Literally walking on clouds...quite possibly cloud 9?!

This past weekend I travelled to Salzburg and Hallstatt, Austria.  Friday 10 of us left Luxembourg at 1pm and arrived in Salzburg a bit before 10pm.  After getting our bags settled in our hostel, we grabbed some dinner at a kebap stand and headed for the bars.  After a few Irish pubs, we were danced out and called it a night!  The next morning we hiked up a giant hill, may as well have been a mountain, to a castle that was on the top.  The view of Salzburg was beautiful, and the snow covered Alps out in the distance were even more stunning.  After a few hours up top, we hiked down and got on a bus to go to Eagles Nest, one of Hitler's houses that sits atop a mountain.  After 3 bus rides and some stressful travel, we made it up to the top.  From the parking lot, we walked into a tunnel that ran directly into the center of the mountain.  At the end of the tunnel we got on an elevator that took us up another 466 ft, to the house that was at the top of the mountain.  From this elevation (over 6500 ft above sea level) we could see for what seemed to be forever.  As you can see from this picture, it was easily the most picturesque place I have ever been...or so I thought.  After spending an hour up top, we headed back down and four of us got on a train to a little town in the Austrian Alps called Hallstatt. The four of us arrived in Hallstatt about 8pm, and immediately found our apartment...yes apartment.  For 22 euros (cheaper than any dirty and cramped hostel I've stayed in so far), the four of us got a two room apartment with a kitchen, bathroom, and two balconies that faced the mountains.  We caught a taxi into Hallstatt, which was on the other side of the lake from our apartment.  We had the entire town to ourselves...literally not another person in the entire town!  We walked around, checked out the local church, and ended up laying down and staring at the stars before we headed back.  The stars were unbelievable...shooting stars every now and then, you could even see the milky way!  We woke up the next morning at 6:45, watched the sun rise over the mountain from our balcony, and then walked to the ferry station.  The ferry picked us up and took us into town.  We got to see what we saw the night before, only this time in day light, and it was just as beautiful.  After about an hour of walking around, we took the ferry back over to the train station and started our 13 hour trip home.  By far the most fun weekend to date!  I'm heading to Amsterdam tomorrow (Wednesday) for my sociology class in which we have tons of cool things lined up!  I'll be there until Sunday, but will be sure to update everyone on my experiences there!

Please check out all of my pics from this weekend at : PICTURES