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I am in love…. I am in love with Austria! Colossal mountains, lush rolling green hills, chocolate box houses and flowers spilling from every window and balcony, you'd have to be crazy not to fall for this most perfect of countries. This is a nation that is proud of itself and greatly takes pride in its appearance, but is in no way arrogant with it. If I was asked to describe Austria in a word I would say content, and I mean that in the most positive of ways. It oozes charm, elegance and grace, and it lifts your spirits just being there. Out of everywhere I've been in Europe, Austria is by far my favourite place and I would urge you to put it on your bucket lists!
Oh I could waffle on all day telling you how much I love this place but that would be a very boring read so instead I will write about Klagenfurt, our first stop. I'm sure Klagenfurt is a lovely town but we didn't actually see it and the only thing we did there was visit the lake (which doesn't have a patch on Lake Bled in Slovenia) and go to Minimundus. Minimundus contains 1:25 scale models of some of the world's most famous buildings.. and all of Austria's, most of which I'd never even heard of but we are in Austria so you can't blame them. This place was amazing though and so well done, the models where perfect and the whole layout of the place has been well conceived and executed. We loved it, although it was very family orientated so Darren and I felt a bit odd being there just as a couple, but it was still amazing to see.
Driving from Klagenfurt to Salzburg straight through the middle of Austria we passed castles, enormous mountains (some still with snow on their peaks), immaculate farms, green hills and the cutest houses. We passed plenty of cows too but none with bells on their necks, much to my disappointment! But apart from the cows missing their bells nothing else was out of place from the stereotypical, 'sound of music', the hills are alive vision of I know of Austria.. it really is picture postcard stuff.
Our first day in Salzburg was grey and damp with on and off rain, so instead of heading into the city we went to the airport, to Red Bull's Hanger 7. It is filled with cars, planes, motorbikes and gadgets all inside this beautifully crafted glass domed building, and all of it for free! We got a boarding pass on arrival and were told by a very attractive lady to have a nice flight, which I thought was very cute! There were so many interesting things to look at and the building itself is incredible but the star of the show was a certain suit and capsule from none other than Felix Baumgartner (who is actually from Salzburg) but if you don't recognise the name he's the brave but seriously crazy guy who did a sky dive from space back in October last year. In doing this he was the first person to break the speed of sound outside a vehicle, he broke the record for the highest manned balloon flight and the record for the highest altitude jump. I'm telling you all this because knowing all of the things he and his team achieved, seeing the equipment he used, along with the footage of his jump brought me to tears. Why I had this reaction I'm not entirely sure, but I think just being near a piece of very recent history, and seeing the possibilities of what we can achieve when we put our minds to it, overwhelmed me. Here was somebody that put everything on the line to try something new and something that no one else ever had. It's mind-blowing, and I very much admire him.
That night we headed into Salzburg in search of an Austrian restaurant that Darren had found on trip advisor. After getting a little lost (which in Salzburg isn't a bad thing as every street is amazing) we eventually found it, and along with two other couples we shared a booth and a very Austrian meal. If you're a vegetarian then this place wouldn't be for you, it's all meat and potatoes, no veg in sight! I had the bacon and cream of potato soup as I was saving myself for the huge desert that this restaurant is famous for called the Salzburg Nockerln, and Darren had goulash with dumplings. The food was amazing and the desert was worth my sacrifice! Afterwards we wondered the streets and when the rain began again we found shelter in this very funky 70's vibe place called Afro Coffee, it was the perfect date!
The next day we headed into Salzburg and among the many shops we looked at we found the cutest store that only sold decorated eggs. They must have had at least a 1000 different patterns and I just had to have one! It took a while looking through them all until I finally settled on a white one, I know, how boring of me but it was so pretty! We walked through the beautiful baroque streets, visited the castle on the hill with its amazing views and had our silhouettes cut out by this crazy guy. Darren's was awesome and is 100% him but with mine I think he ran out of space and left me with no chin, I was so disappointed, much to Darren's amusement! The highlight of the day for me though was visiting a little cemetery and its catacombs called St Peters. It's in pristine condition and it's headstones are all made out of cast iron with gold writing, everywhere you look there are flowers of every colour and it's all surrounded by stone grotto's with black gates. It's just so picturesque which is probably a strange way to describe a cemetery, but that's what it was.. so beautiful.
No trip to Salzburg would be complete without a Sound of Music tour, so we signed up for the Frauline Maria's bicycle one that lasted 3 hours, but it flew by, as did the amazing backdrop of Salzburg. Cycling along the river, over cobbled streets and passing the most attractive buildings and countryside, with a sing along or two and a twirl in the fields while singing "the hills are alive" (yes we actually did this), was just the most perfect and entertaining of mornings. Although, this is where I should probably confess that I don't actually like the sound of music. It's just all a bit too wholesome for me, but the songs are catchy and the setting of the film is beautiful, so a part of me has always wanted to come to Salzburg to do this tour, and I'm very glad I did.
Leaving I was a little sad as I've been completely seduced by Salzburg, it's up there with one of my favourite towns and it's definitely on my return to list, as is Austria. I can only finish where I started…..I love this country!
Clare
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