Way before the program started I knew that on my free day I wanted to go to Salzburg, Austria. It has been a bucket list travel place of mine for a while now and having the ability to see 2 countries in two weeks was very appealing to me. The Sound of Music is also a movie I grew up watching and watched on the plane ride to Germany as well. When we got to Germany I talked to the other girls in the program and they also had strong interest. On Wednesday we decided to plan the trip and it was exciting that 16/20 of us wanted to go, so a majority of us would be spending our last day together. I feel like my planning side really showed with this trip as I booked the train tickets and had a list of popular sites within walking distance of the train station.
The day in Salzburg felt like a dream. We got there around 10:45am and started off at the Mirabell Palace, which is a site in the Sound of Music. The palace and garden were very nice. I loved the bright flowers and fountain. We sang some Sound of Music songs there before we made a coffee stop. A few people from the group split off to take another train to hike in Werfen, but the rest of us started exploring the town, walking into some shops, briefly seeing the Mozart museum, and the Church. My favorite part of the day was when we took the tram up to the Hohensalzburg Fortress, where we had a view of the entire city on one side and of the alps and mountains on the other. I vividly remember all of us audibly gasping when we turned the corner and saw the view. We spent some time taking pictures and taking in the beauty of Salzburg. We also walked into the fortress and got to explore for a while before we had some popular treats at the restaurant up there. We had Sachertorte which is a very popular chocolate cake dessert in Salzburg and an apple strudel, both were so good but I preferred the chocolate cake, it really lived up to its popularity. We ended the day frolicking by the river and getting some souvenirs before heading back to Augsburg. While we had a list of some places we wanted to go, it was fun to just go with the flow and figure things out as we went. We lived in the moment and did whatever we felt like , which even as a chronic planner, I really enjoyed. The day was unforgettable and I’m glad I got to spend it with most of the group!
