It is approximately 8 hours before there is a Lufthansa jet leaving Buenos Aires heading to Frankfurt, Germany with me on board.  The phrase “I need a vacation” could not be more true or more of an understatement at this moment.  I am beyond excited to visit new parts of Europe and revisit a reoccurring favorite and I feel certain my colleagues at work hope I can find a way to recharge the batteries and return refreshed with much more humor than I seem to have right now.

Summer 2012 continued:

Salzburg, Austria

Have you ever came across a photo and had no idea where that photo was taken but instantly knew you had to go see for yourself?  Well that is how I ended up in Salzburg.  Now the photo was taken of a small church with snow covered mountains in the background…beautiful right?  Probably during winter yes but in the middle of summer very nice but not quite the picture recreation I was hoping for.  Well that photo and the idea of skipping through the alps recreating a scene from the Sound of Music, which again would have been a great idea at any point in time other than the scorching heat in the middle of summer.

I found Salzburg to be a quaint town with many things to see and keep me occupied both in the old town area and outside the actual city.  The landscape is very beautiful and hilly; though in July I would not recommend so much hill climbing.  We stayed at Alstadt Hotel Weisse Taube    (http://www.weissetaube.at).  I really have mixed feelings about this place.  The hotel is marketed as a bed and breakfast and while there is a bed and breakfast it is much larger than what I consider a B&B and without so much of the personal touches.  Now I will admit when I walked in the front door and the desk attendant was wearing lederhosen I became a little more excited than necessary and scenes from the Sound of Music were running through my mind.  The hotel is situated in the middle of  old town close to everything making the location perfect.  The breakfast is very nice and the breakfast attendant is super sweet.  And well OK that is all the good I can force myself to write.  The room is in serious need of an upgrade though I was quite impressed with the orange shag carpet that covered the floor and half way up the wall… made me think of my grandmothers house and how she use to use a leaf rake to make it all stand up and believe me you better not walk across it and leave footprints before my grandfather returned home.  Such a great family memory but not one I wish to recreate on vacation. Here is the huge deal for me no air conditioning and a small window so that even at night the sauna (aka the place where you are suppose to sleep) never cools down.  Really it is a hot humid climate in the summer and there is no air-conditioning or even a fan are you freaking kidding me.  Again at any other time of the year this may not be such an issue.

So now that the not so great planning hotel is done and it is what it is…..off into the town.  On Fridays there is a market in the old town square that sells regional food items and especially pretzels covered and filled with almost anything you can imagine.  Yep you know I had to try it out…..raspberry filled and covered in chocolate ooey gooey melted chocolate it was heaven in my mouth.  On this particular day the square was filled with Japanese tourist in a tour group the thing that makes this story so funny is incredibly tall Dutch man got stuck in the middle of this group so there he is about 2 feet taller than the tallest of these people and they are looking up and him and touching him to make sure he is real and not one of the city statues and because they are tourist you know there must be like 5000 pictures of him with them.

Make sure to visit the fort at night it sits on top of a hill overlooking Alt Stadt (german for old town) and is beautiful to see all lit up and of course it is much cooler at night then in the day with the sun beating down on you.  One last piece of information….don’t try to swim in the fountains to cool off I thought it was a great idea until I saw the water…Nope I will pass.

I couldn’t leave Austria without buying some crystal….yes I have a huge obsession with glass.  Old glass, colored glass, old crystal, new crystal, colored crystal…bowls, glasses, candle holders, bar sets, well I see that you get the picture.  There are several antique stores around town where you can find beautiful crystal at reasonable prices (don’t ever pay what they first quote you they will negotiate) …though I will make a small suggestion perhaps make this the last stop in Europe because carrying it around in the suitcase from town to town without breaking is a bit stressful and makes the suitcase much more heavy than it really should be…yes I know advance planning should have been utilized but it all made it back to Buenos Aires safe and sound without even chipping….only for a glass to suffer the fate of Paul and Lumi playing fetch.

Soon to follow Summer 2013 Eurotrip because right now I am sitting in Amsterdam in a incredible hotel suite with just a bit of jet lag…you know the kind where your body stops moving and your brain cannot focus…..Sleep is a necessity right now.