Salzburg, home of Mozart. It was snowing quite heavily while we were in Salzburg. Nevertheless, we toured the Mozart museum and the beautiful castle on the hill. You can take a trolley to the castle - makes things a lot easier when it is snowing and windy!

At the bottom of the hill resides St. Peter's cathedral and the catacombs. The catacombs were closed for the winter, but the graveyard was open. The graves are often marked by cool and creepy sculptures.

We thoroughly enjoyed the tour, taking in the different memorials. We hope to go back in the summer and see the catacombs proper. We also enjoyed Austria for its food. Austria is very close to Italy, so it has some really amazing Italian restaurants. This was a huge relief to us because we were just about sick-to-death of pork and veal. Pork and veal with some type of pickled vegetable on the side is the mainstay of German winter food. Boy, were we glad to see some tomatoes!

I'm looking pretty grim here because our second misadventure had struck. On the way to Salzburg from Rothenburg, each member of our merry band came down with a violent stomach virus. Luckily it only lasted about 24 hours, but it definitely put a dent in our Fashing celebration. Fashing is the European Mardi Gras - and boy do the Germans love Fashing! We stopped several places along the way to ask for directions and a room but every place was filled with costumed party goers. We recovered in time to enjoy the end of the festival and see some of this beautiful city. Mike and Crystal especially enjoyed the Mozart museum. They even got him to pose for a picture!

My favorite two drinks in Austria - homemade hot chocolate (wonderful!) and fresh squeezed orange juice. They actually have these neat machines that squeeze the orange juice for you while you watch.