We came, we saw, we conquered!

Today I want to highlight the trips of the past two weekends: a Sunday adventure to Salzburg, and a weekend excursion to Rome. Salzburg was a last minute trip planned with Sarah and Katie. We didn't really know what to expect, or what there was to do in Salzburg, so we simply explored. That is, in my expert opinion, the best way to get to know a European city.

 This is a picture of Salzburg from above. We climbed one of the many hills surrounding the city, and saw the abbey where the real Maria von Trapp had lived, which was also used to film some parts in the film The Sound of Music. Also on the hill was a fortress, but we didn't go into it due to the outrageous cost and our outrageous thriftyness.

This unicorn statue is in the garden where several shots from the "Do-Re-Mi" song were filmed. The stairs to the left are the stairs at the very end of the song. Even if you aren't familiar with the movie, it's a beautiful garden to see. 

My favorite part about this garden was the Wisteria! 

Also, the sun came out at this point, so we relaxed there in the sunshine for a while.

For the final adventure of the day, we started climbing a random hill we found. We saw a beautiful yellow building at the top and were curious to see what it was. It was a church and abbey, with a great view of the city. But there was another path that kept going upwards, so we followed it excitedly. At one point on this mysterious trek, we had a perfect look at the city. The hill in the middle is the hill we climbed earlier, with the white fortress on top.

When we made it to the top of this trail, there was an overpriced restaurant. We were perhaps a little disappointed, but the trail we took on the way back was definitely worth it. We followed an old defense wall all the way down, and spent a good amount of time sitting on it in the sunshine as well. We did get a little lost on the way back to the train station to catch the train back home in our attempt to buy some Gelato, but we remedied that by buying a container of Gelato at the grocery store and eating it on the train ride back! I am sure all the people around us were super jealous.

After this adventure, I had two days of classes, and then a super long weekend! (We only had Thursday off for a holiday, but I never have class Wednesday or Friday anyways.) Thursday night, Katie and I got on a plane for Rome! Here's a sneak preview of the Rome trip: