So, here's the Dealio...

I am ashamed of myself and have never been more disappointed. I am fully aware that I have completely disregarded this blog since October, and I'm not sure I can ever forgive myself. But, onwards and upwards, as they say... So, rather than attempt to do one huge post, I am going to do a few little chunks over the next week to sum up the past 3 months! Do forgive me, I know I am a terrible person...

Picking up from the start of November...

A lot happened in November, and it all began with a short weekend in Salzburg. This alone was eventful enough, and I will share some highlights...however, the real heart of this story lies in the fantastic experiences Tiffany and I had travelling... All will become apparent.

Thursday evening, I travelled to Melk and went for a fantastic burger with Tiffany and her friends at a Lokale. This then turned in to a night out, lasting until 3am. It was so much fun, and everyone was just enjoying a great time. Getting up at 7am for the train the next day proved to be much less pleasurable... though it was helped considerably by heinz beans on toast and cathedral city cheddar. It's the little things.

The trip to Salzburg was lovely, including a lunch of Schnitzel and Wurst in this cute little restaurant (right by Mozart's birth place), where they were cooling their freshly-cooked strudel in the window! It wasn't too pricey at all, and the food was delicious.

The day included taking the walk up to Hohensalzburg fortress, I would seriously advise sensible walking shoes if you plan on doing this. It is pretty steep, but we found reminding yourself of the cake you can eat later was motivation enough. You can take the guided tour once in there which, although informative, we found a little dry. However, it is definitely worth the trip up there just for the amazing views over the Alps.

The weather was really decent, and we could see the beginnings of the snow on the mountains. It was such a stereotypical view of Austria, but breathtaking nontheless. So after a lovely trip up to the fortress, if memory serves me correctly, we headed on to a little konditorei in the altstadt, where we enjoyed some amazing apple strudel and hot chocolates. I sadly have no pictures of this place, and can't remember the name... but it did Austria proud for sure!

And then there was more...
On the Saturday, Tiffany's friend from Melk came and joined us to spend a day eating, drinking coffee and doing a bit of sight-seeing.
We of course did the obligatory trip to Mirabell Palace, where some of The Sound of Music was filmed. Sadly, I have since realised our "Sound of Music" pictures were taken infront of the wrong fountain. Cringe. So they will not be added, just to save ourselves from the sheer embarassment they could cause... But here is a photo which looks like it could be straight out of a catalogue, instead. This was also taken at Mirabell. It was beautiful but, sadly, being out of season it was all shut up. The gardens were worth a visit though, and very Sound-of-Music-esque...

The next trip truly changed my life. Anyone who knows me knows how important food, especially cake, is to me. So, we spent our late afternoon in a cafe called Tomaselli. If you ever go to Salzburg, there is no way on this earth you can miss this place out. There is a woman who brings around a huge selection of cakes which she describes to you, and you then choose which one you would like. The coffee is amazing, too, and if you aren't a caffeine fan then stick to the amazing hot chocolate, instead.



This pretty much sums up the fun weekend we had in Salzburg, in between all of the beautiful churches and cathedrals we popped in to! All but one thing, that is...
Being the savvy-scrimpers that we are, we managed to book the train back from Salzburg for a measly €7, it just meant travelling a little later and arriving back in Melk at around 10.30pm... not so bad, we thought. That is until we were joined in our carriage by a man describing himself as "sexy" but a bit "professor-like", who then proceeded to flex his biceps and remove handcuffs and rope from his bag... the remnants of "a fun weekend with his girlfriend". After surviving this and a cocky train conductor, we proceeded to be hit on by a bunch of Arabic-speaking guys. And the lesson learnt from this was... never use the late-night trains in Austria, no matter how cheap they are! But all in all, a great start to November!