Salzburg and Passau

5th September

Today we disembarked in Linz, Austria and headed off by bus to Salzburg with an Austrian guide who carefully selected songs from The Sound of Music to entertain us as we drove through the foggy countryside. It was a Sound of Music oriented tour but very interesting given that our guide, Roman, had met two of Maria Von Trapp's daughters and knew a lot of behind the scenes stories.

 This is Mozart Lake, one of four lakes that we drove past during our 2 hour ride.

It really was a beautiful trip to Salzburg, especially when the fog lifted.

I would have loved to view the Mirabell 

gardens from above. The begonias were laid out in patterns in front of the palace (of ...?).

Turn 180 degrees from the above photo and this fountain is in front of you. Just a fountain, but made special by its inclusion in the movie, The Sound of Music. In the scene filmed here, Maria and the children are dancing around the fountain singing Doh a deer... Our guide told us to join him in dancing and singing and off he went, holding the lollipop sign that we had to follow above his head and singing gaily! Peter and I discretely walked to the side...yep, party poopers.

 Salzburg is also famous for being the birthplace and home of 

Wolfgang  Armadeus Mozart. This house is the one that he lived in later in life, with his wife.

 

Why can't MacDonalds signs be this subtle in every city?

This is the view down one of the main shopping streets in Saltzburg. The shop signs are beautiful; the MacDonalds sign is amongst those on the right.

And now we reach the house where Mozart was born. The open window shows the room that he was born in. The apartment is now a museum housing the belongings of Mozart and family memorabilia. It is very interesting.

Mozart himself...dressed in bronze.

Peter is standing next to the first violin that Mozart played at the age of 4. When he was 6, Mozart performed for the Empress Maria in the palace. The story is 

that, after he performed, he ran over to Maria and climbed onto her lap. She forgave him luckily.

This 'maze' was next to the Mirabell gardens 

and was also used in the movie. It's not actually a maze, but a simple pathway, but the camera can easily create the illusion, as it did in the film.

Another shot of the Mirabell gardens.

And with that, we farewelled Salzburg and returned to the bus to continue our journey across the Austrian/German border to Passau, where our ship had travelled to while we were having fun. With 25 minutes until final departure, Peter and I collected new boarding passes and power walked our way around Passau and managed to find the cathedral and a statue titled Chart Magna. We found out upon our return to the ship that a copy of the Magna Carta is held in the cathedral.

Duernstein / Wachau Valley / Melk

4th September

 The castle is in ruins and it was decided to leave it that way by the people of Duernstein. It is famous for being the place where Richard the Lionhearted of England was held prisoner. Peter managed to hike all the way to the top and found fallen masonry, weeds and steep rough formed steps on slippery paths.

I took the quieter option of a walking tour of Duernstein 

and fell in love with the place.

The streets were cobblestone and the shops quaint.

This graveyard was beautiful. The plots were owned by a 

family and contained the remains of many people. In the past, bones were dug up and stored in the 'Bone Room' which is viewable through a metal gate, to allow for more room for burials. The bones (hundreds of them) are neatly stacked to a height of 2 metres along 3 walls of the small room. I found it fascinating...Peter won't look at the photo though.

The blue church tower was a gorgeous splash 

of colour in the walled, ancient city which is known for producing wine, schnapps and apricots. 

When you mix the apricot pulp with the schnapps you get apricot liqueur which warms you up quite well and played its part in killing the cold germs that I'd picked up from other passengers!

The grapes are grown on the sides of the 

mountains and the terraces remind you of Asian rice paddies. They are very steep, with each row of vines being a metre above the one below.

Last view of Duernstein.

 Duernstein and Melk are situated in the 

Wachau Valley, a 16km stretch of river in which the growing conditions for grapes and apricots is perfect. The scenery along this stretch of river is not to be missed...unless you've caught such a bad cold from the other guests that you have to lie down with the shivers and a headache. Never mind, Peter captured the moment and I occasionally opened an eye to see the view, even though it hurt!

