October 10, 2008

With much anticipation, we arrived in Salzburg on the morning of the 10th. For once it seemed like we had a good start on the day and we might locate a place to stay well before dark. We found the Tourist Information (TI) center easily, picked up information on things to do and places to stay and headed for a local park to have a snack and do a little planning. So much for the head start! A wrong turn downtown led us down a one way, single lane street with parked cars on one side. The street kept getting narrower and narrower and at one point I had to drive on the side walk to get around a parked car. As we rounded the last little curve, the road abruptly ended in a 6’ wide pedestrian-only walkway. Oh crud! This is not good! Making one attempt at making a “U-Turn” assured us there was no way to get the car turned around. The only option was to BACK-UP the two blocks the way we had come in, parked cars, sidewalk and all. Once we cleared that street, we exited the city maze and headed straight out of town and did not collect $200, or pass “GO!”

Once we compiled our list of potential B&Bs, all of which were conveniently located on the same street, we drove by them to pick out the best of the lot. Narrowing the list down to 3 and finding a couple of others not advertised, we stopped at each one to check availability and rates. For one reason or another-- house-a-tosis, no shower, bath literally in the bedroom, cramped rooms or proprietor’s personal hygiene (don’t even ask) -- these available choices were not going to serve as accommodations for our stay. Instead of possibly insulting the owner with our objections, we found that asking for Internet access (which no B & B has) allowed us to decline gracefully.
Without large chain hotels with established and consistent standards, finding an acceptable place to stay in European cities, regardless of how we do it (internet or personal inspection), has taken us an enormous amount of time. This has been consistent throughout our trip thus far. We spend between 2 to 6 hours looking for accommodations and another couple of hours looking for places to eat. Whoever comes up with an objective, comprehensive guide to assist travelers with this universal problem will know what it’s like to be financially secure! We’ll be the first to buy the guide!

Just by driving around, we finally found a nice, small hotel, “Hptel Zur Post”, close to downtown with a bus stop across the street allowing us to park the car and leave the driving to some else. And breakfast was included too, even if it was sliced meats, croissants and coffee!
We purchased a 72-hour Salzburg card (a discount card which proved to be a very good deal) that provided for all local transportation and gave free or discounted entries to numerous museums and events.

Catching the bus into town, we spent our first day browsing through the lovely old town with its attractive shops and decorative wrought iron doorway marquees on our way to the Museum of History. With our card, the entry to the museum was free and we spent most of the morning delving into Salzburg’s art treasures and its past.

Along with the Salzburg card, we purchased tickets for dinner and a Mozart concert in the Hohensalzburg Fortress sitting high above Salzburg. Using the Salzburg card, we got a free ride on a tram to the top and arrived early enough to take a leisurely tour through the Fortress and an imaginary trip back to the 1100 and 1200’s. The museum there also was helpful in our trip back through history. Dinner was very good with a friendly server and a fantastic view 800 feet above the surrounding area with the Alps in the background. After dinner, we headed for one of the halls in the Fortress to listen to a string quintet playing chamber music by Mozart. For a Mozart fan, it was unbelievable to be sitting in a 12th Century Fortress listening to excellent musicians playing Mozart’s music. It was a most enjoyable evening!

On the 12th, we headed to the “new” old part of Salzburg to go through the Mozart museum in the building that was the family’s apartment when Mozart was young. Later in the day, we would visit the apartment where he was born in “old”, old town. As everyone knows, Mozart was a musical genius. But, not unlike today’s musicians, fame and fortune was a dangling carrot. His father was a violin instructor for the City and recognizing his son’s talent set out on an attempt to make him rich and famous. He booked “gigs” in royal courts and in front of other important people traveling extensively achieving reasonable success but taking ill. Mozart’s mother tried to continue her husband’s effort but wasn’t quite as successful. She later took ill and died and Mozart was left to try on his own but was even less successful. He was a performer not a promoter. While In new “old” town looking for a place for lunch, we saw two police officers milling around a parked car. Being good rubber-necking Americans we sauntered over to make sure their investigation was proceeding properly. It seemed a single lady who was staying at a pretty nice downtown hotel had the rear window of her car smashed in by either vandals or thieves. It was a sobering sight and exactly why we have been trying to stay on the outskirts of town in fairly decent neighborhoods. Europeans native to the area are generally friendly and civil. However, there is a very high percentage of immigrants from some of the poorer surrounding countries that don’t seem to have the same standards.

Later that day, we kept our appointment for the free ride our card got us on a River Boat cruise on the Salzach River with comedian for a captain. After the cruise, when we got back to the docking area, he locked the wheel and throttle controls, turned up the volume on the stereo playing the “Blue Danube” and walked away from the wheel while the boat on its own did 4 or 5 360 degree turns in the middle of the river. It was fun and reminded us that being boaters anywhere there is water makes for a good time. While we were waiting to board the boat, we noticed a rack full of bikes with a coin controlled locking mechanism. You insert the appropriate amount, unlock the bike and away you go.

On our last day in Salzburg, we visited Bishop Hellbrunn palace and water gardens which he used as a hunting lodge and incorporated the latest advancements in mechanical engineering to amuse himself and his guests. Apparently, the Bishop was a bit of a prankster since all throughout the grounds there were clever, animated, water driven devices designed to entertain and play practical jokes on the unsuspecting.

Tomorrow, we’re off to Wein (Vienna) with a short stop on the way in Linz to see the Danube.

