Salzburg, Austria

After another hotel breakfast we are off to Austria on day 5.

View from our hotel.

 More autobahn today I, started and then Chance drove into Austria.

 During one stretch I was doing 120 and there was a little more pedal but traffic got in the way.  On the final leg the GPS detoured us off the hwy due to traffic which took us through incredible back rodes and into a small Bavarian town for lunch.  We jumped back onto the hwy and navigated into terrible traffic getting to the old part of Salzburg.

Soon the Alps started to come into view but Sally stayed the course reading her Kindle.

 I was totally ignorant regarding the size of this city it is a metropolis.  It ruins the charm of the large historic section.  If only Scotty could beam you into the historic section and skip all the traffic.  Chance was at the wheel and did a great job navigating the chaos and small roads.  It was all worth it because the visit was very memorable.

Love Padlocks are a custom by which padlocks are affixed to a bridge by sweethearts.  The lock is usually painted and can be very small or really big.  We saw this in Austria and Paris.  

One of larger Cathedrals has 5 organs to give you what must have been the original surround sound!  The picture above has three organs in it and two were behind us.  Mozart played here for two years, but grew tired of the routine and moved on.

We listened to a Rick Steves audio tour driving in and then when we got into the city we followed the same tour with a map and text on my Nexus 7.  It took use through the city pointing out the most historic places.  This is the prefect way to explore a new city!  The catacombs were incredible to see at night.

We finished that tour and bought some sausage in the Christmas Village which was by far the largest to date.

Mass was taking place in one of the many churches, it was great to see the locals all dressed up streaming into church.  

We then ventured up the funicular railway to the fortress overlooking the city.  Castle Hohensalzburg is one of the largest castles in Europe.  We walked around in amazement trying to comprehend how this castle within a castle was started in 700's by Romans and the inner walls completed in 1564.  The stone work was so grand and intricate it was truly amazing.

View from the fortress 

Family picture then we ended our day back at Hotel Turnerwirt which was a 15 minutes from downtown.  On another visit we will have to do the Sound of Music tour.