{crisp apple strudel}

traveling with the chicklets is an exercise in patience, compromise and a good sense of humor. long gone are the days of leisurely breakfasts, or a slow meander through a park / city center / museum / what-have-you. each trip we take offers new lessons in how to best enjoy these little adventures. snacks are critical. drive during naptime – only. have ipods at-the-ready for those times where you just want to enjoy the scenery for a moment. and when all else fails – just laugh and go with it (easier said than done at times, but we do our best!).

last week we packed up the car for a quick trip to salzburg. it’s still amazing to me how these places i’ve always dreamed of going are now so easily within reach (well, relatively speaking. a 4-hour drive with a 2-year old and a 4-year old doesn’t always classify as “easy”).  the drive from nuremberg to salzburg is “supposed” to take about 4 hours – unfortunately, on the way we got stuck in some oktoberfest traffic around munich, so it ended up being a bit longer than that. but about an hour outside of salzburg we stopped for gas and were delighted to find FRESH BAKED BREAD in the little mini market. this SO beats the subway / KFC / whatever-i-would-never-eat-gas-station-food back home. USA gas stations – FAIL. Europe gas stations – YOU ROCK.

we finally made it to salzburg, and i did the inevitable panic / anxiety in anticipation of seeing our hotel. i’m sort of a freak when it comes to hotels – my visions & standards are much higher than our budget often allows (what’s that saying? champagne taste on a beer budget … ? that’s moi). and the pictures on travel websites LIE (i swear the place we stayed in paris looked a gazillion times bigger than it actually was!) so i always get nervous that we’re going to end up stay in a rat hole. thankfully wen is now used to this and just laughs at me which helps. sort of.

anyway, nothing to worry about as the Carlton Hotel Villa at Salzburg was perfecto! highly recommend! clean, spacious, modern, friendly.

after checking in and checking out our new digs, we were off to explore. salzburg is really a small town – easy to walk everywhere. we totally lucked out with amazing weather, so it was perfect to head into town and take it all in.

it’s really SO beautiful. i love a city that sits on a river (now that i think about it – every city we’ve been to sits on a river. is that weird?). anyway, we spent the rest of the afternoon walking along the river, in the city, dinner, chocolate, etc. i have to say – the city didn’t feel super inviting or warm to me, which was surprising.  although i’m guessing that some of that had to do with the fact that it was sunday, and all of the shops were closed. as such, it overall just felt a little energy-less.  that said, we still loved walking around and seeing all of the beautiful churches and buildings and absorbing the city.

back at the hotel we tucked in for a maxey slumber party. i LOVE these nights with all of 4 us smooshed into 1 hotel room. the girls think it’s so fun – piper literally would have been happy checking into the hotel and just not leaving for 24 hours. this hotel had a queen bed and a twin bed – somehow stella and i ended up in the twin bed together, which would have been fine were it not for her NEED TO SLEEP SIDEWAYS. oy.

the next day was all about the Sound of Music tour – i’ll spare you the details and just say it was amazing! so fun to see all of the places where the movie was filmed – and hear incredible details about salzburg and its history. as cheesy as these tours are (think segways in paris!), they really are a fab way to see the highlights of a city and learn a bit along the way. at one point as we were making our way up into the austrian alps (heading towards the village where the wedding scene in the movie was filmed) the tour guide turned on the soundtrack, and as “the hills are alive” filled the bus, piper’s face lit up so bright it almost brought a tear to my eye. so perfect. and the austrian alps – ridic. seriously. how can i figure out a way to have a weekend home here? hmmm …

crisp apple strudel … (confession: i didn’t love it. apparently crisp apple strudel is NOT on one of my ‘favorite things.” cobbler or pie, please.)

auf wiedersehen, lovely salzburg.