Dorothea & Ed

October 6, 2008 Blog

October 6, 2008

Our new PC was supposed to be delivered on Friday, the 3rd, but it wasn’t. We managed to get on line and checked UPS tracking information to find it was hung up in Cologne awaiting customs clearance. When I called UPS, the first challenge was communicating in EngliGer. The UPS agent, Hans, could barely understand me and I could barely understand him. What I was able to make out was customs considered the PC an import item and a 350. Euro Value Added Tax (VAT) needed to be collected. I finally got Hans to understand I was an American; the PC was not being imported since it was going back to America and I wasn’t required to pay the VAT. He conceded and said the PC would be delivered before Thursday, the 9th. Since we had a couple of days before it came, we ventured forth into the countryside.

On Monday, the 6th we visited a couple of lake resort areas where we originally thought of staying NE of Murnau and SW of Munich. Taking the back roads as we usually try to do, the traffic was light and the countryside had very pleasant scenery of trees with leaves showing off their fall colors.

Lake Starnberg, a large, popular resort lake was our first stop. Although we didn’t see any fish in the lake, we did see a couple of sail boats and a beautiful swan from an unusual angle! The swan was eating something on the bottom which was just out of reach and it was “bottoms all the way up” trying to get to it. See photo for the angle!

Another nearby lake, Ammersee is the smaller of the two lakes. Both are about as wide as Charlotte Harbor’s widest point. Ammersee comes with a legend about King Ludwig II who took the Bavarian throne when he was 18. He was the one who in Fussen built the Royal Castles and was considered to be rather eccentric. They say a conspiracy might have taken place to replace the young king. His cousin had the young king (when he was 35) declared insane. He was arrested and brought to Heilingen Berg as a prisoner. Shortly thereafter he was found drowned in Lake Ammersee. King Ludwig was known to be an excellent swimmer and no one knows for sure if it was an accident, suicide or something more sinister. His cousin then took power. Hmmmm.

The lake has a delightful lakefront promenade and what looked like an active sailing fleet. The Promenade Café on the lake also had delightful ice cream! When you’re in Bavaria, do as the Bavarian’s do – have coffee and sweets in the afternoon. Who are we to buck local customs?
The next day, the 7th, was a totally different experience. We headed for Innnsbruck and the Swarovski factory with its crystal museum, Kristalkindl. Just before getting to Innsbruck you have to travel along a narrow, mountain road with many switchbacks. The road going down to Innsbruck has 26+/-% slopes. Ed said “No problem.” Dorothea said “Yikes!” So off we went! The drive to the top of the pass from Mittenweld along Roadway B177 was over a long distance and the grade up was gradual. Once we got to the top and headed down toward Innsbruck, the decent occurred in a short distance and the grade was steep with five run outs along the way for vehicles with hot, ineffective brakes. We descended in 1st gear and had to keep braking in order to keep our speed manageable while negotiating the sharp curves. At the bottom, the road turned into a four lane “Super Highway” for the rest of the ride into Innsbruck. Being able to breathe again, we turned on the radio just in time to catch “My Love for You Will Never Die” (we have a video of the road with sound but it won’t play in the Kodak Gallery”). What a contrast! A hair-raising decent from high in the beautiful Bavarian Alps, heading to a 14th century medieval city, speeding along on a 21st Century Super highway with no speed limit, listening to American Country Music. Life doesn’t get much better.

The Swarovski Kristalkindl wasn’t exactly what we were expecting. It was more of a display of artists’ works that used Swarovski crystals in their art. BUT, the end of the museum was a treat – a huge showroom with every Swarovski crystal you can imagine – jewelry, phone covers, belts, art pieces - fantastic! We were hoping to see crystals made at the factory but we were told it was a secret process.

The drive to Innsbruck, along with the customary hunt for the “Red October” tourist information (TI) office in downtown Innsbruck and the tour through the Swarovski museum didn’t leave much time to explore “Olde” Innsbruck, which by the way is named for the bridge (Brucke) over the River Inns. But, as we always do, we pushed the opportunity envelope and got to see most of “Olde Town.” One thing we have noticed on all of our visits to these fantastic German Cities is a tour group of Asians who seem to follow us around. We know they are the same group because they like to take movies of each other. We can’t image all Asians have the same preoccupation with cameras!

We left Innsbruck late (after dark), which made the trip back home interesting; considering the steep mountain climb, the winding roads to Mittenweld and the arrival of an early evening fog. Even though it was late when we got home, a glass of fine French made a nice nightcap.
First thing next morning, the 8th, we get a call from our land-lady letting us know our UPS delivery was there. Glory, glory halleluiah! It’s finally here and once again we are whole. I wasn’t fully dressed so Dorothea went to get the package. The next thing I hear is a knock on the door and the land-lady’s daughter is there telling me in broken English that Dorothea needs me. Not an encouraging invitation. When I get to the UPS truck, I see the driver with a death grip on our new PC shielding it from Dorothea who has the appearance of a fine lioness ready to pounce on its prey. It seems there was a matter of a 350. Euros VAT that had to be paid. It didn’t matter what I said about previous arrangements, the driver wasn’t going to let us have the PC without the VAT. “O.K., here’s my credit card, I’ll deal with the VAT later, just give me my PC. “Sorry!”, says Mr. Brown. “Kasse, neine Master Kard!” I tell him I don’t have 350 Euros on me. Can you wait 30 minutes until I can get to the banko and geta kasse? “Neine! Kum bak 14:30! Sie haf kasse!” Covering my options while heading to the ATM, I called Hans at UPS central to find out what’s happening. He says he’ll call the driver’s boss and take care of the problem. At 14:30, Mr. Brown returns, and tells me, no VAT required, and we finally get our PC.

On the 9th, having our new PC in hand, we leave our home base in Murnau and head for Salzburg. Along the way, we make a short side trip to Lake Tegernsee for lunch and then head to Rosenheim for the night. We find a comfortable, new inn just outside of town and have what else, Wienerschnitzel, for dinner at the hotel restaurant. Everyone in the restaurant is once again very friendly and helpful in getting us fed.

Ed and Dorothea