Salzburg

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Munich - Salzburg

This trip was nicer than all the other train rides because it was short (100min) but very scenic. It’s a lot more of what I imagined Germany and Austria would be. This is entirely to do with the fact that we were finally seeing some country side. Farm after farm of lush green grass (the type you want to roll around in or frolic merrily within). Fields ready for planting and one that have substantial growth already. Many have various small wooden ‘shacks’ I assume for storing farming equipment. Occasionally the ‘natural’ scenery is broken by a huge high voltage easement but then it goes back to normal. The houses are all exactly as you would see in a picture at home. Lots of light coloured buildings with brown/red roofs all tiled and not a piece of corrugated iron in site. Colourbond Roofing is certainly not making it big out here. All the houses have chimneys with attic windows and a large amount seem to have solar power. Houses with thick vines growing up the sides in reds, yellows and greens and little balconies lined with multiple coloured flowers (lots of white, pinks, reds and purples). The trees are all shades of green with patches of brown/yellow/orange/red creeping in with the onset of autumn. Many varieties of tree and shrub with most being extremely thick and heavy with branches and leaves. Quite a difference from a home among the gum trees. Did I mention nice grass? If I get time I might post some back to Australia. Lots of sheep and cows all looking in very good health with plenty of this nice grass (mmmm frolicking) to feast on and an abundance of drinking water. Some of the areas along the train line are very steep and the cattle are not afraid to get on a steep hill. They obviously have no fear of falling onto the tracks. Maybe they developed longer legs on one side to stop them from tipping over. Hopefully when I start climbing some mountains I’ll be as sure footed as a dual leg length Austrian sheep.

Salzburg

Grandad, Nanu and Loren picked us up from the station at about 16:00 video camera in hand. It was good to see some familiar faces. We went back to the pension (sought of mini apartment with couple of rooms, kitchen with cooking equipment, shower etc) which was in Fuschl about 15 minutes from Salzburg centre. The area was very quiet, only a few other apartment type things around and we were entirely surrounded by huge mountains full of trees. The pension was actually one section of a very big house. Most of the houses here are built in a similar way and many of the commercial building look like big domestic ones. Nanu and Grandad made everyone a home cooked meal which was the best meal we had had since we had been away. The best part was that there was no sausage in the meal and luckily because I think after Germany I was actually becoming one myself. Anyway we saw Salzburg town properly over the next couple of days. From what we had seen of Germany (Munich and Berlin) it was much cleaner and the buildings all seemed to be a little more aesthetically pleasing. I assume the reason for this difference is that we really hadn’t seen much German country side or smaller towns and the places we had seen were simply major cities. We visited the Salzburg fortress erected in the 10th century, the 17th century Schloss Hellbrunn (I think it was classed as a castle but very small building with big gardens and water features all over the place that are all powered by water itself with some water driven displays, see pictures, being quite skilfully made), St Peterskirche (Church) and the ‘Dom’ (Cathedral) which where both full of intricate adornments, carvings, paintings, huge altars and a lot of gold.

Mitch

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Comments

[GRANDAD]

HI MITCHEL AND DORINA
GREAT TO READ YOUR BLOG,GLAD YOU LIKED HALLSTADT,WOULD LIKE TO HAVE HEARD MORE ABOUT YOUR STAY IN BAD ISCHL.PITY ABOUT VIENNA,WAITING TO HEAR DETAILS OF PRAG. HOPE YOU ARE HAVING A GREAT TIME IN ITALY MAKE PLENTY OF PHOTOS. LOVE GRANDAD AND NANOU