We had just one day in Saltzburg, so for the most part we enjoyed most of the sights from the outside. Morgan started out the day buying a traditional Tyrolean hat to add to the outfit he wears to Oktoberfest. In northern Germany you never see people in traditional dress (other than in an Oktoberfest tent), but in Austria it seems to be very common. Most people working in shops and restaurants were wearing lederhosen/dirndls. Our first big stop was the Salzburg Cathedral, a beautiful Baroque Catholic church. I think my favorite part was the beautiful ceiling; the church is mostly white but the ceiling had beautiful pops of color. Inside you can even see the baptismal font where Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was baptized.
We stopped in at the Franciscan church (with the spider web looking ceiling) on the way to St. Peter’s, a Benedictine abbey and one of the oldest monasteries in Austria. The steeple has an onion dome (which I love) and the interior is quite ornate – very different from the churches we visited earlier in the day. Next we headed out to the cemetery and catacombs. The numerous caves and caverns inside Mount Moenchsberg has lead historians to conjecture that these are traces of early Christianity, just as there are beneath Rome. There are two chapels and holy masses are still celebrated here regularly.
We made our way through town enjoying the shops (we bought a small watercolor painting from a local artist) and all the beautiful signs hanging in front of the shops. The wrought-iron gild signs are all over town, but especially Getreidegasse, Salzburg’s most famous shopping street. We crossed over the river, getting a great view of Hohensalzburg fortress (the largest fully-preserved fortress in central Europe) and ended up at Mirabell Gerdens – where the von Trapp children sang “Do-Re-Mi” in the Sound of Music. Luckily for Morgan and Mathias I didn’t make them re-enact the scene. We ended the day eating a late lunch outside at a little restaurant – complete with schnitzel and a waiter wearing lederhosen.
We had to cut our time here short (and the remaining cities we visited) because of the rental car situation which took two and a half days off our trip. When we left Saltzburg we headed Steingaden to visit with the Oswalds (family on the Schreiner side). We had a really nice time visiting with Siegfried, Sara, and Stephan over dinner at their home. They were nice enough to let us stay with them for two nights so we could spend a day visiting some of the castles in the area. They are about to head out on a trip to Tokyo which sound very exciting! Somehow I didn’t end up with the picture of all of us together. I’m about 2 years behind writing this post and I do think we took a picture together.. so once it is found I will add it in.
