Welcome to Salzburg! I arrived last night and checked into the Menninger Hotel before going to bed as it was late. Waking up the next morning I quickly got ready before making my way to the bus stop. There I purchased a bus pass that was good for my stay. I then went into town and met with the tour guide at Miraball plaza. Our tour guide showed us inside the palace where we saw the grand staircase and great hall. We then made our way outside and saw the gardens. This garden is where the sound of music garden scene is shot. I also learned that the flower designs are put in by the flowers growing elsewhere and then right before blooming they are transplanted to the garden design. We then left the garden and started walking to old town. On our walk, we saw the hotel in which the thunderstorm scene for sound of music is filmed. Across the street was the house in which Mozart lived as and adult. We stopped at the Salz bridge and noticed sights from across the river. After crossing the bridge into old town, we passed many sights and saw the significant signs for different shops. Each symbol within the sign is to show what the shop sells. As you walk and look but at the buildings you notice different year dates, buildings usually have two. The first is the date is when the building construction was finished and the second date is for when it was last renovated. We continued walking through old town and saw the cathedral where Maria walks past and talks at the gate. We also saw the festival hall which contains the stage that the Von Trapp family performed at, both the real family and the movie. We also saw a fresh water fountain that had a sun dial and practiced telling time with it. Next to it was the university chapel. In the chapel, it is all white and has no furniture. We ended our town by seeing different market places and then had free time. In the market place area, the yellow building is Mozarts birthplace and first home. In my free time, we saw the Montessori and saw different traditional outfits. We also went into two other church’s and got pretzels.
I toured lots of church’s while in Austria. The first is an old gothic church. In comparison to others it looks similar however the little alcoves had several differences including housing actual bishop skulls in cases. The next church was the grand cathedral. It was beautiful inside and out. In the outside picture they are setting up and stage because next week starts a large festival. Inside has building carvings and ornate plasterwork. There is a downstairs which holds remanents of the first cathedral as this one had to be repaired after WWII.
After touring old town, I made my way back to the hotel using the bus. I met up with my tour group and we left to go to the alpine slide. Once we got there we purchased tickets and then boarded the ski lift to make our way to the top. The views were magical and you could see so much. We saw some mountain goats and sheep while at the top. I then got on the slide mechanism and made my way back down. I then boarded the bus and went back to the hotel for dinner and some sleep.