Today we woke up the soothing pitter patter of rain on the windows.

We had a good run. We made it this far in a December trip to Europe with no rain, so we really can’t complain.

When we headed outside we found that our Airbnb host had left a little gift for us outside our door, a note wishing us a Happy St Nikolaus. Very kind.

We got up around (and thank goodness) were able to get some laundry going as we were about to run out of clean underwear.

We hit the town streets, looking for some breakfast, and stumbled into Afro Cafe. Afro Cafe has lots of coffee and tea options, and creative breakfast and lunch options. It was perfect as it had some unusual herbal teas which I enjoyed, and the food was light and fresh and filled with fruits and vegetables which is hard to find at traditional Austrian places.

We also found this fun dinosaur we thought the niblets might enjoy.

After breakfast we headed out in the rain to do our Rick Steves walk. For his walking Salzburg tour he has an audio version on his app, which we love because having ear pods in is a bit less conspicuous than reading chapters of his book.

We were supposed to start on the pedestrian bridge, but our sense of direction is bad, so we started on a different bridge a few blocks down. Views were still amazing, and it just meant we wandered confused for a few minutes until finding where we were supposed to be on Googlemaps. Getting immediately lost on our Rick Steves walk has become a bit of a running joke (funny because it happens every time) for us over the years.

Salzburg truly beautiful, tucked in a little valley in the mountains with a river running through it that differentiates the medieval town from the “new town”. The new town includes the house Mozart was born in, so it’s only new by European standards.

After realizing we were on the wrong bridge, we followed the rest of his walk successfully, learning about Mozart and the cathedral.

Along the way we found we these cheeky little figures at a shop.

And these funny carvings on a glühwein booth.

And of course we had to make a stop for Austrian Christmas cookies.

We got a bit waylaid in the square when we ran into a quartet playing music. They had a Christmas tree set up with scrolls of music on them, and it was clearly some traditional Christmas music in German as much of the crowd sang along.

And of course we spent a moment visiting Mozart.

The whole thing is so Christmasy and beautiful it honestly doesn’t feel real.

Around that time I got a text from Melissa that she and her crew had arrived and were ready for action. They also somehow sent the rain away.

The group began in the new town, visiting the Mozart house and Mirabell palace, which is most famous to Americans as a filming location for The Sound of Music. It is the backdrop of the Van Trapp house, with the steps Maria dances down and the Pegasus statue in the garden.

In winter the gardens were not in bloom and were largely closed, but we still took some pics.

We really enjoyed the flirty statues

Melissa and I also did a video homage to the movie.

In the palace there is an Angel staircase and a marble hall that are supposed to be open to the public. The angel staircase was a delight, with very cheeky little angels.

The marble hall was closed as there was set to be a musical performance that evening.

Here are the famous steps complete with unicorn with beards statues:

After visiting Mirabell, we decided to head into the old town for some lunch, which meant we finally made it to the pedestrian bridge we were supposed to start our walk from.

And of course there were beautiful things to see along the way.

We made our way to a Rick Steve’s recommendation, and had a wonderful traditional meal.

Our waiter was not into suffering any fools (there were throngs of tourists so you can’t blame him), but he came to take our drink order and when we all weren’t ready he just left without saying anything.

We were worried we had ticked him off and would never see him again, but he did return and was actually really nice and funny. In general, it seems that Australian culture is pretty blunt and direct compared to west coast American culture, and as I’ve been learning German I’ve been learning that their phrasing is direct and pretty economical. In English we use a lot of softening words and phrases to sound polite. In German they tend not to. The phrasing tends to get right to the point.

Melissa and I got mulled wine (glühwein) with our food, which was great because it was house made and not as sweet as other versions we’d tried at markets.

Andrea and Ruby got something called a tee and rum, which was a mug of tea and shot of rum. We were all a bit surprised as Ruby doesn’t usually drink, and when Andrea poured her shot in, Ruby only did half.

We did notice that slowly but surely, by the end of the meal he rum was all gone.

After lunch we decided to take the funicular up to the fortress. Here’s the ride up.

The guy standing behind me is basically a movie star now.

Once at the top of the fortress, a wind storm kicked up, dumping rain and hail on us. Jimmy and I were having flashbacks of getting stuck in the wind tunnel at the Cliffs of Moher, so I made a run for the inside of the castle, bypassing a great view of the city and a Christmas market.

The inside was interesting, and basically told the military history of the area from medieval times to WWII. Being there in the winter was interesting, because it really brought home what the conditions would like for soldiers fighting in this region.

Jimmy found a canon… he actually found two!

We wandered into the got shop where we found this lovely little tree ornament. Anyone?

We also tried our hand at being knights… with little success for obvious reasons

And weirdly they had a museum of marionettes which was pretty cute. In the marionette museum they had a curtain you could go behind for a “photo op”. Curiosity won out for me, and I entered. Little closet space with a box that said “open me”. When you open it they take a picture of your reaction which you can buy. I’m not going to give away what was in the box, and the rest of our crew was too chicken to try it, so the secret stays with me. But you should try it if you’re ever there.

Eventually we left the shelter of the castle, and headed back outside. The wind had died down, and it was no longer hailing so we took some pictures at the top.

Jimmy got a video of funicular ride down if you want to join us.

Once at the bottom, it was time for some shopping. Salzburg is a great shopping town, both because it has adorable shops, and because the Christmas market was so impressive.

We spent time shopping, then as the rain picked up again we ducked into a cafe for some coffee and cake.

Which was also dry because that’s just how the sachertorte is. But still delightful.

After our cake visit, it was time to officially say goodbye to our friends, as ourAustrian tours now diverge. Melissa’s crew is staying in Vienna for a few more days, and Jimmy and I are heading back into the mountains.

We still had our cheese and salami from the Vienna market, so we stopped by a grocery store for some veggies and fruit, and had a little picnic at our airbnb.

Goodnight.