Day 7
Last night's dinner adventure won the award for "Most Authentic Local Experience." We walked into town and browsed the shop windows and stopped in a sidewalk cafe for a beer. Then we went into a half-downstairs restaurant with very country-Austrian flavor.
In the cafe, almost all of the patrons knew each other. As people walked by they stopped and chatted, etc. The restaurant was excellent - we had 2 drinks and I had tomato cream soup with Hungarian goulash; Jill had a "schwein cutlet" - total bill about $24!
As we were getting ready to leave, we heard the sound of an accordion and followed it down the hall to a separate pub. There were about 50-75 people inside being entertained by a fat red-cheeked guitarist and a skinny accordion player. Apparently about 3/4 of the crowd was some sort of singing group - as we found out when they stood up and sung a few songs for the rest of the place. There were about 30-35 singers and they sang several tunes - very well. One of the tunes had the melody of "I've Been Working on the Railroad", another was "Happy Birthday"! I doubt the words were the same though.
The guitar player paused about every 30 minutes to tell several long jokes - either he was very funny or very dirty or both - the crowd was practically in tears! People were getting up and dancing. We stayed for about 2 hours and drank sweet dark beer brewed about 10 miles away at the Kaiser brewery. Overall an excellent evening.
We awoke this a.m. and had breakfast of rolls, marmalade, coffee, tea and soft boiled eggs. I held a "conversation" with our landlady - she knows as much English as I know German. Jill was praying I wouldn't go to the bathroom and leave her alone - Jill couldn't understand her at all.
We went back into town to buy our lunch of quadruple-seed bread, ham and cheese from the butcher and baker. Everyone was extremely friendly.
Then we headed for Hellbrun palace, where I had visited at age 14. It was just as much fun as I remembered - all sorts of water tricks and precision hydraulics. Jill enjoyed it a lot.
As we were departing Hellbrun it began to rain. Therefore, instead of going directly to Salzburg, we decided to take a salt mine tour (which we had planned to do the day after Salzburg). After waiting over an hour to buy tickets and get suited up, we headed down into the mines. Wearing our white coveralls - we rode mine cars - walked through tunnels, saw an underground salt lake, exhibits, etc. The tour was in German, but we got most of it with the aid of diagrams. We also crossed over the border back into Germany underground!
After that, it was pouring rain. So, we had our picnic in the car and headed into Salzburg where we checked into the Novotel.
The hotel is very modern and nice. We went out immediately to change some money. Then we toured Mozart's house (one of many). The exhibit was pretty poor, but they gave us 1/2 price because it was the last 15 minutes.
Despite our desire to stay dry, we walked around town - checked out the Salzburg cathedral (beautiful) and St. Paul’s cathedral (old) and St. Paul's churchyard (spooky). We wanted to take the St. Paul's catacomb tour but just missed the last one. Walked around some more, past some "international" stores i.e. Benneton (boring) then took the tour of Mozart's birthplace which was quite interesting. Most interesting was his instruments - his violin, voila, childhood violin, clavichord and pianoforte were all on display. The clavichord had a note from his widow encased in glass stating that he had composed 5 pieces including "The Magic Flute" and the "Requiem" on it within 5 months! The instrument was so unassuming and small that you would pass it up at a garage sale!
We then stopped in at the Zipfer, where we drank beer brewed especially for the bar and ate a "hausplatte" for 2 - veal, beef, pork, fries, salad and veggies. Felt great to get a load off the wet feet. About $40 total! Then called Mom & Dad S. before heading back to the hotel. Better weather tomorrow?
Day 8 >>>
In the cafe, almost all of the patrons knew each other. As people walked by they stopped and chatted, etc. The restaurant was excellent - we had 2 drinks and I had tomato cream soup with Hungarian goulash; Jill had a "schwein cutlet" - total bill about $24!
As we were getting ready to leave, we heard the sound of an accordion and followed it down the hall to a separate pub. There were about 50-75 people inside being entertained by a fat red-cheeked guitarist and a skinny accordion player. Apparently about 3/4 of the crowd was some sort of singing group - as we found out when they stood up and sung a few songs for the rest of the place. There were about 30-35 singers and they sang several tunes - very well. One of the tunes had the melody of "I've Been Working on the Railroad", another was "Happy Birthday"! I doubt the words were the same though.
The guitar player paused about every 30 minutes to tell several long jokes - either he was very funny or very dirty or both - the crowd was practically in tears! People were getting up and dancing. We stayed for about 2 hours and drank sweet dark beer brewed about 10 miles away at the Kaiser brewery. Overall an excellent evening.
We awoke this a.m. and had breakfast of rolls, marmalade, coffee, tea and soft boiled eggs. I held a "conversation" with our landlady - she knows as much English as I know German. Jill was praying I wouldn't go to the bathroom and leave her alone - Jill couldn't understand her at all.
We went back into town to buy our lunch of quadruple-seed bread, ham and cheese from the butcher and baker. Everyone was extremely friendly.
Then we headed for Hellbrun palace, where I had visited at age 14. It was just as much fun as I remembered - all sorts of water tricks and precision hydraulics. Jill enjoyed it a lot.
As we were departing Hellbrun it began to rain. Therefore, instead of going directly to Salzburg, we decided to take a salt mine tour (which we had planned to do the day after Salzburg). After waiting over an hour to buy tickets and get suited up, we headed down into the mines. Wearing our white coveralls - we rode mine cars - walked through tunnels, saw an underground salt lake, exhibits, etc. The tour was in German, but we got most of it with the aid of diagrams. We also crossed over the border back into Germany underground!
After that, it was pouring rain. So, we had our picnic in the car and headed into Salzburg where we checked into the Novotel.
The hotel is very modern and nice. We went out immediately to change some money. Then we toured Mozart's house (one of many). The exhibit was pretty poor, but they gave us 1/2 price because it was the last 15 minutes.
Despite our desire to stay dry, we walked around town - checked out the Salzburg cathedral (beautiful) and St. Paul’s cathedral (old) and St. Paul's churchyard (spooky). We wanted to take the St. Paul's catacomb tour but just missed the last one. Walked around some more, past some "international" stores i.e. Benneton (boring) then took the tour of Mozart's birthplace which was quite interesting. Most interesting was his instruments - his violin, voila, childhood violin, clavichord and pianoforte were all on display. The clavichord had a note from his widow encased in glass stating that he had composed 5 pieces including "The Magic Flute" and the "Requiem" on it within 5 months! The instrument was so unassuming and small that you would pass it up at a garage sale!
We then stopped in at the Zipfer, where we drank beer brewed especially for the bar and ate a "hausplatte" for 2 - veal, beef, pork, fries, salad and veggies. Felt great to get a load off the wet feet. About $40 total! Then called Mom & Dad S. before heading back to the hotel. Better weather tomorrow?
Day 8 >>>
