Euro Trip 2011: Part 5

We arrived at 4am in Salzburg, thankfully our hotel was close so we took a quick taxi ride to Hotel Mozart.  Scott did it again and booked the perfect accommodations for our stay.  Since it was so early, we fell right asleep.  We woke up after some much needed rest and had a delicious lunch at an Austrian Pub.  Scott had cordon bleu and I had fried chicken and fries.  Their spring chicken is fried to perfection, not greasy or over breaded at all.  After we took a walking tour of Old Town with our trusty Rick Steve Guide Book as our Tour Guide, Salzburg is gorgeous.  The views were incredible!  During our tour we stumbled across a Russian choir group touring and Scott was thrilled to chat with them a bit.  Scott said while they were singing "they were throwing down verses, Sound of Music style".  For dinner we went to another pub/brewery style restaurant and Scott had a pumpkin breaded cordon bleu dish that was delectable.  I ordered dumplings, a bowl full of fried bread, not that tasty.  We loved our first day in Salzburg and are excited for the next.

After breakfast at our hotel, we headed to hike the hill up to the Hohensalzburg Fortress which sits on top of the Old Town of Salzburg, the history was interesting and the view was the best part!  While we were in town there was a festival going on in Mozartplatz, one of the popular town squares.  We had a delicious lunch of rotisserie chicken (best I have ever had!), fries, and live music.  There were tons of locals there to enjoy the festivities and for one of the songs tons of people both old and young joined in, clapping, singing loudly and dancing, I think it was an Austrian favorite.  After lunch we went on our Sound of Music Tour.  Our tour started with a drive, our tour guide, a local born and raised, explained history of the city while explaining facts about the real von Trapp Family as well as facts about the movie.  We then made stops in varies places where footage from the movie was taken.  It was exciting to see the beauty I had seen in the movie all growing up in real life, the movie didn't even compare.  As we drove up into the mountains being completely amazed by the views, we stopped and were able to go on an alpine slide.  Scott is an experienced rider but it was my first time, I loved it!  We will be taking full advantage of the slides in Park City.  As we drove through the mountains, on the edge of the Alps, we saw adorable homes with wooden carved details that looked like they should be in a storybook.  We stopped at a little cafe that looked out over a breath taking view of a lake town and mountains all around, that was the topping on the cake, absolutely perfect.  As we took in the view we enjoyed the best apple strudel and the company of another couple on our tour.  I was sad for our tour to end and even more sadden by the end of our stay in Salzburg but Vienna was calling so we had to continue.  

Euro Trip 2011: Part 4

After leaving our little home in Rome we took a four hour train ride to Venice.  Although we slept, we also enjoyed the beautiful Italian countryside as we traveled.  When we arrived in Venice, we took a water bus near the Rialto Bridge and made our way to Locanda Casa Petrarca, the Bed and Breakfast we stayed at for the night.  After getting settled in, we decided to explore the town and find dinner.  We decided on American food and went to the Hard Rock Cafe and enjoyed a burger, chicken and fries.  We walked along the water and found ourselves in little cobble stone streets and squares where locals and their children were playing soccer and enjoying each others company.  Of course we had to get our fill on gelato, I tasted a new cookie flavor that was delicious.  After ending the night in San Marcos Square, we were anxious to begin our second day in Venice.  

I love Italian breakfasts, well at least what we are fed at our B&Bs so far.  Delicious juice (blood orange is my favorite), hard boiled eggs, croissants (they are covered or filled with goodness), fruit and toast with nutella spread perfectly on top, doesn't get much better than that.  After another perfect breakfast, we headed out to enjoy Venice.  Making our way to Frari Church, we strolled through small streets lined with shops, squares and small bridges to cross, where you could look down and see the little homes on the water.  We listened to Rick Steve's walking tour of Frari Church and learned all about it's Gothic beauty.  After our tour, we saw a crepe stand and I was over joyed to eat my first crepe on this trip to Europe!  It sure hit the spot!  We made our way back to San Marcos Square and went to the top of the light house where we realized Scott had left his IPhone at Frari's Church a ways back.  After enjoying the view from the light house as much as possible in the circumstances, we trekked back to the church in hopes of finding the lost phone.  Some one had returned his phone, an answer to our prayers.  What an amazing tender mercy!  Being throughly relieved, we decided to go on a gondola ride.  It was a beautiful relaxing journey through the canals and under beautiful bridges, one of my favorite parts of Venice.  After our ride, we had our last Italian dinner of pizza, spaghetti and gelatos.  We ended our stay in Venice with our Rick Steve's tour of San Marco Basilica, which was one of Scott's favorite churches so far.  We collected our bags from our B&B and made our way to the train station to take our overnight train to Salzburg.  I was fully impressed by our room on the train, complete with a sink, snacks and breakfast at 3:30am before we arrived in Salzburg at 4am.

