Next stop, Salzburg, then Innsbruck!

 After an uneventful train trip to Salzburg, we made our way to our hotel and went in search of dinner, which took us to an obviously popular restaurant, where Randy discovered that he loves authentic German goulash and I discovered a dish with the great name of Pinzgauer Kasnocken, basically a gourmet version of mac and cheese. 

Salzburg is lovely, and the first day we toured the Mirabelle gardens, and took the funicular up to the Hohensalzburg fortress.  The views from up there are gorgeous.  They also have a marionette museum, which was really cute.

We got our Mozart fix while in Salzburg.  We visited the home where his family lived when he was young, and attended an organ concert in the church where he was the organist.

           

       Not far from Salzburg is the charming town of Halstatt.  We took a bus to get there, 

        and even the ride there was beautiful.

 

     Innsbruck is also home to the Swarovski company, which has a theme park type thing there.  We just         had to go.  So glad we did!  So much bling!!

                    

    Innsbruck is beautiful, and has a very walkable city center that is just charming.

     Our friend, Michael Valentine, who lives in Innsbruck, graciously spent a couple of days showing us around the areas near Innsbruck that are so beautiful.  Very Sound of Music.  This is the south Tyrol area, which is into Italy, just south of Austria.

                  

   Another day began with a brunch at a restaurant at the top of the Olympic ski jump in Innsbruck.

                

     We ended up in the gorgeous town of Merano, Italy.

                    

Almost cut our trip short!

This picture was taken where we almost bought it yesterday while doing our city walk of Vienna. It is in the middle of a pedestrian street, and we didn't realize that it is actually a spot where vehicles can cross. We were standing here with our noses buried in our guidebook, trying to figure out our next destination, when someone hollered, and we looked up to see a city bus that had stopped about a foot from us, with the driver looking down at us with an expression that clearly said, "dumbasses."

We actually had a really nice day.  We had discovered that the Vienna city walk route ended right by our hotel, so we did the walk backwards; a bit challenging but great fun, and the weather was beautiful.  Here are a few highlights.

Hofburg palace

This used to lead to a drawbridge 
over a moat

One of the Lipizzaner stallions

Michaelerplatz

A small bit of Roman history

Holy Trinity Plague column

Coming into Stephansplatz

St. Stephens

St. Stephens faces this modern steel
and glass building and is reflected in it.

Randy, sporting a hat in the middle of
what is called the Graben

Four Rivers Fountain, in the Neuermarkt

Monument Against War and Fascism

 

Vienna!

 So far, Vienna has been just delightful, despite our being lost a few times.  A typical example was last night; we had seen a place named the Louisisana Blues Pub on the tram on the way to Belvedere, and thought that would be something we wanted to check out.  Randy thought I should call ahead, but I didn't, and when we got there via uber, it was closed! We spoke to a lady in the bar next door, who told us they would be open tonight, so we may try again.  We were quite a way from our hotel, but decided to walk back anyway.  We made it, but not without getting totally turned around a few times, and ending up in a back alley that was kind of spooky (blame google).  So--today, we are off again with our trusty Rick Steves pocket guidebook, to wander this beautiful city, and perhaps take the D line out to the wine gardens (heurigers) as it is a sunny day.  It will be fun to see if we get there!

A clue?  Sometimes we can figure
out where we are, but then, what direction to walk?
                                  

Munich!

 Munich is really a sweet city, and I'm sorry we didn't have more time here.  

We finally got some good weather the last day we were here, so we set out to do the city walk in the Rick Steves guide book.  These little pocket sized tour guides are great.  Even though you can look up anything on your phone, with these you don't use up your battery!  These city walk guides are so easy to follow, that we had no trouble; we just didn't have time to see everything.  We did make a point of finding the Hof Brau Haus, though, as we had to see the place where Angie and Kris were asked to leave.  What a hoot that place is.  We were seated with people from London, Madrid, Berlin, and. . .Iowa!  Everyone was having a blast.  So we got our fill of the Oompah band.

St. Peter's Church

Randy by the entrance to the
courtyard of the Town Hall

Interior of the Town Hall

Interior of St. Peter's

The Victuals Market

Hof Brau Haus

This woman was not
pleased with her meal;
she kept eating, but making faces

 😁

Oktoberfest!

 Today was the first day of Oktoberfest, and it is marked by something called the Grand Entry of the Oktoberfest Landlords and Breweries parade, which winds around the city center, and ends at Theresienwiese, the Oktoberfest location.  So, since we were bound and determined to see this and then tomorrow's parade, we knew we had to be up early and make our way into the city by 9:00 or so.  After our misadventures with the bus and train, we decided to spring for an Uber, so got there on time.  We couldn't see really well, but we did get some pics of the parade, and it was pretty great.  And yes, men do really dress like this at Oktoberfest.  Lots of them.

We didn't have the ideal spot. . .

The day was cold and rainy, but we headed out to the fairgrounds and had a good time anyway. There's a lot of carnival at Oktoberfest, which we watched but no way were we going to participate in.  The beer tents were full, and lively, but with so many people there was no where to sit inside.  We braved the elements and found a spot at an outdoor table.  The steins of beer are huge, and you can tell that we are not big drinkers by the amount of beer that we left😂.