Austria

So we decided to add Austria to our itinerary for a relaxing time outside of the big touristy towns we've been visiting and so Holly could see some of the Sound of Music sites that are famous in Salzburg and surrounding areas.  We stayed just outside Salzburg with an AirBNB host who runs something  like a small hotel in a little town called Loibichl in the mountainous region. Our first day we rented bikes from our host and spent the day cycling up and down the hills, through the bush and along the lakes for a total of 34 km.  We were exhausted by the end but it felt very good to get a solid workout in coupled with some gorgeous scenery.

Our next day we spent cycling around our area and the nearby city, Mondsee, where we visited the church where the wedding was in The Sound of Music.  There wasn't much going on in the town, so we called it an early night and were headed off early the next day to Florence (we decided to skip Venice as it is very expensive and we suddenly ran short on time for Italy).  Before we caught the train in the morning we spent an hour to check out Salzburg and some more Sound of Music scenery.