Salzkammergut: A Place More Beautiful Than it Sounds

The morning following our self-guided Sound of Music and Salzburg tours, we geared up for a full day to explore the Salzkammergut, a district where everything looks like it belongs on a postcard.  The first town on our itinerary, Mondsee, was coincidentally the location of the last Sound of Music attraction on our list.  The town is home to Kloster Mondsee, the (non-fictional) location where Maria and Georg von Trapp exchanged wedding vows.  With the conclusion of the self-guided tour, only one question remained; is it possible to listen to the Sound of Music soundtrack too much?

The answer. Yes. Absolutely.

Mondsee Abbey

The end of our Sound of Music tour

Baptism in progress

Fortunately, the best way to get a song(s) out of your head is with the picturesque sensory overload of the Salzkammergut.  The village of Mondsee overlooks a beautiful lake of the same name and we were determined to get on the water.  Being quite large, paddle boats would require physical labor which is a deterrent in and of itself.  While we walked around the lake, we spotted a dock where visitors rented boats.  No boating license was required, and once we boarded, it was apparent why.  Our water chariot had two speeds, slow and slower.

Mondsee

Looks like we are the only people there

Downtown Mondsee

Oddly, we topped out at a speed nearly equivalent to the labors of those in a paddle boat.  Although, we had more space, a canopy that kept us in the comforts of the shade, and our craft required no physical exertion.  After we putt-putted around for an hour, our day's plans had been thrown askew.  We returned to dry land and grabbed a quick bite to eat before heading to the next stop, Hallstatt.

Who let Julie take control of the helm?

Phew, nothing in sight she can hit

Apparently a floatplane landing area over there

Drachenwand

Once we got back to the road, the scenic stimuli almost demanded we stop and take pictures every ten minutes.  We were taken aback twenty minutes into our drive as the road paralleled Attersee, another serene mountain and lake backdrop.  The beauty of the Salzkammergut easily captivated, and with all our stops, we nearly doubled the time it was supposed to take to reach Hallstatt.

View from the road

Pulled over for a better view of Attersee

With our day tenuously planned, the added boat ride in Mondsee and the prolonged journey to Hallstatt unfortunately had us miss the last funicular to Salz Welten.  While we were disappointed to have missed out on a visit to the salt mine and panoramic viewing point, we were still content to walk around.  After all, the town is a staple in nearly all traveling brochures and guide books.  Although, the pedestrian area is continuously flooded by the cyclical influx of tourists - which made it difficult for the locals and small groups to circumvent the oblivious hordes.  To concluded our visit, we grabbed some libations in the Marktplatz before we returned to the road.

Hallstatt

Hallstätter See

Panoramic view of Hallstatt from highway pull-off

It was time to start making our way back to Salzburg, but there was one more lake to see, Wolfgangsee.  With a few stops along the way, we arrived in Sankt Gilgen after an hour car ride.  Our poor timing struck once more.  The tenuously scheduled day planned for a ferry ride to and from Sankt Wolfgang.  However, yet again, we arrived a few minutes too late and could see the last ferry only a hundred meters away as it left the dock.

Then it rained on our parade, literally.

Here comes the rain

Wolfgangsee

Sankt Wolfgang

We scurried under the roof of the closest watering hole and discussed how we were going to stay dry and forage dinner.  Having missed the last ferry, we decided to take the terrestrial approach - and drove to Sankt Wolfgang after a brief tour of Sankt Gilgen.  By the time we reached the other side of Wolfgangsee, we had just enough energy to take pictures before the culinary perfume of the local restaurants beckoned.  We were seated at a table outside, but conveniently located under cover as the rain continued to come down.  The hours of our Austrian adventure waned, but we were pleased with all we accomplished in a weekend.

Tschüß Salzkammergut

Salzburg and the Sound of Music

Rarely do our adventures require homework, however, I admittedly had not seen The Sound of Music - a fact that confounded Julie's grip on reality.  It wasn't as if my family forbade singing like Georg von Trapp; I just hadn't seen the musical.  I was tasked with the chore of borrowing the movie and soundtrack from the library before we traveled to Salzburg.  I obliged.

We were now officially ready to make the journey to Austria.

