On June 29th, we finished up our visit to Salzburg with a bike ride.  It was great to see some neighborhoods and countryside.  I suspect that we were all glad when the guide suggested we stop for some refreshment about half way through.

 


High on the hills is the Alt Residenze (every town has to have a castle!).  It was build in the 1100s and remodeled in 1680. 

After checking into our hotel which was built in the 15th century, we took a boat ride.  We have included a couple pictures of Jean for her fans.  For those that don't know Jean, she is the woman on the far right and is everyone's favorite for a dinner partner.

Homes along the river.

This is the Newe Residenzplatz which was the bishop's residence.  It was built in 1713-1730

This is the organ at St Stephan's.  We were lucky enough to be able to attend an organ recital.  It is the largest organ in Europe with 17,774 pipes and 233 stops.

Pulpit at St Stephan's.  Only the pulpit and the altar was in gold and there were no stained glass windows. 

The street are narrow and it was raining but it didn't stop us from doing anything. 

Another picture of the organ at St Stephan's

A residence door dated 1639

The street are all cobblestone.

The town has often experienced floods and each flood's high water mark is indicated on this church steeple.  The highest was about 20 feet.

Tomorrow is a busy day.  We are off to Vienna with two stops on the way. 

Jack and Nancy

Salzburg Austria June 28

Today is a very short blog.  It was a free day for most of us.  About half of the group when to the see the houses where the von Trapp family lived.  The other group did whatever they wanted.

Jack and I took off and went to museums.  We started with the Residenz.  I have included a couple pictures of the castle to give you a feel for the place.

I have a friend who likes guns so I thought that I would start with showing some of their gun collection.





Throughout the castle there were a large collection of clocks.  A few were designed to have a candle illuminate them at night.




This is the dining hall.  Throughout the castle were exquisite wooden floors.



We then visited the Salzburg Museum.  Most of the exhibits were about the history of  Salzburg.  However, this beautiful comtemporary piece was in the front of the museum.

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There was an exhibit of comtemporary items that had been collected by the museum.  I loved this doll house since it is the exact doll house I had growing up.  However, I did have better furniture.

Tommorrow we are leaving Salzburg but not before we all go on a bike ride.

Jack and Nancy

Salzburg Austria June 27

Today was a walking tour through Salzburg.  We don't believe that there is a better way to see the city.  There are so many twist and turns were cars aren't allowed that walking is the best alternative.  The Old Town area where we are staying has narrow streets, lots of interior courtyards and shopping and eating galore!!  Salzburg is a medieval city that dates back to the 1500s.

Salzburg has about 150,000 residents so it is not a large city.  It is considered one of the world's most beautiful cities---known as the "Florence of the North."  A golden city of the High Baroque, Salzburg spans the Salzach River in the foothills of the Alps and the Bavarian (German) border.  Even in pre-historic times (1000 BC), Salzburg was known for the salt trade.  Later, it was a Celtic settlement and then a Roman one.  Christianity came early to Salzburg.  By 750 AD a Benedictine Abbey and the Nonnberg Nunnery were here and soon Salzburg was an important seat of power in the Holy Roman Empire.  Wolf-Dietrick von Kaitenau, a Medici Prince and Archbishop created this "Rome of the Alps."  At the Congress of Vienna in 1815, Salzburg became part of Austria.  The birth and burial place of Mozart and the actual setting of the real life events and filming of "The Sound of Music".  Salzburg has, for centuries, been a center of musical excellence.  It is hard to believe today, but much of the city was bombed in WWII and destroyed---luckily, the Old Town survivied.



Here is the view from our hotel.  For my friend Madelyn Botta who has been to Salzburg, we are staying at the Goldener Hirsch.




Salzburg is a walled city.  Some of the wall is made by Mother Nature like the one above and some man made.  This building is built inside of the hill.  The shaft you see running up the hill is for water to flow into the city.



Salzburg is divided by the river into two section:  Old Town and New Town



This is Hohensalzburg Fortress which was run by the Catholic Church until 1815.  We went on a private guided tour so were able to see many rooms not available to the public.  In a few pictures I will talk about the tour.





The is the home of Mozart.  He lived on the third floor.  As you can see, the buildings in Old Town are very close together.



This is New Town

This is the Fortress

Again, the Fortress

The dungons were many non-believers were tortured

The tour took us up a 1000 stairs (at least that is what it felt like) to the very top of the Fortress.  What a view!!

They played the bells for us and we watched the mechanism and it played

Guard stations found on many of the corners of the Fortress

Don't want you to think that we didn't have a some fun time too.  Never thought that might "Knight in Shining Armour" would wear glasses!

Ancient horn

Best way to explore Salzburg

This is the Mirabelli Palace where "The Sound of Music" was filmed (in part)

Bicycle riding this afternoon and a great dinner tonight.

Jack and Nancy





 

June 24 - 25

Need to get caught up on this blog.  We have been so busy, I haven't had time to sit down and write you all of you.  Here goes:

After we left the castles in Neuschwanstein, Germany we were off to Prien/Chiemsee, Austria.  Chiemsee is the "Bavarian Sea.:  Home to one of the most beautiful lakes in the Bavarian Alps.

Here is a picture of the boat dock outside of our hotel.

  This is our hotel.  It was lovely and I could have spent a week there instead of a night.


On Saturday, we got up early and took a boat ride and a horse drawn carriage to visit the Herrencheinsee Castle.  It was built by Mad King Ludwig in 1878 and like most of his castles, was never finished.  He wanted to build a relipca of Versailles so there are many similarities.  Unfortunately like all the other castles we have visited, you can't take pictures of the interiors but here are few pictures to give you an idea of our day at the castle.

We stopped along the way to take a cable car/tram ride to the peak of Kampen Mountain.  Although I am not nervous about heights, I prayed that no one would do anything to make the car move.  It was freightening.

My picture doesn't do the scenery justice.  The mountains were spectacular.

We kept waiting for Heidi to run across the meadow.

We spent Saturday night in Berchtegaden which is a small village (8000 people) high in the Bavarian Alps.  Berchtegaden began as the place of the Whittelback Royal Family's salt mines in the 12th century.  Later it would become known as the retreat of the Nazi elite with the mountain homes of Hitler, Hermann, Goering and Martin Borman.  Outside of town at the top of the mountain was Hitler's private mountain retreat---the Eagle's Nest.  Hileter wrote "Mein Kampf" in Oberslazbert and spent about a quarter of his time in power at this location.

Sunday was Hilter's Eagle' Nest.  It has 4 miles of underground bunkers and housing for about 2000 Nazis.  It included everything from a grade school to the Gestapo Headquarters. 

Miles and miles of bunkers that were never damaged by bombing.

Hitler's dining room at Eagle's Nest

The top of Eagle's Nest was all covered with clouds but this was the view only a half mile down the mountain.

After Eagle's Nest we went to Konigsee (King's Lake).  Again, the mountains were incredible.  It is a cold deep, dark lake in a unique setting.  It is the most photographed panorama in Germany.  The boat tour took us over to St Bartholomew's Church which was about a 33 minute boat ride.

Water fall that has two ponds. 

Electric boats so not to pollute the water which is crystal clear.



Boat Houses



Hope that you are enjoying the narratives and the pictures.  It has been great to hear from folks back home.

Jack and Nancy