We slept well...how could we not after a day like that?
We woke up with a plan to find Salzburg Crossfit and buy Mark a t-shirt. But it turned out they weren't even open. So we grabbed a pastry in the train station and set of on bus 25 for Hellbrunn. We are totally getting the hang of the buses around here! While we were waiting in line for tickets to the gardens and the inner rooms at Hellbrunn, the woman in front of us got in a big fight with the ticket seller. He was all flustered and transferred his rudeness to us. Don't you dare be rude to my mom! I wanted to pop him one.
*deep breaths*
Nevertheless.
Our tour guide gave the entire tour in German and then in English. he found delight in "showing us" the hidden fountains throughout the garden.
The best part are the trick fountains. At any moment you can get sprayed in the face or....the butt!
There were several smaller buildings throughout that had beautiful statues and fountains or pools inside. There were nice and cool. They all seemed to have a particular style of decoration on the ceiling....it reminded me of the stalactites in a mountain cave.
Looking at this face and his funny mirror mouth made me think of who might have sculpted him 400 years ago. I think it might have been fun to do this job.
This one sticks its tongue out!
This one has sea serpent, a fish and a merman chasing around in a circle.
If we stopped somewhere to talk about the garden or the building, you can bet you were about to be sprayed. And it really was almost impossible to guess which the direction the water would come from.
Just a few minutes earlier, the entire group was sitting on those steps!
A couple times, I spotted these little nozzles in the cobblestone and thought I could escape.....
This one was my favorite...Inside was this really neat stream of water that would lift a golden crown to the ceiling and back down with the water pressure. It symbolized the rise and fall of power (how true!). There were sprayers in the walls and floors too. Anywhere you stood, you were bound to get wet. And the tour guide would laugh and laugh! He really seemed to enjoy his job.
As you left the building, I could see that there was a long path that was lined with water nozzles. I watched as people went through and tried to formulate a plan.
No problem! I'll just duck under the arch and barely get wet!
Ha. When you get about halfway, he lowers the stream and WHAM! Your whole head is right in the middle of the arc...getting hit from both sides. You run and laugh and make it though, thinking all is well...
And then you get hit in the face from another direction! And you can hear the tour guide still laughing from inside.
All you can do is hop off to the side, wring out your shirt and laugh as the others come through.
After the garden tour we went in to see the inside of the palace. There was mostly interesting displays of the things and artwork that interested the Archbishop Sittikus and his guests, because that is what they did here. Remember, no bedrooms!
Unicorn
The very sad "cat piano".
Our next destination was the Hohensalzburg...the giant fortress on the hill. We hopped on a bus and watched as we got closer and closer to it. We were trying to get off close enough to walk over to the funicular entrance, but we knew if we waited to long, the bus would take us across the river and we'd have to walk back. We nailed it!
Soon we were on the scary ride STRAIGHT UP.
I admit, I was freaked out, but it was preferable to the very long hike we would have had if we had skipped the funicular.
But seriously, it was scary.
The view from the fortress was breathtaking. What a beautiful city.
I couldn't help but grab a photo of these two guys in their lederhosen!
I wish I could live in that house right down there below the fortress. Then if the enemy attacks, I could hop on the funicular and hunker down, safe and sound!
This place is pretty amazing. I loved these little windows looking down on the city. I can just picture the people that have looked out this same window....
We walked through Residenz Square and into the Salzburg Cathedral. It seems like most people called it "The Dome". That makes sense because you can see it's green dome rising above the city and it really is beautiful. Here is the dome from inside.
Gorgeous!
We didn't stay long at the cathedral. We were hungry! One of mom's friends from home recommended we go to a restaurant called Alter Fuchs, which means "The Old Fox".
Mom ordered the beef ragu and I had....can you guess?... weinersnitzel. I can't say no to myself. The brought yummy pretzels and a dark bread with seeds and nuts in it. Which was good. So good.
It almost successfully distracted me from the abomination to fashion and culture hanging right across the street from us as we ate. Just say 'no' to sweat pant lederhosen.
We caught a bus back to the hotel and I realized that I hadn't printed the tickets for our concert tonight. No problem! The front desk had a computer I could use in the lobby. Hooray!
Except I don't speak German.
And Austrian keyboards are missing a few things....like keys for z (no biggie)...and an @ sign! Luckily I fumbled through guessing which buttons were most likely to say 'print' and I copied and pasted my email address from a different email to get my @ sign.
I conquered! And I got the tickets. A very proud moment.
We went down to the Mirabell Palace and waited for the concert to start. We bought lemonades and listened to the ensemble warm up behind the doors. A nice attendant took our picture:
We had great seats. Second row!
We couldn't believe we were sitting in the very room where Mozart and his family played for the Archbishops.
I admit, I didn't expect much from this concert. I figured it was something they put on for the tourists and they would play a few familiar pieces and we would all go on our way.
It didn't take long for me to realize that this was so much more.
The entire ensemble played on baroque era instruments. The soloist was Dimitris Karakantas. His playing was the very best I have ever heard. He played with so much skill and his fingers flew! But even better was the way he made you feel about the music.
I have only felt that way when I am playing myself. I cried through the entire performance! That isn't normal for me. Mom and I both agreed that it was our favorite experience in Salzburg.
I won't ever forget it.
Tomorrow we go to Hallstatt and then we leave for Switzerland. Once more we ride on the Salzburg busses! We are pros at this by now!
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