Wednesday, December 21 - Day Whatever We're On!

 I've been putting off doing this post, because I simply don't have a whole lot to show on this one!  Today was our LONG day to Salzburg, which as you all know, is where they filmed the Sound of Music.  However, the town itself is like a good 2 hour bus drive from the town where we stopped.  What town did we actually stop at? I can't remember at this point, but it was one of those towns that seemed to be a pass through town to get to Salzburg.

So, originally Mom was going to join us on this excursion, but when we really started looking into how this one would work, it was going to be a 2 hour drive there, a day of walking around, and then a 2 hour bus ride back.  Mom decided that after doing the Rathaus, as much as she'd love to go with us to Salzburg, she just didn't want to push her back too far, ruining the rest of our trip.  After all, we still have like NINE days to go.  (Holy Cow this is a long trip, isn't it?!)

We hopped on our designated tour bus, and informed our tour guide that we're along for the ride, but not for the tour.  We elected to "self-guide" once we got to Salzburg.  However, along the way we stopped at Moon Lake (the town of Mondsee), which is where the Church is that they filmed the wedding scene for the movie.

Now, I think that's the church.  To be honest, I don't really remember it, and I took a bunch of church pictures.  This was in Mondsee, so it wasn't the primary point of today's tour.  AND, in Mondsee, we were there too early for most stuff to be open.  So, again my annoyance with timing on this trip.  However, we DID find a candle shop that was open, and it had some really unique candle designs.  Of course, we bought one.  We're tourists....what can I say?

Moving on from Mondsee, we had about 30 more minutes until we arrived in Salzburg.  About 15 minutes in, our bus driver veered off the autobahn, and took some random side road.  The tour guide told us over the PA system that since he was such a great driver, he took a detour to avoid some traffic on the road ahead.  #WazeApp driving.

Salzburg ended up being one of those places where I didn't take a lot of photos.  I spent more time looking around, and seeing the town.  Once we got off the bus, we ended up taking a quick jaunt BACK the way we came, as we had passed a cute little Christmas Market that wasn't in "old town" proper.

As many of you know, Bill loves pretzels, and so far, we hadn't seen any place that had pretzels that looked like they'd be good.  Since we were coming closer to the end of our trip, Bill was determined to find one.  Thankfully, in this first market, we ran across a vendor/stall that had lots of them, and they actually looked decently flavorful.  So...we bought two!  Bill had an Apple filled pretzel, while I opted for the Chocolate Covered Pretzel.  I had some of mine, and then had a bite of Bill's.  Both were great, but it was drizzling and I didn't want my hands getting wet.  Bill, on the other hand (no pun intended), ate all of his, minus my bite, and most of mine.  Pretzels for the win!

We wandered through Salzburg and were able to make it through ALL of the Christmas market in town, which was sizeable.  Up above are a couple pictures of the main stage where a fellow was carving Krampus masks/faces out of blocks of wood.  He was amazingly good, and we watched for a few minutes before moving on.

Salzburg Market was one of those markets that embodies what I was imaging Christmas Markets to be.  So much variety, and so many Christmas themed stalls.  Lots of food, and the better part was that there weren't a mass of people that made it impossible to move around.  The other good news was that it was probably a good idea that Mom didn't come.  We had offered to push her on a wheelchair, BUT...this market and town would have proven to be the bane of a wheelchair.  The market was in dirt/mud, the cobble stone in town was widely spaced and horribly uneven.  While it sucks that she couldn't make it, it was the right decision in the end.

Finishing the market, we had about 90 minutes to figure out a plan.  We elected food, because...this trip has already ruined any weight loss we had done prior to arriving.  So, we went to Mozart's Cafe, which had great reviews and was right close by.  Bill had weinerschnitzel, because why not?  I had a pumpkin soup, and then ended up with a club sandwich (laugh it up).  All options were out of this world delicious.  It's probably a good thing we don't live here (as in, Europe) because I'm sure I'd be at least 200 pounds heavier.

Oh wait - you thought we were done with food?  No.  On the front page they had their "famous" Salzburg Nackerl, which was meant for two.  Of course, I ordered it.  It purported to be a whisked egg delight, toasted to perfect with cinnamon sugar and flour.  It was definitely whisked to perfection, as you can see above.  That's literally all whisked eggs.  It had...no flavor.  There were some berries underneath (lignon? elder? Who knows).  Those had some flavor, but over all....I don't see what makes it famous.  

Rushing back to the bus from here, we all piled in, and languished our way back to the boat.  I kid you not, this bus ride felt like it took about 9 hours.  AND, we slept somewhere on the bus, and it still took forever.  Plus, it was hot as balls.  

When the bus dropped us off, we had passed a small market in town.  Now, we'd spent ALL DAY LONG out and about, and both Bill and I were ready to call it quits.  BUT....we're here for the markets, right?  After much discussion, bouncing between each of us bolstering the other, we decided to make the 2 minute walk from the ship to the market.  It was super cute, and while I was on a small mission to find a particular item, it was still fun.  We ended up buying some candy floss for mom, and I got my market mug.

Looking back, it was an action packed day, but it also felt like there was lots of down time.  After dinner we just crashed and called it a night....ready for more tomorrow.