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