Salzburg, Austria

For Easter weekend, we spent a wet and rainy few days in Salzburg, Austria. Despite not being properly attired for such dreary weather, we enjoyed strolling around town and experiencing as much as we could stand in the picturesque town. Austria continues to be one of my favorite European countries for its beauty, food and history.

Our very first stop in Salzburg was to the Salzburger Freilichtmuseum. The museum has amassed a wonderful selection of old homes and buildings to create a mini town complete with its own train. We came late in the day so entry was half-price (bonus!) and enjoyed walking around the grounds. 

Our weekend accommodations were at the JUFA Salzburg City hotel. They had a friendly staff, breakfast was included and it was dog-friendly. Our room looked out to the Hohensalzburg Fortress. 

The Easter bunny managed to find us in Salzburg and delivered a chocolate bunny to our room!

One of the top attractions in Salzburg is Schloss Hellbrunn. Our entry ticket included a tour of the trick fountains, palace and folk art museum. The trick fountains were really neat to experience, even on a dreary, rainy day. 

We also took in a marionette show while in Salzburg. The show was Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Despite not understanding all the dialogue, it was cute to see the show. Before the show started, Charles enjoyed a coffee and we shared some Mozartkugel. 

We had about two hours of sunshine after the marionette show! 

The other exciting experience during our visit to Salzburg was at Edelweiss Cooking School where we learned how to make apple strudel and Salzburger Nockerl. Both desserts were easier than I was expecting, so maybe I'll try to make them at home soon!

Salzburger Nockerl is a soufflé dessert that is supposed to represent the mountain peaks surrounding Salzburg. 

Innsbruck, Austria

The next leg of our December getaway was to Innsbruck, Austria. Each time I visit Austria I fall more in love. 

Innsbruck has a myriad of markets scattered around the town. We visited in the evening and, because it was midweek, it was not super crowded. We enjoyed the sparkling lights and holiday spirit. 

One of the market streets is dedicated to fairy tales which was one of my favorite parts! 

Gluhwein, of course! The vendors had a variety of mugs from different years. I liked this mug, but it was from 2019 so we didn't keep it. 

Innsbruck is home to Swarovski crystal, so a Swarovski crystal tree is the centerpiece of this market. 

I love, love, love folk art so when I saw there was a folk art museum in Innsbruck I added it to our itinerary. I am just so impressed with how people took everyday objects and made them beautiful. 

The folk art museum is connected to the Hofkirche, so we visited that, too. Just a little tip (because we were confused), to visit both you'll need the combo ticket. The regular ticket only allows you into the Hofkirche. You cannot buy a ticket just to the folk art museum. 

The hands down best part of visiting Innsbruck was our hotel! We stayed at DasMEI which was located just outside of Innsbruck in a town called Mutters. This is the view from our room!!! I was ready to move in and never leave. The breakfast buffet was delicious. Parking was free and the tram stop was just up the road for an easy trip into Innsbruck. 

Our room overlooked the nearby town called Natters. This is the church we could see from our balcony.

Strolling around European towns and seeing the variety of churches never gets old. This is the church in Mutters.

Labor Day Weekend in Austria: Feldkirch

On our way out of the Braz/Bludenz area, we stopped in Feldkirch, Austria. I had originally thought about staying here, but when it came time to book the hotel the one I had my eye on was fully booked. We visited on a Sunday so most of the shops were closed, but we still had a nice time walking around the area. They had a river walk that was lovely, too. 

Labor Day Weekend in Austria: Braz and Burs

For our long Labor Day Weekend, we visited Austria. After a few weekends in cities seeing all the sites, I was ready for a relaxing, no pressure kind of getaway. After searching and searching for just the right spot, Charles found an inn in Braz, Austria that would fit the bill. It was right next to a beautiful Alpine church that came complete with church bells. 

The inn had their own in-house restaurant which included free breakfast in the morning with a selection of meats, cheeses, rolls, yogurt and more. The coffee was delicious and it filled us up for our hiking ventures. 

On the first night, we enjoyed dinner at the inn's restaurant. I had goulash with polenta and Charles had venison. Everything was delicious!

Right near the inn was a hiking path by the river. We brought Suzie down there and she enjoyed splashing around and drinking the fresh water. It wasn't quite like being at the beach, which is one of Suzie's happy places, but we could tell it made her happy nonetheless. 

For hiking, there were tons of options within the area. We chose a trail that started in Burs which was an adorable town in its own right. Can you imagine what it would be like to live here and have views of the Alps right out of your window??? 

Part of the trail we took was a Fairy Tale trail and had these gnome people at various stops. We somehow veered off the trail onto another one so we missed some of the tales, but we still had a nice walkabout.

Anniversary Trip: Vienna

Our thirteenth (I can't believe it has been that many years already) wedding anniversary was earlier this month and to celebrate we took a trip to Vienna, Bratislava and Nuremberg. 

Upon arrival in Vienna, we grabbed dinner around the corner from the Airbnb at a place called Coconut Curry. We had some delicious sushi and Asian dishes. One thing I thought was neat, and then noticed it at other restaurants and cafes around Vienna, was that at the outdoor tables the restaurants provided blankets. It was a slightly chilly evening, but I am sure the closer and closer we get to winter the more necessary those blankets become! 

Vienna is set up in different zones and we stayed in the zone with Prater Park which is a very old amusement park. The Ferris wheel is iconic to Vienna and promises great views of the area. Since I am afraid of heights, this was not something I wanted to try out for myself. The park is completely free to enter so we walked around to see all the rides and other typical amusement park booths. 

St. Stephan's Cathedral is at the center of the 1st District and where all the tourists flock to. It has a really interesting roof made up of a patterned tile. 

This is a neat art installation inside the Cathedral. I love that it's included as a statement of how the Cathedral is still a modern part of the city and that it still values art. Cathedrals and churches throughout Europe are great places to see amazing pieces of art and architecture, but they don't always feature anything new. 

St. Stephen's has two towers that visitors can visit for views of the city. One of the towers is only accessible by elevator and it was broken on the day of our visit, so we visited the top of the other tower which is accessible by climbing over 300 stairs. Needless to say, I was a bit tired after that climb. But we got that promised view over the city. 

We visited the Butterfly House and saw a bunch of beautiful butterflies fluttering about. This would be a great place to visit on a cold day as it was nice and toasty inside. However, after visiting the butterfly house in Niagara, this one felt so small. 

Vienna, like many old cities, is filled with statues. I have no idea what this one is representing (if only I remembered more symbols from my college art history classes), but we loved the faces and drama of this one. 

We did not take any other pictures inside, but on the rainy day of our visit we headed over to the House of Music to walk around. It had a lot of interactive exhibits and information about some of Vienna's famous composers and musicians. At the very end, you enter a hallway that is dark except for this neon sign. I loved how, after all the music and sounds from the museum, they offered a relatively quiet space to reset before heading back out into the bustling city.

One of the highlights of our trip was a pastry tour that we booked through Airbnb. Unlike our food tour in Prague, we had two other couples on the tour with us which led to some fun conversations and a little less awkwardness. We visited several places all over Vienna and tried a variety of traditional Viennese desserts. This picture is from one of our favorites where we tried dumplings and strum. Strum is from the first harvest of grapes for wine and has a low alcohol content and is very sweet. It is only available for a limited time, though, so our trip was timed perfectly to try it!