With a six-hour drive ahead of us, I picked Julie up from her office and got back on the road as quickly as possible.  With blind optimism, we hoped to avoid the Stau (standstill traffic), but our wishful Autobahn ambitions were crushed by the time we reached Stuttgart.  The mind-numbing perils of being parked on the Autobahn made the remaining seven hours feel like hour 16 going on 17 - with no one to take care of us.  In fact, the added backup compounded our misfortune when we reached the hotel.

View from our room

When I pulled into the parking lot, I asked Julie if she had confirmed a late check-in to our room because the hotel was ominously fortified for the evening.  Unfortunately, my suspicions were reaffirmed.  Julie didn't foresee the extensive Stau and decided a late check-in wasn't necessary.  Also,  the hotel was evidently locked for the evening - granting access only to those with room keys.  Making matters worse, we were now in Austria and our only smart phone had no internet access.

How do you solve a problem like Maria..?  wait...  I mean, what the hell were we going to do?

We tried peering into the lobby through the glass doors, but to no one was inside.  Julie decided to take a lap around the building and coincidentally - a hotel-goer was on their way out.  Huzzah!!! Julie caught the door before it closed and allowed me to move our luggage into the hotel.  The ephemeral relief we felt subsequently changed when we saw an empty concierge desk.  Starving from the long car ride, I devoured all the remaining free apples in the basket while Julie went behind the counter to examine further.  She rummaged around for a minute or two and found an envelope with our name and room keys inside.  Once we moved the luggage into our room, I went down to the hotel bar to grab some celebratory brews - catching the bar staff off-guard in the process (both bartenders were drinking and smoking cigarettes (in a non-smoking bar) while watching Two and a Half Men (in German)).  The beers tasted of victory.  Somehow, we managed to sneak into our hotel and gather our own room key without the ability to contact anyone for help.  

Walking down to the palace

Schloss Hellbrunn courtyard

A famous gazebo

The following morning, we started the day with a complementary breakfast, complete with a juicing station.  I am sure the hotel staff was confused as to how we got into the hotel and our room, but our craftiness needed no explanation.  Before exploring Salzburg, Julie plotted a course for our very own Sound of Music tour.

Leopoldskroner Weiher

Gardens of Schloss Leopoldskron

Get thee to a nunnery

To kick things off, we drove to Schloss Hellbrunn, the location where the song, "Sixteen going on Seventeen" was filmed.  Hoards of tourists came and went by the bus load, but we were in and out just to see the gazebo before the sight-seeing cattle call diluted the grounds.  A short drive north and we arrived at out second stop, Schloss Leopoldskron, the palace used for exterior shots during filming.  Sadly, a wedding was to take place later in the afternoon, thus, limiting our access the grounds.  We completed our self-guided Sound of Music tour with a visit to Stift Nonnberg, the abbey where Maria Augusta Kutschera studied to become a nun.  During her novice years, Maria was assigned as governess to the von Trapp household; the basis of the story that inspired the musical and movie.  There was still one more attraction on our list, but would wait for the next day because it was located in Mondsee, a town of the Salzkammergut (the surrounding lake district).  Fortunately, the day was still young and we were ready to explore Salzburg.

Inside Stift Nonnberg

Mirabell Gardens

Gardens and a view of Festung Hohensalzburg

Having driven around the outskirts of the city, we made our way back north towards downtown.  Starting on the eastside of the River Salzach, we headed to the gardens of Schloss Mirabell.  Following our stroll through the garden, we crossed the river and briefly perused the weekend market before continuing to the pedestrian zone.  We passed two large tour groups who flocked to Mozarts Geburtshaus (birth house) and we proceeded to Dom zu Salzburg.  Shortly thereafter, to get a better view of the city and landscape, we took the funicular up to Festung Hohensalzburg.

Schloss Mirabell

Crossing the River Salzach

Dom zu Salzburg

...and again.

Mozart's birth home

We were pleased to avoid the hike up to the castle in the early-summer heat and were rewarded with a beautiful panoramic view once we reached the top.  We attempted to secure a seat at the restaurant atop the ramparts of the fortress, but hundreds of other tourists had the same idea.  Having explored the majority of Hohensalzburg, we returned to the pedestrian zone to visit one final church, Stiftskirche Sankt Peter Salzburg.

