Day 29 - Salzburg

After a wonderful stay in Germany it was time to say goodbye to Garmish Partenkirchen and head for Austria. As we set off on the road the sky was blue and the sun was shining. The Alps were all looking beautiful in the morning sun - Perhaps summer has finally arrived in Europe!  Our  first stop of the day was a little village just inside the Austrian border called Scharnitz.  This was the site of our Hiking adventures when we lived in Germany and was one of our favourite little villages that we would take people to see when they came to visit us.  Unfortunately time has not been kind to Scharnitz.  The buildings are all looking a little worse for wear, and some of the shops on the main street are empty, including the souvenir shop.  We stopped briefly to buy a few snacks, including some Almdudler (Austrian Lemonade) and continued on down the road towards Salzburg,

First stop in Salzburg was Hellbrun Palace.  This is a 400 year old "Day Palace, built by Austrian Prince-Archbishop Marcus Sittikus Von Hohenems.  It is called a "Day Palace" because it was only visited during the day.  At night Marcus returned to his main residence in Salzburg.  Marcus was a man with a good sense of humour, because in the gardens he had designed a series of trick fountains to entertain and surprise his guests.  We went for a guided tour of the Gardens and saw all of the fountains and water jets in action.

Daniel volunteered (with a little encouragement) to sit on one of the stone seats around a large table.  He was very surprised when a water jet underneath his seat was activated. - Good job it was warm day, so he didn't take too long to dry out.  The rest of the tour was similar. - We would all be admiring the gardens when suddenly a series of water jets would start up out of nowhere and we would all get wet.  Towards the end of the tour we were looking out for wet ground.  If the ground was dry we were safe, if it was wet - Then watch out.

Salzburg is especially famous for two things, Mozart was born in Salzburg and the Sound of Music was set in Salzburg,  so after Hellbrun we headed into Salzburg on the bus and had a look around Mozarts birthplace.  It's an old building in the heart of the old town and is now a museum dedicated to Mozart detailing his life.  It contains letters, instruments and even a lock of Mozarts hair.  Feeling a little insipired and humming "Eine Kline Nacht Musik" to ourselves, we headed down to the Salzbach river which flows through Salzburg.  We boarded a glass sided boat and went for an evening cruise along the river.  Josh and Daniel sat right up a the front of the boat and even had wooden "steering?" wheels in front of them.  At one stage the captain walked away from his wheel and told Daniel to steer the ship for him.  Daniel was not sure if his wheel was really connected, but thought he had better steer just in case.  After the cruise we headed back into the Alt Stadt for dinner, before a leisurely walk to our accomodation, about 30 minutes walk from the city centre.