Day 7 Salzburg, Austria

Even though the weather was dreary, cold and rainy, we were still able to appreciate the beauty of the Alps between Munich and Salzberg.

 Upon arriving in Salzburg, our first stop was the Dom Salzburg.  While admiring the beauty of the interior, we were astonished to learn that the church had been virtually destroyed by aerial bombing during World War II.  It was rebuilt and reopened for services in 1959!

 

At this point we were cold, wet and miserable, so we ducked into the Restaurant Zwettler's.  It turned out to be a typical Austrian restaurant complete with Tyrolean garbed waiters.  We had a fantastic lunch.

After warming up we went in search of some of the locations from the "Sound of Music".  We laughed at the sea of umbrellas we saw on the street and in front of the Mirabell Palace.  We visited St. Peter's Cemetery, Residenz Square, Fountain, Mirabell Gardens and Palace.

Sea of umbrellas ahead

Residenz Square

Fountain in Residenz Square

Mirabell Garden entrance

Mirabell Palace

Mirabell Garden steps

Tour group's sea of umbrellas

St. Peter's Cemetery

We drove back to Munich.  No one wanted to go back out in the rain, so we stayed in our hotel, blogged and drank wine.

Day 6 Strasbourg - Stuttgart - Munich, Germany

As we were leaving our hotel, our hotel clerk gave Debbie and Lisa a yellow rose in honor of National Women's Day.
 

We took a brisk walk to the Place De La Republique and admired the fine architecture in the monumental Cirque.

Opera House

Oldest library in France

Upon leaving Strasbourg, we drove to Stuttgart to have lunch with Lisa's cousin Ursula and her friends Marianne and Rainer.  We met at the Movenpick Hotel and dined at the Restaurant Trollinger.  Sharing our common travel experiences in both the United States and Europe made for lively conversation.  Now it's on to Munich.

 We arrived late in Munich and decided to have dinner at the our hotel The Hotel Torbrau. Our waiter and waitress spoke very good English and Bill taught our waitress some Texas sayings.  We laughed when she turned to the waiter and told him, "This ain't my first rodeo" on perfect cue to a remark that he made.  She's a quick learner.

Day 5 Colmar to Strasbourg, France

We began the day walking around the medieval village of Colmar.  The town is filled with renaissance buildings, half-timbered structures and gracious loggias.

We visited the Eglise des Dominicains, a beautiful Gothic church.

The highlight was meandering along the romantic streets and canals known as "Petite Venise".

Since Bill could not figure out how to get Lisa to the Mannequin Pis in Brussels on Trip 2, he made up for it by taking her to the miniature in Colmar.

Colmar is the birthplace of Frederic-Auguste Bartoholdi, the sculptor of the Statue of Liberty.  On the way out of town, we passed a replica.

Upon arriving in Strasbourg, we walked towards the Notre Dame Cathedral.  Along the way we crossed over a beautiful canal.

The cathedral, constructed of dark pink sandstone is a triumph of Gothic architecture.  The off-center spire tapers skyward at 466 feet..

The crowning glory of the cathedral is the rose window

The Astronomical Clock

 The most interesting quarter of Strasbourg is La Petite France, 16th century houses on the banks of the Ill River.

Debbie and Bill have friends whose daughter, Erin, is currently living in Strasbourg.  Erin and her friend Andrew met us for dinner at Bistrot Coco.  The food was excellent and the company was even better.  Unfortunately, we were having so much fun, we forgot to take pictures.

The city was beautiful lit up at night

Cathedral illuminated at night

Day 4 The Alsace Wine Region Tour

We spent the day driving through the small villages of the Alsace Wine Region.  The towns are known for their colorful half-timbered houses with turrets and oriel windows.  Since this was the off season, most of the shops, restaurants and wineries were closed.  But that was not an issue as we enjoyed the relaxed atmosphere.

We knew we were in wine country when we saw all the grapevines.

The town of Turckheim

  

Town of Kayserburg

We had a wonderful lunch in the town Riquewihr

Wine tasting in Ingersheim

Wine tasting in Hunawihr