The One with Salzburg, Austria

First, how awesome is the Salzburg town logo? I love the gray outline of the fortress up on the hill and the white outline of the spired town below. Clever!

I've been looking forward to our Salzburg trip for a long time! It's only 3.5 hours away so we simply drove right on down during this past 4-day weekend. After our visit to Herrenchiemsee Palace we headed to the city.

We found Ruth's Salzburg apartment on airbnb (of course!) for $111 a night. Not as cheap as Croatia, ha, but still cheaper than a hotel! Here's the front of the apartment complex.

And the back - we had pretty much the entire top floor to ourselves!

Details of the inside. It was a huge place with lots of rooms and space, clean, free wifi, free parking, a microwave (woohoo!), new and updated, and very "homey". Perfect! Highly recommend staying here! It was supposed to rain every day of our trip so imagine our delight when we woke up the next morning and it was sunny and warm without a cloud in sight?! This is the view of the Untersberg mountain from the bathroom window. So majestic.  We probably could have taken a bus into town, but we had our car and were too lazy to figure it out so we just drove to a parking lot right where our Sound of Music tour meeting place was. Jane and Fox in front of a Sound of Music-themed painted cow. | Fox and Jane sitting on a tree limb in the Mirabell Gardens.

We had about an hour before our tour started so we decided to check out the Mirabell Gardens. This is the Mirabell Palace. 

It was built around 1606 by Prince-Archbishop Wolf Dietrich Raitenau as a residence for his mistress Salome Alt. When Raitenau was deposed and arrested in 1612, Alt and her family were expelled and the palace received its current name from Italian mirabile, bella: "amazing", "wonderful". It was rebuilt in a lavish Baroque style from 1710. King Otto of Greece was born here while his father, the Wittelsbach crown prince Ludwig I of Bavaria served as stadtholder in the former Electorate of Salzburg. The current Neoclassical appearance dates from about 1818 when the palace was restored after a fire. 

We walked straight to the gardens to see "THE STEPS!" This is where the kids all danced and jumped as Maria taught them how to sing "Do Re Mi".

I tried to reenact a bit of it with my own kids. 

Don't laugh. Or do. Cuz it's funny.  The gal on the right wasn't kidding! What a view with the fortress waaaaaay out there up on the mountain! | Me and Fox and Jane in front of one of the many fountains. Unicorn statue. | Rearing rare and very well-balanced Pegasus statue; also seen in the movie (when I refer to "the movie" I'm talking about The Sound of Music :) Another view of Pegasus and lovely red roses. Gorgeous walkways through the gardens.

Different angle of the Mirabell Palace.

Imagine if this was your backyard! What a view!

We exited the gardens and walked around the block, admiring the fancy buildings.

The Church of the Holy Trinity.

The Church of the Holy Trinity is the most significant sacred building on the right bank of the Old City and the first church designed by the great Baroque architect Fischer von Erlach. The dominant dome, the sweeping façade, the twin towers, and the palace-type wings are definitely the eye-catcher on Makart Square. There was a gate blocking it off inside, but I was still able to snap a few photos through the fencing. This church is famous for its dome fresco by Johann Michael Rottmayr, portraying the crowning of the Virgin Mary and the Holy Trinity.

Then we stepped inside St. Andrew's Church.

St. Andrew's Church was originally located at the Platzl, the corner where Linzergasse meets Dreifaltigkeitsgasse. After a great deal of debate, it was torn down by the city government to make way for a wider road. The new St. Andrew's Church was built according to plans by Josef Wessicken and city architect Jakob Ceconi in the neo-Gothic style and consecrated in November 1898. Both the façade with its rosette and the interior of the three-aisled church were modeled in the Gothic style. Although the building's 61-meter towers disturbed the harmony of the cityscape, no one seemed to mind.
The church was destroyed by air raids in World War II leaving only the western part unscathed. Reconstruction of a simpler version of St. Andrew's Church was completed in 1949. Despite all the changes, the church failed to blend in with its surroundings. Further adaptations were made in 1969 when the towers were shortened and covered with flat pyramid-shaped roofs. The façade was painted light gray and white to make St. Andrew's Church fit into the cityscape.  At 9:15am our Sound of Music Tour began! Yippee! Our tour guide was super sweet, charming, funny, witty, nice, and all that good stuff. The driver was all of those things too so it made for a fun 4 hours. Our first stop was the Lake Leopoldskroner Weiher where they filmed the scene where they all fell out of the boat into the water.

