MoreTrains and time in Salzburg, Austria

 Sat Sep 26th to Tues Sep 29th

From Villach, Austria, we were now well positioned to get trains just about anywhere. But we needed to start making our way closer to Munich for our flight home on Sept 30th. There wasn't enough time left to cycle the whole way back there, so we would be taking a couple of trains to expedite the journey. The first section would be from Villach to Salzburg, where we planned to stay for a few nights.

On the train to Salzburg

Great mountain views on this train journey
 (no difficult steps to be negotiated in this station, the lifts were working!)

While waiting to board our train in Villach, I got chatting to another cycle tourist Paul who was from Melbourne. As we were loading our bikes in the dedicatedt bike wagon, I met his wife Margie,and learned they had just completed the Alpe Adria tour. When I told her my name, she asked if I was Daphne from YouTube!!! Another big surprise for me! This was the second occurrence of being recognized on this tour. They had watched our Alpe Adria series in preparation for this tour. So we had quite a chat while waiting for the train to depart. Very cool!

Finally unloading my gear in the hotel

I had booked myself a hotel in Salzburg, while Nancy continued to camp. As this was not my first time here, I decided to do something different and also very touristy. I booked myself on "The Original Sound Of Music Tour"! This was the very first film I had seen in a cinema as a young girl with my mother, back in the 60s. Well, it was an absolute blast! A full size coach tour with an excellent guide.We were taken to several filming locations in Salzburg as well as in the gorgeous lake district to the east of Salzburg (called the Salzkammergut). We learned all kinds of stuff about the filming techniques,the different film sets, where Christopher Plummer stayed  and how he passed his time during the prolonged shooting, and more of the back story of the real Von Trapp family and how they really escaped from the Nazis.

We listened to songs from the film and sang along and did the actions and just had a ton of fun. I was sitting next to Mike from Maryland, and his wife and daughter, who were lovely. We had a hoot together. The tour lasted for four hours, cost 60 euro but was so well worth it, especially considering the bonus of getting  to travel out to the lakes and mountains.

This is the gazebo used for a couple of the scenes, including the"16 going on 17" scene

Pegasus Fountain at Mirrabel Palace. Maria and the children danced around d this found a ton.

Nancy was seeing this city for the first time and had a good tour of the old town, then took a bike trip (without luggage) out to the lake district. So I'd say we both had a great experience in Salzburg. And we happened to be here during a special festival weekend - the Saint Rupert holiday, which seems to be a very big deal here. Everyone was dressed in their traditional costumes, and all the plazas were filled with fun-fairs, beer gardens and craft stalls, etc etc. It was a crazy scene!

The boys were all in their lederhosen

Today, Sep 29th, we have made our final train journey from Salzburg to our airport hotel in Munich. This train journey went very smoothly, with no difficult stairs or transfers. We had our final beers and dinner together this evening, feeling happy and grateful for a really great tour - no crashes, no bike issues that we couldn't deal with, no health issues and good weather for the most part. We saw so much over the last month and made memories to last a lifetime.

The bikes are now packed back in their boxes, and we fly home to Canada tomorrow, although we're on different flights. I'm ready to go home now for sure and looking forward to being home with Frank 💕

Got my bike disassembled and boxed in the hotel this evening