Day 8 Salzburg

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We decided to go for a walking tour this morning - 10 o’clock at Mirabell Palace, main entrance - easy? should have been, but tourist maps are tricky to read and we arrived too late !? To be honest we weren’t sorry as we later saw so many ‘walking tours / groups’ and they looked super dull. Anyway, having missed out on the organised tour, we reset with a coffee and strudel and set to organising our own tour. Using the tourist map and internet site Bigboytravel.com (?) we were off!

Firstly the Mirabelle Palace gardens ( SofM Doh-Ray-me film site) - lovely flowers but probably we were expecting a more manicured set of gardens - too many weeds for our liking!! Then to Mozarts house ( and closeby where physicist Doppler lived), and across the lock bridge ( lots of padlocks on a bridge?) to Mozarts birthplace. Bigboy.com gave use all the info on the places and lead us down alleys and streets we would never have seen. We did most of the Old Town - had a drink where Mozart used to go for his almond milk ( he was way ahead of his time) - saw the Horse Bath, Festival Hall, Residenzplatz and then to the catacombs at St Peters - all of which had some connection to S of M ! Catacombs and the graveyard were so interesting / peaceful and no tour groups!

Seems that now every city / place that is on the tourist map is swamped by day trip groups - it’s certainly true of Salzburg ( see photo) - it’s a shame, and we wonder how much the city derives from their drop in and out visit ....

We went to see a smashing string quartet in the Marble Room of the Mirabelle Palace this evening - a super talented group of young musicians. It was a memorable evening - they played as the storm clouds gathered! At the end of the concert it was really lashing rain - we just about managed to get back to the hotel without being completely soaked - great day !

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