Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Day in Salzburg

We started off the day with the Sound of Music tour from the Mirabell Palace bus stop. The tour bus was full of Americans and Canadians who all had seen the movie multiple times. Most of the guys on the bus were there at the behest of their wives or mothers, and Jeff felt largely the same way. Our (camp) tour guide was an American who had married an Austrian 21 years ago (because his in-laws gave them a house). He was an army brat moving around the States and Europe in his youth and really knew how to work a North American crowd. The ladies loved him, but Jeff felt a little left out since he is not a Julie Andrews aficionado.

We saw many of the famous sites from the movie, while listening to the songs, and having half of the bus even try to sing along. Good thing there were no locals on the bus, else we would have felt hugely out of place. But having a bit of Americana nearby surely made us feel more at home after more than two weeks on the road.

One of the many things we noted on our trip through the Austrian countryside, were the beautiful vistas, mountain pastures and the many, many Linden trees that are everywhere (not to mention the Edelweiss flowers). Mary inquired why there were no linden trees in the US, and David responded that there were no maple trees in Europe……. Next question, Mary???

We at lunch at a schnellimbiss (another snack shop like at the Popcorn festival in Marion, Ohio or county fair), standing up feasting on bratwursts and pretzels, before moving to the Mirabell gardens. You might remember this from the movie, where the children and Julie Andrews sang the do-re-mi song dancing through the gardens, fountains, and dwarf statutes. Here we got the “money shot” with the photo of the gardens, the castle on the hill and the many church steeples in between. The weather decided to cooperate, and the sun even came out for our pictures.

David directed us over the river and to the old city, walking down the Getreidegasse (Produce Street), where we had the obligatory stop at the McDonald’s for what the boys thought would be a good, free “toilet break”. Unfortunately, the franchisee had figures out that he was at a “hot spot”, and he had installed a machine charging 50 cents through a turnstile to get in. Jeff paid his coin, but failed to take the ticket. When finished, he was “controlled” and (as he says) – “the man got in his face” for not taking his ticket. This set Jeff’s tone for the rest of the afternoon.

We moved on through the tunnels and alley ways to the University Church, had a rest in the church with a little quiet time then moved on the to the Archbishop’s Dom (Cathedral). – not much from the outside, but spectacular from the inside. There are endless tourist traps, all of which had to be visited by the ladies, and Jeff looking for his infamous T-shirt. We had a little dispute over the price of the Mozartkügel (Mozart’s candy balls), and the many styles of t-shirts. Fortunately, the sell Fruit-of the loom here. The talked me into a classical “Austrian style hat”, which everyone we met fell in love with (instead of my previously obligatory baseball caps!!) It was red to match my jacket. We loved it (see photos).

We chose not to take the funicular to the top of the mountain to go inside the castle…I took one look at that train going up the mountain and knew right away I was staying on the ground…so instead we walked back to the Augistinerbräu – a bierkeller (beer cellar) run by the Augustine monks. (This Day family is trying their best to corrupt me with these long cocktail hours!) On the way, we “raced” the Salzach River – a extremely fast flowing tributary of the Danube. The beer cellar itself is run by the monks and they don’t have any wine and of course, they had no ice cubes, but to maintain the illusion, the guys got us some beer mugs and poured our Cokes into them before we “toasted” to our good fortune for having a wonderful day in Salzburg. (Thank goodness we were not in Vienna!)

After a couple of beers (or cokes, as it were) we moved on to the Sternbräu, another beer hall, where we enjoyed a spectacular dinner. Instead of boring you all with the details of what we ate, Jeff took pictures, for those who really care. (David has decided that we should only stop talking about the price of everything (since the dollar is getting weaker every day), and that we should just enjoy our vacation!! (this will be a major challenge for Jeff and Mary!!)

Back to the hotel, they decided that they hadn’t had enough (since it was still daylight) so we went back to the Bierstübl (beer hall in the hotel) to have another round or two. I, of course went to search out the computer to get our commentary written before midnight.

(By the way – Mary finally got the joke about “there are no kangaroos in Austria” – so we can now share the answer. Apparently, many Americans confuse the country of Austria and Australia, since there are only two small letters in between. For the Anglo-Saxons, Australia is more popular, unless you are watching the winter Olympics).

Tomorrow we are “schon wieder auf der autobahn” (yes – they have translated the famous song into German – we are “on the road again!!)” on the way to Berchtesgaden and Prague. Wonderful day….Mary is in the tub…just pray I don’t hear my named called to help her out!

Now for those of you who really want to feel like you are a part of our day, just click on this link, sent by my friend The Rev. Jim Metzger and get in the spirit of do, re, me….etc.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UE3CNu_rtY

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