Blogs from Salzburg, Austria, Europe - page 7

We docked in Linz, Austria and then took a two hour coach ride to Salzburg. We had a guided tour in Salzburg, Mozart's birthplace. We've had such incredible tour guides so far on our trip, and the one today was fine, but I'm afraid we're spoiled! She was more than adequate, but not tip top! I didn't take very good notes today, so again I'll muddle along with what I remember and the paper from our cruise ship. I may quote some of Rick Steve's "Vienna, Salzburg and Tirol." If I do, I'll be sure to give him credit. I'll start in Linz. We didn't spend any time here, but it is Hitler's hometown. He was born near here and spent his early school years here. Our cruise director reminded us about Austrians, they're pretty smart ... read more

After saying goodbye to Csaba we set off for several long driving days. Our first stop was Budapest (not such a long drive). We had an afternoon and evening in Budapest (pronounced Budapesht), it's a pretty city perched on the river Danube. After checking into our hotel (this hotel room has been the smallest room so far, only a little bigger than a cupboard) we set off walking to see the city sites, first up the central area of the city, old old buildings, combined with modern architecture which just seems to work. After lunch we crossed the river on one of the city's historic bridges to see the castle on top of the hill of course, we had a great view of the city, the river and the Budapest Houses of Parliament. Next morning we ... read more

Geo: 47.5752, 12.708Friday, we left Lake Bled in Slovenia and rejoined the motorway on which we had arrived to go northwards. After stopping at the services to purchase the required vignette we entered Austria via the impressive Karawanken tunnel. At 7864m long it is one of the longest we have used this trip.We were soon driving through typical alpine scenery with the hillsides dotted with chalet buildings bedecked with floral balconies, which were set amidst lush green meadows. Meanwhile, as we were nearing the outskirts of Salzburg, the satnav was coming up with a dubious instruction, so after buying a map at a service area, we opted to follow the route recommended for towing as given by Michelin. This was to take us further up the motorway, briefly into Germany, then due south for the final ... read more

As the weather was forecast to be sunny we’d planned to go up to the Fortress/castle today. Dale and I were there 3 years ago and thought that the kids would enjoy it. Bel and I took the Funicular up while Dale and Elias walked. The walk was very steep, in some places one must use the strips of wood laid into the ground as to not slide down the hill. It must have been very difficult to haul the stones and wood up in order to build the fortress. The Funicular is like a gondola which rides on rails and goes straight up the cliff. At the top we found the museum. This is really a self-led tour of the fortress. We’d taken a tour before but couldn’t find it so we just did the ... read more

I’ve lost track of time, half the time I don’t know what date or day of the week it is. Thank goodness for the cell phone. I’d asked Tobias, our exchange student, if we could spend the night at the last minute. But I had the dates wrong on when we would be leaving. Poor people, they didn’t know what to think. We had planned to leave the following morning, we had to be in Salzburg on the 1st. Our apartment was rented from the 1st to the 4th. We saw Tobias and his 2 older girls off, ate breakfast and then were off. The drive to Salzburg was so beautiful; sunny and warm, about 75F. As we got closer to Salzburg the Alps were visible. Farms line the hillsides with what look like “happy cows”. ... read more