The grounds of the Schloss Leopoldskron were also used in filming, but it's a private palace so this is as close as we could get.

Fox and our guide. She told us all about dirndl and lederhosen and that where the bow is tied tells you whether the girl is single (left), married (right), too young to think about boys (center), or widowed (back).

It got all kinds of corny when they played the soundtrack and everyone started singing!

But who can resist singing along? :)

Our next stop was the Hellbrunn Castle. The only thing we came to see was the...

GAZEBO! 

Yes! From "I am 16, going on 17" and where Maria and Captain Von Trapp sing and profess their love for each other :) We drove right by the mansion where the Von Trapp's lived (not the actual real-life family, but in the movie). Again, it's privately owned, so we couldn't go closer. But it was fun to see where Maria sang the "Confidence" song and where a lot of the exterior scenes were filmed!

Oh me oh my, Austria is a beautiful country! Then we took a long drive (that we weren't mentally prepared for, I guess we should have researched, but it was so pretty and worth it) out to the Salzkammergut Lake District. We stopped at the top of Lake Gilgen, which can be seen in the opening scenes of SOM. Jaw-dropping!

Our family at Lake Gilgen, Austria on Saturday May 24th, 2014.

We passed the Red Bull headquarters - out in the middle of nowhere Austria, just like KTM! So funny how such big cooperations are randomly dotted throughout this country. | We passed a pretty castle. No biggie. Apparently the owner is looking for a wife. He's 90. Hmmm... be married to him for a few years and then inherit all his money? Sounds like a Hollywood movie in the making! Our last stop was the little town of Mondsee. I just love all the different colored buildings in Europe!

Side note: as we were walking down this street the LOUDEST siren I've EVER heard started going off! It honestly scared the beejeezees out of me! I thought the world was coming to an end! Apparently at 12pm every Saturday a fire alarm test goes off in every city around these mountains and lakes. We just happened to be right there, right then, right in front of the building with the alarm on top. Talk about good (or rather, bad) timing! Fox was so scared he started crying and begged to go back to the hotel. But we calmed him down and pressed on.

This is the chapel where they filmed the wedding of Maria and Captain Von Trapp - the Basilica St. Michael.

It wasn't where they were married in real life, but this church suited their aesthetic filming needs better.  There was a service going on inside so I couldn't get much closer, but it sure was pretty and pink inside! More than 200,000 people visit this church every year just because it was in The Sound of Music. Crazy people! Guess I'm one of them :)

Then the bus took us back to the parking lot and we each went on our merry way! We went back to the apartment to take a nap!

Soooo..... I've always wanted to go to THE HILLS. As in the hills of the opening scene where Maria busts out "The hills are alive with the sound of music!" I've had a vision of me reenacting that scene ever since we planned this trip. So we did some research, found the location, and set off. 

Well. Long story short, after detours and no helpful signs, we think we found the right spot, but I'm not 100% sure. In any case, we hopped out of the car and I did my thing :) THE HILLS ARE ALIVE WITH THE SOUND OF MUSIC! :)  Check ✓
Then we went to the Red Bull Hangar 7 which Chris has been wanting to visit ever since we planned our trip to Austria. We make things work - we see things I want to see and see things Chris wants to see. The kids are just along for the ride :)

Owned by Red Bull founder Dietrich Mateschitz, Hangar 7 is not a hangar in a traditional sense but rather a multifunctional building with a collection of historical airplanes, helicopters, and Formula One racing cars. It houses a restaurant, two bars, a lounge and aircraft, and is open to the public. It includes the Michelin starred restaurant Ikarus. Spiderweb looking ceiling.

I couldn't tell you one thing about any of these things :) But I took pictures of everything!

There's another hangar across the way but I think that's where he keeps planes and stuff he actually uses and is not open to the public.

Sunrays. Art exhibit. Hangar 7. Taxi. Fox was in his element seeing all these modes of transportation

Jane just liked running around. | Fox in front of a "monster".

My favorite part in the entire hangar was the art! I would love to hang any of the following paintings in my home, even if they are of boring planes :)

Loooove these abstract aerial views! A portrait made of cork tops! Unique!

A modern sculpture outside.

The sunrays shining down on the Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Airport. Looks like heaven!

We ate at the McDonald's in the mall and felt like we were back in America if only for a few minutes. 
The next morning I caught Fox sharing his popsicle with Jane. Oh my heart!

