The Sound of Music

After our out-of-this-world morning at Swarovski, we headed up the road to Salzburg through more beautiful Austrian Alps. We arrived just before dark, so we didn't have too much time for exploration after we settled in, but made a plan for the next three days so we could squeeze all the many activities in.

Part of the plan was buying the 24 hour Salzburg tourist card, which helped make the next day one of the best of the trip. We coffeed up the next morning and set out on our adventure. Our first stop was Mozart's house/museum - a shockingly large apartment right in the middle of the city (free admission with the card). We learned a lot about him and his family and their world travels. We then walked over the bridge to try the famous local sausage at Balkan Grill, and check out the other Mozart museum/his birthplace (also free with the card). There we got a sense of his later life, and got to read a collection of letters he wrote his family. 

Almost Mozarted out, we hopped a bus (free with card...) out to the Steigl brewery for a tour and a tasting (free with card...). The tour was self-guided, expansive, and incredibly informative. Michael was in heaven, and I was amazed. We finished off with a nice chat with a German man and 3 good size beer samples each. Then came Hellbrunn Palace - a journey to reach, but well worth it. We arrived just in time to catch the next tour of the gardens and the trick fountain show (free with card... are you seeing a pattern?) and did not know what a treat we were in for. Hellbrunn was built in 1613 by Markus Sittikus von Hohenems, the Prince-Archbishop of Salzburg, for the sole purpose of partying. As we learned, he was apparently out of his mind, and quite the bully. What we didn't realize was that "trick" fountains meant the mean kind of trick, not the pretty fancy kind of trick. We spent the next half hour in awe of the hydrotechnics (I'm making that a word if it isn't one already), and getting the full splashy treatment. It can't be described, just don't miss it when you visit. 

Exhausted after our long day, we turned in for the night and got up early the next day to be sure we could use the last few hours of our card to head up to Festung Hohensalzburg, the huge and famous fortress sitting atop a hill overlooking all of the city and beyond. The view was incredible and the history equally so. We spent a good long time wandering the grounds after our audio tour, and then descended to spent the rest of the day just enjoying the city, complete with gelato, a show from a gold-painted jazz band, and a picnic in the gardens of Mirabell Palace (musical accompaniment provided by a chorus of schoolchildren). That night was our last, and we spent it prepping for the uncertain drive to Prague, and so we said goodbye to Salzburg and Austria. The most beautiful city in the most beautiful country I'd ever seen.