Salzburg – Day1 & 2

As you will be able to see from the posting date we have been back in Australia for a long time. Family events have taken precedence. We are finalising the blog site mainly for our own purpose as a record of our trip.

We had another good train from Vienna to Salzburg with brilliant scenery. That’s the way to travel.

We arrived early in the afternoon and found our hotel “Star Inn Hotel Salzburg Zentrum”. A good place to stay in Salzburg, only a short walk through a tunnel to the old town. Ask for a room away from the street as it is a bit noisy with late night revellers returning home.

We soon headed into the old town. Purchased a Salzburg three day card and went exploring. Various photo’s.

 

Claire on the bridge over the Salzach river with the Fortress in the background.

One of the many sculpters in the various square’s

Peter meets up with one of the old war veterans.

On our second day we visited Untersberg where there is a cable car to the top of the mountain. The Salzburg card immediately save us the 19 Euro cost for the return trip. First part of the cable car trip can be seen below.

The rest of the mountain was above the clouds. In the early part of the trip we had great views and then into the clouds and then above them.

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Afterwards we visited Hellbrunn – Palace and trick fountains. This was a pleasure palace constructed by the Archbishop/prince.

One of the many trick fountains that manages to wet people. It was a cold day and although we tried to avoid getting too wet it was difficult. Peter got a little wet while Claire got a wet bum and was a little miffed.

Amazing. Hundreds of moving parts powered by gravity fed water with music and with a surprise wet ending for the viewers.

In exploring the beautiful gardens we discovered the Sound of Music pavillon.

Between the Hellbrunn palace gardens and the mountain on a relatively thin, but long strip of land, was the Salzburg Zoo where Claire again went crazy with the camera. Good shots though.

This is an actual rhino not a statue.

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Claire’s moment with the bear.

Finally we explored the old town at night and had another great meal.

A very busy second day with the Salzburg card already paying for itself.

Vienna (Part 2)

Our first 2 days in Vienna were very busy even though we hadn’t planned them to be. It is hard to get out of the habit of packing in as much as possible. The third morning we started off with a walking tour. Again we discovered places that we wouldn’t have seen on our own.

Chapel of the Teutonic Knights.

300 year old Plane Tree

Courtyard with collection of grill work

This ‘dome’ is actually an illusion. When viewed from another angle it is obviously painted on a flat surface.

We had hoped to see a performance at the Spanish Riding School, but found that they only perform on the weekends and we had missed it. We decided to watch a morning practise session instead. I must admit that we watched with mixed feelings. It was fascinating to see the beautiful horses being put through their paces, but you could see the sort of training that was needed to achieve some of the unnatural steps that they are required to perform.

 

There is a clock in Hoher Markt which has a parade of figures at 12 noon. We had fun watching it.

This late in the trip we were looking for things a little different from churches and art galleries, so the Butterfly House seemed like a good idea, especially as the weather, while sunny, was still very cool. Claire, of course, had a great time trying to get the ‘perfect photo’.

OK, no more butterfly pictures!

Our last day in Vienna was overcast and even colder than the previous days. Peter was not going to visit any more galleries, but Claire talked him into the Natural History Museum.

We spent about 4 hours there. It has the most amazing collection of minerals, fossils, animals and birds we have ever seen. All housed in a beautiful building.

In the afternoon we crossed the river to visit UNO City, where the United Nations is based. We spent about an hour absolutely fascinated by a construction site!

 

We had six days in Vienna, it was great but on reflection however we could have shortened it by one day and spent the extra day somewhere else.  The Pension Ani Falstaff is a great place to stay as its very close to the D tram which goes past many of the attractions in Viennia. Its also close to a number of good restaurants close by. One of the secrets of eating in Austria is the quality of food and price at the tradition pub/restaurants. There was one nearby “Landsknecht’ where we ate for three of nights of our six night stay.