We parked at the Altstadt-Garagen B which is literally a parking garage built into the mountain. Great way to use space I guess! Nevermind what happens if the mountain collapses... best not think about things like that.

Today we planned to start with the Rick Steves Salzburg Old Town Walk. First, let's talk about Salzburg!
Salzburg and its residents - or at least its tourism industry - are forever smiling to the tunes of Mozart and The Sound of Music. Thanks to its charmingly preserved old town, splendid gardens, Baroque churches, and Europe's largest intact medieval fortress, Salzburg feels made for visitors. As a musical mecca the city puts on a huge annual festival as well as constant concerts. It's a city with class. Even without Mozart and the Von Trapps Salzburg is steeped in history. In about AD 700 Bavaria gave Salzburg to Bishop Rupert in return for his promise to Christianize the area. Salzburg remained an independent city (belonging to no state) until Napoleon came in the early 1800s. Thanks in part to its formidable fortress, Salzburg managed to avoid the ravages of war for 1200 years... until WWII. Much of the city was destroyed by WWII bombs but the historic old town survived - how rare! Eight million tourists crawl its cobbles each year. There are 150,000 residents (making it Austria's 4th-largest city) and it's divided into old and new. The old town, sitting between the Salzach River and its mini-mountain (Mönchsberg) holds nearly all the charm and most of the tourists. The new town, across the river, has the train station, a few sights, and museums. Salt was Salzburg's white gold, granting the city enough wealth to maintain its independence as a prince-archbishopric for an entire millenium (798-1803). Hence the city is called Salt City/Salzburg. 
We began at the Mozart Bridge. Fox likes getting his picture taken and then seeing it on the screen. Whatever makes him like taking pictures! Views of Old Town, the Salzach River, and the Hohensalzburg Fortress which you can see from pretty much everywhere in Salzburg.  Salzburg's river is called "salt river" not because it's salty but because of the precious cargo it once carried - the salt mines of Hallein are just nine miles upstream. Salt could be transported from here all the way to the Danube and on to the Mediterranean via the Black Sea. The riverbanks and roads were built when the river was regulated in the 1850s. Before that, the Salzach was much wider and slower moving. Houses opposite the old town fronted the river with docs and "garages" for boats. 
We walked into the helpful TI (tourist information) and purchased the Salzburg Card which got us into literally every museum and up the funicular and Mönchsberg elevator. It also includes a boat ride and admission to the Hellbrunn Palace which we didn't do/see. It was like having a Fastpass at Disneyland: we could skip the lines and scan it to get right in. Definitely a time and money saver!
Across from Mozart Bridge is Mozartplatz.

All of the happy tourists probably wouldn't be here if not for the man honored by this statue - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The statue was erected in 1842 on the 50th anniversary of his death during a music festival that included his two sons. Mozart spent many of his first 25 years (1756-1777) in Salzburg, the greatest Baroque city north of the Alps. But the city of Salzburg is much older: the Mozart statue sits on bits of Roman Salzburg, and the pink Church of St. Michael that overlooks the square is from AD 800. The first Salzburgers settled right around here.

Then we walked into the big square with the huge fountain called the Residenzplatz.

Important buildings have long ringed this square. Salzburg's energetic Prince Archbishop Wolf Dietrich von Raitenau (mentioned before (he built the Maribell Palace) who ruled 1587-1612) was raised in Rome, was a cousin of the influential Florentine Medici family, and had grandiose Italian ambitions for Salzburg. After a convenient fire destroyed the town's cathedral, Wolf Dietrich set about building the "Rome of the North." This square, with his new cathedral and palace, was the centerpiece of his Baroque dream city. A series of interconnecting squares make a grand processional way, leading from here through the old town. After 11:00 each morning, barrier stumps go up around the perimeter of the old town keeping traffic out. 

For centuries Salzburg's leaders were both important church officials and princes of the Holy Roman Empires, hence the title "prince archbishop" - mixing sacred and secular authority. But Wolf Dietrich misplayed his hand, losing power, and spending his last five years imprisoned in the Hohensalzburg Fortress.

The fountain, completed in 1661, is as Italian as can be, with a Triton matching Bernini's famous Triton Fountain in Rome. During the Baroque era skilled Italian artists and architects were in high demand in central European cities such as Salzburg and Prague. Local artists even Italianized their names in order to raise their rates. 

Along the left side of the Residenzplatz is the New Residenz and Glockenspiel.

