Austria: Salzburg

Today we were up early to board our bus that took us for a day trip to Salzburg. The drive took about two hours, and we were lectured the entire way by our tour guide, who decided it was her duty to inform us of everything that has ever happened in this part of Austria, since the beginning of time. When we finally arrived in town, we had a couple of sprinkles here and there, but for the most part, the rain only threatened to spoil our day!

We walked all through the center of town, visiting churches, Mozart's birthplace (it's the yellow building in the picture below), an amazing cemetery, all the while musicians on the street were playing all sorts of classical music. Along the way, we were treated to bits of trivia about Maria van Trapp and The Sound of Music, which was filmed here. We saw the convent that Maria lived in, a fountain were she splashed a horse while singing "I Have Confidence" and other such landmarks.

After the tour, we had a couple of hours to walk around and have lunch. I did a bit of shopping (I have started collecting Christmas ornaments wherever I go, and there was a HUGE Christmas store in town!) and then grabbed a bite to eat. After lunch, I walked around and shopped a bit more, then met the group at the allotted time, where we walked back to the bus.

Salzburg is a charming town. What I love most about it, is that a lot of locals wear traditional dress, dresses with frilly, lacy tops for women, and lederhosen on the men. It really is quaint!

Well, we left Salzburg on our way to Mondsee, which is where the church that Maria married the captain in the movie Sound of Music. We drove back to the ship, had dinner and then classical music on board the ship! A lovely evening. I tried publishing yesterday's blog about Regensburg, but it vanished into cyberspace somewhere...