Salzburg

I am in Salzburg! Home of the Sound of Music! I have been having a great time, the weather is 25C and everything is green except for a few bits of snow her and there.

My dorm room (had it all to myself!)

I met some really cool people my first night here: 2 Aussies (Jason and Tammy) and Rachel from Chicago.
We are all travelling solo and met at the bar in the hostel. We all saw a tour advertised at the hostel to go and see the salt mines in Hallein, a small town 20 minutes from Salzburg, however, none of us were too keen to pay 40euros for it. We decided to all take the train out together and do it for a fraction of the cost.

We had the most incredible day!

Jason and Tammy (can't remember the girl's name of the right!)

Left to Right: Me, Rachel, Jason,Tammy

We took a train to Hallein and hiked about 1 hour up the mountain into the salt mines. The tour of the mines was very fun. We got to actually slide 300 meters into the mountain on the original slides the miners used...disneylandesque!....followed my a boat trip on the huge salt lake deep within the mountain.

Rachel, Tammy, and Jason in their mine gear!

Sliding into the salt mine!

On the way back down we found this beautiful walking trail down the side of the mountain by all these waterfalls and finally stopped for ice cream before heading back to Salzburg on the train.

Jason's first snow angel

It was funny seeing Jason and Tammy, who had never seen snow before, to run into piles of it like little kids and to stare in awe of snowcapped mountains! You really take for granted all the things you see everyday in Calgary.

It was pretty funny that we ended up all running to barely catch out train to Hallein in the morning and then we were all running from the train station in Salzburg to the hostel to catch the end of happy hour at the end of the day!

We all decided to travel together a bit longer so are heading to a small town in the Alps closer to Switzerland to a hostel called The Treehouse in Grunau, Austria. It is a mountain chalet and has been getting rave reviews from other backpackers and we are excited to go skiing and hike out there.