This former palace, long a government administration building, now houses the central post office, the Heimatwerk (a handicraft store), the Salzburg Panorama 1829 exhibit, and the Salzburg Museum. The famous glockenspiel rings atop the New Residenz. This bell tower has a carillon of 35 17th-century bells cast in Antwerp that chime throughout the day and play tunes.  With our handy Salzburg Cards we decided to check out the Panorama Museum.

In the early 19th century, before the advent of photography, 360-degree "panorama" paintings of great cities or events were popular. These creations were even taken on extended road trips. When this one was created the 1815 Treaty of Vienna had just divvied up post-Napoleonic Europe and Salzburg had become part of the Habsburg realm. This photo-realistic painting served as a town portrait done at the emperor's request. The circular view, painted by Johann Michael Sattler, shows the city as seen from the top of its castle. When complete it spent 10 years touring the great cities of Europe, showing off Salzburg's breathtaking setting.  Today the exquisitely restored painting, hung in a circular room, offers a fascinating look at the city in 1829 when the river was slower and had beaches. The old town looks essentially as it does today.  We walked under the prince archbishop's skyway into Domplatz (Cathedral Square) and stood in awe under the Salzburg Cathedral.

This cathedral was one of the first Baroque buildings north of the Alps. It was consecrated in 1628 during the Thirty Years' War. Experts differ on what motivated the determined builders: emphasizing Salzburg's commitment to the Roman Catholic cause and the power of the Church here, or showing that there could be a peaceful alternative to the religious strife that was racking Europe at the time. Salzburg's archbishop was technically the top papal official north of the Alps but the city managed to steer clear of the war. With its rich salt production it had enough money to stay out of the conflict and carefully maintain its independence from the warring sides, earning it the nickname "Fortified Island of Peace." Domplatz is surrounded by the prince archbishop's secular administration buildings.  It said the church was closed until 1pm for mass, but people were going inside, so we went in too.

It also said no pictures, but everyone else was taking them, so I did too! The ceilings are painted with scenes from the Passion. Built in just 14 years (1614-1628) the church boasts harmonious architecture. The baptismal font (above photo, bottom right) is from the previous cathedral. Mozart was baptized here. The stucco by a Milanese artist is exceptional and left me open-mouthed.  The statue of Mary (from 1771) is looking away from the church, welcoming visitors. Standing in the rear of the square, immediately under the middle arch, she's positioned to be crowned by the two angels on the church façade - neat! The Old Residenz is connected to the cathedral by an arched bridge. 

We walked under said arched bridge to reach the Kapitelplatz. 

There were a million church bells going off - so loud, so powerful!

Every year since 2002 a foundation has commissioned a different artist to create a new work of public art somewhere in the city. This golden orb topped by a man gazing up at the castle (I thought he was real for a split second!) is the piece from 2007. 

People actually play with the giant chessboard in the shadows of the giant orb. Too fun/ny.

We detoured across the square to the fountain.  This was a horse bath, the 18th-century equivalent of a car wash. It'd be somethin' else to see horses rolling around here! It was angled down into the water just like a swimming pool.

Since we were right by the funicular, we decided to visit the Hohensalzburg Fortress next.  Up and up and up we went! Construction of the Hohensalzburg Fortress was begun by Archbishop Gebhard of Salzburg as a show of the Catholic Church's power. Built on a rock (called Festungsberg) 400 feet above the Salzach River, this fortress was never really used. That's the idea. It was a good investment - so foreboding nobody attacked the town for nearly a thousand years. The city was never taken by force but when Napoleon stopped by Salzburg wisely surrendered.  After a stint as a military barracks the fortress was opened to the public in the 1860s by Habsburg Emperor Franz Josef. Today it remains one of Europe's mightiest castles, dominating Salzburg's skyline and offering incredible views. Such as this one from the little café, towards the Alps.

Not bad Austria, not bad at all!

Our family at the top of the Hohensalzburg Fortress on Sunday May 25th 2014.

There are a few museums and exhibits throughout the fortress. We skipped them. Lots to do and see still. And they weren't highly recommended by Rick :) Someone has a green thumb, and it's not me! We walked around until we reached the Fortress Courtyard.  The courtyard was the main square for the medieval fortress's 1000-some residents who could be self-sufficient when necessary. The square was ringed by shops of craftsmen, blacksmiths, bakers, and so on. The well (bottom right) dipped into a rain-fed cistern. 

Pot of flowers. | There was a hall filled with canons aiming out the little windows. I'd be intimidated if I saw those back when canons were in use for reals!

