domed towers.

Of course each restaurant had it's own version of goulash so we tried this a lot of different places.

The money was in such large currency! We felt rich using 20,000 bills! 1,000 Hungarian Forint was roughly $4.50. 

Below, we enjoyed seeing some live Jazz at the Lado Cafe down the street from our hotel. We only stayed for a few songs because it was late and we had a tired little one, but she was great and you could tell because the place was packed and they were constantly having to turn people away at the door.

In the park, we discovered a pond that was heated with a natural hot spring. Those ducks were sitting pretty and warmer than we were!

Above is the famous Szechenyi Bath House were you can enjoy the natural hot springs, mineral pools, massages and more. Since I'm pregnant, we didn't partake in these but I hear they are wonderful for your skin as well as relaxing. 

Along the Pest side of the Danube River there is a shoe memorial. It was put there to remember the hundreds of Jews that were told to line up along the river, take their shoes off, and were then shot and their bodies pushed in the river during WWII. It was a very moving little spot that not many people seemed to know about or visit.

We were staying in a very luxurious hotel called the Zara Hotel. Every night we unwound in the rooftop  pool after walking the city streets all day. It was an amazing city! I would definitely recommend a visit there if you get a chance!