December 10-12
Salzburg, Austria
Salzburg is just about a 90 minute drive from Munich. We spent our last two days there. It was delightful! We stayed in a hotel right in the heart of Salzburg, and could look out our window to shoppers walking around the pedestrian only streets and hear the beautiful bells chiming.
An Alphorn Quartet performing near the Christmas Market.
Such a cool sound!
We bought the Salzburg City Pass that got us in to lots of places for free, so on Friday, we spent the whole day walking around Salzburg soaking in as much as we could. We visited 3 or 4 museums, the Mirabell Palace Gardens, and the Salzburg Fortress. We ended the day in the charming Salzburg Christkindl Markt and had dinner there.
Mirabell Palace Gardens
(Lots of Sound of Music footage was filmed here)
This fountain is featured in Do Re Mi (an ariel shot with Maria and the kids walking around it)
Picture these gates open and Maria and the children walking/hopping up these steps at the very end of Do Re Mi
Mozart's Childhood Home
Its museum houses some of his violins, original manuscripts and other instruments belonging to the family.
We walked up to this monastery on a hill overlooking Salzburg and took in some beautiful views from the top there.
Walking back down into the town. Lots of stairs!
Cool bell tower--view from the Salzburg Residence Museum, center of government and residence of the archbishops who ruled Austria for centuries.
Hohensalzburg
(Salzburg Fortress)
We rode this crazy little tram right up the side of a mountain to get to the fortress. Construction of this fort began in the 1100's! The oldest building I've visited so far.
We took both a guided tour and explored on our own and loved the views from this fortress above the city of Salzburg. The sunset was breathtaking--pictures can't begin to do it justice.
Just fun pictures from the Christmas Market.
The next day, we hit a few spots in Salzburg that we didn't get to the day before, and then drove out to the Lake Country to look at the Cathedral where they filmed the wedding scene in Sound of Music.
St. Peter's Cathedral and Catacombs
The twin-towered Mondsee Cathedral is the film location for Maria and Capt. Von Trapp's wedding. It was beautiful. Good choice, SoM film guys.
The little village of Mondsee
We drove around Austria a bit more before heading up to Munich to spend our last night and catch our flight home the next morning. The only thing I really wanted to see that we missed was a tour of the salt mines. Apparently the mine we chose was sold out that day, or only sold their tickets online? We're not exactly sure because they didn't speak English and we don't speak German. That was, surprisingly, the only place we went where not a person spoke English! Guess we better learn German for next time. Or just buy our tickets online. Anyway, no salt mine tour for us this trip. But that just means I know exactly where to start the next time we go to Germany/Austria/Bavaria.
It was a dreamy 10 days together exploring the Bavarian area of Europe. We loved experiencing new sights, sounds, and tastes together! But wow, I was tired and it was time to get home and do some Christmas shopping/packing/preparing!
Can't wait for our next adventure together.
