Salzburg, Austria June 18-20, 2013

On June 18 (I think it is Tuesday), we hopped on a train to Salzburg - yup one train, no connections, it was a treat and only 1.5 hours.  We arrived in the early afternoon and took a taxi to our hotel.  We actually didn't realize how far we were out of the centre of Salzburg as we kept driving and driving.  Oh well - there are always buses and taxis.  We arrived at the very modern, new and clean Motel One (with air conditioning) on a day that was 34C.  After getting some directions, we decided to walk to find a laundromat (which we are desperate for) and have some lunch.  Then walked to town along the river.  It took us about 1 hour to walk to the centre of Salzburg (remember it was 34C) and we decided we needed a cold drink - yup - BEER, but not regular beer, Austrian beer!  We walked around the old town shopping district for awhile and then hopped on a bus back to the hotel.  We stopped at the grocery store for some bread, meat, cheese etc and sat outside our hotel and ate this for dinner along with 2 mini bottles of wine.  We then lounged in the outside lobby of the hotel for the rest of the evening with a couple of beer.

June 19 - got up bright and early and went downstairs for breakfast.  We had to be waiting in the lobby at 9 am for our Sound of Music tour.  This was a very fun tour where we got see may of the sights where the movie was filmed.  We saw Mirabell Palace Gardens (where they sang Do Re Mi), the back yard of the house and lake (Leopoldskron Palace - interesting that they used a different house for the front), the Nonnberg Abbey (where Maria was a nun), the gazebo (now rebuilt on the grounds of Hellbrun Palace), the meadows where they sang), the Mondsee Cathedral where they got married which is in lake district.  It was also a great tour from a city historical perspective.  AND it was an air conditioned bus - IT WAS 37C!  After the tour, we walked through the Mirabell Palace Gardens and into the old town where we had a cold drink and I bought some sunglasses - real ones (Raybans), not the $10 gas station variety - I am quite surprised to actually be able to see clearly through sunglasses - I just assumed all these years that foggy unclear vision normal.  We walked around the old town and saw the Salzburg Cathedral, St. Peter's Cemetery and Catacombs and St. Peters Church.  We stopped for a late lunch/dinner of bratwurst and beer (can't get enough and we will be out of bratwurst/beer country soon).  We hopped on a bus back to the hotel, had a little rest and went down to the outdoor lounge for a nightcap.

June 20 - we slept in to about 9 am.  This was going to be our lazy, laundry, packing day as we are going on our cruise on Saturday and Friday is a 7.5 hour train day to get to Venice.  We had breakfast, went for a long walk and then went to do laundry.  Had to where my swim suit and a tank top I bought to the laundromat as everything else need to be washed - great or not-so-great planning - not sure.  We went for a long walk along the river for about 2 hours (it was about 32C) away from town into what seemed like the country - we didn't really see any houses.  Then off to laundry.  The thermometer was climbing and I think it ended up around 34C today.  After laundry we stopped for a beer and a little shopping.  We then stopped at the grocery store for a few light snacks like vegetables, olives and sausage and had those with a beer in the hotel lobby.  Now we are packing as we have a loooooong day tomorrow of about 7.5 hours on 3 trains to get to Venice, Italy - can anyone say expensive?

Gazebo from Sound of Music - Notice the Lady dressed up - she was a tourist on our bus

Old Town

Fortress