Salzburg: Home of Mozart and his Eponymous Kugeln

We did not encounter any neighbors of relatives on this morning's train journey from Vienna to Salzburg, but the scenery more than made up for it. While the train from Prague to Vienna mainly passed through thirsty looking yellow fields and socialist style colonies, this mornings ride boasted rolling green hills sprinkled with sunflowers, chalets, and quaint villages. It was raining hard, but the rain only increased my attraction to towns. I have a romanticized view of the Austrian countryside as a place where life is simple - where there are no computers, no TVS and drinking, hiking and reading serve as the main forms of entertainment. Children are ruddy-cheeked, meals are hearty and people fetch milk daily from their own cows. Told you it was romanticized...We did pass a lot of cows though! Enough for every family to have one at least.

From the train station, we went straight to lunch, and from lunch straight to exploring. First we wandered down the Getreidegasse, Salzburg's main shopping street famous for the elaborate wrought-iron hanging signs hanging above each door. We didn't do any damage - the strip was dominated by chains and flavorless clothing stores - except to our teeth. For at the end of the Getreidgasse was Furst, a confectionary whose founder Paul Furst was the originator of the Mozartkugeln. The Mozartkugeln, named for Salzburg's most famous resident, is a perfectly round chocolate ball filled with pistachio marzipan and nougat. Which is to say it is disgusting, but then again I don't like chocolate OR marzipan so probably not a winning choice for me. Austin on the other hand loved his.

Post-kugeln, we walked through the Alter Markt square which was much more up my gustatory alley. Pretzels as big as your head in every incarnation imaginable: cheese covered, sugar dusted, dipped in chocolate and nuts, dipped in WHITE chocolate and nuts, salted, covered in ryeseed. Sausage and LOTS of it (the mexican wieners were significantly longer and thinner than the other varieties - an observation I'm going to try to avoid reading into). And of course fruit, veggies, and at least twenty different kinds of brot (bread).

After sampling a little bit of this and a lot bit of that, we took a funicular up to Europe's oldest and largest surviving fortress.

Hohenburg Fortress in Evening

The imposing white castle was established in 1077 (!!) by an Austrian Archbishop, and was expanded over the next 500 years to its current impressive size. When exploring old buildings, I have a habit of touching the walls and trying to imagine who had touched them before me. In this case, it was harder given the structure's varied narrative. In addition to serving its intended function as a safe haven and lookout, the Hohensalzburg fortress was used to house Italian POWs and Nazi activists during WWI before the Anschluss and as a youth hostel during the interwar period. It was thankfully untouched by the bombs and blitzkriegs of WWII.

Part of Hohensalzburg

View from Hohensalzburg

We should be hitting the sack as we're in for a busy day tomorrow. We're touring Salzburg's salt mines which will take us down into the area's century old-shafts. I reckon we're probably not responsible for directing the carts, but I feel we should be on our game if any bats fly our way.

Gute Nachte!

This photo of Austin's yodel-fest sadly wouldn't rotate.