Day #7 - The Hills Are Alive! - Salzburg, Austria
After sleeping in the car last night (getting better at this, we must say)...lol, we headed off for Salzburg to see this historic town where Mozart was born and The Sound of Music was filmed. As we drove we were surrounded by the Alps again...covered in snow...ahhh. Desperate to revisit all the placesKerry visited last time she was here (without her beloved 3 significant others) we wandered around the streets of this ancient town in search of history.
Salzburg is so much more than Kerry remembered. There are so many things a 16 year old girl just can't see....but then again, if 2 boys can see them...mmm How time changes us!
We started on the newer side of the river and walked across a bridge to then walk along the old buildings that surround Salzburg. The houses were built right into the rock walls around the outside of the town...some of them appeared to be carved out of the stone itself...who knows? We found our way into the centre of Salzburg where there were numerous churches, fountains...all the really good stuff.
Our first stop was St Peters Church. Inside we found an elaborate domed cathedral painted white with images of angels and the like all over it....breathtakingly beautiful. Not far outside was the cemetry. This cemetry is absolutely amasing. It's no wonder the producers of The Sound of Music chose this setting to film the dark scene where the Von Trapp family are discovered and turned in by friend Raulf. The boys took the walk up the hill through the catecombes that are at the back of the cemetry while Kerry and Storm waited on a seat in the Cemetry...very nice, actually. The boys say the catecombes weren't even scary...guess that depends on the individual....Kerry chickened out...lol
Next stop...the glorious 'Dom' - the main cathedral of Salzburg. Inside the entrance of the Dom are two large baptismal fonts...one of which was the one used to baptise composer Mozart. The Dom has several domes painted like the Cisteen Chapel (for want of a better description). The domes are white (like St Peters) and painted with scenes from the bible. As you walk around you are surrounded by stained glass windows depicting more stories from the bible. Chills run up and down your spine as you walk the cathedral. The stations of the cross are on either side of the main nave and are something to dream about. This place is so inspiring and spiritual!....everything and more than Kerry remembered from her first visit here.
Finally we headed to see the birthplace of Mozart. This isn't really anything exciting. It is just another building in the middle of town...with the words 'Mozart Geburtshaus' printed on the outside....but, still...we've been there!
Thoroughly satisfied, we set off to the car on the other side of the river. We stopped, along the way for a look at Schloss Mirabel (another castle, but very modern). We had a quick look at the beautiful gardens...more tulips...ahhh and then headed back to the car for a quick drive around town before heading out. We took a drive right around the outside of Salzburg and ended up going up behind the town on a road that went most of the way up to the top wall...have a funny feeling that we weren't supposed to be up there. Saw a sign saying something was 'verboten' (forbidden) but couldn't understand the rest (forgot to take Langensheidts translation book with us...oops) so we continued all the way to the top, stopped for some photos, got some 'funny' looks from the locals, and then happily turned back and headed down again.....ignorance can be bliss. No way we could have gotten the boys to walk all that way for the views we got....definately worthwhile...no harm done!
Off to find a camp for the night after that....next stop....Munich (where we will buy a Langensheidts for Kerry to translate...lol).
Discovered, just out of Munich, that one of our tyres is just about to bite the dust....very scary when you're travelling at 150km an hour on the autobarns. Have done some serious praying that we get to Munich alright. Will have to try and get tyres as soon as we arrive. Only problem is that it's Good Friday today and Easter Saturday tomorrow.....hold on everyone...could be a bumpy ride!...
...That certainly was an interesting drive. We arrived safely in Munich at the close of the business day so decided to find a camp ground to spend the next 2 nights while we explore Munich and get the tyres fixed. We found a great camping ground called Moselpark Campinplatz. It's a great park with lots of facilities including washing up area and hot showers...plus it's only minutes from the centre of Munich. It's the only camping ground in the city area of Munich. Great find - thanks to the book John & Carol bought us for our journey - it has been our little road bible and is now highlighted in yellow with all the places we have been so far in Europe.
Tonight we decided to venture into Munich for a night time look and dinner. We walked past numerous outdoor cafes and beer houses...all very festive. As we got to the very famous Marienplatz we discovered a bunch of people gathered in front of Bavaria's largest Glockenspiel (one of the reasons we have chosen to go to Munich). As it turns out we were there just in time to watch the one and only nightly playing of the Glockenspiel. Great timing! We literally had about 2 minutes to spare before it started playing at 9pm (should have checked our little book on that one, but, as it turns out...luck was once again on our side).
After we finished gazing at this night time display we started searching for dinner. We ended up at the World famous 'Hoftbrauhaus' or 'HB' as it is often called. We found a seat upstairs in the restaurant...the beer garden was full which was probably a good thing as it was quite 'festive' in there. Once seated our lovely German waiter came and asked if we could help. At this stage we had only found the menus written in German and were translating the menu as best as we could without a language book...little did we know at this stage that there were English menus right next to our table...oh well. The waiter was quite funny about it and after we looked at him half-confused as we were he simply replied 'I can come back...I can stay...it's ok'...he was quite comical - a bit like Carlton from the Gay Style show...hands on hips and all. We suppressed a giggle as he walked off. He returned about 5 minutes later when we had found the English Menu and knew what to order. He was so friendly that, after enjoying our wonderful meal of schnitzel for Kerry, Zane and Darian and mixed wurst for Matt...yum...we gave him a €10 tip. He was so amazed looked quite shocked. A great place for dinner!
