Last Day in Austria!!

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It would have been nice to spend some more time in Salzburg. Looking back we should have spent more time here than in Vienna. We booked another tour for today, it was a tour of the city (by bus) and out to Hellbrunn Schloss. It was not very good. I felt ripped off. The one nice thing was that it came with a 24 hour Salzburg card which allowed you to use public transportation for free and free entrance to many museums and discounts for a number of things in and around Salzburg. Next time I come I will get a Salzburg pass it is a really good deal.

The tour stopped at Hellbrunn Schloss and we had the option of staying out there or getting a ride back into town, we stayed. We went on a tour of the grounds and the Trick Water Fountains. It was a fun tour, although our guide was a bit like Markus Sittikus, the prince archbishop who commissioned the palace and gardens. He got great pleasure at soaking his guest. I did manage to get through the whole tour and stay dry. Sydony was not so lucky.

ABOUT THE VIDEO: Markus Sittikus like to drench his guest. He would invite them to an afternoon meal at a stone table in the courtyard. There is water in the middle of the table that is used to chill wine. Sometimes however he like to chill his guests. The boy sitting at the head of the table is in the seat that Markus would occupy. All of the seats (except that one) would shoot water out of it. Unlike the ladies that all jumped up it was unacceptable to stand up or leave the table before the Prince Archbishop, and Markus was in no hurry to end the meal.

We caught the bus back into town and had a wander through the city center. We bought some eggs. Why would we do that you ask. Well it is simple they are not just ordinary eggs, they are very lovely christmas decorations. Although there were hallowe’en, easter and other lovely designs as well.

After dropping our purchases back at the hostel we went out to the Haus Der Natur, (museum of natural history). We spent a little of an hour there, we would have stayed longer but they kicked us out because they were closing. We figured that we would get a bit to eat and then take an evening boat ride along the river. We found a nice little Italian place in the city center and got there just as it started raining. We have a very nice meal, pasta, and since it was still raining after we had finished eating we decided to stay for desert.

We headed back to the boat starting point but when we got there the only tickets left were for the back of the boat, outside. Not really wanting to sit on wet seats or to run the risk of being rained on again we opted to come back to the hostel to pack up and get ready for one last stop in Germany, Köln.

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