Austria (Part 3: More Salzburg!)

On my first - and only! - full day in Salzburg, I went on a guided walking tour of the Old Town in the rain. When the tour finished, I retraced my steps so that I could see the sites again at my own pace.

We started out at the Mirabell Gardens, which is most famous (in the U.S.) for the fact that part of the Sound of Music was filmed here.

The beautiful Mirabell Gardens, 

with the view of the fortress on the other side of the river

Photo from: http://tinyurl.com/omzu7op

These gardens are where the "Do-re-mi" song was filmed in the Sound of Music

The fountain and steps in this picture are the same ones as the movie still above, 

just from the other side.

Continuing with the Sound of Music theme, we also wandered through the Old Town cemetery. The SoM scene where they're hiding from Rolf was filmed in a studio modeled after this cemetery. Regardless, it's a gorgeous place:

Entryway

First look at the pathways and looming fortress

All along the cliffs to the right are arched grottoes 

that each hold the grave of some important person in Salzburg's history. 

(I think that's what the guide said, anyway.)

A look back at the graves and grottoes

More to come!

Austria (Part 2: Salzburg)

(Note: As always, click on a picture to see a large version.)

After landing in Munich, Germany, I took the train from the airport to Salzburg, Austria.

Here's a shot of the countryside on the way:

I'm not sure whether this was Germany or Austria, but it sure was pretty!

Once I got in to Salzburg, I took a 5-minute taxi ride to my apartment. Salzburg is divided by the Salzach River, with the old (old!) town on the south/west side. In the map below, my apartment was located at #1, Mozart's house (where he was born) is #2, and the fortress that looms over the town is #3.

Here's a shot of the Old Town taken at the north end 

of the main bridge in the map above. 

Note the looming fortress in the center!

I didn't make it up to the fortress this time because the trip was so short. 

Next time it'll be at the top of my list. 

On the bridge, looking west.

On the bridge, looking east.

 And here are a few shots from my apartment:

The view to the west

The view to the east

And the apartment itself was very nice!

From the entryway you can see the bed and sitting area.

The window in the center is the window from which I took the pictures of the street below.

The sitting area with the dining table.

Standing next to the bed, looking back toward the entry. 

That's the kitchen, with the door to the bathroom on the left wall

and the entry door on the right.

At long last, Austria! (Part 1: The flight)

So it's February 2015, and I went to Austria August 2014. It's taken me 6 months to get around to putting up pictures of this trip! Better late than never, though...right?

I flew from MSP to Munich by way of Reykjavik on Iceland Air. Good airline!

The in-flight menu was full of silliness and oddities like this!

*ICE*land

Apparently it's not just ice. ;)

There seem to be mountains, too!

Coming in for a landing. 

I didn't see a single tree on the entire approach.

Next up: Salzburg!

Cinque Terre: Monterosso - The Hike, part 3

* I'd suggest starting with The Hike, part 1!

Although we hadn't set out with a destination in mind, we decided to keep going up into the hills above the meadow in search of a good view of the sea.

Good bye, helpful steps

Hello, rocky path!

A door to...?

Treacherous footing ahead

(Can you spot Gus?)

 The payoff!

See that little brownish v-shaped spot in the center?

That's Monterosso with the sea just beyond.

We were a long way out, and we were maybe 1/2 way up the hill!

Gus on the way back down

A peaceful path

Cinque Terre: Monterosso - The Hike, part 2

* I'd suggest starting with The Hike, part 1!

As we continued our hike, we encountered pretty flower-filled meadows and stone walls

So many flowers!

 Lemon tree above the wall

:)

Enchanting archway beckoning us onward

Gus leading the way

An unexpected doorway

Looking back down the path

After hiking up these steps for a while, things became a little less...civilized. (To be continued!)

Cinque Terre: Monterosso - The Hike, part 1

Our second afternoon in Monterosso, after we pulled ourselves away from the beach, we started wandering up the streets of the Old Town. We found a path that looked inviting, and away we went!

The start of our journey

I like this photo. :) 

Closer look at the flowers and bridge 

We found a friend!

To be continued....

Cinque Terre: Monterosso - Il Giardino Incantato

The B&B we stayed in is called Il Giardino Incantato, which means The Enchanted Garden.  The B&B has just 4 rooms.  The room was the nicest we'd had in Italy, but the two major perks to staying there were the breakfast (full breakfast made to order every morning) and the garden!

The garden is a small, private, walled garden directly across the street from the inn.  This is where breakfast was served every morning, and it was open to guests from early morning to midnight.  We spent a lot of time out there relaxing, reading, and enjoying the peace.  It has half a dozen lemon trees and an abundance of jasmine across the back wall.  It smells amazing!

No Vacancy

Good think we booked back in December!

The view from our room

The flowers in the foreground are in a planter on the windowsill

The stone wall directly across the street is one of the walls of the garden

Walking up the steps into the garden

This is the view directly ahead when you step into the garden

Note the lady sitting to the right of that tree. 

She's sitting at one of the breakfast tables

Tables for guests

Our assigned breakfast table was to the right.

One of our chairs is just visible on the right side of the picture.

This picture was taken from just inside the doorway.

More tables and flowers

Picture taken from behind the tables in the center of the previous picture

 View from the breakfast table!

View from the opposite corner of the garden

 Leaving the garden