7. Salzburg

We caught the train to Salzburg.  This is the station.

Our hotel room. They had put us in a room for four - upstairs was an unmade bed and balcony. Note the European bedding system. We had a light-weight, single doona each.  The rooms were so well heated that was all we needed.  When they made up the beds, the doonas were folded lengthwise, but across the bed.

And the view from our room.

8. Surprising Salzburg

It didn't take us long to realise there is something different about Salzburg!

It is a small town with a population of only 150,000.  Munich was small but they did have locals. As we walked about the streets in Salzburg, everyone seemed to be a tourist.  It was like being in a theme park.  The other time  I have thought this was in Venice.

Later a bus driver explained -  local people live in the new city, the old town is a museum.

Certainly it is gorgeous, with mountains in autumn colours around it.  But there were tour groups everywhere.  And this is the off-season.

They must be glad that the Sound of Music was filmed here.  And that Mozart was born here.  The gifts that keep on giving!

We had our second attempt at German cuisine last night.  Suffice to say I won't be buying the cookbook.  KM's pork skewer was good, mine was like a breakfast bubble and squeak of various pork cuts and potatoes.  I guess, if your culinary claim to fame is sausages.....

Funny thing - Germany is neat, clean, efficient with lousy food.  India is the exact opposite.

9. Music in Salzburg - from Mozart to the Sound of Music

Salzburg is the birth place of Mozart.  His family lived in a third floor apartment in this yellow building, now a museum.  Along we went - it was very interesting and gave a comprehensive overview of Mozart and his life.

Photos were not permitted, so only pic I have is of the outside.

And there is a statue of him in Mozartplatz.

We took a tour to see the locations where the Sound of Music was filmed.  But the 4 hours was so much more!  The tour guide was full of knowledge about the making of the film, all put together with a wry sense of humour and a sing-a-long during the bus ride.
There was a dedicated bus.

The abbey in the movie.  You can just make out the archway - marked with an arrow.

The lane where Julie Andrews skips along singing "I have confidence".

A gazebo - this is a smaller one used for background shots only. The one used in the movie (where Leisl and Rolf sing "16 going on 17") was larger.

This was the lake where the children, and Maria, fell out of the boat.  The producers had hoped to use the house, but the owners refused permission to remove some of the trees to help filming.  So they used the lake and put other houses in the background.

The church at Monsee - used in the film where Georg and Maria were married.

And inside

And lovely views of the mountains and lakes.

And us.

What else did I learn? How much work goes into preparing for a movie. 

10. Salzburg - fortress, christmas, Mozart dinner

Yesterday we began by heading for the funicular to visit the Festung Hohensalzburg (somewhere in all that it means fortress).

View of the fortress through the skylight in our room.

Heading for the funicular (Festung Bahn) in  the cold autumn morning.

Views of Salzburg from the fort.

And guess which company runs the funicular.  This is for Hoon!

After lunch we wandered around the town a bit more.
Saw this food stall

and this is a cheese cutter.

Christmas is coming.  What a window display

and inside the same shop.

For my birthday, we went to a dinner with music (Mozart of course, there are no other composers in  this town) between each course.

As we came in - we were early.

A few more people.  We had a mother and daughter from Melbourne next to us and a couple from LA across from us.  One of their friends had lost a home in the fires.

This was during the performance.  The Christmas tree was on the stage so the musicians and singers had to sing from the front of the dining hall.  Not a problem for us.  The man is the tenor enjoying teasing the crowd.

11. Food - and other bits & pieces.

I have commented on the food.  Just as we were saying how little fish was available, we saw this, right next door to the Mozart Birth-place museum.  An entrepreneur has found a niche!

A closeup of the window.

KM was happy!

We all know that the tourist stuff here was originally for Australia, and only ended up in Austria because of a typo.


This TShirt had its say.

12. No gap to mind - and food

Today we caught a train from Salzburg to Vienna.

NSW is not the only system with double-deckers.

But the internal steps are easier to negotiate. Wider and with a lower rise

Inside - comfortable.

And they have a little retractable thingo that eliminates any gaps!  Called gap-fillers, apparently.

And they take recycling seriously.

Dinner at a nearby pub.   Sausages and sauerkraut for KM, goulash for me. Water does not come automatically.

I have been rude about German/Bavarian cuisine.  Anything based on sausages and sauerkraut..... not that cabbage had a lot going for it anyway before they fermented it.    But there was one recipe that took my interest - Salzburg nockerl - and I think I will just look it up on the internet.  Didn't get a chance to try one - it is a kind of souffle.  Pic from Google.

13. Schonbrunn Palace

Today we caught the U4 to Schonbrunn station to see the Palace of the same name.  It was a crash course in the Hapsburg Empire.  The last emperor was Charles I who gave up his role in 1918, also 100 years ago.

It was also a poignant  visit as I recall looking at Yvonne's video and pictures when she went there with Beo Lan several years ago.

It was a magnificent building.  We went on a tour of the state rooms, no pics allowed.  This is the outside.

If you walk into the gardens and look back, this is the view.

And there are laneways off to the side.

It is big.

And a graphic warning about bollards.  Not sure how the German translates.

14. Vienna - cathedral, catacombs etc

On our first day in Vienna, we went to the main cathedral, St Stephens.

Then I discovered they had catacombs, accessible only on a tour.  I had never seen catacombs before, so we waited.  Sadly no pics, but here is the entrance.

There were coffins of various archbishops, urns (that looked like tins) of the intestines of various rulers (they were removed to aid the embalming process), and then lots of bones of people who had been buried there.  When they needed more space, they got prisoners to clean up the bones and put them together.  So now I have seen catacombs - pretty much as expected.

Street scene outside the cathedral.

The souvenir T-shirt here is "No kangaroos in Austria". They were on sale at this shop, but the advertisement certainly didn't show a roo!

Further on the subject of recycling - you have to sort according to the colour of the glass.

And the endlessly fascinating topic of loos.  Saw this.  They are the toilets at Cafe Korb, apparently frequented by Sigmund Freud when he developed his practice in Vienna.  I have seen it written that these symbols were in deference to his views on sexual impulses.

and a back-to-front toilet.  But it worked.

You have to take your camera absolutely everywhere when you are on holidays!

15. Food for the soul and the body

Today, with Anne's access to and skill using Google Maps, we caught a tram to the Belvedere.

A Vienna tram

with in-journey entertainment supplied.

The Belvedere is the home of many Gustav Klimt works, the most famous of which is The Kiss.  No doubt you have seen many photos of it, but this is mine.

And another GK - Adam and Eve

And this one was here too- not a Klimt!

After a day at the Gallery, Anne found the way to Cafe Sperl for Austrian cakes.  Below are Cheesecake, Sacher Torte and Sperl wafer.  All delicious.  I was thinking of relenting and buying the cookbook, until I read that each cafe jealously guards its recipes.

A later dinner was traditional Austrian fare again.  Wiener Schnitzel, served after we heard the pounding in the kitchen,

and tafelspitz for me.  This was described as boiled beef, and it was suspiciously like corned beef, although less red.  There was grated carrot and something else, creamed spinach, potatoes and apple sauce with some horseradish flavour to it. Easy eating!

And Christmas markets are just beginning.  Saw this tonight outside the Rathaus, and you can see a familiar reflection in  the tram window!