September 19 – Day 67
As we only have two nights in Salzburg, we decided to get an early train. Conveniently, this also meant that the trip was an hour shorter than later ones, and we didn’t need to change trains. We got on, and chose the wrong compartment. Shortly after leaving Prague, the two women in the compartment started eating breakfast, which I am 90% sure was cat food. It looked like cat food, and it definitely smelled like cat food. Worst of all, it sounded like cat food, as it was sucked out of the tin. As I write this, there is a mixture of milk and yoghurt on the floor, and there are a woman’s foot grindings (think Ped-Egg) on the seat next to her. Once we had dropped our bags off, we went and did a city tour, which showed us the main sights of Salzburg. The highlights for me were Leopoldskon Palace (the house from The Sound of Music) and Hellbrun palace, another beautiful palace. After the tour, we wandered through the old town, eventually finding our way to Augustiner Brau, a Monestary/Brewery. It wasn’t really what we were looking for but I’m sure it would be fun if you wanted that sort of thing. We ended up at Sternbrau, which was pretty good for beers and drinks.
September 20 – Day 68
We decided to do a tour to Eagle’s Nest (Hitler’s mountain retreat) this morning. Eagle’s Nest is at 5000ft, and according to the brochure, has ‘views of the towering, snowcapped peaks of the Bavarian Mountains. It was a pretty clear day in Salzburg, so we each paid our 50 Euro to go and see the view. At the top, visibility was about 15m. You could barely see Eagle’s Nest, let alone any views. I was cranky, and thought that the tour should be run ‘weather permitting’. Not only did we waste 50 Euro, we also lost 4.5 hours. On the way back from Eagle’s Nest we stopped in Berchtesgaden for lunch. I was amazed to discover that a little town with a population of about 10,000 had its own brewery. This made me excited about the prospects in Munich :) In the afternoon, we did a Sound of Music tour – something Simone has been looking forward to since we started planning the trip. It took us around the sights in Salzburg first, including Leopoldskon Palace (the house in the movie) and Hellbrun Palace (the gazebo is there now). Next we toured around the countryside, which was very pretty. We passed 3 lakes – Fuschl, St. Gilgen and Mondsee, where we stopped to see the cathedral, where the wedding was filmed in the movie. There was a ot happening in Mondsee, there were markets, and people everywhere. The bus then returned to Salzburg, and Simone and I had another look at Mirabell Gardens (a song was filmed here in the movie), then decided to get the funicular up to the castle. We had a great view over the city, and watched the sunset. Afterwards, we went to the Stieglkeller, a huge place run by the Stiegl brewery. It also had a great view (we sat in the garden), and the food and beer was good. I would have liked to stay in Salzburg longer, there is a lot to see and do there.