Well, I went to Salzburg for two reasons; Vienna was very close, and Melissa had raved about her wonderful experiences there on her trip when she graduated from Duke. It was an easy train ride, and there I was in the proverbial “Sound of Music” area, or as my on-again/off-again “friend” Rick Steves calls it SOM!
I arrived in early afternoon to give me time to check into my not plush but most adequate digs, a three minute walk from the train station. These areas can certainly be “dicey”, but Salzburg is only about 150,000 people, so it was not a problem except that it is all torn up in reconstruction. I checked in and made the maybe fifteen minute walk into the city. The tour books suggest that your first stop is the TI or tourist information center, so I headed right over. Salzburg has an excellent pass, but I needed to mull it over for 24 hours to see the value?! (YES! I should have bought it then!) Instead I found myself buying the four hour €37 SOM tour for the next morning. I did and do love the music and the story, so it was a good start, although I had NOT thought I would do that. Later, as I wandered around the old town, bursting with tourists, I found myself heading back towards the hotel. I saw an interesting garden with fountains and lovely plantings. I saw a sign and learned that Mirabell Palace was having a concert at 5. I bought a ticket and saw the (small) Rembrandt etching exhibit as well. (IF I had bought the Salzburg card, I would have already have been ahead of the game!) There were probably not more than 100 seats for this cello/piano concert, but I sat down and listened to them practice beforehand. While I was sitting there, a boy sitting several seats over started talking to me. His name is Helian; he is 15 years old, loves playing the cello, which he started at 5. He told me that his mother is from Taiwan; his English teacher is from Ohio. (I told him about our three years in Chagrin Falls.) Later, as I looked at the program again, I realized that he would be playing. His mother was the cellist on the program. It was a wonderful concert, and I loved the serendipity of me talking with Helian before! I stopped into the beergarden near the hotel for a bowl of pumpkin soup and huge salad accompanied by an Austrian beer. Tasty and very pleasant experience!
Thursday morning the Panorama driver picked me up for the SOM tour, led by Peter in the quintessential Tyrolean attire minus the hat! (I sat next to Carrie from Chicago, who had just run the Munich Marathon with a friend who was across the aisle with her sister. The bus was packed, and this tour is only given in English. There were five stops, and Peter’s excellent talk included much of the “true” background of the story. I thoroughly enjoyed it and had NO PROBLEM doing the tourist thing….Interestingly enough most Austrians do not know the story at all! YES! The hills are still alive....
In the afternoon I took the Unsterberg Cable Car, with spectacular views of the whole area. (I could pretend I was a mountain climber as there were plenty up there.) I had dinner at another beergarden restaurant (turns out it was also a Best Western hotel!) DELICIOUS goulash dinner! Then I took the funicular up to the Hohensalzburg Fortess for a night view of this lovely city.
Friday morning, I locked my bags at the train station. (Another advantage of my train dilemma was I had a full day in Salzburg instead of leaving early and having no day. Plus I did not have to pay for a hotel in Paris Friday night!) So I visited the two places where Mozart and his family lived and learned more about his life. But it was a beautiful day, so I opted to go visit the Hellbrunn Palace which had been built by the archbishop in the 17th century as a day retreat from the city. The Baroque gardens feature a variety of water tricks which I thought was great fun! Back in the city I visited the Salzburg Museum before I went to the train station. I was more than early, but ready to move on…. With minutes to spare I was able to get on the Munich train. I thought maybe there would better places to wait….The train was pretty empty, and I got talking with the young man across from me. He lives in Paris and was going to spend some time in Munich before heading home. He works in IT and gets 3 months vacation!!! Guess he has a good job!
I had plenty of time in the Munich station…ate some Chinese food and had a glass of wine. (The bar where I had the wine charges €1 to use the bathroom, if you are not a customer!) Eventually 10:42 arrived, and I was boarding the sleeper to Paris! The customary 9:15 Paris arrival was changed, because there is a lot of construction, so we would have a two hour detour and arrive at 11:15!
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