Austria

Ready for some more travels?  Let's go to Salzburg, Austria today.   Isn't the photo above just so picturesque?  I took this from atop the Salzburg Fortress (Festung Hohensalzburg).  It is one of my favorite photos from the trip.

Even the snow was beautiful.

You need to know that America does not celebrate New Year's Eve the way Europeans do.

It is one rockin' (family friendly) party!  We couldn't believe the thousands of people celebrating on the riverbank.  Everyone carried an armload of fireworks.  Even the kids had craklers and cigarette lighters.  Made me more nervous than a cat on ice.  

One of my mom's favorite things in life is a fireworks display.  This was the mac daddy celebration.  It was so fun to watch her enjoy the spectacle of light.

In my last post, I referred to "The Sound of Music."  Does the picture above look familiar?  Okay, imagine that it is, say, May rather than January.  Now does it look familiar?  The scene of Maria running along the riverbank was filmed here!  Before you S.o.M. fans get too excited, we did not do the official S.o.M. tour.  It was a 4 hour trip.  That wasn't on the top 10 list for my military brother.

It truly is a beautiful city...

especially at night.

Another shot of the beautiful river.

I just had to include this last picture.  I have a time-honored endearment for little old men.  I discovered this adorable ol' chap playing life-size chess in the town square.  Isn't he precious?

He had a fancy feather on the other side of his hat.  I would have brought him home for dinner, if I could have fit him in my suitcase!

Bring your passport ... we still have some more beautiful places to visit! 

Pasta anyone?