13 July 2011, Wednesday

13.07.2011 - 13.07.2011 30 °C

Up at 8:00 am. There is no AC in the room and it gets warm with only a fan blowing. We've been leaving the windows open at night, but you can hear people talking all thru the night on the street. Today we plan to see the sights around town. We are going to buy a discount card called a "Salzburg Card" for 25 euro adult and 18 euro for Evan and it allows access to sights for 24 hours. Should be a busy day ahead. Bob moved the car to the parking garage and we went downstairs to eat breakfast.

Bob had meats, bread, bacon, eggs, anon tea. I had granola with yogurt and tea. Evan had granola, yogurt, bread, and juice. We started for downtown Salzburg around 10:00. Stopped at bike rental place to look at prices they went over to tourism office to buy Salzburg Cards. We then started our sightseeing. First stopped at the Cathedral Excavations. They were located under the cathedral and displayed ruins from a medieval cathedral and their roman remains.

Next we went to the HohenSalzburg Fortress that can be seen from downtown Salzburg. We rode a funicular (type of cable elevator) up and walked the grounds. It was like a mini town and from the 11th century.

We walked thru a Marionette Museum that was also up there.

Took the funicular back down. We then headed next to the Residenz State Rooms and toured the building with an English audio headset.

When done, we walked over to the tourist office to find out about the bus to the Hellbrunn Palace and Trick Fountains. We waited about twenty minutes until bus arrived and then about 15 minutes later we were there. This palace was used for vacations not a family. It had fun water fountains in the gardens that soaked me most, Evan next, and Bob stayed pretty dry. It was from the year 1700 and all water driven, no electricity. I really liked them. We finished this tour and also toured inside the palace.

Then decided to head to zoo for lunch. Walked through a park and found the Sound of Music Paviolion where it was filmed. Took pics and then followed the path to the zoo.

Got entry with our card and found a snack bar to eat. Bob had a fried bologna sandwich and Capri sun. Evan and I shared a hot dog and an iced tea. Ate and then exited the zoo to catch bus to go to our next stop, the bus stop was right next to a fresh manure farmed lot. Smelled nasty. Bus took over 20 minutes to arrive and it was disguisting to wait. Finally the bus arrives and we moved on to cable car ride up mountain for views.

We got there and had to wait about 20 minutes. Then got in a gondola type lift and rode up. It was nice and cool up there. We only spent about 15 minutes up there taking pics. Rode the next gondola back and caught the next lift.

Just in time, as we rode back to downtown it started pouring rain. We got off and walked quickly back to hotel. We only carried two umbrellas so Evan and I shared the larger one. Got back to room about 5:30. Took off wet clothes and rested a bit, then about 6:00 headed back out to see if we could catch a cruise down the river. Unfortunately they were sold out, so couldn't ride. Went over to Mozart's birth place. They had a museum to walk around so walked around for about 20 minutes. It was hot.

Then decided to go to Spagetti Co. For dinner. Got seated but it was so hot in there, we left to look for a cooler restaurant. Found a pizza baguette restaurant closer to our hotel and ate there. Bob had pizza and beer. Evan had pizza and sprite. I had spagetti bolognese and apple juice.