HandS Travel

The next day we rushed to catch the 11:20 train to Salzburg.  The ticket line was quite long, as was the one checking out of the hotel.  Nonetheless, we ran and made our train.  The 2.5 hour train was a bit annoying with loud foreigners playing UNO and Italians speaking at the top of their lungs.  We actually moved from the farthest-back car to the front car to avoid annoying people, especially two German friends with a dog.  Henry claimed it would be quieter but wasn’t (one of Sheila’s biggest pet peeves while trying to read).  Anyway, we arrived on-time, checked in, got McDonald’s food, and set off touring.

This is one of the prettiest towns we have ever visited with the background of the Alps in short distance, unique stores and backstreets, and unique Christmas lights and religious symbols.  Salzburg is the birthplace and long-time residence of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, one of the greatest classical Baroque composers of all time.  The town of 150,000 people is also the location for the musical Sound of Music.  We visited Mozart’s residence called Wohnhaus and passed by the Geburthaus, his birthplace which was just across the river.  We saw his original piano and pieces of music, of which he started composing at age 7.  After that we made or way to people watch at the ice skating rink at Mozart Plaza and toured the Dom Church which we would return to the day later as well.  Our favorite parts were wandering around the cool streets and shops.  We saw religous wood carving shops, decorated Ukranian eggs that were over $10 a piece, Christmas trinkets and decorations, and markets selling miniature pigs for good luck for the new year.  We had to ask someone what they were since we were so confused.  People also say, “Gross grut” here which means “God’s greeting” so we have learned how to say this in addition to “Danke schon” which means “Thank you very much.”

That night, we got a little lost trying to find a small restaurant on a backstreet.  It was called St. Paul Stube and had some of best dishes we have ever eaten.  The place only held about 30-40 people and good thing we had reservations again because it was full when we got there, but thank goodness there was a table reserved with my almost-correctly spelled last name on it.  We had a few Paulaner beers and 2 delicious dishes; Henry devoured his chicken, veggies, and potatoes, and Sheila savored a salad and a dish of cheese-topped dumplings with homemade onion rings on top.  We would have stayed all night but the smoke was the densest it has ever been so we left shortly thereafter.  We can still not believe people can smoke indoors over here, it is hard for us as both America and the UK do not allow this.