We walked out onto the Kuenburg Bastion (once a garden) for stellar city views. 

Seems rare to have individual buildings lining a river like this! Just left of this view they were connected again.

Artsy fartsy view :)

Instead of taking the funicular back down we opted to do the Mönchsberg Walk.

The paved, wooded walking path between the fortress and the Mönchsberg elevator is less than a mile long and makes for a great 30-minute stroll. The views of Salzburg can't be beat!

We passed by mansion after mansion - it's like they HAD to be built to look like castles! Even dumpy old farms looked like castles! It wasn't super duper hot, but it was getting there, so to be in the shade was a welcome blessing.

We reached the Museum of Modern Art and the walkway in front is another place where SOM was filmed - I recognize this view! Oh what a city!

My cute kids'n'hubby. | Tender moments with Jane (just cropped in from the next photo). There was a Filipino family right by us and since Chris speaks Tagalog (well, he fluently speaks Waray Waray and Cebuano, but he can get by speaking Tagalog) he asked them to take our picture in their language - that's how we got these family photos. We took the elevator back down to the ground level. I spy colorful potted plants!

We were famished and found some currywurst and brats mit pommes (with fries) for lunch. Capped with a bit of white chocoloate ice cream, YUMMY! That's my new favorite flavor!

Most of the stores were closed because it was Sunday, but the salt store was open (even though it shouldn't have been according to the posted hours) so we just HAD to buy some salt from Salzburg/Salt City!

After a leisurely lunch and getting some salt, we headed back to where we deviated from the walk and pressed on. 

Just inside the entrance to St. Peter's Cemetery is a waterwheel.

Salzburg is glorious in great part because of its clever use of water. The waterwheel is part of a canal system that has brought water into Salzburg from Berchetsgaden, 15 miles away, since the 13th century. The stream was divided into smaller canals and channeled through town to provide fire protection, to flush out the streets (Thursday morning was flood-the-streets day), and to power factories. As late as the 19th century there were still more than 100 watermill-powered firms in Salzburg. Because of its water-powered hygiene Salzburg never suffered from a plague - it's probably the only Austrian town without a plague monument. 

Past the waterwheel we walked into St. Peter's Cemetery. This collection of lovingly tended mini-gardens abuts the Mönchsberg's rock wall. There are three churches in the cemetery, each founded in the early Middle Ages atop a pagan Celtic holy site. Check out the purple flowers (?!?) top right picture below. Looks straight out of a Dr. Seuss book! In Austria gravesites are rented, not owned. Rent bills are sent out every 10 years. If no one cares enough to make the payment, your tombstone is removed. Sad! Inside the small church in the center. Fancy rich guys' Renaissance-style tombs on the outside of St. Peter's Church. | Legendary medieval hermit monks are said to have lived in the hillside.  Down the hill and out the opposite side, we hooked a right and went into St. Peter's Church.

Just inside we enjoyed a carved Romanesque welcome. 

The once purely Romanesque vaulting has since been iced with a sugary Rococo finish.

Another beautiful church. 

After leaving the church we looked left at the Stifskeller St. Peter restaurant - known for its Mozart Dinner Concert. 

Charlemagne ate here in the year 803, allowing locals to claim that it's the oldest restaurant in Europe. That's a pretty cool claim to fame! We peeked inside, but it seems pretty fancy, so we left in a hurry before the kids made a scene as they're known to do in quiet places.

We walked through this square where St. Rupert is holding his staff and waving people into the next square. Square after square after square!

This square is surrounded by early 20th-century Bauhaus-style dorms for student monks. The modern crucifix was painted on the wall in 1926.  Under the crucifix is the Toscaninihof. This small courtyard is wedged behind the 1925 Festival Hall.  For such a big Sound of Music attraction, I'm frustrated they don't have this open to the public. Here's a picture from the interwebs:

This is where the Von Trapps sang before they fled from the Nazis - in film and in real life. Wish I could have gone inside and seen it for myself. Get on that Salzburg!
I walked to the top of the staircase by the outers walls of the festival hall and got a mighty view of Salzburg.  Then we walked to Universitätsplatz dominated by the Universitätskirche. Apparently there's a farmers market here every day but Sunday, wah wah. The fanciest façade overlooking Universitätsplatz is the backside of Mozart's birthplace (we'll see the front soon).

