My Favorite Things!

Well, of all the places I have been so far on this trip, Salzburg is BY FAR my favorite place. It is truely, inspite of the presence of tourists, the most charming place to be. The "Old Town" is full of old architecture and fun little shoppes. There are pretzel places everwhere, and everything seams to be stuck in a time frame 50 years back. there are "two-horse-power vehicles everywhere," that is, horse-drawn carriages. Salzburg is called the town of festivles, they have had two days of festivles in the three that we hve been here! I have mixed feelings about the fact that they are so family oriented, and laid back, that everything closes early on those days, in order to spend time with family and friends. I love it though..it is a great lifestyle. The river runs through the city, dividing the old from the "newer." The water is freshwater, melted snow from the alps, and is soooo lovely! it is a beautiful color green from the limestone. I managed to get down to the side of the river and dip my toes in, i was aching to jump all the way in an float for hours. Today and yesterdaz we have been on bus tours that have taken us past many lakes and rivers. the water is said to be so clean it is drinkable. I guess it was a good thing we were in a moving bus, otherwise i would have jumped right in! I hope we get a chance to raft in Switzerland, katie is doubtfull. Anyway, i am going to trz to post as manz pictures as i can, to relay the charm of salzburg. We went on a Sound of Music tour this morning that took us all over the city to sites the movie was filmed. The music really must have been inspired by the scenery. It must have helped the actors and actresses sing even more enthusiastically...the mountians are magical! The sun is so bright, this is the hottest place we have been. I guess we are closer to the sun or something, because we have not been this hot since our first day in Rome! I never would have guessed Salzburg would be our hottest climate, but the nights are cool and breezy. last night on our waz back to our bed and breakfast, we sat bz the river and watched the water sweep by. People walked, biked, roller-bladed and sat talking...just enjoying the beautiful air and everything.

Katie told you about the race, i am not sure if she mentioned the differnet kinds of cars. I tried to recognise as many as i could, so at leats dad and micah could be excited about some of our posts! There were: of course, BMW´s and VW´s, Austin-Heelies(my favorites) OLD CARS...not sure what they were called, Fararies, Jaguars...a lot more, but i cant remember as much as i hoped. the colors were great. it was for some festival, no one could tell us which one. there are so many! :D

We are now going to enjoy the citz, there is another festival involving music and picnic stuff, so we will probablz make our way to the old town soon. enjoy the pictures, they can hardly compare to real life though! this is a place i reccomend to everyone to visit if they can!