The Sounds of Salzburg

Mum and my cold arrived at roughly the same time so I can’t have been a very good child.

I was at the airport to collect her at 9, and after we’d dropped off her bags at the hotel (did you notice the missing ‘S’!) we set out wearing our adventure caps. Just down the street, a block on from the ice cream parlour with two kugels for only 1.50 euro (a bargain as if you keep going a kugel is more expensive and the more kugels the better, I say), is Mirabell Garden, made famous by the scene in the Sound of Music, where Maria is teaching the kids to sing - Salzburgers detest this movie, which is a shame as I had hoped to see a few re-enactments; I think there’s a lot of money to be made here - so Mum and I posed for the obligatory photos, and told a wonderful water-colourist that we‘d return to buy her paintings, and then promptly forgot our promise. We pressed on, across the river and up the hill to the fortress, Festung Hohensalzburg, which we detoured around (entry cost was ridiculous) instead wandering the park’s paths behind, winding our way in a full circle.

Thursday morning is market day in Salzburg, so we mingled with the locals, emerging heavier for the brown paper bag of strawberries, a chunk of seeded rye bread, walnut and capsicum dip and an almond pastry cake tucked away in our bags. We purchased Salzburg cards, which gained us free access to a handful of places and meant we were in for the busiest of days. In an effort to squeeze all we could from these cards, we visited Salzburg Museum, caught a cable car to Festung Hohensalzburg, actually went inside said fortress - hugely impressive being the largest of its kind in Europe, perused the catacombs in St Peter’s cemetery, took a very slow but picturesque boat ride (the river is 17cm shallow in some places) then bus ride to Schloss Hellbrunn, a 17th century baroque villa built to relieve boredom and monotony through use of trick fountains that squirt water on passers-by. Mum and I were more excited by the rotunda from the Sound of Music than the fountains, which we found tucked away in an out-of-the-way corner. It was locked, so neither of us could jump from seat to seat in homage to that song.

By this time my cold had taken over and I was about ready to be guillotined, so we stopped by an apothoke, and I bought my first German medicine. Brilliant stuff and felt better almost immediately after taking. This meant a trip to the grocery store where Mum found tiny bottles of cheap French wine and other goodies for pre-dinner snacks. Dinner was Italian - Mum’s reluctant to try German fare, but I mean to make her in Munich, which is tomorrow by train. Here in Salzburg we’ve had average food, which is unusual as I couldn’t praise European meals enough.

We’ve had gorgeous weather in this city normally known for it’s rainy days, but weather reports tell me our luck is about to run out as rain is predicted for the coming week. Our umbrellas are at the ready.

Love Mad & her mum

xxx