Germany/Austria Trip - Part 2 Salzburg

Time to leave Germany and head into Austria!

Jenn's first taste of an Autobahn (so nice to drive on the right side of the road again too)! For the most part there was no speed limit posted except when it came to bridges, off ramps of course and tunnels. We drove around 130 kmph and felt like we were being passed at a stand still by most of the other cars! 

The views along the highway were great.  Foothills of the Alps.  Lots of small towns with tall church steeples with onion domes.

Getting further into the Bavarian Alps.

There wasn't much in the way of fanfare when we crossed the border into Austria.  We were a little upset that we didn't get an Austrian stamp in our passport (but when we flew out at the end of the trip they stamped it for us!)

Salzburg is a picturesque european city with it's well preserved old town (a UNESCO World Heritage site) and its Alpine setting. In addition to its beautiful surroundings, it has two claims to fame: being the birthplace of Mozart and the setting for the movie The Sound of Music.


When we arrived at Salzburg we suited up and headed down to Maribell Garten.  A famous garden in Salzburg which was featured in The Sound of Music. 

Carter and Averie found an interesting tree to climb around on.

Next we headed deeper into the gardens.  On these steps Maria belted out the last notes of Doh, a deer, a female deer, in the movie!  (you'll have to watch it again).

And also during the song the Von Trape children danced around this fountain.  Notice Hohensalzburg Castle high on the hill in the background.  Amazing (and also shown in the movie a lot).

In the gardens we stumbled upon a unique playground.  This slid looked like it had to be a joke; it was very very steep and high (notice the people behind the slide). We tried to avoid it but the kids insisted on trying it and not wanting to show fear of course...

Carter, Jenn and Averie managed to survive it!

We were pretty disappointed with the weather the next day, which was quite rainy, but we headed to the Old Town anyway.

One of the first things we came across was a MANNER CAFE! I've been a HUGE fan of Manner wafers my whole life thanks to my Omi giving them out to us throughout childhood and still to this day! And now here I am in Austria in front of an entire shop for the Manner wafers!

Traditionally the original ones were several wafer layers with chocolate hazelnut paste between. Inside the store however, they had lots of varieties that we'd never seen before and every other Manner product you could imagine, including giant manner packs.  We bought a WHOLE bunch.

After eating wafers we continued on our original search; to find the home of the world famous Mozart balls.  Again, throughout my whole life Omi has had Mozart balls at her house wrapped in nice gold wrapper, but what we've found out is that those Mozart balls are copies of the original.  The original is only sold in Salzburg, in the three shops called Furst, after the man who invented them and consists of a ball of green pistachio marzipan covered in a layer of then nougat dunked in a dark chocolate coating. 

The Furst Mozart balls are a little larger than the copies and come in silver wrappers (as apposed to the gold wrappers of the most popular copy).  

After we filled ourselves with sugar the rain started to subside and we continued on our adventure.

Next we visited the house where Mozart was born and raised before he moved to Vienna.  It was on the 3rd floor (at the open window) that Mozart was born and quickly became a child prodigy.  Sorry, we couldn't take pictures inside.  In the apartment you see copies of some of his first compositions and even his concert violin.  You also see one of the organs where he composed some of his work.  There are also countless letters, photographs and paintings of him and his family.

 

The city still maintains the traditional sign posts for the shops.

This is the square where Maria and the Von Trap family shopped for fruit and vegetables.

This area with paintings of horses and a central fountain was also in the Sound of Music.  Beautiful setting just below the cliff.

Next to the fountain was a passage through the mountain.  

These buildings are built into the mountain.  Along the roof line they have painted the date of construction, with all being built in the 1400's!

More sign posts.

Averie gave Baabaa a ride on her 'shoulders'.  Carter was asleep in the stroller!

Cafe Tomaselli - the oldest coffee house in Salzburg still in use, dating back to 1705. Rumoured to be a favourite spot for Mozart to socialize. 

This is the Dom, Salzburg Cathedral. It's a baroque design from 1628. But on this side a church has stood since 774.

On the side of the Dom is Kapitelplatz which provides access to the funicular up to the Castle and a piece of art called Sphaere (or nicknamed, Man on Mozartkugel, Man on Mozart ball).

Next to Kapitelplatz is a monastery and graveyard.  This graveyard was also featured in the Sound of Music.

This is the arcade and gate that the Von Trap family hid behind while fleeing the Nazi's near the end of the movie.  And above you see part of the structure built into the mountain!

At last we took the funicular up the mountain to the Castle.  Unfortunately it was still overcast and we couldn't really see the mountains that are apparently right there!

The castle began construction in 1077 and is one of the largest surviving medieval castles in europe.

One of the story's about this castle is that sometime in the 1500 or 1600's the city was attached by an enemy.  Once all of the inhabitants were safely locked in the castle the enemy knew that they couldn't get at them, so they waited down in the valley for the food to run out and the people of Salzburg to give up.  Once the food was getting close to running out and there was only had one ox left, the people of Salzburg put the ox up on the wall of the castle and walked it back and forth.  The next day they painted the ox a different colour, and once again, walked it back and forth. Apparently they did this enough that the enemy got frustrated with waiting and left.  Apparently having seen all the different ox they figured there was still a large amount of food in the castle walls, so they left!  So apparently for some time the people of Salzburg were called the cow-painters.

After the castle we got lost looking for a restaurant and ended up at a monastery brewery.  The concept here was to grab your mug off the wall (0.5 litre or 1.0 litre) and then head to the counter to pay. 

After that the bartender fills your mug with the one beer they serve, Augustiner Brau, brewed on this site since 1621.

Just like the German beers, the Austrians know what they are doing!

For dinner we had more schnitzle, cucumber salad and pretzel.  We also had a great roasted chicken. This time Averie was asleep, she missed the whole thing (we saved her some though).


And that was the end of Salzburg.  The next day we head for Vienna!

Mike