From Switzerland to Salzburg

Hello dear ones!
Good news! Our ailments are almost completely gone! Cassies throat is almost completely better, but not entirely and we are running out of antibiotics so were getting a bit worried. Hopefully if will stay off until at least we get home and she can go to her doctor. And I felt it coming on but took the antibiotics right away and rested and im fine! Yay! And my leg isn’t broken anymore! And theres been NO mosquitos! And the weather has been cool and wonderful! So we’re in much better spirits especially after lovely Switzerland and lovely Salzburg. Who knew Salzburg could be so amazing? Its actually one of my favorite cities I’ve been to I think! Next time ill have to spend more time there, its just lovely.

SWITZERLAND (cont.)
After our last quick blog me and cassie went on a hike up one of the mountains toward a supposed waterfall. But it was extremely uphill the entire way and I was dead when we were only half way up…so we headed back down without feeling defeated. We got some more beautiful pictures and had a nice time relaxing outdoors in the sunshine and beautiful weather and scenery. SERIOUSLY the most beautiful place I’ve ever been! When we got back we had dinner and then made some new friends and sat in the hostel dining/relaxing area and laughed. We made new friends with a ridiculous man named John who topped even me with his sarcasm and cleverness….i mean wow. I shared 2 pitchers of some swiss beer with him (im LOVING trying all the different beers on this trip I’ve had at least a bit in each country, so fun!) and laughed the entire night my face hurt. We also made some other friends there from California named Vickie (shes actually british and we discussed Little Britian, don’t worry guys) and Liza and Daniel and two Australians named Ash and Steve. It was a fun night, I didn’t get to bed until quite late!

TRAVEL
Our day of travel to Salzburg was ROUGH to say the least. It wasn’t as bad as it could have been, but we were really frustrated and tired and annoyed by the end of the day. First the train ticket man tried to tell us we had to pay extra for first class even though we have a reservation ticket with our seats on it that says we already paid extra. He actually told us to move at the next stop. But since we’re fighters we didn’t move (we already paid you jerks!), then the next train ticket lady tried to pull the same crap, but we showed her the ticket and she actually believed us that time. So that was the short 3 hour train ride. Then we had another 4 hour ride to Munich, then another hour to Salzburg. The long one to Munich was in 2nd class which was kinda uncomfortable for such a long time but we made it…then when we got there even though the train station said it was going through to Salzburg apparently it didn’t on Saturdays? (how are we supposed to know, everythings in freaking german!) and we had to get off in Munich and find another train to Salzburg…there was one leaving just as we got there. We got pretty angry because everytime we asked someone who worked there for help they were really rude to us and would talk to us like we were stupid. We finally made it to Salzburg on another train 2 hours later…but we were really tired after traveling since about 7am and not arriving until about 10pm or so. And with people being so mean to us the entire day.

SALZBURG
I loved it there! Its quite possibly the cutest city ever! We came because the Sound of Music was made here and we got a special tour to a bunch of the filming scenes, but also its where Mozart was born and lived awhile, and it’s a city full of musical history. But since weve been here, theres apparently tons to do here! All kinds of palaces and museums and concerts and cheap dinner musicals and a medevial fortress dating back to the 1100s and salt mines and even a marionette theatre (like in the sound of music actually!). So next time I will stay longer for sure. And it’s a very small city really, reminds me a lot of Florence since theres very little modern buildings and the entire city just has little churchs hidden away and beautiful gardens and parks. Everythings walking distance and its surrounded by mountains. The weather there was so nice, it’s a little cool and it rains on and off, but its just beautiful. We made friends while we were there, our two british room mates Alex and Louisa, we spent most of our time with them since we were there…oddly booking the same things and wanting to do the same things at the same time with them…we had a great time with them and its sad to say bye to allt he friends we make in each city. Except every day I start to talk a bit more british…its not their fault, but I do hear more british English then American and its beginning to take its toll. Cassie makes fun of me, as well she should. But I really cant help it!

yesterday we went with the hostel on a free walking tour. It took us to the top of one of the mountains for pretty views and she explained the many things to do in Salzburg (besides Mozart and the sound of music;). It was a nice way to start the day and when we were done we went to the market and got some lunch and went to eat at the Mirabell gardens. The gardens are behind a palace that an archbishop had built for his mistress with whom he had 15 children I believe? It was built in the Baroque time period so its very old and pretty. The gardens are free and right in the middle of the city and perfectly manicured with statues and fountains and benches and just gorgeous! Annnd it was were they filmed a lot of the Sound of Music during the do-re-me song! So we got some cute pictures as well. Then this afternoon we all went on the official Sound of Music tour! This giant bus with a Sound of Music mural painted on it picked us up and took us all around the city to a few of the main scenes in the film.
Sound of Music Tour Highlights:
-back of the house with the pretty lake and garden
-drove by the front of the house
-16 going on 17 gazebo
-drove by the Abby in the film and where the real Von Trapps actually got married and Maria actually served before being their governess
-went to visit the church where the Von Trapps got married in the film, really pretty. It was outside of the city in another little village. So cute!

Afterwards we went to the gardens to snap some more pictures of a few key spots we missed earlier and then we went to eat all you can eat salad bar for 7 Euros! (we normally pay more than that for a smaller meal so we were excited! Annnd they don’t eat a lot of veggies here so it was nice to have somethings green!)

Now we've just arrived in Vienna and are just getting settled and trying to find something small and open (and free?!) to do this evening. Ive been really looking forward to Vienna since my favorite artist is featured here and we get to see a palace as well! we were hoping to go to the opera for cheap or free (very possible here!) but of course its closed in July and August. perfect. so instead were going to try and go to a free film showing in front of city hall on a big screen...its free and we can have a picnic there! so were trying to figure that out now. tomorrow i go to fall more in love with Klimt and im so so excited!

no pictures today:( its not working for some reason! of course, we finally have a hostel with free wifi and now it wont let me upload pictures! ill try again later!

all our love!