Our stay in Austria just went to show that every place in each country is so different, and going to one city does not mean you’ve seen everything there is to see. We spent the most time in Austria because Philip was born here when his parents were traveling for the military and lived there for two years. Now he can speak German, and studied abroad in Klagenfurt two different school semesters.
We went to 3 cities during our stay, and each was drastically different from the other.
|| KLAGENFURT ||
Our first night in Klagenfurt we went to a lovely traditional Austrian restaurant called “Augustin” and I had the best salad I’ve ever had hands down with home made pumpkin seed oil dressing, and amazing beer (of course). Later for lunch I would try tradtional dumplings, and schnitzel (meat slab that tasted like chicken to me).
Filling up mugs
One thing I was absolutely unprepared and unaware of was the amount of smoking in Austria. It’s so prevalent that the restaurants have a small non-smoking section and a bigger smoking section. It’s normal to just smoke at the table with people who don’t smoke because it’s so common, and many people start in high school.
||GLÖDNITZ ||
We left Klagenfurt after getting to see many of Philip’s favorite places and took a bus to this small town in the mountains to meet Lee and Allison, who moved from Manchester England. They have such a sweet lifestyle raising their daughter Eden in a peaceful town, and it seemed so surreal and quiet with the snow covering the land.
People do come up here for the skiing, and once you drove up high enough you’d find a few places to eat and the ski center.
We hiked up to the top of the mountain to see the view and get some images for everyone.
I loved this family, I will share a separate family blog for them with their wonderful snowy family images.
|| SALZBURG||
So the first thing many people might think of is that Salzburg is the place that “Sound of Music” was filmed. But of course there is so much more to it than that. It was the biggest city we visited in Austria, and it was jaw droppingly beautiful. People would just be walking their dogs down a path in which a mountain was towering in the background.
Speaking of dogs, everywhere we visited in every country in Europe, dogs are taken in cafes, malls, everywhere. They are much more well behaved than in America. I don’t really know if it’s because they just are stricter with them, but they never barked, would just sit outside places and wait for their owners, or sit inside quietely. It was very common for people to have them everywhere.
Sound of Music gazebo
Bubble Jackets (the biggest trend everywhere) and multi colored pants (more common in Austria)
On this bridge there are locks across the entire way with a couple’s name on them. It signifies their binding love.
