March 24: Salzburg, Austria

We were so tired after our two days of travelling that we slept in until 1:30 p.m. Austria time (5:30 a.m. Vancouver time). Once we got up and ready to leave the hotel, it was already 3:00 p.m.. We were planning to go grocery shopping today, but almost everything is closed on Sundays here. The idea of a "rest day" is actually enforced here and most stores and restaurants, big, or small, are closed on Sundays.

We drove into Salzburg today, about 1 hour away. It is a larger city and the atmosphere was different there than here in Bad Gastein. Again, the roads were very narrow. The driving here is very interesting (and very scary): people driving on the sidewalk, speeding by 50 km/h +, and flashing head lights to warn of upcoming police are all very normal practices. 

In Salzburg, we mostly drove around looking for an open grocery store or a restaurant that didn't have smoking. In most restaurants here smoking is completely allowed (or they have a smoking and non-smoking section). We left Salzburg after about 2 hours to head back to our hotel, hoping to see a restaurant on our way back - which we did. We went to a chain restaurant called Rosenberg; the restaurant was very nice but when I was ordering (as you stand and order cafeteria style) without Mom, it was mostly pointing to what I wanted as they didn't really speak any English.

The drive to Salzburg was much more enjoyable in the daylight, and despite the cloudy weather, there were many beautiful views of the Alps, and of the many castles and churches in this area. 

This is one of the castles we saw on our drive. We pulled over on the Autobahn and I got out to take pictures as cars went zooming by.  

Salzburg, one of the much more spread out streets, because of the 3 lanes. The 1 lane streets are when you realize the narrowness of the roads here. 

The Rosenberg restaurant where we ate dinner.

Driving back to our hotel was when things got interesting. Upon arriving in Bad Gastein, we knew we needed to find our hotel again. Despite having found it last night, we still didn't really know how to get there (it's a complex with five buildings and the main one with the reception is rather hidden). We tried the main street, unsuccessfully. Then we tried another street leading up to the mountains, where we could see our hotel, but couldn't reach it...quite frustrating  So, we tried another street, a one way, windy, narrow and very steep street, which we would later find out wasn't a street at all but a walk-way. At the top there was a car parked right across blocking access to the other, more main road. There was no way to turn around and so we started to back up. I got out of the car and lead Mom down the hill. It was certainly a challenge and an experience with a story to tell. It took about 45 minutes for us to get down this hill, but finally, we made it safely to the bottom. A few people out walking talked to me in German and, although I didn't understand much, I did pick out things, like "look at those people" and "you have to be a good driver to do that" (that one was said in what I'll call Germenglish) as well as a chef trying to tell me that you can't drive on this road. Once we reached the bottom, we took the third road option and pulled over. I got out to walk down the one-way street to see if it was our hotel, and finally (though I walked for about 15 minutes, and had Mom worrying over me) I found the hotel, went back to the car and we arrived safely. I think we know the way to the hotel now and hopefully won't have trouble finding it again, and no more driving backwards down 2 meter wide, steep and windy roads.

Back at our hotel there was "live music and dancing" tonight (though there were only two people dancing). We didn't stay to listen very long, but it was fun to see.