June 17th - Salzburg, Austria

June 17th
Salzburg, Austria

Happy! Happy! Got to spend the day in one of my favorite places! Had
hoped to see and do a lot more, but got started late, then didn't have
time for everything. Lonnie thought that 4 hours would be too long.
How can you see Salzburg in under 4 hours? We arrived at the Toy Museum
around 11AM. (It opened at 9) We spent about an hour touring the
museum, then had planned to ride the Festung Bahn up to the
Castle/Fortress on top of the hill, eat lunch, tour the castle, then go
back down for the Festival Hall Tour. By the time we finished at the
Toy Museum, it was 12:15 and there was no way to go up the mountain and
be back to the Festival Hall by 2PM. We had a quick lunch in one of the
gift shop/cafes, then went to the Festival Hall for the Tour. The
Festival Hall Tour was great! The sets were amazing to me! One set had
tall pine trees and large rocks. It looked like a real forest.
Nonetheless, they were made of paper. There were at least three
separate stages. One was the large hall that the Sound of Music was
shot in. It is the one cut into the rocks. Amazingly enough, this
stage is only used for about 7 weeks a year. They have a retractable
cover that they cover the stage with in the summer months for acoustical
purposes. The cover is not strong enough for the winter snows, so after
the summer season, the cover is retracted so that the snow can just fall
on the stage. The front set of auditorium seats raise (somewhat like a
drawbridge) thereby creating a wall to keep the snow off of all of the
rest of the seats and auditorium part. It was truly fascinating! The
other stages are used a few more times, but apparently the season is
sold out well in advance, with some tickets going for as much as 500
Euros each (around $ 650 US) for one performance. Unbelievable! And,
some of the seats in the auditorium had names on them. Someone asked
the guide if those were sponsors or people's seats. He said that some
had names of sponsors, but some were reserved seats. The tour really
was very interesting!

After touring the Festival Hall, we walked part of the main shopping
street. We had walked all of it last night (when everything was
closed). Then is was off in search of the Von Trapp's real home in
Salzburg. Not sure we ever found it, but we found many one-lane roads
again, and wondered if we were on bike trails part of the time! It is
unbelievable how the GPS lady can send us on such wild goose chases!! I
was actually watching the map once when it was obvious that Lonnie
should turn right, but the GPS lady told him to turn left! He got lost
and became very frustrated. Of course, he didn't always follow the
instructions either, so we can't blame the GPS lady for all of it. We
drove all over the outskirts of Salzburg. Then we finally went to
Hellbrun Palace to just walk around. It is a very nice place. They
have the Gazebo there that was in the Sound of Music, and an amazing
park. There are great things for the kids to play on, beautiful gardens
to walk through with ponds and fountains, and the Schloss Hellbrun if
you want to take a tour. There is another smaller castle on top of the
mountain, but we didn't climb up there today. There is also a small Zoo.
After walking around the Park, Lonnie decided that we could take the
horse and carriage ride around Salzburg after all, so we went back
downtown. Unfortunately, they don't do horse and carriage rides at
night - only during the day.

For our evening meal, Lonnie wanted to eat near our hotel in Wals,
Austria. We have eaten there before and he wanted to order the dinner
for two. Our entire family could have eaten it!! The dinner for two
consisted of 8 pieces of meat (2 each of steak, Weiner Schnitzel, Pork
Chop, and Sausage or hot dog). Each piece of meat was at least 4-6oz.
Then there was the equivalent of 8 large McDonald's or Wendy's fries, as
well as a huge portion of broccoli, cauliflower, green beans, etc.
Lonnie ordered Kraut on the side. We also had fried mushrooms, and two
3/4 liter bottles of water. I may not sleep tonight! Obviously we did
not eat it all! Some of it was absolutely delicious. Too bad we
couldn't take the leftovers! Now we are back at the hotel, it is
nearing midnight, and I am getting ready to crash. Not sure where we
will go tomorrow. We may have to change plans again since we spent two
nights in Salzburg instead of one.

Auf Wiedersehen!