Girl Meets World: Austrian Pit Stop!

**Hey! Just so you know, these posts are written in the order of which we visited Europe and the countries along the way. So go back and read the other entries, if you haven't already!**

We were sad to leave Munich but our German adventure wasn't over yet. We just took a little detour. Salzburg, Austria is only an hour and a half away from Munich. So we couldn't miss the opportunity to check it out. Also, I sort of (TOTALLY) love the Sound of Music and just had to see some of the landmarks featured in the movie. Oh, and Lola loves Mozart like nobody's business.

First let's talk about the autobahn. Ever driven on it? If not, get to Germany and drive on the autobahn. You can go fast....really fast. And people know how to drive. If you aren't going like 120 MPH, get the heck out of the fast lane. For reals. I guess I should mention that I was merely a passenger on the autobahn. Billy was the ~~race car~~ driver. He liked it. No, he looooooved it.

Aside from flying down the freeway, the best part of the trip was the view. Holy ALPS. Have you seen them? You must in this lifetime. It was pretty overcast on our drive but the mountains took my breath away. Sometimes I see things and I wonder if it's real life. I can't believe such beauty exists in this world. This was one of those times.

We didn't have a ton of time in Salzburg because as this post's title suggests, we were just taking a pit stop. We decided to maximize our time by taking a hop on/hop off bus doing a Sound of Music tour around the city. First of all, I love doing hop on/hop off tours. They take you to all the tourist attractions in a given city. You can get on and off at your leisure and enjoy all the city has to offer.

We meandered around the city all morning until we had to leave in the early afternoon. We did some shopping, We ate at a delicious Austrian bakery. We saw all things Sound of Music. We saw Mozart's birthplace. We saw the zoo. We ate delicious pizza for lunch. The kids still talk about this place. If you're in Salzburg, definitely go here!

We had to mosey on down the road to Nidderau (a lovely town outside of Frankfurt) to visit some awesome friends! The drive was also filled with beautiful sights. Blake pretty much slept EVERY time we got in the car, so he missed out on a lot. But that's beside the point. We arrived around dinner-time and enjoyed a lovely evening with our friends. We planned out what we would do for the following day and decided on a boat tour along the Rhine. Have you ever heard of the legend of Lorelei? Look it up. I love the story of this beautiful young maiden! Anyway, you can learn all about it on the boat tour.

We got up early and despite the realllllly rainy day, we still wanted to see all the castles on the Rhine. So we drove to our destination and boarded the boat. Lovely, eh? Lovely until we realized we had gone past our exit on the tour. OOPS! We got off at the next stop and figured we could just pay the difference and get back on the boat toward our car. Ummmmm......when you miss your stop on a boat tour, make sure you then get off on a stop on the SAME side your car is on. We got off and realized we couldn't get back on a boat for 4-5 hours. And we couldn't get back across the Rhine. I contemplated swimming over but, nah, that would be too much work. So what did we do? We walked a couple miles down the road until we found a ferry that would take us across to the RIGHT side of the river. At the time, I was so frustrated and mad that we kept making all these dumb little mistakes. But the boat tour had been amazing! And once we started walking, aside from my really sore feet (I didn't wear the right shoes for schlepping a couple miles up hill...in the rain), it wasn't bad. We made it back to our car and arrived back to our friend's house MANY hours after we said we would return. Alas, we made it and we enjoyed our last night with them. We sure enjoyed seeing them and we appreciated their hospitality.

Sooooo.....there it is. Germany had come to an end for us. We were sad to leave. I would love to live in Germany one day. I've even been studying German using my Rosetta Stone so that I'm ready when I move! If you go, go to Bavaria. And hit up Salzburg because it's so close. Take hop on/hop off tours. Stay awake while driving to your destinations because everything you see will blow you away! Where did we go next? Tune in tomorrow, oui oui?

Pictured below: Alps, sights of Salzburg (gardens, Billy and I, the fortress on the hill, the zoo, Mozart's birthplace, our favorite restaurant), and more mountains!