The Hills are Alive

So Salzburg was pretty cool, if I do say so myself.
First of all, the view on the ride over there was pretty amazing. I had no idea that Saxony had so many gorgeous hills. It was also pretty sweet to take a fast, expensive ICE train for a change instead of having to stop in every other little town.
First impression of Salzburg was that it was eclectic. The buses were pretty old, ran infrequently, and nobody seemed to care. My friend and I also passed by a lot of random shops on our way to our guesthouse. Sadly, we missed the next bus to our guesthouse and had to take a taxi. It was up this huge hill, but other than that was pretty sweet. The lady in charge was really friendly and normal, and our room was--an actual room! Apparently, this lady just rents out rooms in her house. We had a CD player and stereo, a dresser, a TV, and a sink. What?! Breakfast was also included and only for 20 euros per night.
So we began our first day with the Sound of Music tour. This tour was actually a lot different than I expected it to be. We didn't get to see as many places as I thought we would, because some places we just legally couldn't enter. Still, we saw: the lake where the boat capsizes, the gazebo, the back of the house, the park where a lot of Do re mi was filmed (the steps, the fountain, that grassy tunnel they ran through), and the church where the wedding was filmed. The church was in a little town called Mondsee, which was gorgeous. I tried some pretty delicious apples strudel there. We also passed some other really gorgeous Austrian towns and scenery on the way up there, so that was worth it. In addition, our tour guide was hilarious.
What else: we saw Mozart's birthplace, though were too cheap to pay to go in, the lake, a fortress at which you could see all of Salzburg, the main Cathedral, and a beer hall. The beer hall was really friendly. I tried this sandwich called bosna. It's basically sausage. Oh yeah, and we saw this really strange play about the life of Herbert von Karajan. Seriously strange.
Yep, that's about it. My impressions of Salzburg/Austria: way more laid-back than Germany, which was a nice break. I just loved the scenery and the hills. I think it would be a nice place to live, though I would love to spend more time in the small towns. There really wasn't a whole lot to do in Salzburg itself. I was also really surprised I could understand Austrian German.
On another note, while in the Munich train station, I picked up a brochure about the city. I want to go! The tours look really interesting. Nurnberg was another city I passed by. It looked pretty gorgeous and weighted in history. We'll see where I end up. This Wednesday there's a holiday in Sachsen. I'm thinking of visiting a small Bavarian town that's not too far, but I hope it doesn't snow!