Sorry about the backlog in terms of what we have been up to.  We've spent the last week taking a holiday from our vacation.  Poor us...we know you all feel bad for us being so tired from all our travelling. Believe me, it's hard work. Let's go back 2 weeks now to Salzburg:Our main reason for going to Salzburg was to obtain our visa for Russia. At some point while we were in Italy, it occurred to us that we needed visas for Russia, Mongolia and China. Most countries nowadays issue visas at the border or just wave us in with our beautiful Canadian passports. Not those places.  So they must be interesting places to visit, otherwise all the work we put into it will not be worth it.  Let me just say that getting into Russia is a pain. While in Salzburg, we visited their famous ice caves. We were brought 50km out of town into the Alps. The tour bus brought us about 1/3 of the way up the mountain, then we had to take a sketchy gondola another 1/3 up and then hike the final 1/3 to the entrance which was at over 1600m in altitude in the side of the mountain.  Along the way up, we had some beautiful views of the valley down below.  The caves are known for having the world's largest ice formations inside.  Unlike the caves we explored in South Africa, these ones were very cold; so cold that the ice does not melt even during the summer heat.  Unlike the caves in SA, these ones did not have artificial light and so each second person was handed a carbide lamp. At the more interesting points, the guide would burn magnesium to lighten up the ice formations (see photos).Another sight we visited in Salzburg was Hellbrunn castle.  It was built by the Archbishop of Salzburg in the 1700s (when Salzburg had its independence) as a summer retreat to escape the heat.  The archbishop had built a series of elaborate fountains to surprise his guests.  At the main dining table, when activated, fountains shoot out the bottom of the seats and over the table to drench and cool off the guests. At another spot, he had built a fountain that shot up a cone 3m into the air.  There was also a miniature baroque village that the people and the music were powered by water fountains.  Surrounding the castle were beautiful manicured gardens and beds of dozens of varieties of dahlias.As with any European city, we explored the old city. We saw where Mozart was born and grew up.  We listened to the glockenspiel which I had no idea that it was simply a carillon.  We visited the colourful gardens at Mirabellschloss.  We ventured into a busy street market.  All the vendors dressed up in their traditional clothes and sold meats, produce and other stuff. We even managed to buy some real natural wool for Michaela’s knitting.  Quite possibly the highlight of the market was the oompah band that would chug beers between songs. So Austrian…In preparation for our next stop (Munich), we visited the Augustiner monastery for some practice drinking large beers.  We were brought there by a friendly and very interesting Aussie/Canadian who introduced us to our first of many 1l beers to come.After all that, on Friday the 29th of September, we left Salzburg with our fancy, but incredibly expensive and frustratingly difficult Russian visas for Munich and Oktoberfest.