Salzburg, Austria is known for 2 things. 1) It was the birthplace and home town of Wolfgang Amedeaus Mozart 2) It is where 'The Sound of Music' happened and where it was filmed.
We arrived in Salzburg on Friday afternoon. We checked in at YoHo Hostel and went on a Mozart adventure. For €12 per person you got tickets to both Mozart's birthplace & childhood home and his home in the later years (before he moved to Vienna). Overall the two museums were sort of lame. The best parts were seeing his original piano and violin that he began playing from the age of 5. The rest was mostly sheet music and letters he had written, which would have been awesome...except they were all copies!! I mean if ever there was a place to dispay Mozart's original sheet music, shouldn't it be at his house!? C'est la vie.
After the tours we rested a little bit back at the hostel. We had come across a Swedish candy shop and indulged in Swedish fish and other gummi delights. My stomach was not happy with that choice. Once I felt a little better we walked around old town and found a tiny local bar where we ate dinner.
Nestled away off the beaten path and at the base of the massive fortress that overlooks Salzburg, we found St. Paul Stub'n. Its a university bar/grill. It probably only had 15 tables (max) and most were reserved for the 'regulars'. We ate at the bar, which doesn't bother me. I had a baked potato with sour cream and chicken breast. Heather had a traditional Austrian dish of pork in beer sauce, cabbage and a bread dumpling. She really enjoyed it!
Even though it was only about 20:00 on a Friday night, everything was closed!! So we had no choice but to go back and hang out at the hostel.
We chilled in the common room and some girls put on 'Mystic River'. Our hostel had 2 flat screens with dvd players and a video library! (They also had a Wii! And daily showings of 'The Sound of Music' LOL) we ended up watching the movie before heading up to bed.
We got up and checked out yesterday morning. We left our packs in the hostel lockers then went to play at Hohensalzburg Fortress. It sits atop a large hill overlooking the city, very menacingly. It's a large castle and used to be the home of the Arch Bishop of Salzburg. The construction began in the early 1000s and the fortress that is there today wasn't finished until the 1800s.
We took an audio tour through parts of the castle, explored the 3 museums and wandered around taking in the views. The fortress is reached by a tram that climbs about an 80 degree hill! It was sort of scary on the way back down.
We left Salzburg and headed to Munich for dinner. Our love for the Höfbrahaus remains strong! The 2 hour train trip (completely out of the way) was so worth it!!
Heather was emmensely impressed that we got off the train and I took us to Höfbrauhaus without hesitation, all from memory. :)
We had dinner a couple of beers. It was super busy since it was Saturday night, but not nearly as crazy as it was during Oktoberfest. The food and beer are just as delicious though!! I think we impressed a couple of local Bavarians when we ordered the stein instead of the .5L glass. :P
We bought a Höfbrauhaus shirt to remember our favorite beer hall and vowed to return in the future. We bid Germany adieu for the last time and took a night train to Florence.
The night train was an experience! We were in a 6 bed cabin which was no bigger than the 6 seat cabin we have sat in on other trains. There are 2 triple bunks, and enough room between to BARELY walk through. The bunks aren't tall enough to sit up in, so you have to either lay down or sit completey hunched over. We had an American couple from North Carolina in our cabin that were probably 50-something. They thought they had booked a private and were not happy to find they had the 2 top bunks! We had a middle and a bottom. I was on middle, which seemed to be the most uncomfortable of all. There was one other woman on the bottom of the other bunk.
Trying to sleep was a joke. What is ironic is that I am narcoleptic when it comes to trains! I usualy sleep on 90% of our train rides no matter what the sitting position or duration. However, when laying in a bed on the train...I couldn't sleep! I maybe got 5 hours total, with a lot of tossing and turning. We were grateful to arrive in Florence!
Safe Travels,
- Kit & Heather
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