Prague

We both really enjoyed Prague. It is a beautiful city and has some of the oldest buildings we've seen yet. Somehow more of the architecture in Prague has survived than in other European cities. Our hostel was in a great location so we could walk everywhere. We were in a smelly dorm room at first, but upgraded to a private room the last two nights and the rooms were like the difference between night and day! We didn't go on any tours, but rather did self-guided walks around the city. This meant that we could take our time and the whole visit was very relaxing.

Before there were street numbers they had symbols like this

The signs were sooo helpful!

Prague marathon finish line

View from the castle

View of some of the bridges from Letenske Park

Charles Bridge was kind of crowded

Trdelnik

Lennon Wall

The castle

Munich

We were sad to leave Salzburg so soon, but Munich was a great city and we fell in love with it too! We encountered more great people, more great food and terrific beer. Our hostel gave us a map with a suggested walking tour of the city, so it was easy for us to find things to do.

Luckily the first night we discovered beer halls, and we went to one each day in Munich. We both loved the German food we had, and the beer was the best we've ever tasted.

Day 1

German food and beer for dinner

Day 2

Walking tour of the city:

Karlsplatz

Newhauserstr (H&M shopping)

Frauenkirche

Marienplatz/Glockenspiel

Viktualienmarkt

Alter Peter (St. Peter's)

Residenz

Odeonsplatz

Hofgarten

Haus Der Kunst

Eisbach

English Garden

Chinese Tower

Olympiazentrum

Hofbrauhaus for more German food and beer

Happy hour at the hostel

Glockenspiel at Marienplatz

The Olympic Park

Surfers on the river in the English Garden

The Chinese Tower

Allie finishing her liter of beer

Ellie starting her second* liter of beer

Day 3

Dachau Concentration Camp

German food and beer for dinner

Day 4

Deutsches Museum (science and technology museum)

Hofbrauhaus again

Salzburg

WE LOVE SALZBURG! We would have matching t-shirts that say this, but they were too expensive. Seriously, Salzburg was amazing. It is one of the most beautiful places either of us has ever seen, and the people are unbelievably friendly. Our two week old hotel turned out to be swanky, comfortable, and one of our favorite lodgings yet. The staff was so friendly, they even ordered pizza for us in German. Despite the rain, we were able to walk everywhere because the city is small. We both really loved learning about Mozart and seeing his residence and birthplace. Our diet here consisted mostly of chocolate and bread, which partly inspired us to open a bakery together later in life! (Also, Salzburg has amazing Thai food!)

Day 1

Explored Old Town

Found giant pretzels for lunch

Had the best hot chocolate we've ever had

 Mozart's residence

Thai food for dinner

Day 2

Donut pretzels for breakfast

Hohensalzburg Fortress

Mozart's birthplace

Austrian cake and coffee for lunch

Zotter chocolate shopping

Day 3

Even better hot chocolate (didn't know it was possible!)

Train to Munich

 Eggs for sale at 'Christmas in Salzburg' (such a cool store!)

 Statue of Mozart from 1842

 The crystal clear river we crossed every day

 A view from the Fortress

 The view from our balcony!

 Pretzel stand

 Zotter cashew caramel drinking chocolate

 The Fortress

Our lunch of cake and coffee

Vienna

We had even less time in Vienna, and we both would love to go back some day to see more of the city. The parts of the city that we saw were beautiful, clean and upscale. We tried to do as much as we could, but neither of us were feeling too great. The friendliness of the Austrian people we encountered really made an impression on us (especially after Being in Italy). The first thing we did was the Museum Quartier, which was a huge complex with tons of different exhibits and restaurants. We also saw the State Rooms of the Imperial Palace, which consisted of a library like the one in Beauty and the Beast! After walking through more of the city we sat in a park for a while before deciding to head on to Salzburg!

 Library at the Imperial Palace

Walkway to the underground station

Venice

We only had 11 hours in Venice, and that was all we needed. After finally figuring out how to get onto the island (which involved Allie being yelled at by an Italian bus driver), we checked our bags at the train station so we could explore the city. We didn't have any sight seeing planned, so we just grabbed a bite to eat and wandered around for a while. We thought it was an adorable city to look at, and we had some great gelatto, but unfortunately we did not feel welcomed by any of the Italians we encountered. Exhausted from our previous travels and tired of the lack of hospitality, we retired to the train station three hours early.

Once we were finally on our overnight train to Vienna, we realized that it wasn't that we were burnt out on traveling, it was just that we didn't fit into Venice or Athens. The quality of the Austrian train renewed our spirits.

 One of the countless smaller canals.

 The Grand Canal

Alaska, our gelatto place