So, here we are on our first full day in Austria.  Last night’s snow hasn’t settled, so we decided to go and find some.  The lady in the tourist information suggested the nearest mountain would have snow, “just a short bus ride and you can catch the cable car to the top”.  Pete, apparently, didn’t realise exactly what this meant... “Sh*t, are we going up there?”.  Oh yes, we were going up there.  1800m later and Pete’s first cable car trip had brought him to the top of his first mountain (the Untersberg), with snow aplenty.  

Having walked up to the nearest peak, just above the pub, we headed for the other, slightly higher peak, but along with a number of other people were stumped by the feet-deep snowdrifts.  Never mind, we’d tried, and had a lot of fun doing so.  Soooo tempting to slide down the steep hill, but managed to refrain (jeans would *not* have appreciated it).  There’s still time :)  Hope the crazy guy with the skis didn’t hit a rock (there was plenty of choice) on his way down the other side!  One cable car trip down later, and we were back on the bus to Salzburg.

 

Next stop, then, was the Fortress on the hill, via the “English Shop” we happened to pass on the way for a packet of Walkers.  Austrian people  just don’t get the salt and vinegar thing.  We made our way to the funicular for the short and steep ride up, and then wandered round the castle looking at the museum history (Italian front, Nazis etc etc) and the funky gold leaved rooms, and then stopped at the viewpoint to look at the Untersberg (you can just see the cable car) before heading back down the footpath and across to the Monschberg.  A good hike and pretty sunset later we finally headed down the hill and back to the hotel for a quiet evening before our early start next morning