2014 Austria (Salzburg) Day 6

Salzburg, Day 2.  I finally got a decent nights rest.  Denise stayed up late talking to people and stuff.  But I fell asleep and did not get out of bed until 8:30 AM.  And even then, I let Denise get up first and get ready.  That is pretty rare in our relationship!  After we both got ready, we figured out that our under clothing were going to run a bit short.  So we became clothes washers by washing clothes in the bath room sink.  You should see our bathroom...clothes hanging everywhere!  We hope they will dry before we leave town tomorrow morning.  I feel like a local resident now.

 

After doing some research on city bus lines and such, we decided that we would just walk to the old part of Salzburg town.  We also decided to look for some breakfast along the way.  By the time we left, it was almost 11:30 AM.  As we walked, we came across a SPAR market which are little markets strewn on corners everywhere here.  There we chose a big role and had the lady cut off a nice big piece of pig back (it looked good) and put it on the role with pickles.  We bought some chocolate milk with our sandwich and off we went.  Now my part of the roll was really good.  Denise got the crunchy part...not sure what part of the pig she got!!!  She was not pleased.  I told her she got the chewy part...best deal for her money.  She did not think that was funny.

 

It was a 20 minute walk to Old Salzburg.  It is a touristy place, of course, with lots of people walking around looking into shops and things.  St. Peters church sits in the middle of it all with a number of squares here and there.  Mozart is a hit here.  So you see a few statues and tourist trap places named after him.  We walked through the plazas and on up to a tram car that took you up the steep mountain to the Fortress that overlooks the city.  I thought we could just pay 8 euros to go up and down on the tram and not do the tour stuff.  But during the daytime, you have to pay the 11 euros to do it all.  The tour stuff was pretty good showing us lots of stuff that happened to this fortress.  But the best, of course, is the view over Salzburg and the region round about.  It is so beautiful here even though it has been cloudy and forecasted to rain. 

 

After coming down from the Fortress, we walked along the river and meandered our way back to our apartment.  I decide that I’d go ahead and book our return flights home.  We are trying to get to Moline, Illinois or St. Louis as early as possible.  So even though there is a 9:30 AM flight to Houston with over 70 seats available, I’m putting our names in the Newark flight (which also leaves at 9:30 AM) even though it is appears to be oversold.  If they free up the ‘held’ seats, we will get on.  If that does not work out, at 11:20 AM there is a flight to Washington DC that has 16 seats.  We should get on that which would force us to go to St. Louis.  We prefer Moline since it is an hour’s drive closer than St. Louis.  But beggars cannot be choosers!  We’ll see how it goes.

 

After hanging out in the apartment for an hour or two, we headed out to a Thai place for dinner.  I know...we’re in Austria and we’re eating Thai food.  It just seemed to sound good.  We have had our fair share of Schnitzel and Brat sausages.  We rarely eat Thai.  The food was really good.  But I blew it on my drink order.  You normally HAVE to buy the bottled water in restaurants here.  So when the waiter came over I chose water (with gas...I need the lift me up) and Denise water without gas (she’s a bit gassy already).  Total cost for that...about 5 euros (or $8).  But looking in the menu later, we could have asked for tap water for .50 euro!  I was ticked.  After eating this good food, we wandered over to the train station to check to see if Deutsch Bahn had a ticket machine there.  I read that I could buy this Bayern pass for about 30 euro for two of us to get to Munich from Salzburg.  We used the same ticket to get to the Czech Republic border.  If I could get that ticket, it would save me about 16 euros or more.  This ticket can only be used after 9:00 AM on all regional DB trains.  We found the machine and went ahead and bought the ticket for tomorrow.  When we arrived back to the apartment, I wanted to see the schedule for DB trains.  I became nervous when the schedule of trains going out of Salzburg showed no DB trains.  I started to feel like I messed up by buying this ticket.  Further research on the internet I came to learn that as of December 15, 2013, a train line called Meridian replaced all the regional trains coming to Salzburg.  The Bayern ticket which I bought is still valid on those trains.  So I am golden.  A Meridian train leaves every hour from Salzburg to Munchen (Munich).

 

Well, Salzburg has been what I needed.  We have loved our journey thus far very much.  But this day, today, allowed us\me to slow down a bit and just enjoy the beauty and the fresh air here.  And even though our feet hurt, the rest of our body is refreshed.  Tomorrow is a quick travel day to Munich (2 hour journey).  There we plan to catch a Third Reich Munich Tour from the train station at 3:00 PM.  Our hotel is close to the train station again.  Should be interesting.....Ciao!!!

Photos of our apartment....

Floating Mozart.....he does more than music!

Mozart and his protege....

A man on top of the world?  This is found in one of the main plazas in Old Salzburg.  I have no idea why.....

Fortress....going up

Looking down into Salzburg....

Happy travelers......

They gave me this darn audio device.  But every time I would ask a question, I got no response!  :-). The guy just kept talking....

A gunners mate....and protector of the land!

Ok, even the gunners mate leaves her post for a Water Closet break (lower right corner)....

To my children....your mother wants her grave to look like this year around!!!!

Fortress...coming down

Finally....she shares!

The first diet thing I have found....yes!

Too cold to jump in...nice river flowing through Salzburg.

The Fortress with one of the tall Alps in the background.....