phew. i finally get some time to properly sit down, edit pictures and reacquaint myself with wordpress! i’m scheduling this post so by the time you read it you may go ‘what the heck are these references to christmas and boxing day’, but if i don’t do my write up today it’s gonna be never! it’s been so long that i feel as though i’d gotten a little rusty trying to remember how to put together a blog post. but as the saying goes, it’s just like riding a bicycle….
picking up where we left off from vienna, our next city stop was salzburg- popular for either one of these, or both: birth place of mozart and the sound of music movie (which was based on the real life story of the von trapp family). growing up, the sound of music, along with mary poppins, was one of my Favourite Movies Of All Time, so it was quite nice being able to catch a glimpse of the hills of salzburg. it had previously snowed before we arrived and the hills were capped with snow, which only made everything 100% prettier. i wish the same theory applied to humans, where if i was having a Bad Face Day i could dump some snow on my head and look less of a fright in an instant.
as mentioned in my last post, we took a train from vienna to salzburg and the journey lasted approximately 3 hours. since there was wi-fi on the train i attempted some online shopping, but every once in a while remembered to look out at the gorgeous snow-covered countryside scenery that swept past us enroute to salzburg. you can take the girl out of the shops, but you can’t take the shop(aholic) outta her! i must confess that some of my best online shopping moments were done on holidays (ie. in the middle of the ocean between 2 greek islands etc.), because what else is there to do?!
since we needed to catch the train the next day we chose a hotel located close to the train station and the lovely little lady owner told us about the traditional saint nicholas festival parading through the town later that night which we were really keen (and a little apprehensive, mostly me though) to check out. we walked into old town and it was a beautifully scenic walk in the cool, crisp winter air.
popped by a christmas market for a little late lunch, which also brings our running tally to 6.
once our human engines (a.k.a tummies) had been refuelled we visited salzburg cathedral, where mozart used to play the 4000-pipe organ. can you imagine going for mass and having mozart play for you?
the old town was peacefully ethereal and romantic at night.
this still functioning water wheel has been in operation since the 12th or 13th century and supplies water from the mountains to the citizens of salzburg. did you know salzburg never had the plague because its streets were always washed clean due to the water supplied by the water wheel? amazing huh?
during our walk we stumbled upon this restaurant which laid claim to being europe’s oldest, but then i thought hang on, didn’t we dine at sobrino de botin in madrid, which is the oldest restaurant in the world? if madrid is in europe and it lays claim to being the world’s oldest, doesn’t it mean that it’s also europe’s oldest? this is too confusing for my brain at 11pm on christmas day, after drinking heaps of hot chocolate laced with baileys, watching downton abbey’s christmas special.
and then it was time for the saint nicholas festival. yearrgghhh!! i was half not looking forward to these because the krampus (a beast-like creature born from alpine folklore thought to carry naughty children away in his sack to his lair) features in the festival and you can literally hear them from a mile away with deafening huge bells and noisy chains strung to their waists. they also carry whips and don’t hesitate to lash out every once in a while. oh they were very convincing, walking down the street in huge groups, going very close to you and singling out people to scare! in contrast we have saint nicholas (whom you will also see in one of the pictures below), who then later on became the model for santa claus. because i really don’t like the pictures i’ll spam them in succession argghhhh here we go!!!
ahhh pictures of food are always non-threathening. a visit to another christmas market at night brings us to 7 now…..
the next day we went on a school excursion trip to hallein salt mine! i think the tour was meant for kids -_- nevertheless we still had fun, especially sliding down two long slides in the mine itself!
SO thankful i got myself some snow boots. last year in cologne i froze my toes off and it was ever so torturous that i definitely do not want to repeat it. best 10 quid spent on *ahem* functional apparel.
at the conclusion of the tour i was looking forward to head on over to germany! i need to go to bed soon to be able to fight the crowds at harrods’ boxing day sale tomorrow *excited* but i will be back next week with a post on haribos, beer steins as huge as my forearm, currywurst and more. 🙂
tips for salzburg:
– you’ll need a ticket to visit salzburg fortress (hohensalzburg fortress) *click* for more info. alternatively buy a salzburg card which provides free, single admission to all of the city’s attractions, free use of public transport and other discounts! check it out *here*
– the salzburg cathedral is definitely worth a visit, the organ was mighty impressive
– walk around salzburg old town and enjoy taking in the sights and feel of the place
– interested in a trip down a salt mine? we easily caught a train and then a bus to hallein from salzburg hbf, which is the salt mine we went to. just enquire and buy tickets from any OBB office (which is easier then trying to work out which train/bus to buy tickets for!). more info *here*. whoa it was €19 for an adult ticket? i feel ripped off now.
– believe it or not there are many companies offering mozart or sound of music tours, so if that’s your thing then there’s no better place to do them 😉
– and of course, visit mozart square, mozart bridge, mozart’s birthplace etc (entry to mozart’s birthplace and museum are free with the salzburg card)
not even midnight on a public holiday and my eyes are already watering from yawning so much. welcome to the Ordinary Life of a little Old Lady. i’m gonna go hug my little pony (who is my protector against the krampus) to sleep now.
auf wiedersehen! (wow i did not need autocorrect to spell that. thanks duolingo lol).