Hallein Bad Durnberg Salt Mine

This really wasn't all that far from where we're staying. The GPS took us on a twisty turny barely 2-lane road over hill and dale. Brent was worried a car would come the other way - there really wasn't much room.

To start out, everyone must wear these very attractive white 2-piece outfits. We were definitely stylin'!

We hopped on a train type thing where everyone straddled the seat and scrunched together. Down into the mine we went. This mine is no longer a working mine as it is not economical anymore, but Salzburg was a very wealthy city due to the salt coming out of this mine. The red blob in the pic below is salt.

The tour is a series of films with displays that take you through the old-time mining process.

The best part is when you slide down these wooden rails - something like 150 feet . It was pretty cool and we did two of these, continuing to go deeper into the mine. Actually a very large part of this mine is in Germany not Austria. Then, you take a little boat across water and this huge salt crystal is at the end.

We're leaving Salzburg tomorrow and driving through Hallstatt and heading for Linz. We fly home on Saturday. Mine brither tells me that Lufthansa might go on strike on Feb. 25. They can do what they want after I get home!

Salzburg Cathedral

Unfortunately I don't have a great picture of the entire building. This is the Salzburg Dom built in 1628

Supposedly this church can hold 10,000 people. The Ddome was destroyed in WWII and was reconstructed in 1959.

Tombs of 10 archbishops surround the dome. The second picture was taken of the ceiling along the left side, but there were painted sections like this along both sides.

This picture looks to the back of the church and the organ pipes. Mozart was the organist here for two years.

St. Peter's Church and Cemetery

St. Peter's is the only church in Salzburg with a Rococo interior. I'm not sure how old this church is, but from the outside it appears to be very old.

The picture below is the tomb of St. Rupert.

This is St. Peter's cemetery. I read somewhere that gravesites in Austria are not owned, they're rented. Bills are sent out every 10 years and if there's nobody left who's willing to pay for it, the bones are dug up and chucked. I wonder if that's true!

Remember the scene in the Sound of Music where the von Trapp's are hiding out in the cemetery at Nonnburg? Well, that scene was filmed in a Hollywood studio but this cemetery inspired that scene.

Hohensalzbug Fortress

This view of the fortress was taken from the old town. It is built on a rock basically. To get to the castle, you need to ride the funicular. This picture looks down on the midway station.

This was the first real sunny day we've had since I arrived so it was a great time to tour Hohensalzburg. You can see the snow covered mountains in the background.

As you go through, you follow a path which brings you to the inner courtyard. This is where various tradesmen would be located.

Very narrow pathways both outside and inside the castle. Here's Brent posing with one of his favorite things - a cannon. These were placed here to defend Salzburg against an Ottoman invasion. No, no matter how much he begs he cannot have one in our front yard.

Interestingly enough, this fortress was never actually used. I guess it looked impregnable so no one attacked the town for a thousand years. They surrendered the fortress when Napoleon came.

I really don't have many pictures from inside the castle. It was quite irritating that instead of being able to wander through leisurely, everyone was herded through all at the same time. It was crowded, and no matter where I seemed to stand, I was in someone's way or they were in mine. I was really irked by the whole process so I have no pictures of the torture chamber or the other few rooms we were herded through.

We did go to the marionette exhibit housed in the fortress. They were so cool. I was very disappointed that the marionette troupe was touring in France so we couldn't attend the Marionette Theatre.



These are a few views looking down on Salzburg from the Fortress 400 feet above the town.

The Hills Are Alive

Many of you may know that Brent's all-time favorite movie is....wait for it....The Sound of Music. I know your experience with him would lead you to believe that his favorite would be some kind of shoot-em-up with lots of guns and sex. Surprise, he actually is still half in love with Julie Andrews.

One of the first things we decided to do when we got to Salzburg was the Sound of Music Tour. I think this is the first time we've ever done anything like this, but we figured it would give us a quick view of Salzburg and a glimpse of the lake region.

Two homes were used for the von Trapp's home in the movie - neither of them their real house. This house was used for the scenes that took place on the patio out back. This is where the children were when they lied and said they were looking for berries and where the evil countess tried to pass a ball with the kids all the while figuring out how long until she could ship them off to boarding school. This building is used for conferences now.

You can kind of tell that there's a small lake or pond behind Brent. Remember when the kids were in the boat in their curtain clothes and tipped the boat over? Well, apparently little Gretel couldn't swim. So the plan was for Julie A. to catch her when they hit the water. That worked fine for the first take. Unfortunately for Take 2, Julie A. went off the back and the kids went off the front. Someone had to dive in and save Gretel. They were going to do a Take 3 but Gretel had a panic attack so the second one is the one they used. Apparently when Gretel comes up for air, she sinks back down.


