Day 14 - Salzburg

Today we were on our own – well, us and Rick Steves. We used the book and took the walking tour through Old Town and saw so many lovely things. On our way to Mozart’s Square, we got another great look at the walking bridge that was filmed in The Sound of Music, and on our way to the Salzburg Cathedral, we saw the archway that Maria passes through and fountain that she splashes water in while she is singing the “Confidence” song.

Mozart is such a big deal here. He has his very own statue in the middle of Mozart’s Square! In addition to being born here in Salzburg (we saw his house), he also played the organ at the Salzburg Cathedral for nearly 2 years – which would have been magnificent to hear, not just because it was Mozart, but simply because they have FOUR FULL ORGANS in the crosspiece of the church. Like many European cathedrals/churches, this one is also built in the shape of a cross. Where the two pieces meet in the middle is where the organs are located – one in each corner. Each one has its own set of pipes, and then the common bass pipes are way up in the balcony. I bet “A Mighty Fortress” would sound AWESOME in there (and as our friendship with the Catholic Church improves, we might actually get to hear it someday!).

Behind the Dom (cathedral) there is a gigantic chess board that you can play for a couple of Euro. The chess pieces are about 3 feet tall. Next to that is a gigantic brass ball with a little man standing on it, gazing at the Salzburg Fortress. He looked so life-like, I thought it was a real person at first!

There is a lovely cemetery behind this Square. The lay out of it inspired the cemetery scene when the von Trapps are hiding out from the Nazis at the Abby. Several familes have family plots where many family members are buried. They are behind locked gates and are well cept and quite beautiful. There are also several single plots in the center and around the church there. These are much smaller that what we might know or recognize (only about 3½ feet long). What was so remarkable about these plots is each one had live plants growing in them – some had flowers, some had hostas, some had decorative grasses. Even in a place of death, there was so much life, promise, and hope. I liked it a lot.

After another Bavarian Pretzel (love these!) purchased at the Open Air Market at University Square, we headed up to the Salzburg Fortress. It was quite a hike, not insurmountable, but definitely a steep, uphill climb. It took us 30 minutes to ascend it and about 5 minutes to descend. The Fortress was first built in the 6th century, painted white to stand out against the greenery of the Alps as an intimidating and foreboding structure. It worked, too, because it was 1000 years before it was overtaken. It was never used as an attack complex but rather as a means of intimidation. After hiking up to it, I can certainly understand why! Any foe would die trying to capture this thing. When Napoleon overtook Salzburg in 1800, the Archbishop surrendered the fortress. Napoleon then used it himself as a military encampment until Waterloo.

Inside the Fortress are a few museums. The fellow who did the marionette show in, you guessed it, The Sound of Music, had several of his marionettes on display here. They even have a marionette show of The Sound of Music itself! When you peer through a glass-covered hole in the floor, you can see one of the marionettes dressed as a prisoner and climbing a rope as if he is trying to escape the Fortress. He is holding a sign under his chin that reads (in German) “Help me!” Then he slides abck down the rope and tries to get out again. There was also a marionette that you could play with. THAT was super fun – and Ken made it moonwalk!

The other two museums are more historical – armaments, cannons, uniforms, and things like that. There were some things that I could translate for Ken, but many that I could not. It was interesting anyway. We also took the inside tour with an audio guide, which means that you can dial up your own language and listen to a recording with a handset. We learned that Salzburg was rich in salt (the name literally means “mountain of salt”), an ingredient that was immensely important to food preservation at the time. Eventually we climbed the tallest tower (another 4-5 storey hike) and were rewarded with a breathtaking view of the city and the river.

Another fascinating fact about Salzburg is that it was once a part of Bavaria. Around 700 CE, it was given to an Archbishop to govern in an effort to Christianize the people. Its “king” was an Archbishop ever since, until the last one, Wolf Dietrich, was overthrown and imprisoned in Salzburg Fortress by Franz Josef. He (FJ) became king and ruled until he was overthrown by Maximillian I of Bavaria (the grandfather of Ludwig II of Neuschwanstein fame). After WWII, Salzburg was made a part of Austria.

We found a lovely little Italian restaurant in Old Town called The Spaghetti Co. Pasta tasted so good, and Ken enjoyed a pizza, too.

Tomorrow we are headed back to Frankfurt for our final two nights in Germany. After we find our hotel, we plan to do the Walking Tour of the city. Saturday we plan to make a day-trip to Cologne to the cathedral and whatever else we might find there.

P.S. When I was in Frankfurt earlier, Internet access was spotty at best and quite expensive, so I may or may not get to post tomorrow. If not, I will post my final two blogs when we return to the US on Sunday. Thanks for reading!