On our first full day in Salzburg, we went to mass at the cathedral and then took the funicular to the fortress that overlooks the city. The panorama below doesn’t do it justice. There was a 360 degree view of Salzburg. Definitely the best city view on the trip, especially with the freshly fallen snow.
Afterwards, mom and dad kept wandering the city while I went back to the hotel. I didn’t really take any pictures for the rest of the day, but we did pay a visit to the Augustiner Bräu – one of Salzburg’s famous beer halls. I found two things fascinating:
Companies have special reserved tables at beer halls. They pay a fee to have their own table at certain times – say Fridays after 7pm. One company had weekdays after 6pm!
The pros at beer halls bring their own beer mugs. And none of this one pint silliness – their mugs are full liters.
The next morning, my mom and sister went on a Sound of Music tour while dad and I went to a churchyard to take a few photos.
After our little photo safari, we crossed the border into Germany to tour a working salt mine near Berchtesgaden. I realize now that a working salt mine is actually a really boring place, but here they had done a lot of work to make the tour extremely interesting and fun. They started with a lot of information about the salt mining process, which actually takes decades to run its course. They had an excellent 3D diagram of the mine, which was illuminated in different areas as an accompanying video described their functions. They had examples of extraction equipment, including some of the historical tools that had been used in the mine. Perhaps the most fun part of the tour was the slides that plunged between the levels of the mine.
That evening, we took a high-speed train to Vienna. It’s immediately apparent that you’re in the former capital of a multinational empire.
The highlight of Vienna for me was probably the Hofburg Palace, where the imperial rooms have been restored to their state in Franz Joseph’s time. The emperor’s personal style was obviously influenced by his military career. His bedchamber was sparsely decorated, with only essential furniture. His study, where he spent most of his working hours, was similar. He rose at 3:30am every morning, allowing himself an extra hour of sleep if he had been up late the previous evening. He was at work by 5, and worked until the early evening, when he left for official functions that lasted until late at night. He certainly took his responsibilities as emperor seriously.
We spent New Year’s Eve in Vienna as well, watching the fireworks near the Rathaus, which is shown during daylight below.
On New Year’s Day, we traveled to Budapest with a brief stop to walk around Bratislava, Slovakia. We knew to expect a smaller city with out many famous attractions, but I actually found it quite charming. Unfortunately, foggy weather obstructed our views of the city and our plans to visit the top of the Slavin memorial.
The old town of Bratislava has plenty of charming building and churches, some with French cannonballs still embedded in their walls from Napoleon’s artillery.
