Austria: Salzburg & Vienna (with lots of rain)

This past weekend we took a weekend trip to Austria to meet up with my parents who had been on a bike trip through Eastern Europe.  Even though our weekend was filled with rain and clouds, they were both beautiful cities!
More pictures from the weekend here.

After a loooonnnngggg travel night of a flight and train ride, we finally arrived to Salzburg around 1am Friday morning.  Point to the Swiss here....while their trains may be expensive, you can be flexible on buying train tickets last minute without paying more, which would've prevented 3 hours of waiting in the train stations this weekend!

Friday morning we woke up and met my parents and their friends for a day of fun in Salzburg. We started at Mozart's birth house....lots of original manuscripts, his piano, and some listening fun for me and Nick.
We did a do-it-yourself Sound of Music sights walking tour, and saw lots of the sights, including the horse baths, do-re-mi bridge, the cemetery that inspired the one in the movie, and the abbey.

Oh, you know, just recreating Do-Re-Mi

View from the Abbey

After a delicious lunch of sausage and beers (so Austrian!). We continued on to Mirabelle Gardens which were beautiful and home to the do-re-mi steps.

Do-Re-Me Steps

All that walking made us pretty tired, so we decided to relax at the beer gardens/hall.

That didn't last long before we decided to hike along the ridge to the castle, which was supposed to have a great view.  It was a bit of a hike, but we did get some great views of the city along the way.
We finally reached the castle, and tired, searched for the ultimate view.  Even though we never really got to see the mountains in all their glory because of the clouds, it was still beautiful. And we topped off the evening with a yummy meal at a medieval restaurant inside the castle.
Mom and Dad and their friends returned back to Vienna that night, but Nick and I stayed and stumbled upon what we think is Salzburg's version of Oktoberfest. We enjoyed some beers, a live band, and watching a girl get kicked out of the tent. Great entertainment!
Saturday morning we woke to clouds again, so after checking out the Salzburg cathedral and wandering the streets some more, we took the train back to Vienna.
After meeting up with Mom and Dad again, we visited the Mozart statue and treble clef (way cooler than his statue in Salzburg), and wandered around before some grabbing some drinks at a cafe.  Vienna is beautiful and perfect for wandering and cafes. Reminds me soooo much of Paris!!
We ate a delicious local Austrian meal at a cozy a little restaurant, where I had Wiener schnitzel bigger than my face! To walk off all those calories, we headed to the Rathaus (town hall) which was gorgeous at night!

Check out how big that weiner schnitzel on my plate is!!

After saying goodbye to Mom and Dad (early flight for them the next day), Nick and I checked out the events in front of the Rathaus. What a pleasant surprise!  It was the world championship tour of horse jumping, and with such a gorgeous backdrop!

Nick did a little horse jumping of his own on the way back to our hotel

Hofburg Palace at night

Sunday morning, Nick and I wandered Vienna's streets while everyone else seemed to be sleeping...so peaceful and pretty.  We both agree Vienna is like Paris in a lot of ways....even though the architecture is a different style, it gives you that same feeling it does in Paris.  Eventually we found a place open for breakfast...Sacher Cafe, home of the Sacher torte.  We didn't splurge on that so early, but we did both get sacher hot chocolate, which was yummy!

Next, we visited the House der Musik, which may be one of my favorite museums ever! It was very interactive, and there was always something to keep you interested.  We got to roll dice to compose music, explore how sound works hands on, and conduct the Vienna Symphony Orchestra.
We took a few last pictures with St. Stephan's cathedral (with sun!) before grabbing some lunch and heading to the airport.
All in all, a great weekend trip.  We loved both cities, even with the clouds/rain.  If we didn't live in Paris or hadn't spent a lot of time in Paris, I could see spending more time in Vienna, but since they both have a similar feel, it was plenty of time for us.  I'm sure if the sun had been out in Salzburg, we would've wanted more time for hiking and exploring the countryside, but for now, we are happy! :)