The Hills, or at Least the Streets, are Definitely Alive with the Sound of Music

Sunday, June 27th, 2010

Today we were out of the hotel by around 8:30 and walked across the street (this was extremely convenient) to the U-Station and made our way to the main international train station in Vienna for our 9:20 train to Salzburg. I must say I have been pleased with house easy the train stations have been to navigate, after a couple of trains now, we seem to be able to find our way pretty well without assistance.

We arrived in Salzburg about mid-day and after picking up a proper map of the area were able to navigate our way to the Holiday Inn Salzburg City, which was approximately a 15 minute walk from the train station. When we arrived, our room was not ready, so we checked our luggage with the hotel staff and made our way towards the “Old Town” of Salzburg. We made our way through quiet pedestrian shop lined streets to Residenzplatz, the plaza off which, the Dom cathedral is located. The three bronze doors of the Dom represent faith, hope, and love, and the dates 774, 1628, and 1959 represent the year the cathedral was first built, the year the cathedral was rebuilt after it was destroyed by fire, and the year the dome was rebuilt yet again after being destroyed by an aerial bomb.

From Residenzplatz we made our way towards the funicular Festungsbahn and caught a ride up to the top of the castle-fortress Festung Hohensalzburg. Festung Hohensalzburg was built in 1077 and was home to many archbishop-princes who ruled Salzburg from 798 A.D. Inside the fortress there are staterooms, torture chambers, and two museums all of which we toured. The best part of the tour in my opinion was the viewing deck from the top of one of the fortress’s towers from which you could get a 360 degree view of Salzburg and the surround areas. After walking around the fortress, we started the walk down, taking a small detour to go see Stift Nonnberg, Nonnberg Abbey, where The Sound of Music first finds Maria.

Once back in the center of the “Old Town” we made our way to St. Peterskirche and walked among the lovingly tended graves which cover the abbey’s grounds. From here we wandered the streets of the “Old Town” and followed the sound of music, pun intended, to Franziskanerkirche where a group of school children were performing a choral concert. After listening in for a while we continued our leisurely stroll through the “Old Town”, across the river, and back to our hotel to check in and freshen up after a day of travel before heading back into town for dinner.

We took a different route into town that led us to Mirabellplatz, the plaza adjacent to the Schloss Mirabell. The palace was built by the prince-archbishop Wolf Dietrich for his mistress in 1606, but the formal gardens, with their tulips, crocuses, and Greek statues, are the main draw at this palace. After a stroll through the gardens, we made our way to the pedestrian bridge and crossed over the river back into the “Old Town” once again. We made our way through passageways and pedestrian streets back to the base of the Festung Hohensalzburg to Stiegl Biergarten, which we had seen on our walk down from the fortress. Here we found a table outside overlooking the “Old Town”. The setting was perfection, and the meal was one of the best, if not the best that I have had so far in Europe. Tim had another Wiener schnitzel and I had “Ofenfrischer Schweinsbraten” which is roast pork with dumpling and sauerkraut, and is absolutely DELICIOUS! Tim of course had a beer and I had a glass of the house red. It still amazes me how inexpensive beer and wine are in Europe. A half liter of beer or a quarter liter of house wine is usually under 4 Euros a piece. As we were finishing our meals the most ridiculous desert I have ever seen was brought out to an adjacent table. It was on an oval platter about 12 inches in length and contained three GIANT mounds of what looked like meringue or cream. We called the waiter over and asked what it was, he told us “Salzburger Nockerl”. Tim decided we had to have it, despite the fact that there was no chance in hell that we would finish it and it cost 12 Euros, which was more than either of our meals. The desert took about 20 minutes to prepare, so we relaxed and enjoyed the sunset until the desert arrived. I will never forget Tim’s description after his first taste. “It tastes like wet dog smells!” he said. Needless to say, when we left to walk back to the hotel, there was a lot of Salzburger nockerl still on our plate.