Celadon Cupcake: Le Grand Tour: Salzburg

After our days in Munich and the Bavarian countryside, the next morning Dan went with the boys to pick up the rental car for our drive to Austria. I was going to read after packing up, when I realized my glasses were missing. I checked the business center (ie computer room), thinking maybe I left them there the previous night. Then I asked the concierge to call Augustiner, maybe I left them at the biergarten. Nothing. When the boys eventually got back with the car...a Volvo station wagon...how luxurious...I requested we stop at Augustiner before heading to Salzburg. I looked in their lost and found box and even rooted around in the foliage near the table where we sat, but no glasses. Sigh. My sunglasses are prescription, but I was worried about reading and museum-viewing.

The drive to Salzburg was quick, and we made our way to the old walled city. It took awhile to find the hotel, as the entrance was being renovated. Our room was surprisingly huge and had a great view from the deck.

View from the deck

Mozartplatz was just outside the hotel. The old town is very picturesque, and there were many tourists in Salzburg.

Mozartplatz

It was too late for lunch, but not dinnertime yet. So we had coffee, ice cream, and cake at a cafe. I went inside to survey the cakes in the display case, but was told to go back outside and wait for the cake lady. She brought a tray to the table. I forgot to take a photo of our treats!

Snack time

We walked around old town and Jeff bought a new yellow watch. Then we crossed the Salzach River and went to Mozart's house. We were rather underwhelmed. We wandered around New Town through the cobblestone streets. Dan went into an optics shop to repair his sunglasses, a screw had fallen out. He asked how long it would take for new glasses, and they put my sunglasses under a machine to examine the lens. The lens was in stock, and new glasses would take about an hour. I was very surprised, saying it would take at least a week in the states. The optician said, "That is because the US does not specialize in the optics like we do here." They also had super lightweight frames from Korea for Asians. Apparently a lot of Asian students at the nearby university. So I got new glasses, hooray!

Salzach River

New town

Hound parking

We crossed back into old town and had dinner at Zirkel Wirt. It was a charming spot with lots of flowers outside. The portions were huge. Jeff had cheesy noodles, and Andrew had roast pork with a giant dumpling. Dan had steak, and I got spinach dumplings. Three giant dumplings. And a grapefruit radler, yum.

Boys

Dinner alfresco

After dinner the boys went back to the hotel, and Dan and I explored a bit more. We saw people coming out of a concert performance, and Dan went inside a church. I can't remember which one, there were so many churches in close proximity. I was sitting outside and heard someone practicing violin through the window, it was quite lovely.

Residenzplatz

Fortress over the city wall

Kapitelplatz

Church

The next morning we picked up some breakfast pretzels and headed up to see the fortress. We took the funicular! The view is impressive.

Baskets of pretzels

View of Salzburg

Fortress view

We walked around and then did the tour of the fortress. There also was a marionette museum. I enjoyed the views of the surrounding countryside.