Salzburg: the land of Mozart, magic, and the Sound of Music!

We got to Salzburg around noon on a rainy Saturday afternoon, quite tired from traveling for nearly 2 weeks but knowing we only had that afternoon to see the city...so we tried to find our hotel as quickly as possible and get a little rest so we could have energy to enjoy the city! When we got to our hotel, we discovered that it was in this sweet modern style with no perpendicular or parallel lines to be found anywhere, and it was awesome! Here's a small sample of our room:

(above the bed)

the rest of the room! and a very tired Jesse.

We found our buddy Mozart here in Salzburg too--in the city of his birth where he hated to be later in life cause it was too small for him. But Salzburg does its best to claim him anyways!

Ok.  This guy is awesome.  He's got some contraption from that pole up his sleeve and under his butt so he can sit down, and every now and then he comes out of his frozen position and freaks you out!  We thought he was awesome so I took a picture, and then Jesse, feeling the need to pay for the photo (so the guy could have some sort of livelihood) went up and dropped a Euro coin in his bucket--and when Jesse leaned up from the bucket, the magic silver mozart man magically produced a postcard out of NOWHERE and gave it to him! It was pretty much the best thing ever.  Jesse, who is not usually amused by street performers, cracked up and couldn't stop talking about it! It definitely made our day.

I was taking a picture of the river and scenery but wanted Jesse in it, so I said "Hey, stick your face in this one."  Jesse took me quite literally. 

Ok, story time: as we were walking through these gardens, Jesse saw some statues of Unicorns and said something to the effect of "Unicorns are pretty much the coolest thing you could have on your family crest."  But then we came across this statue of a Pegasus, and Jesse got quite excited and said "Never mind Unicorns, I want a Pegasus! Cause the only thing I can think of that's cooler than a Pegasus is a lightsaber."  At which point, I, of course, cracked up laughing.  Yes.  My husband is awesome.

And this, my friends, are the stairs on which Maria and the Sound of Music crew finish off their Do-Re-Mi song!  I was pretty much freaking out excited.  In fact, I think the pregnancy hormones kicked in and made me cry just a little bit.  Cause that movie has been my favorite movie since probably forever, and I was just overcome with the emotion! Anywho.  Awesomeness.

And a view from the other side!

And this, lovelies, is the tunnel where they ride their bikes.  It felt epic. 

And THIS is a midget statue in a garden full of sort of strange, very hardworking looking midget statues.  This one and I bonded over our similarly round and silly faces.

The view as we walked back to our hotel.  Just stunning.

And the beautiful yellow house Jesse and I decided will be ours one day when we discover that I have a great great great Aunt in Salzburg that will die and will it to me.  Cause that's probably the only way we could ever afford it. (Also, please ignore the fact that I appear to not have a left hand--it's still there, just bent backwards at the exact wrong angle for it to appear on camera. oops!)

And this sign is mostly for my German speaking friends (Megan H. in particular) who still might not find it as hilarious as I did: for those that don't get the joke--this is a McDonalds ad for a new chicken sandwich which combines the words "Hahn/huhn" (chicken) and "unglaublich" (unbelievable) to mean sort of "chicken-unbelievable!" But it's so much funnier in German because of the overlap in the words...anyways.  If you speak German, I hope this made you crack up.

And, having nothing to do with anything in particular: this sign that we found next to our hotel.  Does it mean you can only walk here if you're a man in a hat with a small daughter?  Or that it's a good place for parents to walk with their children?  Any other guesses?  (And brittany, yes, I do realize that this sign is the opposite of the weird sign you found apparently banning this! Does seeing it allowed make yours make any more sense?)

Not pictured: the DANGED AWESOME pastries we bought at a bakery the next morning that pretty much blew our minds.  I should have taken a picture, but they disappeared too quickly! The moral of the story: when in Austria, eat pastries for every meal.  But don't stay in the country for too long, or you'll be too big to leave.