Schnee

We left Munich with the Austrian weather forecast in our minds, snow (or schnee) was going to hound us over the next few days. Not that we minded too much, it is pretty exciting to be in a good snowfall, especially seeing as we never got a decent one in Scotland the whole time we were there.
We headed to Salzburg and spent two nights. The first night we learnt the important lesson of how crucial a weapon an umbrella can be against snow, (why had this never occured to us?), although nice and dry to begin with your body melts the snow leaving you cold and wet before long. We found some cosy Irish pubs to watch the rugby world cup final with every other Brit and Antipodean in Salzburg which was kind of nice. What was also nice was staying in a warm bed. We had decided that although the idea of camping in the snow was appealing in some ways it would probably lead to us digging our way out in the morning-something neither of us felt inclined to do.
The snow continued through our day of sightseeing but it was truly magical to look out over the rooftops of Salzburg from the fortress on the hill and see them coated in white. We did have to retreat several times during the day to warm cafes although everybody else seemed to have had that idea too!
For Eva's birthday we decided to head to Innsbruck via some really amazing sounding ice caves. We took the slight detour to the caves only to find they were closed due to (you guessed it) too much snow. We then stupidly relied on highway signage to take us the quickest route to Innsbruck (Eva having left her navigational duties behind due to birthday girl status) only to realize we had almost ended up back in Germany and had taken the looong way around. Perhaps the fact that we were forced to buy a ten day highway pass on the border made the transport authority want us to get our moneys worth?
Innsbruck itself was a nightmare to drive into, the first one that caused us to pull over and consider giving up! Once out of the car however the old town won us over with all the lovely, damp buildings, the alpine blue river and the misty distance promising us that on a clear day the view is amazing.
To celebrate Eva surviving 24 years as well as the drive that day we went out to an amazing five course Japanese meal that left us rolling out of the restaurant, very sumo-like.
We decided that as the weather did not look like improving for any view or hiking opportunities we would head south for Italy. Austria would not let us go quite so easily though. Driving out of Innsbruck took us through quite the snowstorm with the biggest flakes yet. Even as we drove we found the snow was gathering on the roads and making driving a bit of a task......the border was close though...

Photos: View from the fortress in Salzburg, Eva in Innsbruck, Driving in a blizzard.