On Saturday 25 August we left Lake Lucerne and headed into Austria to Innsbruck. We were in 3 countries in 1 day as we headed out of Switzerland, through Liechtenstein and into Austria. It was raining most of the day and once again Loche was very pleased to find there were no hill climbs for this leg of the trip.

The caravan park at Innsbruck is considered to be the best in Austria and when we arrived we could see why. The whole park is centred around two lakes with a large water activity area in one of them. There is also a bar, a restaurant and a pizzeria. The toilets and showers were very new and modern and WIFI with good signal was available on many of the pitches. The caravan park is not far from the aerial ski jump ramp in Innsbruck.

The night before, the button on the toilet in the caravan stopped working so once we arrived and set up Loche went in search of a caravan shop for some parts while Cara and I investigated the playgrounds, lake and trampolines. The next day was still overcast and raining so we decided to visit the Swarovski Crystal Kingdom because it was indoors, and I think everyone else had the same idea!

Monday 27 August we left Innsbruck headed for Salzburg, it was an easy drive of only a few hours and we went via Germany, so from Innsbruck, Austria to Salzberg, Austria, we travelled into and then out of Germany.

Our first day in Salzburg we went to Schloss Hellbrunn, a 17th century summer palace built by prince-archbishop Markus Sittikus. Apparently Sittikus had a pretty good sense of humour - the extensive gardens surrounding the palace have ponds and water features with many hidden fountains. He used to invite guests over for dinner parties and then wet them with many of the fountains that are hidden into the pathways and outdoor table settings. A tour guide takes you through the gardens and sets off the fountains on the group. The fountains also have figurines and other displays that move around from the power of the water (have a look at the photos to see what I mean). We all had a great time at the palace - it was very light-hearted and different from anything we'd done before. To watch everyone in the crowd, us included, get wet was a really nice change from the usual visits to places like this.

We left the Palace early afternoon and decided to go for a drive to the nearby Lakes District. It's a gorgeous drive with the alps towering over beautiful aqua lakes. We stopped at St Wolfgang, a little village on the Wolfgangsee Lake. It's a gorgeous lake and village and we just wandered through the streets looking at all the little souvenir shops and then had an early dinner at a restaurant overlooking the lake.

Thursday 30 August we caught the bus into Salzburg to have a look around. We caught the funicular up to Festung Hohensalzburg, the fortress on top of the cliffs overlooking the town. It was built in 1077 and many prince-archbishops lived there during their rule of Salzburg. In the fortress there are a couple of museums including one dedicated to puppets. There are a few restaurants as well, where you can eat and have a fabulous view looking over the town below (which is what we did). We were surprised at the cheap cost of lunch.

Salzburg:

• The sound of music was filmed around this area
• Mozart's home town and birthplace