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I was first drawn to the idea of visiting this mountain, embarrassingly enough, because Julie Andrews mentioned it in the beginning of the Sound of Music (it was allegedly where she was singing The Hills are Alive, etc..) – the trip was worth every second! My partner and I took a bus out of Salzburg to the base of the mountain where you can catch the cable car to the summit. Once up there and doing a bit of exploring we retired to the sun terrace at the cafe on the mountain for a bit of liquid refreshment. At the table next to us, there was an older German couple with the most adorable little dog, we began playing with the dog, the woman proceeded to tell us that ‘he is how you say…’ and then said some German phrase we didn’t understand…after a few blank looks from us and a couple of giggles, she raised her leg up from under the table and gestured towards her ankle and said…‘he is how you say, bite, here’ – who knew that ankle biter translated!

For my partner and I’s first trip out of the country together, we went here between Christmas and New Years for a couple of nights. The Christmas markets were still open, the vin chaud (hot mulled wine) was cheap and plentiful from the street vendors and it snowed almost the whole time we were there. It was absolutely magical walking around the town, watching the snow fall, finding a cute place for lunch/dinner – was the perfect romantic get-away…The charm of the Alsace region was amazing, the best of French cuisine, but without all of the traffic and noise of Paris and all mixed together with a hearty German influence.

Growing up in this rural community was absolutely amazing. Even though I have traveled the world and live overseas now, the beauty of the surroundings and the friendliness of the people still takes my breath away.