Thursday 16 June 2005 - Salzburg
The two most famous residents of Salzburg are Wolfgang Mozart and Maria Von Trapp. Today we had the priviledge of meeting Maria with the rest of the Von Trapp family in the Thursday morning market in Mirabellplatz.
Well not really - we met an American family who were dressed as the Von Trapp family for the "Sound of Music" tour. They were walking through the market this morning and at first I thought they were touting for business but then they opened their mouths and the unmistakeable American accent (and english language) came out of their mouths. I did a deal. We could take a photo of them if I took a photo of them all with their camera. They had the locals in stiches. The husband said it was his wifes idea to do the tour in costume (Yeah, right).
The market itself was interesting, there was lots of huge cheese wheels for sale and many different types of ham and salami. There were also stalls selling hats including traditional Austrian style hats. One thing we have noticed is that a number of Oxpainters (that's the nickname for the residents of Salzburg) wear a traditional style of clothing.
After the market we went to the Mozartuem, where Mozart was born. The museum was a bit of a disappointment with very little about Mozart and only his Violin and Harpischord on display. All the other items were just furniture from the same period. The museum had a very rose-tinted view of Mozart, not mentioning the hard living that probably caused his early death.
After wards we caught the Cable car to Hohensalzburg, the fortress on the hill above Salzburg. The fortress has amazing views over Salzburg and the alps. We did a tour of the interior which included access to the roof of the highest tower for even better views of the city.
Afterwards we caught the bus to Hellbrunn Palace with it's trick fountains. The best was a fountain around an open air table. Whenever the Archbishop (who own the palace) thought his guests were too drunk, too hot or otherwise deserving a good wetting he would signal his servant who would turn on the fountain. The fountain then drenched everyone except the Archbishop. Throughout the rest of the garden there were all sorts of water powered items for getting people wet. Chaucey got caught out once and the squirt got her right in the groin so it looked like she had wet herself! It was another hot day so it dried quickly.
We then caught the bus back to town and went to the C&A Department Store where I got some T-shirts for the continuing hot weather. It is actually about the same price to buy two shirts than it is to get them cleaned!
Dinner was at the "Koala" restaurant. There are many T-shirts in the souvineer shops with the slogan "No Kangaroos in Austria". This Australian restaurant is very genuine - they were rude to the two Kiwis.
Tomorrow it's up early for a train to Venice (Why do all trains leave at 7am?) At least from now on we are in first-class on the trains. Then on Saturday it's off to Rome for the second-to-last city on our holiday.
Well not really - we met an American family who were dressed as the Von Trapp family for the "Sound of Music" tour. They were walking through the market this morning and at first I thought they were touting for business but then they opened their mouths and the unmistakeable American accent (and english language) came out of their mouths. I did a deal. We could take a photo of them if I took a photo of them all with their camera. They had the locals in stiches. The husband said it was his wifes idea to do the tour in costume (Yeah, right).
The market itself was interesting, there was lots of huge cheese wheels for sale and many different types of ham and salami. There were also stalls selling hats including traditional Austrian style hats. One thing we have noticed is that a number of Oxpainters (that's the nickname for the residents of Salzburg) wear a traditional style of clothing.
After the market we went to the Mozartuem, where Mozart was born. The museum was a bit of a disappointment with very little about Mozart and only his Violin and Harpischord on display. All the other items were just furniture from the same period. The museum had a very rose-tinted view of Mozart, not mentioning the hard living that probably caused his early death.
After wards we caught the Cable car to Hohensalzburg, the fortress on the hill above Salzburg. The fortress has amazing views over Salzburg and the alps. We did a tour of the interior which included access to the roof of the highest tower for even better views of the city.
Afterwards we caught the bus to Hellbrunn Palace with it's trick fountains. The best was a fountain around an open air table. Whenever the Archbishop (who own the palace) thought his guests were too drunk, too hot or otherwise deserving a good wetting he would signal his servant who would turn on the fountain. The fountain then drenched everyone except the Archbishop. Throughout the rest of the garden there were all sorts of water powered items for getting people wet. Chaucey got caught out once and the squirt got her right in the groin so it looked like she had wet herself! It was another hot day so it dried quickly.
We then caught the bus back to town and went to the C&A Department Store where I got some T-shirts for the continuing hot weather. It is actually about the same price to buy two shirts than it is to get them cleaned!
Dinner was at the "Koala" restaurant. There are many T-shirts in the souvineer shops with the slogan "No Kangaroos in Austria". This Australian restaurant is very genuine - they were rude to the two Kiwis.
Tomorrow it's up early for a train to Venice (Why do all trains leave at 7am?) At least from now on we are in first-class on the trains. Then on Saturday it's off to Rome for the second-to-last city on our holiday.
posted by Michael at
7:58 PM
3 Comments:
I forgot to explain why "Ox-painters" is the nickname for residents of Salzburg.
The fortress of Hohensalzburg was under seige and although the residents had been conserving food they were down to the last Ox. They were faced with three options:
- Starve,
- Repel the invaders, or
- Surrender.
To show the invaders that they still had plenty of food they paraded the last ox in sight of the enemy. The then painted it another colour, paraded it again. They kept repainted in the ox and parading it until the invaders thought that the foodstocks were still plentiful and they withdrew rather than wait for the Salzburgers to be starved out.
Since then "Ox-painters" has been a nickname for Salzburgers.
By
Michael, at 6:32 AM
You didn't mention that there were EIGHT americans in that family, all dressed up as the Von Trapps, and heading off on a Sound of Music Tour.
By
Chaucey, at 6:51 AM
One last comment - when we left the hotel in Salzburg I picked up a brouchure for the Salzburg Zoo. It turns out that there are Kangaroos in Austria after all.
By
Michael, at 7:47 AM
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