My last day in Austria (May 8, 2008) had arrived - or so I thought. Early in the morning I said a sad goodbye to my brother and sister-in-law and started my drive towards the City of Salzburg, from where I was going to fly to London. I drove on the highway through the high mountains of Upper Styria and exited at Liezen to link up with one of Austria's most picturesque areas: the Salzkammergut, also known as the location for many of the scenes from the world famous movie "Sound of Music". I drove past the imposing limestone mountain of Grimming through the village of Bad Aussee to one of Austria's most well-known mountain villages: Hallstatt, settled since pre-historic times, is located on the shores of the lake of the same name and patched against steep mountains that are known for their salt deposits. Salt has been mined here since pre-historic times, and many civilizations have left their traces in this region. Images of Hallstatt are famous throughout the world. I stopped off in the picturesque village of St. Wolfgang, located on another one of the beautiful Alpine lakes that dot the region. Driving past another popular resort town called St. Gilgen I made my way towards Salzburg, Mozart's birth town and one of Austria's most famous tourist destinations. I had about 3 hours to explore Salzburg, so I took a walk in the old city centre and hiked up to the Mönchsberg which features the largest fortress castle in Central Europe, the imposing Castle of Hohensalzburg. Salzburg, embedded between several verdant hills and facing the snow-covered High Alpine peaks to the south, has one of the most picturesque locations of any city in Europe. Its many churches and historic buildings as well as its famous Salzburg Festival attract thousands of international visitors every year. At 6 pm I finally arrived at the airport and took back my rental car. Upon my arrival in the departure hall I realized that my flight to London had been cancelled and I would have to spend one more day in this beautiful city. The airport information desk helped me locate a reasonable bed and breakfast, and although I was going to miss an entire day of discoveries in London, I was starting to look forward to spending one more day in one of Austria's most famous travel destinations.

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