Ken and Elise's trip

Day 8: Salzburg

We had been warned by the T1 lady that we should try to get an early train to Salzburg. She said our Global Pass entitled us to take any train we wanted to, but there is something called the Bayern Pass that tourists purchase that allows them free travel on trains for a certain period of time. It is very popular and cost-saving, but you can only use it after 9 a.m. Apparently there are hundreds of tourists who crowd the trains with these passes, so authorities limited the time to after 9 to allow workers to get to their jobs without having to fight for a seat on the trains. She advised us to take the early train as our pass allowed for travel at any time and if we wanted to sit together or avoid the possibility of having to stand the entire distance between Munich and Salzburg for lack of a seat, we should consider the early train.

We considered it. Decided against it. We were tired after the long day at the castles. Ken wanted to sample the hotel’s fabulous breakfast again. I wanted to sleep in a little. So we decided to take our chances and catch a later train.

Fortunately it worked out for us. We boarded the train early enough to snag a seat before it became crowded. We did have to take the seats that have another set of seats facing them which are not the most desirable because you have less leg room, but still it was a seat.

As it so happened our seatmates turned out to be two young girls from the Ukraine who were visiting Munich for an international Congress of some kind and were taking a day trip to Salzburg just as we were. We had an interesting conversation with them about the situation in the Ukraine.

We arrived in Salzburg and found the HOHO fairly easily. Things were looking good, until Mrs. I’m Pretty Sure I Know What I’m Doing made a couple fatal mistakes. First, I decided to get off at the stop where the building is where Sound of Music was filmed. Actually, I won’t take much blame for that as the driver told us there would be a 3 minute stop. I knew it was too far out for Ken and me to walk back to, so I thought I’d just get out and get my photos there. We alighted from the bus, took a few nice photos, and decided it probably would be good to head back to the bus before the 3 minutes were up. We turned around just in time to see the bus pull out. I swear there was no 3 minutes taken! I wasn’t too concerned as I told Ken another bus would be along in 15 minutes. He went up to the signpost and informed me that I was quite mistaken--it would be 30 minutes! Still, that wasn’t too bad. We had a nice share of the day left.

About 40 minutes later, the bus pulled up. We climbed in and off we went still in good spirits. Soon we reached the stop where the palace is. Someone had told me the palace is really something to see, so I wanted to get off. Ken warned me there wouldn’t be another bus for 30 minutes, but I did want to see this--the origninal gazebo from the film is there. So off we got, only to find that you have to PAY to get into this. Mr. and Mrs. Frugal quickly decided they weren’t going to do that, so there we were with another 30 minutes lost. One good thing--there was a free water closet which Ken was delighted to find. We stood in the blazing sun for about 35 more minutes until the bus pulled up. This one was driven by a rather crotchety woman, who did a lot of eye-rolling and sighing at traffic. She was only as polite to people on the bus as absolutely necessary.

Having lost an hour and having made a late start, we were under the gun a bit. We finished the route, and determined what we really wanted to see. I knew I wanted to walk over Mozart’s Bridge, Ken would have liked to visit the monastery. However, my Sabbath would be the next day, and since I don’t buy or sell on that day, it was necessary to get the food for me to eat before sundown (when my Sabbath starts). Ken thought we should take care of that first so we wouldn’t be worrying about it later. We found a great SPAR (grocery store) in the train station and had a wonderful time checking it out.

Rick Steves had said we absolutely had to try the Mozart Balls for which the city is famous. He advised us not to get them from the expensive touristy shops, but to buy them from the grocery stores where they are exactly the same thing and way cheaper. So we found them and bought them along with some bread, butter and assorted Austrian pastries that looked so good we had trouble not eating them on the spot. We headed out and looked for the HOHO again.

Unfortunately, due to my losing us an hour, etc. it was getting almost time for the bus schedule to end. Ken was worried if we took it, we would end up at a stop far from the train station and have to walk back.

“Well,” I said, “everyone says this is an easy city to explore on foot, so let’s just walk.” Easy for me to say--not so easy for Ken who is hauling a heavy backpack, a camera and now a large bag of food. But we started off. We walked and walked. Ken was starting to sweat. We were getting short-tempered and didn’t have a clue where we were. Ken finally said “enough”. He found another tour company selling tickets, and asked the man how far to get to Mozart’s Bridge. The man looked at us and said, “Not far at all. Just 10 minutes that way.”

Now I was willing to do it, but Ken had had enough. Remember, all I was carrying was a camera and a purse. Just as we were going to bicker about it, a HOHO appeared on the scene. I went over to talk to the driver and lo and behold it was our same crotchety woman from before. I asked her if she was just going to head back to the train station to end her run or if she was going to go more places. Her English was very basic but she did indicate that she was making more stops. With great joy we boarded and sat back waiting for Stop 3--Mozart’s Footbridge. Well, she pulled into Stop 2 and everyone got off. Except us. We sat and we sat. Finally, she turned around and said, “Final stop. Everyone off.” “Oh, we said, “guess we didn’t understand. We thought you were going to Mozart’s Bridge.” Maybe she saw the weariness in our faces, but she suddenly said, “OK, we’ll go.” And bless her heart, she drove us right to the base of the bridge! Ken tried to pay her, but she refused and just told him to have a good day. So much for judging someone for their crotchetiness!

We did walk over the bridge and were able to get some lovely photos in the fading sun of the fortress. We were entranced with the thousands and thousands of colorful locks attached all over the bridge. We couldn’t figure them out--Ken thought they must be bicycle locks, but that didn’t make a lot of sense. We didn’t see a single bicycle on the bridge. I think I finally figured it out. All of the locks had names--a man and a woman’s with a date. I think they are from honeymooners who leave them on the bridge as a memento of their honeymoon!

Feeling a bit better, we finished our walk over the bridge. Ken said our HOHO tickets entitled us to take a city bus back to the train station. I didn’t believe him and with great trepidation climbed onto the right bus expecting to be told we had better come up with some euros. However, Ken was right--the driver just nodded abruptly at our HOHO ticket and we were off to the station. We caught a train back and walked back to our lovely hotel and it was off to bed.

I feel a bit sad as I know we shortchanged Salzburg. We could see that it was beautiful, but all we really caught was glimpses of famous things as the bus went by. I hope someday we can go back and really explore it. I had hoped very much to visit the famous shopping street where I had planned to purchase an Christmas ornament for Blake and Shannon, but that didn’t happen. Sorry kids.

We did have a good time there though, and it truly is a graceful city. Oh, about the Mozart Balls--they are candy with a pistachio center, encircled with nougat and covered with chocolate. Sounds heavenly, right? Well, I didn’t care for them. I didn’t think Ken did either, but as it turns out I was wrong. Funny story about that coming up at another day.

Anyway, the day was over. The next day we would have to leave our lovely, lovely hotel behind and the beautiful town of Aubing. We had fallen in love with the place, but it was time to head for Vienna.

End of Day 8

The palace on the lake where Sound of Music was filmed with Salzburg's most famous landmark, the fortress, behind it

The other palace where Sound of Music was filmed

We have no idea who this was but I was trying to get a photo of Ken at the train station in some sort of interesting seats they have, and this guy thought it would be fun to be part of the photo