The Bernard Files.: Salzburg!!

Hi Readers,

Well today is a travel day so we were up early and have amazed ourselves with how quickly we can now pack and hit the road.

The place we stayed at in Budapest had the added bonus of a washing machine, and as the heaters were always on in our rooms, it was so easy to get things dried.

As we only have less than a week to go with this amazing trip, we were both doing our calculations about how much clean clothes we would need without another wash.

This is always a bit of a hassle when travelling, figuring out when to get the washing done. It has been a bit of a daily giggle when we both say what we are wearing that is clean and what is dirty. Rest assured, the underwear is clean every day!!😇

I have however gone one jumper short as I put it in the wash, but the machine was also a drier, so after washing it automatically went into drier mode.

It was a great Kathmandu jumper that I have had for a few years, and I use it a lot, so it's a real shame that it is only suitable for a 5 year old to wear now!😬

Travelling along right now we are near the Austrian border and it is mind blowing to see the huge number of wind turbines in action. As far as the eye can see in each direction there are literally hundreds of them. I know a lot of people in Australia are against them, but I'm a huge fan of this clean energy. We have so much to learn from these places rather than digging dirty big holes in the ground in order to feed our coal powered stations.

There you are, my rant for the day. If it means losing a few readers, so be it, but as I'm a positive person at heart, I'm hoping it attracts more readers!!!

Just some of the hundreds if wind turbines on the way from Budapest to Salzburg.

It wasn't an official 'fast train', but fanging it at more than 220kmh is fast by our standards.

Our first introduction to Austria...White!!

We are off to Salzburg in Austria and the temperature is going to be cold to say the least. When I checked this morning the minimum was going to be -13 degrees and the top was going to be -6 degrees!!!

Last week, or whenever ( we have just so lost track of time lately. The other day we had to check our phones because neither of us knew what day it was !!) we took a 6 hour train trip that felt like 2 hours. Just so comfortable and it was great just watching the scenery. Today is no different. It is a 5 and half hour trip and we have great seats. Add to this the train has a restaurant car, so for a few Euros we just had a beautiful lunch and a drink each.

Jen is now settling down to watch a mini series on her iPad while I'm blogging and, as usual, listening to music.

Thank goodness for this blog because I would be going off like a frog in a sock with boredom as I don't like sitting still for very long.

This incident on the train had us laughing for ages. The lady ran down the carriage pushing her case which was on wheels. She looked exactly like a kid learning to ice skate and using a milk crate to balance!!

This post might end up being like a thesis if I keep banging on to use up the time!!

So far the scenery hasn't really been the picture postcard stuff we were expecting, just farmland. I think I might have been expecting majestic mountains like we see in 'The Sound of Music', maybe as we get more towards Salzburg.

Well it has been more than 24 hours since I last added to this post, and can I say that Salzburg is nothing short of amazing!

From the moment we got off the train and headed to our hotel we were impressed with the city. We might have been thinking that it was much bigger, but actually find it to be the perfect size.

After checking in we were straight out the door and wandering the streets, and pretty quickly we fell in love with the place.

If anything, it is very much like Banff, a town in Canada I was lucky enough to visit a few years ago.

The streets here are generally narrow in the older part of town and an absolute joy to wander down . There is just so much to see, hear and do, and around every corner is another photo. The fact that the streets and surrounding mountains are covered in snow only adds to the atmosphere. We could just spend days here, but unfortunately we only have less than two days. And to think we were nearly going to cancel this part of the trip and add the extra days to the next part!!

We spent most of the morning exploring a castle that overlooks the city, and after a brief lunch stop in our digs we were out again exploring the city nearer to our hotel.

We are heading out this morning, might need the mittens and beanie again!!

A walk along the river this morning.

Jen getting ahead of me.

Just a beautiful morning.

A very slippery slope we just went down on the way to the castle.

Hard to see in the photo, but there are big icicles hanging down from the gutter. If these fell, they could cause serious danger to those below.

From the castle, views of Salzburg

The view as we go up to the castle in the funicular.

The castle.

A signpost on the castle.

From the castle, these mountains were amazing.

Towards the mountains.

Inside the castle.

Could I get any more sun in my eyes for this photo?

When it is -10, why do they need fake icicles??

Kids playing on toboggans. We could hear their laughter and screams of delight from the top of the castle.

Salzburg from the castle.

Tonight it is out to tea again at the same place we went to last night as it does great Gluten Free food.

I probably took my life into my hands this afternoon by grabbing a handful of snow and throwing it at my wife. It proceeded to find every nook and cranny in her scarf and coat, and considering it was minus 6 degrees she far from impressed!!!