Salzburg, Austria
Buona Pasqua! (Happy Easter) We went to Salzburg with Mike's mom who came to visit for a month. It's about 3 1/2 hours from our house
and the drive alone, in my opinion, is well worth the trip. The autostrada cuts right through the Alps so obviously the vast majority of the drive is right through the mountains (literally-there were lots of tunnels). It was the perfect time to go because the upper elevations are still getting snow while the lower elevations are getting rain making the fields lush and green. Also, the snow run off created many waterfalls and filled a babbling brook we drove along part of the way. There were also 2 awesome castles (left) and another large dwelling of some kind carved into the mountain. 
Right is the Dom (again, scaffodling on the right tower ruining my picture). It's the largest church in Salzburg. Mozart was baptized here and it houses a 4,000 pipe organ on which Mozart played regularly. Left is the inside of the Dom.
These pictures are of St. Peter cemetery and catacombs. One of the guide books I read said that early Christians held secret ceremonies here. Above left is inside the cliff where there was a marble altar. Below left is a tombstone marker. I'm not sure who actually lies in 
these tombs, but it's someone in Mozart's family and Haydn's family. 
The markers were at the entrance to the stairway leading up to the rooms carved into the cliff. This picture (below left) is of me and Mike's mom going up the stairs inside the cliff. We took this picture (right) from the place where you can see people standing in the picture above. It shows St. 
Peter's 
church and the graveyard. Left is another picture from the cliff. The picture on the right is of course Mike and I standing on the little place on the cliff where we took the other pictures. The picture on the right is Moz
art's birth place. The whole building is a museum now, but when Mozart lived here, they had a 4 
room apartment. He lived here until he was about 20 and then moved across the river. We didn't make it over there.
Above is a picture of the Fortress and Mike and I being ridiculous. You might notice that we appear to be the same height. He's holding me up. :) We rode a tram up the mountain to the Fortress (you can see the track on the far right in the picture of the Fortress). The
picture on the right is a close up picture of the tower at the far right of the fortress. I don't know if you can read the sign, but it says Torture Tower. On the tour we were told that tortures didn't really 
take place here, but it got its name because it was where all the instruments of torture were kept. It was also where prisoners were kept who were awaiting execution. The picture on the right is Mike and I atop the Torture Tower. 
The big picture above and left is the view of Salzburg from the Fortress. Cool huh? Also inside the fortress was a small marionette museum. If you recall from the Sound of Music, marionettes used to be very popular in Salzburg. On the left, Mike trying his hand at marionetting (I just made that word up...). This is an every day sight in the streets of Salzburg...(bottom right). Just kidding. I think they were advertising for the dinner shows. Underneath is Mike and I about half way down the mountain from the Fortress. Salzburg was really, really, awesome and with it being so much closer than we thought, we will be sure to make many other trips. (Especially to the Christmas market!) 
