Salzburg, Austria
Day 1
While Mom was in town we took a lovely quick trip to Salzburg and really enjoyed the small town where The Sound of Music was filmed many years ago. We weighed the pros and cons of traveling with baby either by car or by train and ultimately decided to take the train.
Car PROS: take ALL THE THINGS. Baby sleeps most of the way. At your own pace. CONS: Baby stuck in car seat. Have to stop to breastfeed, making trip longer. Responsible for driving and navigating the entire way. Must find place to park car, and pay for it.
Train PROS: Able to move about freely and play with said baby. Get to relax, read, snooze etc depending on temperament of baby. 6 hours travel time. One transfer. No car to park once there. CONS: one transfer (totally depends on how this goes whether it’s a pro or a con), could be crowded, what if baby cries? Not on your own time table. Could be more expensive.
Ultimately, we decided to go for the train and the 6 hour trip, with a stop in Heidelberg, went really well. We arose bright and early to take the train out of Kaiserslautern. We packed everything into one large suitcase, I had David in the stroller and the diaper bag and mom had her tote bag- felt light but we had everything we needed and the AirBnb would supply a pack n play. Funny side story- when we got on the train, found our seats and looked around we got quite a chuckle at the crowd surrounding us. In the 5 seats around us we had (no joke): a priest, a police officer in uniform, a polished business man, a chic fashionista (leather leggings, fashion magazine and all) and a grungy skater dude with his earbuds in. Add in young American mom, baby and sweet grandma and you have yourself one eclectic bunch!
We arrived in Salzburg around 2pm and decided to walk the 20 minutes to the AirBnb since David was content in the stroller (we didn’t have a car seat so no cab) and had not figured out the public transport yet. The walk was a nice way to get a lay of the land and check it all out. It was super overcast but we were just happy for no rain!
After checking into our AirBnb located right on the very popular Getreidegasse with the historical rod iron signs hanging outside each business, we loaded back up to check out the Maribell Gardens from the Sound of Music movie. (Note to self- purchase umbrella stroller for future travel! Going up and down 2 flights of stairs each time we came and went with one of us carrying David and the other lugging the stroller up and down got old FAST.) The gardens were small, but beautifully manicured, and are open to the public and totally free 24/7. We enjoyed wandering the grounds and taking a few fun photos before making our way to dinner at an authentic Italian restaurant- Pasta e Vino. They had 3 pastas on the menu for that night, antipastas galore and a house red and white to choose from. A veggie lasagna and white wine for mom, the spinach linguini and red wine for me and of course a platter of meats, cheeses and olives to share. YUM. David enchanted the waiter and we got to see pictures of his adorable little girl as well!
Day 2
The next morning we took our time getting up and at em and grabbed breakfast at the Afro Café- an interesting, colorful establishment with some mean homemade juices, cappuccinos and a Brekkie Sandwich that knocked my socks off. We met a family visiting their daughter studying abroad there and of course struck up conversation because… BABY and English. Next stop was a walking tour of the old town that hopped from plaza to plaza featuring various statues, churches, fountains and many different views of the Hohensalzburg Fortress. After our tour we popped over to this small open market to grab fruit and pretzels for lunch. David was getting fussy so the fruit stall lady offered him a banana and before I knew it I was offering him his 3rd food ever in the middle of a Salzburg market! #travelbaby We just rolled with it- and he LOVED the banana. Really went to town on it and it bought us just enough time to grab our goodies and get back to the Airbnb for lunch and a nap.
Now well rested, I strapped David into the LilleBaby carrier and we headed to the 900+ year old Hohensalzburg Fortress! There is a large funicular that carries you 200 meters in just 54 seconds and bam- you are at the top! We wandered leisurely around the castle grounds, David took a snooze and we took in the lovely views of Salzburg. At the top there are a few museums.
While browsing the castle museum I both felt and heard David take one of the biggest poops I have ever experienced. I looked at Mom with wide eyes and just said “uh Mom, he pooped, I need to change him NOW before we are both wearing it… what do we do?!” The bathrooms were sprinkled throughout the castle grounds but I had no idea where the nearest one was, so mom ushered us behind a mini wall housing a few pieces of art and the plopped down on the floor right then and there to change him! Poop was flying everywhere, he was laughing and wiggling only making things worse, but all we could do was laugh too! Half a pack of wipes and an outfit change later (for him, luckily not me!) we were ready to resume our tour. A few people peeked around kind of wondering what we were doing but when they saw we were changing a diaper they kinda of chuckled and gave us the “oh we’ve been there” smile.
That evening we had a wonderful dinner of burgers and beer at Ludwig- Das Burger Restaurant. It was lively and trendy and once again David laughed and goofed his way through nap time, enchanting and making friends with everyone around. That kid.
Day 3
We had the morning and early afternoon to relax and wander, but you know how quickly that gets filled up on your last day. We high tailed it to the opposite side of town for breakfast, stopping on the way to this hole in the wall cheese shop (YES PLEASE) to gather some snacks for the ride home. Breakfast was pretty nice as well- at the crunchiest, hippiest restaurant I have ever been to called The Heart of Joy Café. I just thought it would be this cheerful vegetarian/vegan restaurant. Turns out its basically a shrine to this Eastern spiritual leader, with his artwork on the walls, sayings sprinkled throughout the menu, his books on the shelves and even videos of him speaking and meditation playing on the TVs. It was strange- but the service was super friendly and the food was really good! Back across town to collect our luggage, we figured out the very simple public transportation back to the train station- the buses are about 2 Euro for a single trip and we were able to bring our stroller on the bus. Back at the train station we had time to kill so we bought a few more groceries to nibble on for dinner and headed to our platform!
The train back was also great, we enjoyed our snacks, David snoozed, and the funniest thing happened, the priest from our first train was on the same one back with us! So of course we had to say hello and we found out he is from Germany but they may be transferring him to a church in Austria so he was there to interview and check it out. Very cool!
For a quick 3 days it was a beautiful trip, the AirBnb was in an ideal location and I feel like we got to see quite a bit while also relaxing and enjoying our slower pace with a baby. I realized traveling with David and my mom was a treat because she knows what I need before I even need it. She was so incredibly helpful and selfless when it came to David and taking care of him- it was seamless and I was really able to enjoy myself! Thank you Mom for a wonderful trip!
