Fortresses, Funiculars, and Fair weather

11th June 2012. Salzburg, then on to Vienna.

The day dawned not quite as dismal as the day before, but still fairly cool and grey. We had a bit of plan for how we wanted to spend the morning, before catching the 4.30pm train to Vienna.

Now very confident with the bus system (pretty straightforward when the town is as small as Salzburg) we jumped on and headed to the centre. First stop was the Panorama museum, for a very quick peek at the panoramic painting of Salzburg done from the main hill in I think the 1800s.  

Vaguely impressed we moved on to the furnicular to go and look at the fortress on the top of said hill. The best thing about being up at the fortress was the views, especially in the cool morning with fog hovering below the peaks of the nearby mountains. 

  

We lucked onto jumping onto a tour of one one of the towers, for even better views and some interesting models depicting how the various Archdukes added to the fortress over time depending on how insecure they were feeling. There were more fabulous views of Salzburg Town to be had from the top of the tower...

The "Salzburg Bull"

There was also the appartently famous Salzburg Bull, a giant musical box (you know, the type of thing with a centre cylinder with raised dots like brail on it, that plucks notes on a bunch of metal keys as you spin it, playing a tune). A bunch of people wrote music for it, including Mozart. I can't remember exactly what occasions they would play it, probably to call the inhabitents of the fortress in for dinner or something

Inside the fortress grounds, looking up at the royal apartments.

The Turnip was the insignia of one of the dudes who had a lot to do with upgrading the castle (or something like that) so there were something like 52 turnips to be spotted around the place. 

 

Greg loves his cannons!

Then we headed into the place where where the archdukes etc. would live. Inside was a museum dedicated to a variety of artifacts from Salzburg's history, including weapons (Greg was happy), musical instruments, cutlery, and devices of torture and punishment. There were also some rooms decorated in their original style which were quite different to anything we had seen so far and very cool.

There was war related artwork which was pretty cool - the art in these rooms seemed to be by artists who had actually been to war and were trying to convey the stark reality of it, rather than make it all glorious etc.

The oven in the Archbishop Prince's apartments was crazy elaborate.

The dunny.

Now we are in the 'devices of torture' section...

That done, a brief wander round the gift shop and we were ready to head back down.

Riding the funicular back down into Salzburg town.

I had in mind a place for lunch, actually open now that it was Monday, so we head over the Mozart bridge in the almost-sunshine. The place proved to be an 'old style' Austrian pub type place offering reasonably priced Austrian fare. Greg and I both got the special, schintzel for the main and melon crepe for dessert, and some wheat beer. The atmosphere and food was fabulous.  

"She's got the Bacteria" - the lovely red puffy eyes of the dreaded Conjunctivitis...

The restaurant had a fox theme.

Generously sized schnitzel portions!

Melon crepes! Refreshingly good!

On the way back down the street had been transformed by it being Monday into a lively shopping street (after yesterday looking drab and uninviting in the rain with everything shut). So we shopped! I bought some new mascara so I could chuck out the stuff that was quite possibly the cause of my conjunctivitis (which, by the way, continued to be a bit of a bother and led to the day being punctuated by 'eye drop stops' as I had to put them in 5 times a day). I also got some chocolate and some more Mozart Balls in the supermarket. 

In the European equilavent of the 1-2-3 dollar shop I found some new sunglasses to replace my broken ones, and some new flannels so I could chuck out my current one (also possibly full of bacteria). Not the most exciting shopping trip ever I know, but having anything new after over four weeks of using + wearing the same stuff every day, or going without, is exciting!  

We paused to check out an old Salzburg graveyard which featured Mozart's dead relatives, including his parents and his wife.

Rubber Duckies in traditional Austrian dress!!

These were painted/decorated eggs... simply amazing! But why would you want them??

This beautiful wee church was a lovely little gem and I spent a bit of time here in quiet contemplation about all the things...

The church's attached graveyard was full of really beautiful graves and gardens also. 

We then went in search of cafe Demel, which came highly recommended by the guidebook in particular their Annatorte cake. So naturally, being cake, I was very keen to try it out! Also, always up for an excuse to have a coffee in Austria. So after walking to where the guidebook had said it was, and checking the map twice, and walking around and around, we had to sadly conclude that the building have major renovations inside, looking a lot like it used to be a cafe, was in fact cafe Demel. Sighing with defeat, we gave up and headed back to hotel.

Before we picked up our bags from the hote we detoured into the shopping mall attached to the train station, as Greg still needed to pick up some shampoo after leaving his behind somewhere. So we went to yet another supermarket (did I mention that I love supermarkets in foreign countries?) and Greg found his shampoo. Meanwhile, I bought yet more chocolate...

Upstairs we found a cafe suitable to my needs and I got to have coffee and cake after all.

Then it was time get serious. We popped up the road to grab our bags from the hotel then found our train and platform. As usual the train ride was comfortable and a welcome rest from the madness.

We travelled at a pleasant, gentle pace towards Vienna.

We got into Vienna at around 7pm. Our hostel was helpfully just up the road from the station and proved very easy to find. Arriving there injected us with a new burst of energy, the place was humming with young travellers from all over. Our room, a private double with ensuite, was extremely clean and looked pretty much brand new. 

We asked for a recommendation for dinner and were directed to a place up the road. It turned out to be a bit cheesey (the waitresses had to wear old school Austrian dresses) but in general was a large friendly place with good food at ok prices. By the end of the meal (and the large glass of wine) I was about ready to pluck my bacteria ridden eyes out with the fork so we headed home to bed quite promptly despite earlier ambitions of headed back and using our free drinks at the hostel bar.