There Are No Kanagroos In Austria

Just got back from Salzburg, Austria a little bit ago. It was absolutely fantastic! We drove up Friday afternoon and left about 10am this morning. The drive was about 6 hours, but the view was spectacular, as always. And we packed a TON of stuff in the 2 days were were there.

We stayed in a Bed & Breakfast in Salzburg:

It was a little off the beaten path, but it was just right for us. All 5 of us were able to sleep comfortably and the room was rather reasonable for the area. In order to get to the main part of the city, we had to walk down the street, up/down a hill, then through this tunnel:

which had a section for car traffic, then a separate pathway for foot and bike traffic. And there was a parking garage built right into it!

The first night we had dinner outside at a cafe that sat in front of Mozart's birthplace:

The food and bier was great and we totally lucked out on the weather. We even had apple struedel for dessert!

Saturday morning, we woke up and walked back into the city and found the information center which was across from the Residence Fountain that sits in Residenzplatz:

We also walked back to see Mozartplatz and the Mozart statue:

We then walked through the plaza of the Cathedral:

in order to get to the funicular to reach the Hohensalzburg Fortress (shown above Neptune's Fountain):

It was fun walking through the Fortress and seeing the view of the city. The sky was a little overcast, but not too bad for taking pictures.

After that, we walked over to Mirabell Garden. (Part of "The Sound of Music" was filmed there too):

And we visited the Bastion or Dwarves Garden:

Then had lunch in a little cafe along the Salzach River:

For the afternoon, we took a bus up to Untersberg to take the cable tram up to the top of the mountain:

It started raining right as we were getting up to the top, so the visibility was almost nothing. So we just took a couple of pictures and took the same tram down the mountain.

On the bus back to Salzburg, we stopped at the Hellbrun Gardens with the Trick Fountains. It was a guided tour through the garden. All of the features were built in the 17th century and are completely powered by water!

The Arch Bishop's Table:

The Mechanical Theater:

(I downloaded some of the motion fountains to my YOUTUBE account.)

We saw the Pavillion from "The Sound of Music":

and a beautiful flower garden:

After going back to the room for showers and some rest, we headed out to the Augustiner Braustubl. (St. Augustine Abbey Brewhouse):

It was great. Upstairs were there stands of all sorts of different foods for sale. We found cheeseburgers and fries!

Then downstairs was the brewhouse and you paid for what size you wanted. Grabbed a mug off the shelf:

Washed it out in ice cold water:

Then had the server pour it directly from the barrel that had been tapped. (Not actual size!)

After dinner we went outside to sit in the biergarten. It was a beautiful evening and the bier was cold and easy going down!

We rode the bus back home and crashed after that - it had been a long day!

We left at about 10am on Sunday and got to Basel at about 4pm. It was a long weekend, but absolutely fabulous! (Thanks Jill for planning & driving!)

I leave Basel for good on Thursday this week. I'm ready to get home and enjoy the summer in STL. I will start packing tonight and I'm a little nervous I'm going to forget something. Luckily there is still a group staying here, so if I need more chocolate or cookies, they can bring them home for me!