Apparently my family has tired of what they claim have become annoyingly endless blog puns and have asked that I cease and desist. With that I must apologize to those of you out there who I’m sure were really looking forward to the next post, but you have now entered pun-free Austria.

We kicked-off our Austrian journey at the foothills of the Alps in beautiful Salzburg…and got things off to a great start with a proper Gin & Tonic at Cafe Wernbacher (great food too if you’re in the area). After lunch Caden, Keira & I explored through Salzburg Old Town starting with the birthplace of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

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And then, the rain rolled in. Undaunted we ventured up the funicular to Hohensalzburg Fortress…at which point we were smack in the middle of a downpour.

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Even though we were only in Salzburg for one night, our luck was in full swing. While Keira & I were checking into our hotel we noticed two huge busses pull up to the side entrance of the Sheraton Grand where we were staying. It was the Chelsea football team!

As it turns out Chelsea was scheduled to play the local Salzburg Red Bulls in a pre-season exhibition match that very night…which the football gods obviously wanted us to see.

Chelsea controlled the majority of the game in their 5-3 win, including 2 incredible goals from US phenom Christian Pulisic. Yup, that’s him taking a pic with Caden outside of our hotel!

The Austrian Alps

Outside of Salzburg there is a region known as the Salzkammergut which is home to more than 50 lakes. We chose to stay on Wolfgangsee Lake in the beautiful village of St. Gilgen.

If crystal clear water, endless hiking & biking trails and mountain vistas are your thing, St. Gilgen is for you. Throw in some friendly locals & good food (Tara & I loved the Capreses Burritana at Casa Mediterran) and you might just think about making St. Gilgen your home away from home.

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In the heart of St. Gilgen you’ll find the Zwolferhorn Seilbahn which we rode up to the 4,993 foot peak. To be clear, this isn’t for those who prefer their feet on the ground…since that small red cable car dangling in the air is only about 20% to the top!

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For the adventurous (and mildly insane) you can do like the locals do and paraglide back down to the bottom. We watched as a nearly constant stream of ‘gliders took off from the peak, including a tandem older couple who even took their dog!

And then we hiked down.

Our visit to St. Gilgen and the Austrian Alps was exceptional and I hope that we’ll be fortunate enough to pass this way again.

Side Note: Our journey from Salzburg back to Prague included 3 trains, one of which I decided to disembark from one stop too early. That’s right, I opened the door to get off…and couldn’t get back on. I then proceeded to bang on the train window while watching the family continue on to the correct station. After a lot of self-reflection (98% cursing) and a nearly 2 mile walk through some random town in the Czech Republic, we were successfully reunited.

You can thank Caden & Keira for requiring that this side note be included.