Panoramic view looking southeast towards Mönchsberg

Fortress cannon and Dom zu Salzburg below

Trying to set blog record for photos of us in single post

Fortress and flag of Salzburg

With our morning and afternoon full of driving and walking, our stomachs growled for sustenance and locally brewed libations.  Following a quick lunch overlooking the River Salzach and Festung Hohensalzburg, we drove down the street to grab a brief drink at Augustinerbräu.  For a relaxing end of the day, we returned to the hotel and enjoyed the comforts of the community pool.  Later, we enjoyed dinner at the hotel restaurant and planned our adventures in the Salzkammergut for the following day.

View of downtown Salzburg and River Salzach from Festung Hohensalsburg

Residenzplatz

Stiftskirche Sankt Peter Salzburg

View of Salzburg during lunch

Wien: Why is Standing so Painful?

Sunday got off to an early start due to our morning activities; see (hear) the Vienna Boys Choir sing at Burgkapelle, followed by a horsey show at the Spanish Riding School.  Conveniently, the events are located in the same area (Hofburg Palace), however, to ensure standing room tickets for the Burgkapelle, it is imperative to get there early due to the limited allotment.  Luckily, there is a distinct advantage getting to the Hofburg first thing in the morning, there are very few tourists to obstruct pictures.

No tourist in sight

Enjoying the quiet morning at the Hofburg

Before the buses arrived

The Vienna Boys Choir sing at the weekly Sunday mass held at Burgkapelle, a small chapel located inside the Hofburg Palace.  The line for standing room tickets starts around 8:15 and can quickly accumulate with tour groups arriving by the busload.  Fortunately, the line was relatively short when we got to the chapel.  A half hour later, an attendant distributed tickets to the patient freeloaders.  Also, my parents could be heard singing joyously knowing I attended a church service for the first time in (well) over a decade - my heathen skin remained un-scorched.  During the service, neither the choir nor the members of the Wiener Philharmonic are visible to the audience.  Although, when mass concludes, the choir sings a final song in front of the altar - the only time photography and/or video is permitted.  Immediately following the "concert," we walked the short distance to Spanische Hofreitschule.

Vienna Boys Choir

Pre-show, no pictures during event

Where we ended up standing for the performance

The line for standing room at the Spanish Riding School begins a half-hour before showtime and can crowd quickly due to the bottle-necked gate.  Once inside, there is limited room available and the spots directly behind the seats fill up first - a cutthroat affair.  We had selected our location, but were kindly asked by an employee to stand to the side (not behind the seats) because we were near the entrance.  As the show edged near, more and more people crowded the area, attempting to swoop -in on our area like hyenas.  To get our spaces back, we had to be assertive and state our claim to our (standing) seats - with little recourse, sans some disappointing snarls.

Ruin of Carthage (Roman Ruin) and carriage ride

Schönbrunn Palace

Back to back posts with a picture of us.

Non-scaffolding part of Gloriette

The performance started shortly after the designated time, beginning with the young stallions, a display of fancy hoof-work from the immature steeds.  There were four programs in total, the best of which included the jumps and the Ballet of the White Stallions.  The announcer described the jumps and prances as natural horse behavior, neither coerced nor contrived - although, that is clearly debatable.  When the show ended, our bodies were strained - having stood all morning took a great a toll.  A long Metro ride to the Schönbrunn Palace was a much welcomed idea, provided we could find seats.

Palace through fountain

Neptune Fountain

Turtle Fertility Statue...?

We were on the Metro for eleven, glorious, time-consuming stops, minutes that added up for some much needed relief.  At the palace, we grabbed a pamphlet that delineated the different priced tours and amenities access.  Unfortunately, photography is prohibited inside, therefore; we decided to pass on the idea of frivolously spending money.  We were content with exploring the  massive grounds of the Schönbrunn, the grandiose summer residence of the former Imperial Crown (Hofburg Palace was the winter residence).  Our time in Vienna was drawing to a close, but we still had enough time for one last activity.  We returned to the Hofburg District and enjoyed some coffee and Viennese pastries at Cafe Hawelka before heading back to the airport to catch our flight back to Germany.

Cafe Hawelka

Round two

One last site before leaving

Jesuit Church ceiling

Organ pipes