Salzburg

The home of Beethoven. The stage for “The Sound of Music.” A beautiful, classic European city. We had a great time in Salzburg, here are some highlights:

The mountain:

The mountains provided a beautiful backdrop for the Salzburg skyline, and also a great day trip only 20 minutes away.

We rode the tram up to the top of the mountain. It was so picturesque the entire way, the scenery gradually changing from lush green to stark white. About half way up you pass the midpoint tower and the pitch increases drastically. At some points I was convinced that the bottom of the gondola was going to clip the rocks. Everyone let out a slight gasp at this point.

On top of the mountain we were greeted by sunshine and snow. The kids loved running around on the snow while the parents kept an uneasy eye on the edge of the path. I walked near the edge at one point and my foot sunk about a meter into the snow. I took off my jacket and employed myself as human-reindeer to pull the kids on a makeshift sleigh ride along the ridge. We also made a snow angel. Well, I made a snow angel and tried to convince two toddlers that laying on their back in the snow is fun. Stella was as stiff as a board and slightly concerned. We’ll work on it.

We missed the tram down (comes every 30 minutes) but it turned into a great chance to grab some hot chocolate at the cafe on the peak.

The city

We stayed at an Airbnb on the edge of the walking streets. This was really nice because we could just stroll right into old town, which we did each day.

The kids loved playing in the “ball fountain.” This was a spigot at the top of a gradual slope leading down to a drain half a block away. At the drain end sat a sea of ball-pit style plastic balls. Stella and Jackson would pick up balls from the drain and walk them up toward the top (didn’t have enough patience of course to walk all the way to the top). Then they would throw the balls in the stream and run after trying to catch them. Each kid was excited to sneakily sink their sneakers into the flow. Not the best idea given the brisk spring temperatures.

Jenn took us to a sausage stand that we referred to as “floor sausages.” The one-woman operation finds its home in a wall (literally, hole-in-the-wall) where the worker was sunken down a few feet behind a window. Inside was a flat sausage griddle and a few toppings, seasonings, and sauces. We each got a sausage (I got two, because I’m all about them) and strolled through the city as we ate. Stella really enjoyed hers! We also passed a pretzel truck with just about every type of pretzel you could imagine. Lindsay wisely chose some chocolate encrusted cinnamon pretzel. Best I’ve ever had.

One afternoon, Jenn was kind enough to watch the kids while Lindsay and I went to tour the castle. It was a fun, short tour, culminating at the highest tower which provided an eagles view of the city and river. They had on display a pipe organ that would play each day. It originally played a simple cacophonous sound that earned it the title of “The Salzburg Bull”. Eventually mozart and others composed melodies for the organ. A wooden cylinder with lots of small nail/staple things in it would turn and trigger the notes (similar to an old player piano with the paper rolls). Pretty cool technology for the time.

Thanks for reading,

Abe