We just kept saying to ourselves, “What a beautiful city!” “What an historical city!” “What a musical city!” And it is – all three together. And it makes for a great short-break holiday.

Laurie and Allison arrived a day early and enjoyed tours of the house in which Mozart was born and the house his family moved into later in his life. Then we were all off on the Original Sound of Music Tour. We had an excellent tour guide and had a lovely day – most of which was spent in the Alps around Salzburg. We also had a lovely day to take the cable car to the top of Untersberg, visiting the Palace of Hellbrunn, Nonnberg Abbey, and St. Peter’s – all featured in the Sound of Music. Our last day was rainy, but we had saved our indoor visits for just that eventuality: the Residenz, Salzburg Cathedral and the fortress of Hohensalzburg.

Add to all of this the great German food – sweet buns and rich Austrian coffee for breakfast, pretzels and leberwurst for lunch, schnitzel and wurst and apfelstrudel and Sacher Torte for dinner and more delicious Viennese coffee. We couldn’t get enough! What a great weekend!