Austria in autumn...

I never got around to writing about our time in Austria, so here goes...

Seeing the stage version of The Sound of Music at the Princess Theatre in Melbourne in the early 1960s sparked my interest in Austria. It was the first live show I had ever attended and I thought it was just magical, even though our seats were at the very back of what is now referred to as the 'Grand Circle', but which we just referred to as 'the Gods'. Although of course it wasn't until the film came out in 1965 that I realised just how wonderful the scenery around Salzburg is.

We arrived in Salzburg on Wednesday October 9. It was a very grey day and I wasn't feeling particularly cheerful - not sure exactly why. When we arrived at the station, as usual, we were a bit confused about which way to go. I eventually decided that my sense of direction was so poor that it was probably best to just go the opposite way and ignore what I thought.

We had a productive evening and planned and booked our trip to Abisko - the wonders of the internet and wi-fi. We were a bit slow getting going the next morning, however after a great breakfast we purchased a Salzburg Card each. A lot of cities have cards which offer a variety of benefits. This was the only time we bought one and we found it good value. It included free public transport of which we made good use. It also included free admission to many/most of the city's attractions. Working on the principle of mutually agreeable outings we went first to the cable car Untersberg. The brochure says the summit is at 1776m, although I am not sure what the elevation of the rest of Salzburg is! There was certainly a magnificent view from the summit, although slightly obscured by cloud. (As it turned out the story of our life - London Eye, Montparnasse...)

A view from the summit

And coming back down

We then caught the bus to Hellbrunn - a pleasure palace dating from the late Renaissance. We undertook a guided tour of the trick fountains, which were rather fun, if you didn't mind getting a bit wet!

I

According to an explanatory plaque, in 1991, the Salzburg City Council, who had been presented with this pavilion at the end of the filming of The Sound of Music, decided to restore it and show it publicly in the Hellbrunn Palace Park.

Another bus ride took us to the Mirabell Gardens. We weren't doing a Sound of Music tour although this was the location for the filming of some of 'Do-Re-Mi'...

In 1963, along with the rest of my school music class, I attended Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro. I had probably heard music by Mozart before that, but this outing certainly left a lasting impression on me. Although as much as I love the music of Mozart, I didn't feel the need to visit his birthplace or residence, both of which were included in the Salzburg Card.

I had rather fancied a cruise on the Salzach River. However I changed my mind as there was quite a long wait and it was rather cold and the weather looked threatening. We had reached the wharf by crossing the Makartsteg Bridge. As far as I can remember, this is the first time I had seen so-called 'love-locks'.

We then made our way to the Hohensalzburg Fortress which dates from the 11th century. This was our first experience of precipitation since we had arrived in Europe. I donned my bright yellow poncho, which at that stage was my only protection against rain - I bought a parka in Vienna and we both bought umbrellas on our descent from Neuschwanstein Castle, although it wasn't actually raining that day! Anna said she certainly wouldn't lose me, but in general I found the poncho unsatisfactory. If the entry to the fort hadn't been included on the Salzburg Card, we most likely wouldn't have continued. We caught the funicular up to the fortress and set off to explore. If the weather had been better and I hadn't been tired, it would have been fascinating. I am afraid my eyes were starting to glaze over. However there was a good view over Salzburg, even if it was a bit wet and I was a little scared of slipping over. The view would have been even better if not shrouded in cloud.

We decided going back to the hotel was looking good. We dined at the hotel that night and partook of their “Austrian “ menu – very delicious, although still not sure exactly what constitutes “Austrian” food.

The next morning we departed for Vienna – although not on the train on which we had booked our seats, it was running 2 hours late. We got another train that left only 10 minutes later. Apart from a delay just before Hendaye, on the very first day we used the Eurail Pass, thanks to a fallen tree, I think this was the only other “train” problem we had in Europe, although we had a few more in the UK. Well that is except for when we got on the train to Zermatt from Visp, we discovered that although we had seat reservations, the Eurail Pass didn’t cover the fare as it was a private railway. Fortunately I was able to pay by card.

As usual we had booked a hotel very close to the station – virtually just across the road provided you came out the right door. We dumped our bags and used the internet to check the location of the “plus size” clothing stores we had discovered the night before. We set off – as often – in completely the wrong direction. Our problems were compounded by the rain which began falling quite heavily. I was feeling rather damp and dispirited, however spied a station across the road. We purchased 24 hour tickets, consulted our map again and made our way to a shopping centre only one station from Westbahnhof and the hotel. I bought a parka, track pants and jeans, which all proved very useful in Abisko. It was interesting just to see ordinary Austrians out for Friday evening shopping.

By the next day the rain had disappeared and we were greeted by a warm and sunny day. We caught a tram to the Schönbrunn Palace. According to my guide book, the Habsburg summer palace is a grand display of baroque imperialism. However we decided to skip the guided tour and instead explore the Versailles-like gardens which were free. My feet were quite sore. They had got very wet on the previous day – the next day I, well actually Anna, discovered that there was a hole in the sole. So I paid for a hop on hop off transport option and Anna walked. We had arranged to meet at the Gloriette from where there are great views of Vienna. We partook of some delicious food before setting off again to make our separate ways to the entrance.

 

We decided to make use of our 24 hour public transport ticket which expired at 16:25, so we continued our Vienna exploration on PT. This included looking at the outside of St Stephen's Cathedral (we were actually in search of the nearby Manner shop to buy some biscuits!) and gazing at the Danube. We hadn't had the foresight to check out the cruise times, so we scrapped the idea of viewing Vienna from the water as the wait was too long.

We ended up doing some more clothes shopping, this time at the Stadium Shopping Centre. Bought a shirt and jumper but found this in the bathroom interesting!

At lunch time we had unsuccessfully tried to eat at a well regarded schnitzel place, however it would have been a very long wait – maybe something to do with it being a beautiful Saturday. However for dinner we had a huge and tasty Wiener Schnitzel at a pub quite close to the hotel. Went to bed early and prepared to farewell Austria and make our way to Munich.