Salzburg—The City of Mozart

The fortress dominates the skyline of Salzburg
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Salzburg, Austria has got to be one of the cleanest cities in Europe. In spite of all the “messy tourists” who regularly visit this place you seldom see even a scrap of paper lying around. The downtown area is the oldest part of the city and yet every building appears freshly painted and the many open squares are as clean as a whistle. We visited the Mozart house not far from the Mozart Platz and the statue of Mozart (he is obviously their favorite son, since his early days were spent in this city). Another visit was made to a place Eric was especially interested in seeing—the Opera complex, containing several opera halls in one gigantic building. This is where they hold their many Salzburg festivals. One of the opera halls was especially interesting since it appeared in “The Sound of Music.” You will recall the scene near the end of the movie when the Von Trap family singers did their “Edelweis” song in the open air theater.

Our quaint hotel
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Another stop on our “Sound of Music” tour took us to the beautiful gardens where Julie Andrews took the children on an outing to teach them how to sing by the “do-re-me” method. They jumped up and down on the steps leading to the garden as they sang their do-re-mi’s. It’s such a gorgeous spot to visit today, but then everything in this historic city is clean, beautiful and “just so.”

Above the city and dominating the skyline is the fortress. In the old days it was a steep walk, but today a funicular takes you there in seconds. It was a look back into medieval history with all the armament, the military equipment, and the torture devices. Its buildings have a history as far back as ancient Rome.

Bud and Eric taking a lunch break.
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Then there is the Austrian food! We couldn’t resist the brats and kraut for lunch and the Wienerschnitzel for dinner. When in Germany…eat like the Germans!