Salzburg - 8th July

Mondsee

Today we arrived in Brandstatt and after an early breakfast we caught the bus for a two hour drive to Salzburg, home of Mozart and the Sound of Music. On the way we stopped at Mondsee, a comfort stop, if you get my drift, but this is so different to our roadside stops in Australia. It's a full on food court with main meals, delicious looking cakes and strudels and a view to die for. Those are the Austrian Alps you are looking at, they stretch all the way from Slovenia to France.

Salzburg Gardens & Fortress

Our guide entertained us during the trip with many facts about Austria, the Alps, the immigration crisis of 2015 and many other interesting stories.
On arrival in Salzburg he took us on a walking tour, first to these gardens at the right with an amazing view of the fortress on the hill above the city. This fortress was built in 1077 A.D. and has had a long and colourful history.

Pegasus Fountain

Next to the gardens is the Pegasus Fountain. Now why do I bring this fountain up? Apart from the cute duck at the base of it, almost hidden by the vegetation it was eating, this was where the scene in The Sound of Music was filmed where Maria teaches the Von Trapp children how to sing with the Do-Re-Me song.

Padlock bridge

We then crossed a pedestrian bridge to the old city of Salzburg and this bridge has thousands of padlocks attached to by lovers professing their undying love to each other. Our guide says many of them break up, and the locks have to be periodically removed because they cause too much pollution when they rust.

Birth place of Mozart

Then it was into the centre of the old city and to the house where Mozart was born. The yellow building with the window open on the first floor is where he was born. Mozart left Salzburg at a young age and went to Vienna. He never returned to his birth place.

Levitation

In the main cathedral square was a Mozart impersonator with an unusual act. It appears he is levitating above the square with only his hand resting on a piano tilted at a crazy angle and balanced on  a pile of books.
The trick to this is the large iron plate under the red rug on the ground, from that a hidden frame comes up through the books and piano and goes up the sleeve on the piano to a harness hidden under his silver costume which holds him in the air, seemingly "levitating". Very clever illusion.

Sound of Music

After some free time in the centre of Salzburg, we were whisked up to a mountain top 1001 metres above the city for a meal and entertainment from the Sound of Music. Food was OK, but the entertainment was spectacular, with songs from the movie such as The Hills are Alive with The Sound of Music, The Lonely Goatherd (complete with yodelling and seven children emulating the Von Trapp Children, Do-Re-Me (also with the children) and finally Eidelweiss. "Maria" was our lovely hostess, she sang the opening song and introduced all the rest of the acts. Very enjoyable.

After that it was another two hour drive in the bus back to Passau in Germany to rejoin our ship.

Hey guys, where are the comments? Is anyone following this blog? To top it off, the "g" key on my brand new laptop has come loose and is becoming decidedly temperamental. Hopefully it will hang on till I get back to Australia.