Salzburg, Austria

We had a wonderful trip in Salzburg this Christmas and I thought I would share some of the city's photos with you. Salzburg is the home of Mozart, but it should also be noted that Salzburg is the site of "The Sound of Music", one of my all time favorites. FYI, TJ never saw it until we arrived and it played in English on a loop on its own channel. Of course the Hollywood version wasn't historically accurate, but I still loved to come upon some of the sites.
We started our official tour on the third day we were there as we were tied up snowboarding and decided to do a walking tour from one of our guide books rather than take a formal tour. Maybe next time we will take a formal one, and go when it is much warmer!
The first site was one of the cities oldest buildings dating back to 800 AD. It is the pink church below, St. Michaels, and sits on a square where the first people settled during Roman Salzburg.

One of our favorite sites was St. Peter's Church, along with its gorgeous cemetary. Here Tut and I are out in front of the church...

The cemetary was certainly a bright spot, although we would love to see it when the gardens are in bloom. It is very well kept and was the inspiration for the Hollywood setting where the von Trapp's hid from the Nazis...although this cemetary does not sit in the convent as the film shows. There are also quarters carved out of the large rock wall. There is a claim that midevil hermit monks once lived in the rock itself. Very cool.

The Salzburg Cathedral is also very gorgeous and was the site where Mozart was baptized and then, years later, he was employed as the organist for two years.

Hohensalzburg Fortress is something you can see from all over the city as it sits on a very steep and high hill. It was never really used or armed, as it didn't need to be until Napoleon came and took the city. It was originally meant to intimidate others from attacking it, and wasn't for thousands of years before Napoleon. Now it is used as a tour site and a place for open-air concerts.

Yep, we climbed up. Not an easy feat for one girl who was very sore from boarding! I promise it was a very steep climb. But here is a great view...

And here is a view of the city from the fortress wall. Pretty, huh?

We took a different way down...one that led to the Nonnberg Abbey where Frauline Maria once served. It is really pretty! On the way we saw these paintings in the rocks...

Of course, as fate would have it...the battery died and I have zero pictures of the Abbey!!! Huge bummer. But there is a great little chapel in there that I cannot describe as it is very unique and beautiful.

The von Trapp's might be tops to me, but Mozart is the big guy here. There is a square named after him, with a giant statue of him in the middle. Here it is...

That afternoon (after a great lunch that included an open-face and oven baked baguette sandwich), we toured his family's residence house. It was pretty cool, and FYI his family had plenty of money. Then that night we attended a concert (Mozart music) at Mirabell Castle. It was dark, so the exterior photos ddn't turn out, but here is a look at some of the interior...

And another...

And then here one last shot before we headed back to the hotel...me in front of one of the statues.

It was a great trip! We will probably go back to see it in the summer when it is warmer and greener. Some other close attractions are the Eagle's Nest, the Berchtesgaden salt mines, and Konigsee.

We leave for Ireland tomorrow and I still have our snowboarding blog to do, but it will have to wait until the new year. Until next time, Auf Wiedersehen!