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Published: October 4th 2014
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On 24 June we were to catch the 9:05 train for Salzburg from Westbahnhof. We got up very early. As we validated the Vienna card in the afternoon on 21 June, the tickets were still valid; we used them to travel to Westbahnhof.
The express train called at just a few stations, St Pötten and Linz, on the way to Salzburg. After leaving Linz, lush countryside with dense woods, river and pasture fields came into our sight. It was raining on the way, and we were a little concerned with the weather. The train brought us to Salzburg at 10:50 (on time).
We popped in the tourist information centre, got the map and bought 24-hour travel pass from the tobacco shop. We caught the No.5 bus to the Old Town. It was lunch time when we arrived at the Old Town. We popped in the
Nordsee (the chain seafood restaurant in Germany and Austria) next to the Mozart Geburthshaus. We had been eating meats and sausages a lot since we were in Austria – it was nice for a change.
As expected, Mozart Birthplace Museum was very popular. After paying for the
admission (€10), we went to the exhibition rooms upstairs, and saw various types of documents, letters, music notes, the Wolfgang family’s memorabilia, stationery items, suitcases, paintings illustrating Mozart’s career and 3D miniature models of his operas such as
The Marriage of Figaro and
Don Giovanni. His remarkable musical talent was identified from the early age. He learnt to play harpsichord at the age of three, invited to the Empress’ Palace to play the harpsichord and began composing in his early teenage years. Despite the short life, he produced 56 symphonies, more than 20 concertos and 15 operas. He was extremely successful as a composer and greatly influenced the fellow composers and society. However, he was hooked on gambling and it is said that he had had various problems with ladies and the affairs, and it ruined his lifestyle and deteriorated his health. There were displays of different types of medicines and tablets he used to take.
Next, we headed for St Peter’s cemetery. We walked through the Getridestrasse, passing the Old Town Hall, market stalls, craft shops, and famous Christmas shops, and stopped at Mozartplatz and Domplatz. My mother sketched the façade and roof of the cathedral
at Mozartplatz. There were a number of horse carriages and market stalls selling wooden dolls, laces and local craft items around Domplatz. We showed my parents Festung Honesalzburg (castle) and other historic buildings.
It took a while for us to find the way to St Peter’s Church and its cemetery. Born in the non-Christian country, they were amazed with ornately decorated graves with candle and wax works of Christ and Madonna. They could see the difference from the one in Yokohama’s western people’s cemetery. Mark was looking for the grave for Michael Haydn, but couldn’t find it.
We looked round the Dom – Cathedral. Unlike Stephansdom, we were allowed to stroll through the inside freely, and enjoyed looking at Baroque style interior, mythological paintings and sculptures closely. We received both Japanese and English card with the chronicle of the cathedral in return for the donation.
Afterwards, we headed for the Schloss Mirabell. In Salzburg, neither tram nor underground lines are running. Trolley buses are the main public transport within the New Town around the station and the Old Town around the castle. All of the buses and cars are running on the one-way system. At
one of the squares of the Old Town, we were told to take the bus for Schloss Mirabell on the opposite bank. We crossed over the bridge. The weather was improved in the afternoon – blue sky appeared – and it offered lovely views of historic buildings surrounded with lush mountains on the riverside. Having reached the bank of the New Town, it wasn’t far to walk to Schloss Mirabell, but my mother advised us to catch the bus, as my father wasn’t keen to walk such a distance.
Our purpose of visiting Schloss Mirabell was to stroll through the rose garden. Colourful roses were thriving on the bed and along the wall. We took my parents to the viewpoint of the Festung Hohensalzburg to show how beautiful Salzburg is and way this town has been used for film setting, e.g.
The Sound of Music. The previous rain seemed to have given moisture on roses and they looked beautiful with sunshine. My mother didn’t stop taking photos of roses and lovely garden with fountains and colourful flowers in the picturesque surroundings. It was a pity that the bridge for the island for gnomes was under the construction
so that we couldn’t see them closely.
It was just after 4 o’clock when we finished strolling through the garden. We caught the bus for the station. Unfortunately, the train for Vienna was delayed due to the heavy rain earlier in the afternoon. We took the 17:30 train, which was meant to depart from Salzburg at 16:00. The train brought us back to Vienna just after 19:30. We had dinner at Asian Restaurant.
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