The next stop was Melk, another medieval town in the Wachau Valley. Since 1089 it has been the site of a Benedictine monastery, founded by Leopold 11, which has been rebuilt several times over the years. Today's architecture dates from the beginning of the 18th century (1701 - 1726).

 The Abby entrance.

Aby courtyard.

Inside the church. 

The Abby from the town.

Looking back at Melk from the river.

Another view of the Abby, showing just how large it is.

 The streets of Melk.

Inside the church again, looking up at the ceiling.

Walking back to the ship. Just a pretty view!

Vienna, Austria

2nd & 3rd September

Our Vienna experience started with the obligatory guided tour, complete with ear pieces and 'Quiet Vox devices' which accompany us everywhere we go. We've soon learned that a palace is not what Disney portrays, and is in fact a very large residence built by the privileged classes. The palace above is the summer palace of the Habsburg family, who ruled Austria and Hungary for 600 years. The grounds are enormous and very beautiful and the interiors of the rooms contain the usual gold and oil paintings that we've come to expect!

Here you can see the garden, looking from the palace (above) and back to the palace (below). The Schonbrunn palace was used each summer as a means of escaping the horrible conditions in Vienna city. In those days, the palace was far out in the country side and a tiring, uncomfortable journey by horse and carriage.

 

We've come to love the narrow cobblestone streets and the style of buildings. Choosing to return to the ship for lunch, as I couldn't guarantee gluten free food out there in strudel and noodle land, we walked back into the city to explore it on our own later. The coffee custom is delightful in this part of the world; cups are served on a tray along with small glasses of water.

A delightful night was had visiting the Palais Liechtenstein for a private concert presented by the Palace Orchestra Vienna. Mozart and Strauss music was played in this glittering room and it was the perfect setting. A highlight, amongst the highlights, was a performance by three boys who are under training for the Vienna Boys Choir. The littlest one was very cute!

After walking around for a few hours, we bravely caught the underground and arrived back at the ship in time for departure.

 This statue was built to remember the Bubonic Plague.

 A central park in Vienna had this statue in it...not sure now who it is but I'm pretty sure it's Mozart!

 City street, Vienna.

Budapest

Had the shortest hotel stay ever in Budapest as we arrived at 1:00am and left at 10:00am. Following the blinking blue dot of my G Map app, we walked the 2.5 km through the city to find the ponton 2 where our ship was docked. Luckily we could hand over our suitcases, freeing us for some exploring before the official commencement of our cruise.

The boys in my grade wanted a picture of Hungry Jack's in Hungary, but this was the best that I could find for them!

Hungary is known for its 600 hot springs. These springs have been tapped into for centuries and there are many public baths dotted through Budapest. This one, the Gellert Spa, had a number of indoor 

and outdoor pools to choose from. It was a rabbit warren inside and quite a feat to find the correct change rooms for your gender! There is a system of hiring private change boxes which was confusing, as well as lockers which you could activate using your wrist band watch pass.This

 indoor pool was cool.

This

 outdoor pool was also cool and we found out why the sides were so steep after walking away for a hot pool. Suddenly the waves started and the  males played enthusiastically while the women moved away!

Drying ourselves with only a diver's chammy towel, we left the spa and crossed the road to begin the marathon climb to the top of this hill, where a statue and a view over the river and the Pest side awaited.

Yours

 truly recovering from the climb!

The view, 

as you can see, was worth the climb and we finally saw a touch if blue sky.

This statue was lower down the hill and is of a religious 

leader who became a martyr when he was thrown in the river in a barrel.

From 

the road, looking up to the statue.

Feeling rather tired by now we headed back to the ship and officially checked in. We were not disappointed with our accommodation...it was lovely. The ship was only launched in May 2014 so hasn't made many voyages. By the time dinner was called I was ravenous as they had not record of my dietary needs (thanks Flight Centre) and so there was nothing for me to eat. We booked into the fine dining room as, being the first night, no-one else had and there were vacancies. The maître d insisted that I would be catered for and he wasn't wrong. The meal was to die for, with various courses  exquisitely presented and accompanied by well selected wines. I can cope with this!!