We have just spent the day wandering around Salzburg. I knew that it was a touristy city so I didn't have super high expectations of it. But I really enjoyed it. I'm sure it didn't hurt that for the first time, it was lovely weather. The sun was shining and we didn't need to wear hats. We decided to skip the hostel's showing of The Sound of Music, because it showed right when we wanted to be out enjoying the sunshine. I'll have to watch it once I get home.
We hiked up one of Salzburg's three hills, following the Passion of Jesus up the hill, and got some shots of the city. Sadly, the roofs here are not as nice as some of the other cities we've been in. Graz and Prague both have very pretty red roofs, but Salzburg is mostly modern metal. :(
We found our way back to town and down lots of little alleys and streets filled with fun shops. We walked in a bunch of them, from jewelry and musical instruments to prom dresses and Mozart mugs, we ran the gauntlet. We found a purse for me. It was quite on sale. It's in a color that I'm not sure about, but it is broken into 3 pouches, and I like all the pockets. We also found a crazy store called Easter in Salzburg. It was FULL of decorated eggs. I have never seen so many eggs in my life, especially not all individually decorated. There were tons and tons of designs and all of them were very pretty. I'm going to attempt to make some back home, because we were pretty sure an egg wouldn't make the trip.
Across town, we hiked up another hill to the largest fortification in Europe. However, we decided to skip the internal castle and museum and use the time to see the rest of Salzburg.
At the bottom of the hill we found a church built in 1491. It had a packed graveyard, with family graves, some with very recent deaths, so obviously it was still being used. Attached was a monastery that was built into the side of the mountain. We heard that originally, it hadn't had any windows because the Romans would have opposed the monks praying. We were also stopped by a woman who only spoke limited English. She wanted to show us that the Hebrew word for Jehovah was written on one of the graves, as well as other times in the Bible. She was a Jehovah Witness, and wanted us, when we got back to the States, to find another Jehovah Witness and ask about these things. Only with Amanda.
A bit further on, we got a yummy bacon (ham) and cheese pretzel and stumbled upon a Farmer's Market with a bunch of booths selling assortments of meat, cheese, sausages, bread, and flowers. We ate a few free samples, and found some cheeses we liked, and some we did not. We had been looking all day for some Apple Strudel, but most of it did not look very good. However, one of the booths sold some that did, so Amanda got to try her "crisp apple strudel."
[Side note about the song: We have gotten to experience a number of new things from the song. 1. Schnitzel with noodle: Wonderful. I loved it. I actually got the recipe and will be attempting to make it at home. Homemade noodles are hard to beat. 2. Apple Strudel: Very good. Tastes a lot like apple pie. 3. Snowflakes that stay on my nose and eyelashes: Really annoying. If it's your eyelashes, you are blinking a lot to get them off, and if it's on your nose, you want it off before it melts and turns into a drop of water that runs down your face. So #3 is not one of my favorite things.]
After that, we went into another church; a cathedral if you will. It was the most unique church like that I've ever been in. It had the same structure as most of the other churches, but instead of the gilded gold and gaudiness of other similar churches, there were decadent carvings out of white stone with a black wash to illuminate the carvings. And then there were colorful paintings all over the ceiling. It was brighter than most churches, with multiple organs. It was a lovely church. We both really liked it.
We found both Mozart's birthplace and his later home. Both hosted museums for him, but we skipped them (deciding to watch Amedaus later). We then went to Mirabell Gardens and Palace, supposedly the most famous wedding venue in the world. It was funny, because it was the last thing on our list to do, and we were just thinking that we had missed the Pegasus Fountain which we had hoped to find wandering around. Well, just as we were talking about this, we walked into the the garden, and there it was! So Amanda got her picture with the famous fountain, and I got to ride a unicorn. (I had to hop a fence to do it. Shh! Don't tell.)
We went to the Marionette Theater, but it's currently on tour throughout Europe. (In February, it will be touring the USA!) We rounded off our day with a visit to a bookstore that had a bunch of English books super on sale, and picked up a cheap fun mystery before heading back to the hostel. It was a lovely day. And we still had to time to upload pictures and do some laundry. Then showers and bed, and an early train through Switzerland tomorrow.
No comments:
Post a Comment