Put Another Shrimp on the Barbie!

Welcome

Salzburg is absolutely beautiful, it's every postcard maker's dream, as well as travel blogger's for that matter. I feel like one of those critics that just raves about every movie, even if they suck, but I must say, so far these have been awesome places. I suppose if I did a random sample of world cities I'd be able to show a range of critiques, but it's as if I'm a movie critic for 'Citizen Kane' or 'Bill and Teds Excellent Adventure', what can I fault?

I started the day at 9AM by heading to Mirabell gardens:

Then I went to the old town where Mozart was born:



Mozart Geburtshaus, which is coincidentally and conveniently located right down the street from Animalhaus:

I then toured all the churches in the area, which were quite ornate. I had my iPod on the Best of Mozart, and that was really cool. The quality is great on my iPod, it seemed like there was an echo as I listened to the songs inside the chapels. I liked the architecture a lot, more baroque compared to the gothic ones I was used to in France. Plus, it was hot outside, so it felt really good inside. After that I just wandered around, eating a wurst here, a strudel there, and trying on some liederhosen. I was incredibly hungry for some reason, I ended up eating like 5 meals yesterday plus snacks, and I dont want to go into this too much, but a major shout out to my body who realizes my disdain for public toilets and cooperated accordingly.

At about noon I headed up to the Festung by foot, which was a nice workout. It was quite impressive, reminding me of the Citadel in Besancon:


The Festung is the fortress on the hill, I'm standing in the cemetary below that I'm told is where the VonTrapps hid in 'The Sound of Music' from the Nazis.


At the top, looking down.

A new thing of mine on this trip is to eat in the coolest places possible. My budget doesn't really allow for that, but who cares right? There was a restaurant at the Festung overlooking the city and I couldn't pass that up:



So now I've eaten overlooking the Spiez and the Thunersee, the Lauterbrunnen Valley, and Salzburg...just wait until dinner though... After lunch I decided to do the 'Sound of Music' tour since I had seen almost everything in the main area of Salzburg. It was a great idea and I enjoyed it quite a bit as we traveled out to the Lakes district and other beautiful areas. Here are some shots from the trip:


Amazing


Eat your heart out Epcot Center!


Church from Sound of Music, in Hapsburg yellow, renamed pee yellow after the Treaty of Versailles.

The tour guide was quite good actually, I liked him because he sounded a lot like Jon Lovitz, but with a little more twinkle in his eyes. But what would you expect from a guy whose job exists because of Julie Andrews.

After the tour, I walked up the hill overlooking Salzburg from another angle and took these pics:




The wrath of Jeff descends upon the unsuspecting Salzburgers.

So, how do you outdo a meal overlooking Salzburg? How about dinner at the oldest restaurant in Europe, the Stiftskeller St. Peters, opened in 803. You would think from these meals I've been having that I'm some visiting dignitary, not a lone hostel backpacker. It turned out my room was 19 euros a night instead of 29, so I figured a splurge of this sort was justifiable. Also, Charlemagne ate there, so how can I pass that up? As I ate my salad and looked around at the stony arches, I imagined what it would be like to dine with Charlemagne some 1200 years earlier. I imagined our conversation would involve his recent conquests of Saxony or Lombardy. I'd then crack a joke about a Moor, a Magyar, and a Byzantine walking into a bar and we'd have a good laugh. Good ole Charlie, a man of the people.

Speaking of delusions, I'd like to take this moment to thank you for your viewership, I feel as if this blog is my 'Wilson' that I can talk to while I see the sites.

One last thing, I thought I'd share my thoughts on the hostel world. So far, it's not as bad as I was fearing, but certainly nothing to write home about (even though I am). My room has 4 beds in it, and the other three travelers are by themselves as well. This place is pretty nice, and I could see it getting pretty ugly, but the beds are long enough for me, the showers are hot, and the breakfast is pretty darn good. For sleeping, I just go 'Helen Keller' style with my earplugs and facemask and I sleep pretty good. Without those, there's no way as there is a ton of noise from the street or from snorers. I doubt I'll ever do hostels again after this trip, but for a young person, they're pretty good. Ok, time to go to Vienna, my train fahrts in 20 minuten.