picturesque city

This was not a place I had ever planned to visit while over here on exchange. But I am so glad that Claire had a friend studying there and convinced us to go and visit with her over our break. The city was stunning, and nothing like I had ever seen before.
We got in to Salzburg around 9:30pm on Friday and successfully figured out how to get a taxi and get to Lauren and Peggy's place (the girls we were staying with). Considering we don't know German we thought this may have been a little more difficult. When we got there the girls already had friends over at their apartment pre-gaming for the night ahead. We did the best we could to make ourselves look presentable (the amount of buses and planes we had been on since our last shower made this difficult) and started enjoying our first night in Salzburg.We went to Murphy's and O'Malley's, two Irish bars over the course of the night. Kayla and I tried apple strudel shots and Claire and I had some of their local beer. The night was crazy, hilarious, and just what we wanted out of our first night out on our Eurotrip.
The following day was unbelievably sunny and warm (we all ended up getting sunburns -who thought you could get sunburnt in Austria). It made for the perfect way to see the picturesque city. Most of the sights were located in the Alstadt (Old City), between the Monchsberg and the Salzach River. We walked around the Alter market, admired the Dom and took a peek at Mozart's residence.
For lunch we decided to walk up towards the Fortress Hohensalzburg. Founded in 1077, it is the largest preserved medieval fortress in Central Europe. Brooding over the city from atop the Festungsberg we could see the fortress from wherever we were. We enjoyed an Austrian style lunch on the Festunsberg (cliff) with the Alps in the backdrop. We could not get over the absolutely stunning view we had. It was mesmerizing.
In the afternoon we got some delicious ice-cream and took a stroll through the Mirabell Gardens. This is where Julie Andrews sang in The Sound of Music. Both the formal gardens and the palace were spectacular. The flowers were all just planted for the springtime so the colours were bursting. Since the weather was so nice we decided to sit out by the river and bask in the sun for the remainder of the day.
We picked up some food at the grocery store and enjoyed dinner on their rooftop. With the church bells ringing in the background, the sun setting, and the river in the distance it was just lovely. I will always remember sitting out with some of the best people out there and truly appreciating this experience. This was followed by us pre-gaming with catch phrase and going out to a bar later that evening. A 4:30 wakeup call made our night be cut a little bit shorter then normal but it was still lots of fun. Some great new friends and some everlasting memories (and the stunning scenery) made this city one of the best. Xo