Hallo!
So today we went to Austria for a day trip. 942am train ride , two hours long and true to form I slept almost the entire time! When we got off at the train station in Salzburg we had no map and no sense of anything so we just headed off towards what seemed like the town. We went through some construction and neighborhoods and popped out right around mirabelle square where there was the local market on Thursday's from 11-5. We walked around a bit and a vendor even gave me an apricot from a bunch he was selling! It was so juicy! I hadn't had an apricot in a while and now I have had an austrian one :)
We thought about taking a tour but the hour city bus tour wasn't free until 2 and the sound of music tour started at 2 and was four hours long. We decided we would walk around and go to the Mozart museum and see what else and then maybe find another tour or just go back to that one.
Well, we never went back to the tour spot and we never found the Mozart museum but we managed to see a lot of other things and have some good food all the same.
I know we walked right past the Mozart museum because we walked into the universitia Mozarteum and heard someone singing opera. Honestly though I think I'll be just fine. I like his music and the rest I can google. Good on Salzburg for being able to claim him though. We finally made it to the river and crossed it to the old city and all the main things to see. We went to the alter market and bought two Mozart krugels. They are like truffles but filled with pistachio and hazelnut and a small amount of bitter chocolate then covered in milk chocolate. There was a pretty fountain there too, I took a picture of it.
Then we saw the Tomaselli cafe which has been open since 1703.
Dad had a bier and something that sounded fancy in Austrian but turned out to be hot dog on cheese and eggs. The Austrian named souded tasty though and it was! I on the other hand has soda zitrone which is sparkling water with lemon and this delicious dessert of their special vanilla ice cream with whipped cream pumpkin seed oil and roasted pumpkin seeds. Finally a gluten free dessert in this place.
From there we decided to go see another fountain - residenz fountain. It as also very pretty and ornate, in the center of all sorts of fancy buildings and tourist vendors. We went and stared at the glockenspiel and walked upnthe stairs to see the Residenz but we didn't feel like paying just to see the state rooms. They looked very fancy but since I had never heard of it before I decided I could go without looking at it too. Across the square from it was the Dom cathedral. Free entrance AND you could take pictures - my kind of church. It was obscene inside, so much architecture and painting and 5organs. One huge one and 4 in each corner of the center, kind ofnlike dueling (pairs) of organs. Those churches are incredible to see but also reaffirm my distaste for organized religion and some of the things the catholic church does in particular. But that is neither here nor there, it was pretty , I took pictures, there you go.
Next we went to the Hohensalzburg fortress.
For 10.5euroneach we got the round trip ride on the shuttle (this was a fortress remember? As in on top of a huge hill. Very high up. Steep. Don't judge, the shuttle rocked) and then the walking audio tour and the rainer museum, marionette museum, and thebstate rooms. The view was incredible, all the mountains and greenery and looking down on the huge buildings from above!
The audio tour was cool and we learned about why the fortress was built by the archbishops and how long it took. Like 400 years since they kept adding more and more. The staterooms were richly done as always - no wonder these princes were always broke. The marionette room was creepy.
After we got down I bought my first gift for anyone, I bought a hat for jon. I think we are so worried about being scammed that we just won't commit to buy anything. We would have bought Mozartkrugel for people but we were too worried about them melting or getting them back safely to the US. ...sad, I know.
After we got down from there I decided to guide us to the Augustinerkloster and Brau so dad could get a beer from their brewery.
I was able to figure out the bus system and get us to the right stop and then fluttered my eyes at a book shop keeper for directions the rest of the way. Too easy. Dad got his beer and I decided food would be good since all I had was ice cream and a yogurt at the train station and so I went to one of the little vendors in the biergarten and bought some fish and chips. Not English mind you, more like Africa. A whole mackerel on a stick and smoked. Head tail and all. And so,e steak fries. It was really delicious and just hit the spot. We saw it was 5 pm and since our train was at 7 we thought we would try to mosey on back. We took the bus back to Mirabellgarten and decided to walk from there to the train station. As a last ditch attempt I tried to find Schloss mirabelle but couldn't and so we just decided to go back to the train station since we didn't know the time. I knew where we were going but dad didn't trust my navigation that has been right the entire time (I pretty much have German navigation magic powers...I attribute them to the blonde hair)) so he thought we were lost but I got him to make a left turn on the right street finally and we made it back through all the construction back to the station at exactly 6pm and right when it started to rain. I pretty much rock, nbd.
So no Sound of Music tour for us, we probably saw the hills that were alive with the sounds of music but we wouldn't know which they were. It would have just taken too long I think, I wasn't feeling it. It would have been nice if we had two days. So if you are going to Austria I recommend taking two days. I would have done it if we had more time. Also all the souvenirs for sound of music just seemed like cheap knickknacks.... Who needs another dust collector ? No one. I saved everyone having to find a place for something g they didn't care to own. You are welcome :)
After the train ride we were too tired and it was after 9 so we just had sushi in the train station. 2euro a roll,not a bad deal. It was a nice small meal tonget us ready for bed.
Night
