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18 Days Through Europe
In An Audi
Salzburg, Austria
Dick's mind was on
dessert as we walked from the Best Western Zum Hirschen to the
Glockenspiel restaurant
After dinner we strolled through the narrow streets of the Altstadt (old city). There are hundreds of shops and museums and cafes, the majority honoring Mozart in some way. On our last trip, we had explored his birthplace, a small apartment, and walked past the home where he grew up. A little more exciting however, was the dinner and concert we attended in the St. Peter Stiftkeller. The Mozart dinner concert featured musicians and singers dressed in costume and a dinner served in elaborate surroundings above the Stiftkeller, Europe's oldest restaurant.
We rose the
following morning to gray skies and the threat of rain not a good omen for
our trip to
Berchtesgarden and the Eagles Nest.
Bob's Tours picked us up at
9 a.m. at our hotel. We had booked a tour
The whole side of
the mountain at one time was a complex for the Nazis. Most of it was
destroyed because the Germans did not want it to resemble a memorial to
the Hitler regime. Only Eagles Nest survives and, down where the buses
load, they have excavated an area of the bunkers to show what it was like.
There is also an exhibit with a wealth of history about the persecution of
the Jews and the war
On our way back to
Salzburg, we stopped in Berchtesgarden for a short stroll. It was
beginning to rain so we didn't linger. But we were attracted to a
cathedral where someone was playing the large pipe organ. The sounds
resonated within the walls. Pure and unamplified, the music was thrilling
to With the rain discouraging any outdoor activity, we opted to make it a laundry day and found a coin-op place not far from our hotel. Even doing laundry in a foreign country can be entertaining. The variety of people to watch kept our attention as the clothes tumbled dry.
Our morning
exploration on Saturday included an open market with all sorts of food
products and fresh produce. We wound our way through it to the funicular
that would take us to the
fortress
of Hohensalzburg. To our surprise we found ourselves in the middle of
a Medieval Festival. Costumed performers and merchants were found
throughout the courtyards of the fortress. The castle tour was very
interesting providing a look at 11th
Returning to old city, we explored the cathedral and St. Peters arriving just in time for a wedding. We sat in a slight drizzle and waited for the bride to arrive. Our patience paid off as a car decorated with fresh flowers, mostly red roses, arrived and a lovely bride emerged to be pampered by mom and dad who straightened the roses on the neckline of her dress and led her into the church.
Polly had missed the
Sound of Music tour
on her last visit so we walked to the
Mirabell Palace
gardens where, on the steps, Julie Andrews taught the children
Do-Re-Mi. We had already walked through the cemetery by St. Peters where
the inspiration for the set was found. The movie copied the crypts almost
exactly. The convent sits Earlier, we had tried to get into the Mozart dinner concert and found it was fully booked. We opted for a Sound of Music dinner concert which was okay but not the elegant evening the Mozart dinner would have produced. The singers were good and the evening enjoyable. Salzburg is always a treat to visit and there is never enough time to do all that you would like. With the thought that we would return again, we left to travel unknown territory and face the perils of the road to Venice.
(For more information on Salzburg visit: www.visit-salzburg.net)
©Karen Robbins 2005 All text and photos on this page are copyrighted in my name. Please obtain permission for use.
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located in the Mozart Plaza near the Glockenspiel
of course. When they had last visited Salzburg, Dick ordered a special
soufflé there and it was "calling to him". We were a little late to hear
the carillon. It plays at 7 a.m., 11 a.m. and 6 p.m. but just before
dessert arrived, we were serenaded by a violin and piano just below the
balcony where we sat overlooking the Mozart Plaza. We lingered over coffee
and the light fluffy concoction that Dick was so fond of. 
because we weren't sure how
difficult it might be to find the place and/or what the road to the top
was like. (It turned out we could have driven ourselves and did the next
day.) Our very blonde, tall tour guide from Holland navigated us through
all the crowds and onto the buses that leave from a central area half way
up the mountain from Berchtesgarden. The route to the elevator is
thrilling as you look thousands of feet below you. Arriving at the top we
were ushered to the elevator that goes up to the
particularly concerning the town of Berchtesgarden.
hear. Our guide obligingly left us at the entrance to the old city and
we found a little restaurant for lunch. 
century decor (including a private
commode in the bedroom). Wooden
walls were elaborately painted and touched
with gold. At one time, the bare walls were adorned with red velvet. An
old ceramic oven provided heat in one room. The views of Salzburg are
wonderful. It is easy to pick out the cathedral and St. Peters church.
What a view the prince-bishop must have had of his subjects below.
in the side of the hill overlooking the area. Apparently
when they were filming the movie, some of the actors wouldn't abide by the
rules set up by the nuns so they were banned from filming the wedding in
the chapel there. The producer used a church in a little town of Mondsee.
I was disappointed we couldn't show her the church but we were running our
of time.