Salzburg adventure

For the Pont d'Ascension this year we had planned to head down to Marseille to visit old friends and to live out dreams of returning to hike in the calanques, lay in the sun on those wild beaches and get some good snorkelling in. We had everything set to spend five days into the region, until the weather forcast changed on us and predicted 5 days of storms. We decided to revise our plans since hanging out on the beach during a storm is not so great. We decided to head for the sun and realized that Germany was going to be having great weather, so we thought, heck, why not go visit my parents for one last time? We wanted to do a new trip too and so I started searching a couple of hours before we were set to leave for somewhere to go on the way. We had written Salzburg off since it is not on the way, even though it is a city that we have wanted to visit ever since we passed through on the train and didn't stop on our way to Slovenia when we were backpacking with Jaxon 5 years ago. After not getting excited about anything else, though, I thought, why not do it? At least it was in the right direction.

Daniel was up for it as soon as I mentionned it and I hurried to get everything ready so we could leave as soon as he got home at 7:00. It is a seven hour drive from our place to Salzburg, so I though that Innsbruck, which if five hours away, would be a good place to stop for the night. I called reasonably priced hotel and asked if it would be too late to check in at 12:30. The lady assured me that it wasn't too late and that there would be restaurant people available to check us in.

The drive was somewhat strenuous with pouring rain and construction everywhere as soon as we hit Austria. We did go though a 20 kilometer tunnel through the mountains on an interesting note. I didn't even think to call the hotel since we managed to arrive by 1:00, only half an hour later than planned. But when Daniel went to the reception, it was all locked up and everything was shut down. When we headed into the city most of the hotels were shut down, and the couple that we checked were full. We considered driving the rest of the way to Salzburg or sleeping in the car, but finally reduced ourselves to start asking at the 5-star hotels, which apparently are the only ones with 24-hour reception in Europe. I think Daniel was about to pay anything for a bed at that point. So we gave in.

I have to say, it made me a little nostalgic for the days where we would have slept in the car to save a buck. However, we (and especially Daniel) probably enjoyed the following day much more after sleeping six hours in a very comfortable bed instead of a car. The breakfast was amazing and the kids especially loved the hot chocolate.

A couple more pictures of the hotel. I wanted to get our money's worth. I even took the towels. (Just kidding)

Without spending much time in Innsbruck we headed over to the salt mines just outside of Salzburg. You have to be at least four to go through them, so Daniel and I each took a turn with Jaxon. Apparently Salzburg gained all of its wealth from these mines back in the day when salt was worth its weight in gold. We took a little train deep into the caves and then made our way down mostly by using these miners' slides and took a boat across a brine lake.




In the caves we had the experience of crossing in to Germany and then back into Austria

The slides were really fun and fast.


Outside of the mines there was an open-air celtic village (since it was the celts who originally discovered the salt)


Not surprisingly, Jaxon was most interested in the slug.


The whole experience was awesome. And educational. I learned a lot both about salt and about Salzburg that I never know.
We had a nice view of the castle from our hostel.


Daniel and Jaxon playing the air-piano in from of Mozart's home. No, Jaxon did not pee himself, he was playing in a fountain.



Jonas was creeped out by this same sculpture in Prague at Christmastime. He must be used to it by now.


Hmmm....apparently the views are supposed to be amazing from up here by the castle on a clear day. A lot of people come to Salzburg for the scenery. I guess it would be more of a bummer if you aren't coming from Switzerland. We were just happy we weren't trying to hang out on a beach.
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Fun stuff for the kids at the castle.

At the marrionette museum.
Nothing like a big odd thing to climb on. We took the funicular down since it was included in the admission. Jaxon couldn't relax for the picture. He was stressed that I was going to be left behind.
That afternoon we went on the Sound of Music tour. We love the Sound of Music and Frommer's had listed it as one of their favorite Austria experience, so we figured it would be worth the price. So, wrong about that, but you have to do it to know, right? Although we were disappointed that we spent that whole afternoon mostly on a bus with a tour guide telling us that if we looked really hard over the trees we might catch a glimpse of the von Trapp residence, we tried to make the most of it.


The gazebo
Where Maria and the kids fell in the water.



The church where Maria and the Captain were married in Monde See

I'm such a sucker for beautiful building facades. So I think the tour would have been better with the movie playing on the bus, more costumed guides, music and choreography at each stop. Maybe my expectations were too high.
Back to Salzburg




The car show taking place was a hit with the boys. We fell in love with Salzburg and then headed up to Germany to spend then next portion of our vacation there.