Romania has vampires. They win.

I can’t believe where I am sitting as I type this. Our guidebook suggested a privatzimmer, a room in a private home, kind of like a bed and breakfast, outside of Salzburg. We made reservations there, but when we arrived, the lady met us and said she had no rooms, but her friend down the street did. So she loaded us into her car and drove us about a mile down the road. We were disappointed, because the first house looked so cute. And then we saw our room here. We’re on the top floor of a Bavarian home. We have a HUGE room with a breakfast nook, and a huge bathroom tucked under the eves. There’s even a skylight in the toilette! But the best part by far is the little balcony out back. I’m sitting on a Bavarian balcony, with red geraniums in the flower boxes watching the sun set over the Alps(!) on a lovely summer evening! Wow. And we got a deal on room because the other gal had overbooked! Our hostess is super sweet and there’s even a washer/dryer across the road where we are currently doing a much-needed load of laundry.
So that’s our introduction to Salzburg! Salzburg is gorgeous. I really like this city. It’s kind of a crazy time to be here because the Euro-Cup soccer finals are going on right now and Sweden is playing Greece tomorrow in Salzburg, so the town is overrun with soccer fans from across Europe, but especially the Swedes. The Mozartplatz, the main town plaza, is fenced off with three huge screens set up to show all the soccer games. It gives a really fun, international feel to the city.
We got in to Salzburg at about 1:00 this afternoon, and after dropping off our bags at the guesthouse, we made our way back to town. We had no schedule for this afternoon, so we just wandered around the old city. We saw the house where Mozart was born, Mozartplatz (big screens and all) where we took pictures of the outside of the Dom (huge church) and St. Peter’s church and monastery. St. Peter’s had a beautiful, flower-filled cemetery in the churchyard. Seeing a staircase that seemed to lead up the mountain, we took it and ended up following a beautiful path to the top of Festungberg where the Hohensalzburg, the fortress that dominates the city, is located.

We had a few hours until they closed, so we went ahead and got tickets to see the fortress. You really don’t get to see much on the tour of the fortress, but it’s all about the views of the city and mountains really. And they were breathtaking views. We headed back down the mountain and ate Weinerschnitzel and Apfelstruedel in a little courtyard café with views of the fortress and watched the France vs. Romania game (the title of this entry is from our discussion of who we would cheer for in the game). We found some souvenirs, a café that has wireless for tomorrow, and booked a Sound of Music tour. Yep. We’re going to be that touristy! :) And we decided to declare some loyalties for the Euro-Cup so Amy bought orange Netherlands sunglasses, and Abbey is going to cheer for Sweden, since she can blend right in with the blue-eyed, blonde-haired crowd!
And now we’re trying to decide where we are going to stay when we get to Switzerland, so we can book a room tomorrow.