The waters of Venice were beautiful and now we are in the hills of Salzburg, that are alive with music, European traveling is the best!

Euro Trip 2011: Part 3

Today we decided to head back to Vatican City to climb the hundreds of steps to the top of the Dome of St. Peter's Basilica and were shocked at the line wrapping all the way around St. Peter's Square.  We were a bit disappointed because the view would have been amazing but we just kept saying well we will do it next time we are in Rome, we will be back soon. :)  We decided gelato would make us feel better and Trip Advisor had Le Gelateria Frigidarium as the number one restaurant in Rome so we had to try.  Although it was delicious, I say Old Bridge still is number one on my list.  Scott got Frigidarium's house flavor though and it was amazing.  I guess we can have more than one favorite gelato place in Rome.  While we were walking around town, near the capital there were tons of people from the Italian Military with their tanks parked with people taking pictures in them, we decided to join in.  We had a couple outdoor plazas and market places circled on our map we hadn't visited so we moseyed through some of them on our way to dinner at the number two place in Rome on Trip Advisor, an Indian Restaurant called Krishna 13.  It was fantastic, the best Indian food we have ever had!  We ended the night with a little more gelato on our way home.   

Euro Trip 2011: Part 2

Every morning we have a delicious breakfast made by Laura and enjoy the company of the other house guests, I love B&Bs!  Yesterday after breakfast we began our day on a walking tour by Rick Steve in a beautiful area near the river called Trastevere.  The walking tour really allowed us to get a real feel of the beauty and character of the area.  After our tour we had lunch in the area at a quaint little restaurant which had the Italian classics.  

After lunch we headed up to Vatican City with reservations for the  Vatican Museum, thanks to Scott we skipped the long line in the heat.  We walked through the museum which ends at the Sistine Chapel and enjoyed the beauty of Michelangelo's work.  Right outside Vatican City there is the best gelato (thanks Addie for the recommendation) at a little shop called Old Bridge Gelatoria. The line was quite long but totally worth the wait.  After our delicious gelatos we went into St. Peter's Basilica and walked down to the crypts below the cathedral.  After admiring all the art and history of the Vatican we headed over near the Patheon for dinner at a little Italian Pub which was quite interesting.  During dinner an older Italian man came out of the back yelling at everyone to cheer while he served a girl a plate with a pretty explicit meal while everyone yelled and laughed.  We couldn't stop laughing and asked our waiter, although he didn't speak much English what this was all about and he just said "we do it all the time".  I love all the funny, interesting, unforgettable experiences of traveling.  We ended the night walking home in the rain and laughing about our funny, fantastic day.  

Euro Trip 2011: Part 1

We are in Rome, Italy!

After arriving yesterday afternoon, throughly exhausted from our flight, we were thrilled to be greeted at our bed and breakfast by Laura the owner of Aldebaran B&B where we are staying.  Laura is very friendly and really makes us feel right at home, she even refers to it as our home.  We took a nap after getting situated in our room and then woke up in time to go out on the town to see the concert for May Day (Labor Day for Italy) and the celebrations being held in honor of Pope John Paul II being declared blessed.  There were tons of people here for the ceremonies which made for interesting people watching.  We walked around downtown for a while, bought our Roma Pass (best decision ever), ate some Italian Pizza, had my first Cola Light of the trip and ended the night with some delicious gelato.  It was a perfect first day in Rome!

We had a good night sleep and woke up today to some delicious breakfast made by Laura and were joined by other couples staying in the house for some enjoyable morning company, one couple from Spain and the other from England.  After breakfast we were off for a full day of sightseeing.  Thanks to Scott's preparation and Rick Steve's advice our day was wonderful.  

We visited the Colosseum, Roman Forum, Palatine Hill, Piazza Venezia, Pantheon, Trevi Fountain, and the Spanish Steps.  Although the sites were very busy due to all the visitors in the city for the Pope, we didn't wait in any lines and had guided tours without paying a dime.  How you might ask?  Well Scott was on top of it and had us get a Roma Pass which includes all these sites without lines and we downloaded Rick Steve's Audio Tours on our phones, directions and pictures included to give you a free all inclusive tour of all the sites.  Also Rick recommended an inexpensive, delicious place to get lunch which made the day enjoyable and in the budget.  Our day was fantastic and well worth every step on the cobble stone roads.  

I also added my map reading skills and memories of last time I was in Rome to help us get around.

By the end of the day we were ready to get home fast so we hopped on the metro and a couple stops later we were back at Manzoni, our metro stop to our home in Rome.

Stay tuned for the Vatican City and more tomorrow!