Day-15 Salzburg

Mirabell Gardens

Mirabell Gardens

hursday we visited Mozart's house.  Is was very interesting and much more historically accurate than the popular fiction about his life.  After reading some of the letters between him and his dad I have a better appreciation for their relationship.  L. Mozart tried to be a good father to a son who he realized had an exceptional gift,  In many ways the forces of mediocracy were aligned to try to crush the young A.W. Mozart.  It is only hundreds of years later that we can see these people as humans and truly appreciate the gift that A. W. Mozart had.  (bummer - no photography allowed, upside - they had an instructional CD on two pieces of his music that I got a copy of in the book shop… can't wait to try it on the grandkids)

Mirabell Gardens are almost next to the Mozart house.  The Mirabell Palace is only used for concerts and is otherwise closed.  But the gardens are beautiful.  It was cloudy part of the time but when the sun peeked out for a few seconds I got a few nice shots.  The gardens are actually more like several different gardened all strung together.  It is just barely sufficient to show a few photos and say that they are all beautiful, well maintained and different.

Salzburg from the Hill

Fortress

Clouds over Tower

Door Garden at Fortress

Old arches found during work on the building

After the  gardens we took a bus to the old town part of the city and walked around for a while.  There was still a bunch we didn't get to do due to time but we choose to take in the Hohen Salzburg Fortress on the mountain above the city for the great views.  There is a funicular that gets you to the base of the Fortress and then you can explore… The view is shown in the picture (you can click on a picture to enlarge it)  The site has been occupied since Roman times but the Fortress was started in 996 and built up over the years. About 1000 years ago it became an imposing and commanding military presence on the mountain above the city that no one attacked the city for almost 1000 years until the time of Napoleon.  Salzburg eventually came under Austrian control and the city was attacked again by American bombers in WWII.  Other than that They have managed a quiet, peaceful existence while most of Europe raged around then. 

We found this statue of a long dead king interesting,  The bronze was so old it was almost entirely brown.  But the message is clear he is the guardian of the city… and if you mess with them he has a mighty sword.  By the time we had explored the hilltop, we were ready to get some dinner… As we cruised back through the old town we decided that Die Weisse looked better and we had barely touched the menu.  So we caught a bus to the Bahnhof and then one to near the hotel and headed for the restaurant.  Spinach dumplings and Chicken Cordon Bleu later we finally headed back to the hotel.  If you get to Salzberg ,Die Weisse is at 10 Rupert Strasse, The food and wheat beer is excellent.  (By the way water costs 4.80 euro and beer 3.50 euro - so drink beer to save money.

The Bronze King

Friday we are headed back to Zurich on the train.