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Salzburg, Austria

Our last day in Munich and my last day for a while to feast on delightful breads and alpine cheese! We ate our fill whilst we caught up with Lili on Skype – just love this aspect of the technological age; you can have a video conversation and no one bats an eye lid – in fact you get knowing and accepting smiles as others understand you’re connecting with loved ones whilst you are away.

After checking out we left our bags at the hotel so we could do a final zip into Marienplatz to see the Glockenspiel and surrounds before heading to Austria. It was warm when we left at about 10am, probably 28 degrees and we commented that it felt like a summery day in Sydney with that same soft smell in the air promising a long hot day.

Two stops on the underground and we popped up right in the square. Uploaded are a few shots of what it looks like. Its a very busy square and feeds off to several churches, an old palace, museums, shopping street, and markets. It was quite heavily bombed in the war and many of the buildings have been restored – rebuilt to some degree.

We poked our nose in a couple of churches dating back to about 13th century, both similar style and the first we had a Quasimodo (well he looked like him) who would not let us take photos because a small service was happening in the front and the second obviously is one where we could. Whilst pretty neither had a particularly special vibe for us as others mentioned previously have.

The markets looked great from a distance but the smell of foods and the now well over 30 degree high humid heat did not entice us to explore them too much. When its that hot cool churches are attractive, not hot sausages and concrete paved markets with no breeze. Thats the one good thing about the heat is that it’s appetite suppressing, but then again it increases your thirst for quenchers like purified water with hops and barley…..

When we had done a quick circuit we were lucky to catch the Glockenspiel play its songs (it only does 3 times a day in summer) and see the little statues play out the two stories. Built in 1908 the first is the story of Duke Wilhelm V’s wedding and festivities, and the second a traditional Cooper Dance (pole) relating to the plague in the 1500’s. Unfortunately I forgot my large lens so my pictures were not as sharp or close as I would have liked. The building is the old city hall (Rathaus).

Show over we headed back to the hotel to get our bags and sweated our way to the station hoping madly that the train would have some form of airconditioning, knowing it would be lucky dip. The station has loads of eateries, shops and is under construction and renovation for even more shops and upgrading. We grabbed a light lunch there; I had a matjes herring roll with onion and gherkin. Delighted to find it had a whole BIG herring for just over 2 euros and Vern had an egg and cheese roll, washed down by icy beer. The Matjes herring here are not salty like the ones we get at home, but ever so slightly smoked and are juicy, tender and pink and not immersed in any oil or liquid. I have become very partial to herring and will miss them when I get home for sure. I often crave the raw dutch ones – must be very healthy with something I need.

When our train arrived and we saw that it was air conditioned we litterally breathed a sigh of relief in the thick air – we were sweating just standing and waiting. Now all we had to do was get a seat on the shady side!

Two hours later and through pleasant typical German countryside past a few more mountains we arrived in Salzburg. I still find it facinating to be in a different country in a blink of an eye with no passport control, formality, fence or stretch of water. Our hotel was close to the station – only about 15 minutes but it seemed like 40 minutes. We were running with sweat by the time we walked through the revolving golden doors despite walking in the shade most of the way. Its so crazy this 36 degree heat feels like 42. I had busted out of our tight budget and booked into the Crowne Plaza as it has air conditioning and I know they have great beds – yeah what sheer luxury. It was only about 30 Euro a night more than we have been paying on average but so so worth it!

We peeled off our wet back packs and clothes, ran a deep bath and rehydrated for a couple of hours feeling very decadent. They even have tea and coffee making facilities in the room which is not standard in Europe as it is at home. At about 6pm we felt brave enough to venture out to explore a little and find some dinner.

Very close to the hotel is Mirabelle park which is a garden of a former summer residence (palace) of the archbishop princes that used to rule here. It is a lovely formal planting of small flowers and hedging, roses and water features. It was still very warm but bearable and we slowly made our way across the river that separates old town from new town. Behind old town on a 400ft (122m) high hill is the Hohensalzburg fortress which looks very impressive.

The bridge over the river had a lovely whif of cooler air and we lingered there a bit before moving on to the old town. The old town is of course scenic with its own character. It has a lot of decorative signs over the shops, which were placed there to indicate what sort of shop it was for people who could not read back then. It is very touristy and expensive, so we made a quick decision to eat at a chineese buffett for 9.90 euro. It was ok but swealtering in the second story rear lane room with no breeze. They had a little fan going, but to what use I don’t know – we still stuck to our chairs and had to peel ourselves off!

After dinner we headed back via the shopping part of new town to see a lot more reasonably priced and perhaps better quality dining establishments (ah you learn). We also found and shared a nice house made icecream before re-entering the cool sanctuary of our hotel.

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