Salzburg - Home of Mozart Balls

Salzburg is famous as the birthplace of Mozart and the setting for the Sound of Music movie. Mozart must be a serious money-making draw because his name is in everything from restaurants and hotels to candy (the famous mozart balls of marzipan and chocolate). Salzburg is charming with historical churches, cobblestoned streets, and a backdrop of stunning mountain scenery. The town had a energetic vibe as the yearly Salzburg Music Festival was going on. Tickets sell out months in advance, with operas and concerts costing several hundred to a thousand dollars a piece...

We spent two days in Salzburg, one of which we used to take a side trip to the Bavarian Alps. Only a short 30 minute bus ride took us to the alpine town of Berchtesgaden in Germany. From there another bus that climbed several thousand feet up a mountain to drop us off at Eagles Nest, Hitler's "retreat in the hills". There was a 'documentation center' that detailed the rise and fall of the Nazis and a bunker system built into the mountain as a planned hiding place for the end of WW II (Hitler never made it back there though...)

While the Nazis committed unforgivable atrocities during their reign, they did know how to pick out a nice spot for a bunker. The views from the mountain were fantastic.