Oct 20, 2011

After a pretty relaxed day yesterday being moored all day in Regensburg we set sail that evening for Passau and today toured Salzburg (Sound of Music territory) and Mondsee (Moon Lake) by coach on the way to meet the ship at Linz in Austria. The weather was forecast from – 1 to 6 degrees Celsius with heavy rain and snow. Thankfully we didn’t see the snow (apart from on the alps shrouded in cloud) and the heavy rain was mainly while we were in the coach but the temperature didn’t get much above 6 for the majority of the day and returned to 8 when we returned to the ship. Not to worry, however….we broke out the long johns under the jeans and with my leather vest and polar fleece jacket under my long jacket (along with my hat scarf and gloves)…I was toasty warm.



Schloss Mirabell (now the Town Hall) and gardens used in the Sound of Music Movie.



A view of the Festung Hohensalzburg (The Prince Bishop’s Palace) from within the town of Salzburg



A view of the Alps from the Palace, note the fruit tree in its own little garden. What a shame the Alps had disappeared into the clouds, would have loved to see their shapes. Apparently Hitler’s lair the ‘Eagles Nest’ is visible from the Palace on a clear day Austria having been a stronghold for Hitler and his third Reich. Our Austrian guide covered the wartime history well.



Salzburg from the palace with the lovely Baroque Cathedral visible with its green domes in the centre



Some majestic ancient trees within the palace walls with centuries of moss on their upper branches…no photo can do them justice…much more impressive than the dusty old furniture or Austrian military history within though the building itself was quite impressive and they are still digging up Roman foundations under it



An example of the pristine condition of the farmland we saw on our way through Bavaria…manicured to perfection!



The Lakes District…the ancient playground of the rich and famous….and still is a playground for all seasons



Mondsee Cathedral, a beautiful Italian Baroque cathedral used for the Sound of Music Wedding

Bits and Bobs:



In Salzburg they don’t allow neon signs for shops, only allowing the traditional signs, and the McDonalds store is on the site of the ‘Golden Lion Inn’ so you have to admire their ingenuity….now the Golden Lion is accompanied by the ‘Golden Arches’…ha ha. Liked it…and it didn’t look at all out of place in the beautiful ancient streetscape. We also noticed in France that their signs were often very small and inconspicuous as were all the other shops…looked much better.



We discovered municipal workers in Salzburg covering up their fountains today so that they don’t hold water to freeze and split the stone or anything else. This one was being steam cleaned and fitted with caps for the snow to slide off. We saw another being surrounded by glass panels.