"I am 16 going on 17"

On our way to Salzburg the bus stopped at Grenau, this is a stop we had decided not to stay at due to our time constraints but after seeing how pretty it was we both instantly regretted not staying there. we got to have home cooked lasagna for lunch and just enough time to snap some photos at the river before having to leave. Luckily we had Salzburg to look forward to!

The beautiful river that was right behind the hostel... I'm so jealous of everyone who got to stay here!
Me drinking water straight from the river

Posing like a goof in front of our bus
Ewen could find a cat anywhere!

Salzburg- the home of salt, red bull and the sound of music

We had a half day, a full day and another half day in Salzburg. The first half day we had wonderful sunny weather which we luckily we took advantage of. After checking into our hotel we walked to the Mirabell Gardens these are the famous gardens that feature in 'The sound of music' movie.

The Mirabell Gardens

We went for a run through the hedge tunnel where they sing 'Do Rei Me' in the movie

The hedge tunnel

We listened to an orchestra strangely enough performing songs from Pirates of the Caribbean. We found a hedge maze to explore and made friends with some local kids in a tunnel. We threw 1c coins into the Pegasus fountain and rode statues of unicorns.

The Pegasus fountain
Ewen standing at another fountain in Mirabell Gardens
I think this is where Maria ran through singing 'A needle pulling thread' but my sound of music knowledge is a little hazy....
Ewen doing his goat impression in the hedge tunnel
A very "fashionable" woman in the Mirabell Gardens
Me & Ewen
Dancing through the hedge maze

We went to a dwarf garden which had a dozen or so dwarf statues surrounding the path. We then went and lay reading on the grass next to some people doing Falungong which is a kind of religious, meditative tai chi esque thing. It was interesting to watch anyway.

In the dwarf garden

We had dinner at the hostel (partly because we were too lazy to go out and partly to save money) and were going to go and see the castle all lit up after dark but i fell asleep.
Our full day in Salzburg we used to explore the Salzburg castle better known as Festung Hohensalzburg. We were excited to finally be going to a castle that actually looked like a castle rather than a collection of random buildings called a castle (yes i am talking to you Prague and Cesky Krumlov). This one is the real deal with turrets and a torture room (although technically no one was tortured in it), this is one of the largest medieval castles in Europe.

Walking to the castle
The funicular

We got the funicular to the top of the hill where the castle is, included in our funicular ticket was entry to the castle and an audio tour so after snapping a few photos of the view we lined up to get our audio thingy-ma-bobs.

Views from the top of the castle
The tour went for about an hour i think and you got to see (and hear about) how the castle has evolved over the years, they had 3D models on display showing you how the castle has been changed over the years. we also got to see a torture room which is basically a room full of torture equipment that was never used at the castle, they just store it there now.

In the castle
A very very old toilet

After this we explored the castle ourselves getting a look in all the different rooms (most now converted into museums).
That night we had dinner at Augustiners (Ewen's new favourite place in the whole world) this is by far the best beer hall we have been to so far.

Step one: walk down the massive stair case
step two: choose which food you would like from one of the many different food stalls. i had some BBQ chicken and wedges and Ewen had pork knuckle and potato salad.
step three: choose your beer stein
step four: wash your stein in the fountain
step five: get your beer and drink up

step six: enjoy your meal

step seven: remember to get dessert... mmm apple strudel

Walking home in the rain

The next day we didn't get picked up by busabout until about lunch time, we spent the time in the hostel common room skyping, reading and researching places to go in the UK.