We successfully navigated our way out of Vienna in a rental car on Saturday and headed to Salzburg.  Vienna is a gorgeous city and we loved it.  We left plenty more to see if we ever get the opportunity to return.

The drive to Salzburg was also very beautiful with rolling countryside, lovely villages, and the vertical hillside plowing that looks so unusual to me.  There were also wind farms and many, many solar panels for those of us who just don’t get it (as our oil industry neighbor describes those of us who think renewable energy should be a part of the energy agenda) to be intrigued by.

We stopped in the city of St. Pölten, the capital of Lower Austria that originated in Roman times, to stroll the town center and enjoy lunch at Café Schubert where our server was very helpful in assisting us with the German menu.  Then it was back on the highway toward Salzburg.

We are staying at the service-obsessed Hotel Sacher (http://www.sacher.com/en-hotel-sacher-salzburg.htm) which is on the new town side of the River Salzach.  Waking up on Sunday to a view of the sun glistening on the Old Town as well as up and down the river was a treat with Sunday being our first nice weather day of the trip (we’ve mostly been in the 30s with rain).  We strolled the romantic medieval streets of Old Town that is a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Site.  We took advantage of the nice day to check out the apparent vibrant retail, visit the Cathedral with its fantastic Baroque ceilings, the vast Franziskanerkirche and Hohensalzburg Fortress including a ride on the funicular to scale the hill.

Dinner at St. Peter Stiftskeller (“since 803”) (http://www.stpeter-stiftskeller.at/en/the-restaurant.html) that bills itself as the oldest restaurant in Europe and it was excellent as had been the hotel restaurant the night before.  It is game season here in western Austria so there are many wild animal specials on the menus.

Another day in Salzburg tomorrow but, as of now, it is a wet and cold forecast.