The hills are alive!

Today Irene and I took a two-hour train ride and went to Salzburg, Austria. Irene suggested the trip as something we could do together, and she had actually never been, so it was new for both of us! It was absolutely gorgeous. Her brother David has lived there and so he gave us suggestions on what to do, and we had a perfect day (beautiful weather and all)! Here are some pictures for you.

the gardens of the Schloss Mirabell with the

Festung Hohensalzburg (Hohensalzburg Fortress) in the background

(You may recognize these gardens/that fountain from

the "Do-Re-Mi" song in the Sound of Music!*)

closer view of the same fountain from the "Do-Re-Mi" song

the Salzach river and the older part of the city (Altstadt)

with the Festung Hohensalzburg overlooking

I love the way the street signs look,

as well as the hills in the background!

Mozarts Geburtshaus (the house Mozart was born in)

 You can see a carousel in the corner;

they were having a sort of festival and there was food, music,

rides, and people in traditional dress everywhere!

the Salzburg Cathedral

I loved how the wood carving and the warm look

of the interior of the cathedral made me feel like 

I was in/near the mountains/a forest. It really felt Austrian/Alpine.

There was a beautiful cemetery near a monastery in the back of the city

(nearer to the fortress). It wound along the pathways in a really

unique way that we thought was pretty.

climbing up to the fortress

Irene and me with the view from the fortress

Salzburg from the observation tower 

(which used to be the prison tower) of the fortress

(Click the picture to see a video of the view... apologies

for my annoying barely-there (sore throat!) commentary!)

the Marionette museum

the famous, beautiful, and tasty Sacher Torte (a chocolate cake)

Irene and I enjoyed at the Café Sacher on the Salzach river

with a beautiful view of the city while the sun 

went down over the mountains

Wait. What's that you say?! You can't see it?! Yeah, that's because I attempted to take this picture AFTER disaster struck. Due to carrying too many thing/being clumsy, I dropped my camera inside a (clean) toilet inside the fortress. FANTASTIC. Katy does Europe: Week 1. Thankfully it was clean but unfortunately it was still drowned. I immediately took out my battery and memory card to rescue them, and we've set my camera in a bowl of rice (that's supposed to help electronics after they've been drowned?) and we'll see how it goes. Not great news.

update: Irene saves the day! Here's her photo of our Sacher torte.

(Note that my drink was apple juice mixed with bubbly water, 

which is apparently quite popular. It was my first time to have it!)

To end our lovely day (well, lovely aside from my camera incident), we had dinner at Irene's apartment in Munich, and I got to (finally) meet Irene's boyfriend, Niclas, who has been working out of town this week. Because we've both known Irene for so long, it feels like we've known each other as well, and the three of us got to spend the evening talking, telling stories, and having a great time! (And I even fit in MORE clumsiness, so that's always good.)

Oktoberfest starts tomorrow - I can't wait!

*Fun fact: I discovered in Hollywood that Julie Andrews and I have the same size hands. Now you know.