Salzburg- a city of Christmas cheer, baroque music, and where the hills are alive!

Back in November my mom came out to visit me and to celebrate Thanksgiving.  At the beginning of her stay we took a side trip to the City of Salt aka Salzburg, Austria.

Originally we decided to go to Salzburg because of their famous Christmas Markets.  I already knew that I wasn't going to be in Michigan for Christmas.   The season was already was going to be a hard season for us since it would be the first Christmas without my Grandpa.   He was a man who loved Christmas.  Everyday he would use a chalk board to countdown the days to Christmas and, with my dad's help, came up with the idea to have a room dedicated to Christmas 365 days a year.  Each Christmas Eve we'd gather around the piano and candle light tree to sing Christmas carols and listen to him play a very special version of Stille Nacht.  Christmas without Grandpa was going to be hard, but in order to celebrate his life we were going to Austria to immerse ourselves in Christmas cheer.

Two city plazas were filled with the market.  As we wandered the smells of mulled wine, cinnamon from handmade ornaments, and pine from the decorated wreaths kept us warm despite the rain.  Well, maybe I was kept warm by  rum spiked tea that was actually hot rum with a dash of tea.   There were groups singing carols and bells ringing in the hour.  It was the perfect way to welcome in the Christmas season.

The next day we went on a Sound of Music bus tour.  This tour was amazing!  I would recommend the tour even if you don't like the Sound of Music.  Actually, if you HATED the songs from Sound of Music you'd want to skip the tour.  Between stops they play the music and people just maybe sing along.  They taught us all about the history of Salzburg, the real Von Trapp family, and also visited two small cities in the mountain region.  First stop was where I was Singing in the Rain.  Oh wait, wrong movie.  I was 16 Going on 17.

Did I mentioned it rained in Salzburg?  

Warning: If you go outside of England we me IT WILL RAIN!  Sorry I'm cursed.

Next we stopped at the lake from the canoe scene where the kids are wearing drapes.  You might notice the house in the background looks nothing like the house in the movie.  That's because it isn't!  All the scenes towards the house were shot at a location down the street at another location.

Next we went up to the mountains and that is where I fell in love with Austria.  The valleys in between the mountain peeks were filled with lakes.  In the summer you can kayak between quite mountain towns and in the winter the farmers carve cross-country ski trails across their fields for the locals to use.  It was even was cold enough for the rain to turn into snow.  Eureka!! 

Our last stop was at the church where Maria and the Captain were married.  It was a beautiful church with a surprise on the inside.  Above the alter there seems to be 5 mummies.  In fact the mummy in the center is real!  I believe he was the first priest or cardinal of this church!!

My mom and I had a wonderful time in Austria.  I'm so glad she was able to come out and celebrate an early Christmas with me!

PS I forgot to mention why I have baroque music in the title of this post.  Mozart was born here and we toured his childhood home!