Apparently the gazebo stayed on-site at the house above until so many tourists kept coming and singing You Are 16...sing along! Now the gazebo is at the Hellbrunn Palace. One story from the movie was when Liesel was dancing from bench to bench she slipped and went through one of the glass windows. Apparently if you look closely on VHS you can see that Liesel's ankle is wrapped. It was touched up when the DVD was released. I know this is going to shock you, but Christopher Plummer did not actually sing those songs. I take it he has a passable voice but couldn't compare to Julie Andrews so he opted to lip sync.

This is the lane where Maria got off the bus and began walking to the von Trapp home singing something about confidence. This was not the lane where the kids were climbing in the trees.

This is the Nonnburg Abbey that was used for the beginning scenes when Maria was still at the convent. This is where Maria and Gregor were really married, but it is not the church used for the wedding scenes. This is located in the pedestrian area and we didn't get over there.

The church that was used for the wedding scene was at the Basilika in Mondsee. This was undergoing some refurbishment, and I'm assuming that's what the purple screen is all about. This church has a really long aisle and is quite beautiful inside. I'm sparing you more pictures of a church since we visited several others here in Salzburg

Pegasus is located in the Mirabelle Gardens and the kids were dancing around this in the film.

I think the tour guide made this as interesting as they possibly could. Lots of schmaltzy singing in the van, but it was okay and Brent loved it so it was all worthwhile!

Fat Tuesday in Melk

After touring the Melk Abbey, we went into the small town of Melk for lunch. We got lucky and found a spot right on the square and went into one of the restaurants for lunch. All of a sudden we realized that people were gathering all along the sidewalk. Our waitress told us there was a prade for "Carnival" - we had completely forgotten that it was Fat Tuesday! Brent didn't seem too interested, so I went out and found a great spot to watch.

One of my favorites were these crazy women line dancing to Achy Breaky heart. Too funny.

You would never see this in the states. They were handing out different shots of schnapps along the parade route. Who am I to say no? I mean, when in Rome....!!

I liked the chefs. They were handing out some type of a hot dish with beef (I hope it was beef), potatoes, and fresh horseradish grated over the top. It was yummy. At the end, people were handing out chocolates. Mmmmmm.

Many of the little towns we went through were having Fat Tuesday celebrations just like this one. We caught it totally by accident, and had a great time. My next posts will be from Salzburg.

Melk Abbey

Melk Church is supposed to be the finest example of a baroque church in Austria, and possibly all of Europe. We first toured the abbey; we had a tour with a German speaking couple and a tour guide who would first discuss things in German and then in English for us. This abbey has about 30 Benedictine monks living there and has a school for about 90 students. These first two pictures show the entrance to the abbey.

As we went from room to room, not only did our guide lock each door with a key, and then armed the alarm electronically as we left. Incredible security in this place. This hallway seems to just go on forever. This is a replica of the Melk cross. The Melk cross is their most valuable possession as it encases a splinter from Christ's cross.

This cape and staff are still used today at Christmas and Easter.

This is the painted ceiling in the marble room. This room was used as a dining room by the empress Maria Theresa when she came there. She often brought a party of over 300 people with her when she travelled here. I really liked the library, although this is only one of ten rooms that make up the library. There were books there that were over 700 years old.

These two pictures come from the church itself. It was breath taking. I took so many pictures, but am only incuding two here.

We're going into the town of Melk for lunch.

Drive Along the Danube

This was a beautiful drive even in the winter. There are actually quite a few castles along the way, but unfortunately there's enough snow that it's impossible to actually get to any of them. This one, Aggstein, is open for tours, but the road was impassable and we couldn't get any closer. This second castle is very close to the road so we were able to get a pretty decent picture.

These castle ruins are in Durnstein and legend has it that Richard the Lionhearted was held here. At night it is beautiful as the ruins themselves are lit as well as the fortification walls that remain. Most of the castles in Austria are privately owned and this one is too. Apparently there's some contention between the owner and the town. The town would like to insure that what's left is protected but the owner doesn't seem to care.

The Wachau is known for its wines and the terraced vineyards are pretty incredible.

We stayed at the Stockingerhof vineyard's B&B. They were in the midst of renovations plus it's winter, so there is absolutely no one staying there. It was wonderful! We had the whole place to ourselves. Here's a little glimpse of the Stockingerhof vines. The owner gave us a bottle of their white to take with us. We're going to try to get it home in one piece.

We drove into Krems for dinner. Here is the gate into the old city. This area is all pedestrian and is full of shops and restaurants. We found the old fortification wall along a small alley and you can see it here along the Bistro De LaTour. We decided to eat here and had a great meal in a very small cave-like restaurant with 3 rooms: a bar, and 2 eating rooms. The Olympic downhill race was on the tv in the bar and everyone kept going out to watch the race!

On our way out of Durnstein, we drove a little further into the small town. This picture gives you a good example of the narrow twisting roads where two cars can barely pass. It reminded me a lot of France where the women had their baskets and were heading to the various markets to get their food for the day.

Onward along the Danube to Melk and the abbey there.