16 Dec 2010 @ Salzburg -8C

We have a restful night at Der Salzburger Hof. Credit must be given to the toasty bedroom where we clowned around until the middle of the previous night.  Weather wise, today is no better but we are all comforted by the forecast of some sun in the day.

Mozartplatz is located in the center of tourist town

We bought ourselves a 3 day ( 72 hour ) Salzburg pass, good for all public transport and almost all museum visits. At the bus terminal just 2 junctions off our hotel, we hopped on bus 25 at alighted at Mozartsteg. Mozartplatz is just steps behind the stop. Pat and H took day shots of Mozart, evidently Salzburg's favorite son. He did not look very dignified, with a tuft of white snow on his head. The glockenspiel was undergoing repair and its 11 am public performance cancelled. This more than sums up our lack of luck at catching any glockenspiel show in Europe this trip.

Ticketing office in Residenzzplatz

At Residenzeplatz, recognizable by the horse carriage and Residenzgallerie, we picked up our Borodin Quartet tickets at the Polzer ticket office. This is our Salzburg highlight, H's mostly, tomorrow evening at the New Mozarteum Soitar Saal at 6.30pm.

Salzburg Dom

9.45am. We visited Dom at Residenzplatz, a very big and ornate church just steps from the Festung cablecar station. The quartet organ pipes was impressive and so was the painting on the ceiling.

The fortress as seen from the Dom. The cablecar station is at an obscure entrance beside the truck.

10am. We took the Funicular up the Festung Hohensalzburg and looked down the entire Salzburg town, sun-drenched, from Festung's ramparts. It was a happy 2 hours oohing and aahing at the beautiful town below from all possible angle. There was a little museum place which was interesting with world war I relics.

The steep cable car ride to Festung was over in minutes.

Salzburg as seen from Festung,partly nestled in the Festung's shadow

Houses behind the Monchsberg, the reidential part of Salzburg

The Salzach cuts through town. Festung sits on its left bank

On the roof of Festung

Pancake stall at Christmas Market

Our new favorite snack

Salzburg at 2 pm, 2 hours before sundown

12 noon. We took the funicular down and visited the Christmas market at the foot of Festung. Lunch became a very disorganized affair as we interspersed pancake with sausages and then some more snacks in no particular order. Then it was an hour visit to the Salzburg museum, just beside the platz. It is a big place but some filming caused us to miss a fair bit of exhibits.

Almost 2 pm, we thought the best part of the museum visit was over. So we were pleasantly surprised that the Mozart Geburthaus near the Rathaus ( within walking distance ) offered so much history lessons for us concerning Mozart. It was an enlightening hour poring over the exhibits and understanding life in Salzburg at that time.

Childhood home of Mozart in the Old Town

 

3.40 pm. It is nearing sundown. To warm up, we had a drink at Macdonalds at Getreidegasse. Scores used the washroom here , free WC being so hard to come by. From there, we crossed the Salzach and made our way on foot to Mirabel, hoping to catch the end part of the farmer's market. We had to be disappointed, because the entire market had reverted to a car park.

Knocked off course from my plans, we zoomed for the Barock Museum nearby, more to seek shelter from the cold and snow. Someone was rehearsing for the night's concert, an attempt which H said was poorly executed. It was a small place and we spent more time poring over the map looking for things to to do.

Our dinner place which service could be better

We bussed back to Rathaus, wielding the Salzburg card. We had no difficulty locating Zipfer Bierhaus, located right smack in Universitat square, by now our favorite square for sundry and activity spotting. Service at Zipfer Bierhaus was non existant, waiters grumpy and unwelcoming and food terribly salty. In fact, we have yet to come across food that is lightly salted. I wonder how Austrians  manage their blood pressure, with diets like that.

Then it was  titbits stock up time at DM in Forum before we call it a day.