Next stop was the caravan park for a well earned sleep on our airbeds...ahhh
Salzburg is so much more than Kerry remembered. There are so many things a 16 year old girl just can't see....but then again, if 2 boys can see them...mmm How time changes us!
We started on the newer side of the river and walked across a bridge to then walk along the old buildings that surround Salzburg. The houses were built right into the rock walls around the outside of the town...some of them appeared to be carved out of the stone itself...who knows? We found our way into the centre of Salzburg where there were numerous churches, fountains...all the really good stuff.
Our first stop was St Peters Church. Inside we found an elaborate domed cathedral painted white with images of angels and the like all over it....breathtakingly beautiful. Not far outside was the cemetry. This cemetry is absolutely amasing. It's no wonder the producers of The Sound of Music chose this setting to film the dark scene where the Von Trapp family are discovered and turned in by friend Raulf. The boys took the walk up the hill through the catecombes that are at the back of the cemetry while Kerry and Storm waited on a seat in the Cemetry...very nice, actually. The boys say the catecombes weren't even scary...guess that depends on the individual....Kerry chickened out...lol
Next stop...the glorious 'Dom' - the main cathedral of Salzburg. Inside the entrance of the Dom are two large baptismal fonts...one of which was the one used to baptise composer Mozart. The Dom has several domes painted like the Cisteen Chapel (for want of a better description). The domes are white (like St Peters) and painted with scenes from the bible. As you walk around you are surrounded by stained glass windows depicting more stories from the bible. Chills run up and down your spine as you walk the cathedral. The stations of the cross are on either side of the main nave and are something to dream about. This place is so inspiring and spiritual!....everything and more than Kerry remembered from her first visit here.
Finally we headed to see the birthplace of Mozart. This isn't really anything exciting. It is just another building in the middle of town...with the words 'Mozart Geburtshaus' printed on the outside....but, still...we've been there!
Thoroughly satisfied, we set off to the car on the other side of the river. We stopped, along the way for a look at Schloss Mirabel (another castle, but very modern). We had a quick look at the beautiful gardens...more tulips...ahhh and then headed back to the car for a quick drive around town before heading out. We took a drive right around the outside of Salzburg and ended up going up behind the town on a road that went most of the way up to the top wall...have a funny feeling that we weren't supposed to be up there. Saw a sign saying something was 'verboten' (forbidden) but couldn't understand the rest (forgot to take Langensheidts translation book with us...oops) so we continued all the way to the top, stopped for some photos, got some 'funny' looks from the locals, and then happily turned back and headed down again.....ignorance can be bliss. No way we could have gotten the boys to walk all that way for the views we got....definately worthwhile...no harm done!
Off to find a camp for the night after that....next stop....Munich (where we will buy a Langensheidts for Kerry to translate...lol).
Discovered, just out of Munich, that one of our tyres is just about to bite the dust....very scary when you're travelling at 150km an hour on the autobarns. Have done some serious praying that we get to Munich alright. Will have to try and get tyres as soon as we arrive. Only problem is that it's Good Friday today and Easter Saturday tomorrow.....hold on everyone...could be a bumpy ride!...
...That certainly was an interesting drive. We arrived safely in Munich at the close of the business day so decided to find a camp ground to spend the next 2 nights while we explore Munich and get the tyres fixed. We found a great camping ground called Moselpark Campinplatz. It's a great park with lots of facilities including washing up area and hot showers...plus it's only minutes from the centre of Munich. It's the only camping ground in the city area of Munich. Great find - thanks to the book John & Carol bought us for our journey - it has been our little road bible and is now highlighted in yellow with all the places we have been so far in Europe.
Tonight we decided to venture into Munich for a night time look and dinner. We walked past numerous outdoor cafes and beer houses...all very festive. As we got to the very famous Marienplatz we discovered a bunch of people gathered in front of Bavaria's largest Glockenspiel (one of the reasons we have chosen to go to Munich). As it turns out we were there just in time to watch the one and only nightly playing of the Glockenspiel. Great timing! We literally had about 2 minutes to spare before it started playing at 9pm (should have checked our little book on that one, but, as it turns out...luck was once again on our side).
After we finished gazing at this night time display we started searching for dinner. We ended up at the World famous 'Hoftbrauhaus' or 'HB' as it is often called. We found a seat upstairs in the restaurant...the beer garden was full which was probably a good thing as it was quite 'festive' in there. Once seated our lovely German waiter came and asked if we could help. At this stage we had only found the menus written in German and were translating the menu as best as we could without a language book...little did we know at this stage that there were English menus right next to our table...oh well. The waiter was quite funny about it and after we looked at him half-confused as we were he simply replied 'I can come back...I can stay...it's ok'...he was quite comical - a bit like Carlton from the Gay Style show...hands on hips and all. We suppressed a giggle as he walked off. He returned about 5 minutes later when we had found the English Menu and knew what to order. He was so friendly that, after enjoying our wonderful meal of schnitzel for Kerry, Zane and Darian and mixed wurst for Matt...yum...we gave him a €10 tip. He was so amazed looked quite shocked. A great place for dinner!
Next stop was the caravan park for a well earned sleep on our airbeds...ahhh
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