Austria!

We arrived in Austria by early afternoon, so after checking into our hostel, we decided to walk over to the Old Town and climb to the top of the fortress!  After getting a little bit lost, we finally found how to get to the top- there was a tram that ran straight up the side of the mountain!  That sounded good to me- the amount of stairs we ended up climbing in those two weeks was crazy.  We got to the top and enjoyed the view/sunset for a while.

At that point, we were pretty hungry, so we found a place to have some authentic Austrian dinner.  I decided that since I missed out on Oktoberfest, I would order a large beer for the sole purpose of having it come in a large stein.  Great decision- definitely made my dad proud when he saw the pictures!  Our dinner was quite delicious, but before we left, the table behind us ordered an incredibly potent cheese plate.  It smelled pretty foul... Amy was not a fan.

The next day, we got up bright and early for the Sound of Music tour!!  We had been super pumped for this, as its one of Amy's favorite movies (especially the lonely goat scene) and I grew up going skiing at the Trapp Family Lodge in Vermont.  We hopped on the bus and drove all around Salzburg and the surrounding mountains to see some of the places where the film was shot, and once we got back, we had playtime at the park, danced around the fountain, and visited the stone dwarf statues.

Crisp apple strudel!!

Joining the family..

The moment before...

...Amy failed to stop going down the enormous slide

The next morning, we didn't have anything planned, so we got up later than usual, had a leisurely breakfast at the hostel, and went to grab some coffee at "Coffee Symphony."  At this point in the trip, Amy and I had been on our own for about five days.  Obviously we were having the best time ever, but we were pretty exhausted and were ready to not need to entertain ourselves and navigate the city for ourselves.  Our next stop was Italy, where we would once again be reunited with Stonehill friends.  Our plan was to arrive Thursday evening, but with our main goal for Salzburg already complete, we decided to spontaneously leave early and catch a night train to Florence- increasing our time visiting there and giving us something to do!  Overall, it was a good decision, despite anxiety over being on the train without reservations/a five hour layover in Villach, Austria's most exciting city.  Just kidding.

After six hours of sleep on the train, where we had a lovely compartment all to ourselves, we arrived in Florence bright and early at 6am!  Ciao Italiaaa.