local fare, baked sheep's milk cheese for me and wurst on sauerkraut for James, washed down with the brew of the region. Very tasty it was too! There was some kind of four day festival going on but we never did quite understand what it was for. The locals obviously saw it as an excuse for dressing up in their dirndl costumes and leiderhosen. They were very colourful but there were a lot of tight laced bodices and heaving bosoms!
There was a lovely eclectic, but slightly upmarket, row of shops/stalls set out along the side of the river where we passed the next hour. The products for sale were gorgeous and I bought some beautiful earrings, a silver band with a piece of amber inset. The finishing touch to go with my linen dress and jacket (from Positano,) handbag (from Sorrento) and shoes (from Bologna!) Jim's lovely niece, Sarah, gets married the first weekend we are back home, hence the purchases.
Monday dawned bright and beautiful and we set off to explore. It was another bank holiday (does Europe have twice as many bank holidays as home?) We passed several pretty special sights...
First stop, the Domkirche, where it appeared to be 'dress up day.' Obviously, a service was about to start. I panicked a bit when the doors were shut, but then saw the centre one had been left open a tad. Suddenly we were unceremoniously pushed to the side and a hush descended. Then organ music started and a parade of ecclesiastical gentlemen of all ages, shapes and sizes began. Incense was swung, rosary beads were dangling and then the Archbishop made his appearance. We were slightly disappointed because, as he reached the altar, a group of musicians, complete with beards and guitars began playing and singing. Everyone swayed.... Oh, oh, we thought, a bit too happy clappy for us!! Then the first hymn began, the words were on big screens around the place, in German, but still... Rather than stay for a 2 hour Catholic mass we quickly slunk out into the sunshine.
We made our way, uphill, and steeply of course, to the Hohensalzburg where we had to take a tour complete with an audio-guide. It was ok, but the best bit was watching a couple of Brits, Londoners of course, who were obviously on a schedule, trying to rush their way round and being prevented from doing so. Classic!
We just managed to get down from the castle when the heavens opened, after cowering under a stone arch for half an hour we made our way back to the hotel, got changed and went back out. We just meandered this time through the narrow streets passing some quirky sights.
Dancing gherkins...
An audience with ....
Salzburg prides itself as a cycling town.
By the way we avoided all things Sound of Music ....
Three and a half hours driving on Tuesday saw us arrive at our indulgent hotel, where we were welcomed with a Bucks fizz, just 10 minutes outside Vienna on the super efficient U-Bahn. Arriving in the city we immediately treated ourselves to a Viennese coffee and a scrummy cake in the Mozart cafe. Don't ask me how I'm ever going to fit into that wedding frock!
Vienna is beyond beautiful, the buildings are grand but not blingy. In Judenplatz there is a really stark, but thought provoking Holocaust memorial made from concrete and the emotive sculpture of a Jewish man kneeling.
That night we ate at a lovely restaurant overlooking the marina close to our hotel - heavy on the meat, but beautiful.
We had a great day on Wednesday, strolling around the great, and not so great, sites such as the Secession and the Belvedere and the Stadtpark overlooking the, not tacky at all, gold statue of Johan Strauss.
That night we went to eat at the Naschmarkt in a fab Thai restaurant and from there to the Musikverein, home of the Vienna Philarmonic. We went to see the Vienna Mozart Orchestra, who performed, along with opera singers, highlights from the Vienna New Year's Concert. We loved it, got drawn in and the time whizzed past. We could have done without the Japanese, 'official photographers' over our shoulders all the way through though!!
We left Vienna very reluctantly. James gave me the address in the Czech Republic to put into the sat nav. At this point I discovered it didn't cover Eastern Europe. How helpful is that!! I nipped back into the hotel and loaded our route into google maps - then we were off. Of course Jim didn't trust them and decided to do his own thing! The countryside was very beautiful and we passed through pretty villages as we made our way through Bohemia. On the outskirts of Prague we got hopelessly lost and ended up in some grim suburb. Then we spotted a Europarc, walked in clutching this trusty I-pad, immediately connected to their server, (how lucky was that,) found google maps again and laboriously wrote down the instructions!
Arriving at our hotel room in the Hotel Excellent, which turned out to be an apartment, we took stock. The hotel had lovely gardens but as soon as we stepped out onto the street we were a bit taken aback by the ugly apartment blocks, the graffiti and the sense of austere Eastern 'europeaness.'
On Friday we took the metro and hit Prague....
- Posted using BlogPress from Annie & Jim's I-pad
Location:Hermannstraße,Berlin,Germany
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