At the end of Universitätsplatz is St. Blaise's Church.  From wiki: Archbishop Frederick III proposed that a civic hospital be built in Salzburg in 1327. The hospital was to offer shelter for the sick and ailing. The townspeople provided the food for the patients, causing it to be called the "civic hospital". The church, built in 1330, was closely affiliated with the hospital. The church clings to the face of the Mönchsberg. The Church was consecrated to St. Blaise, known as a benefactor and patron saint of throat ailments. St. Blaise's Church was the first hall church built in Salzburg with the nave and aisles of equal height. The architect is unknown. Its exterior is austere, the gabled façade still has an old Gothic character. A tracery, two rosettes, a crucifixion scene, and other adornments were added in the 19th century in line with the Gothic tradition.  
Then we walked down my favorite street in Salzburg - Getreidegasse.  This street was old Salzburg's busy, colorful main drag. It's been a center of trade since Roman times. It's lined with jewelry shops and other businesses. The buildings, most of which date from the 15th century, are tall for that age, and narrow, and densely packed. Space was tight here because such little land was available between the natural fortifications provided by the mountain and the river, and so much of what was available was used by the Church. Famous for its wrought-iron signs, the architecture on the street still looks much as it did in Mozart's day. Even the McDonald's has a sign to match! At #9 is Mozart's Birthplace - the house where Mozart was born and where he composed many of his early works. We should have gone in, but the kids were done for the afternoon, and we all needed naps. 

So back to the apartment we went and rested up for a few hours. 
I wanted to go to the other side of the fortress to get a picture. And so we did! And this is it!

Then I wanted to visit the Nonnberg Abby where Maria was training to be a nun and where parts of SOM were filmed. But. The roads to get up there were blocked. So this is the best pic I got of it. Next time???...

We walked to another platz - Makartplatz - and saw the Hotel Bristol (top left) and Mozart's Residence (top right). Mozart's family moved here when he was 17. We could have gone in, but we didn't. Sorry to disappoint! A cute Mexican restaurant (bottom left) and the Landetheater (bottom right) which showcases opera, theater, and dance.  From there we walked to the Platlz - a square once used as a hay market - and we paused to let Fox and Jane play in the kid-pleasing fountain.  Near the fountain, Steingasse street leads darkly to the right. This street, a block in from the river, is wonderfully tranquil and free of Salzburg's tourist crush. 
Where Linzgasse meets Steingasse marks an important intersection: where the road to Vienna hit the road to Italy. From here traders and pilgrims would look across the river and see the impressive Universitätskirche (modeled after Vienna's Karlskirche) and know they were entering an important place.  Heading up the dank and narrow Steingasse we got a rare glimpse of medieval Salzburg. It's not the church's Salzburg of grand squares and Baroque façades, but the people's Salzburg of cramped quarters and humble cobbled lanes.  According to the plaque at #9, this is where Joseph Mohr, who wrote the words to "Silent Night" was born - poor and illegitimate - in 1792. The popular Christmas carol was composed and first sung in the village of Oberndorf, just outside Salzburg, in 1818.

On the next corner the wall is gouged out. This scar was left even after the building was restored to serve as a reminder of the American GI who tried to get a tank down this road during a visit to the town brothel two blocks up.

At #19 the carvings on the old door supposedly are notices from beggars to the begging community - a kind of "hobo code" indicating whether the residents would give or not. The Maison de Plaisir (right picture) has for centuries been a Salzburg brothel. Classy.

This coat of arms is of the prince archbishop who paid Bavaria a huge ransom to stay out of the Thirty Years' War. He then built this fortification in 1634 in anticipation of rampaging armies from both sides. 

Funky graffiti on Steingasse. We walked across the Staatsbrücke (State Bridge) back into Old Town to find some grub. I wanted anything besides hot dogs and fries. We found a yummy Italian eatery outside in the Alter Markt - yes, another square :) It was sooooo good. We popped into the recommended Josef Holzermayr candy shop for dessert.

I asked for anything with caramel and got about 8 pieces of chocolate filled with caramel. So good. Even better frozen! (Thanks for the wonderful tip to freeze candy and cookies, Dald!)

Another view of the candy store. | Chris wanted to eat on the terrace of this building, but it was too expensive.

Totally want these turned into cut files to scrapbook :)

We chose a different bridge to walk back into the New Town where we parked - the Makartsteg. This one is covered in locks that are taking over bridges across Europe.  The lighting was just perfect as we said our farewells to the beautiful city of Salzburg.

I do hope we get to come back, perhaps to see a concert or something of that nature!