Guten tag,
The drive from München to Salzburg was started the
wrong time of the day -- I had forgotten today is
Monday and it was morning rush hour in Munich. well,
instead of taking about 45 minutes for the 140-some
kilometers, it took almost 2 hours. I reached Salzburg
around 11 and my hotel about 11:30 after some more
very heavy traffic through the city. Salzburg is
defintitely not a good place to drive in!
Having said that, itīs a beautiful city to visit! I
went on the 4-hour "Sound of Music" bus tour, which
included a couple of city attractions and also some
historical sights related to Mozart. Herr Mozart is
alive and well here--his music is played by sidewalk
performers all the time and concerts every night. As
for the Sound of Music tour, itīs well worth taking,
but not for the movie locations -- there were a couple
of stops in the towns of St. Gilgen and Mondsee, which
were both fantastic! St. Gilgen reminded me a lot of
Banff, Canada -- big lake surrounded by mountain peaks
rising straight up and the town next to the lake. It
was just beautiful! While the rest of the tour went to
see the house where Mozartīs mother was born, I walked
along the lake taking some pictures and eating another
ice cream -- itīs very hot here! I was also carrying a
bottle of water but it was finished before the tour
started! Since then Iīve also finished a liter of
Fanta and now iīm about 1/2 way through a bottle of
sprite!
whew... sidetracking... sorry.... St. Gilgens was very
very nice, and Mondsee is very unique. Every house in
the townīs main street is painted a different color.
Looks pretty interesting when youīre standing on one
of the road looking all the way down! Mondsee is also
home to the church where the wedding scene from "Sound
of Music" was filmed. Around Mondsee are some green
hills where the song "Do-re-mi" was shot. And in
Mondsee is a cafe that serves the "best apple strudle
with vanilla ice cream that our tour guide has ever
had." I didnīt eat it.
Now Iīm back in Salzburg and taking a rest for my
feet! I roamed around Mirabel Garden (also a location
in the movie for the "do-re-mi" song) -- nice but not
as nice as some of the other places -- and along the
Salzach river on the way back to my hotel. I still
have a couple of miles more left......
This hotel doesnīt have an a/c either. So I intend to
stay in the town until quite late...
Tomorrow is a day of pastries in Vienna.... my only
reason for going to Vienna.
oh... and no, iīm not going to drive by neushwanstein
castle in spite of 3 people now telling me to do so! I
will some day... just not this trip. maybe next year ;)
Thatīs all for now - iīll type again from Vienna
tomorrow or Innsbruck or Lucerne day after tomorrow.
.
so... let me see if i remember this correctly from the
end of the bus tour today:
so long, farewell, auf weidersehn, adieu,
adieu, adieu,
to you and you and you,
-me
Car: My "235 kmph vehicle" ;-) ...
|
|
|
|
|
|
Salzburg:
These first few pictures are all from the Sound Of Music tour, first within Salzburg:
 |
 |
 |
 |
... Then in St Gilgen:
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
... And finally Mondsee:
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
After this I was on my own, and the following pictures are all from my walk around Salzburg:
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
