Salzburg
Trip Start
Jun 08, 2012
1
15
18
Trip End
Jul 24, 2012
Salzburg is the city of Mozart and The Sound of Music. While the thought of Salzburg evokes romantic notions of classical music and stunning landscapes, the city was disappointing. It is ironic that the city so heavily promotes itself as the birthplace of Mozart, but Mozart himself couldn't wait to leave and moved to Vienna at 24. The cities other biggest draw, The Sound of Music tours, leave the city and venture out into the countryside.
The best way we could think to describe the city is that someone came through and painted all the buildings various shades of beige and paved the city with asphalt and gravel. Half the stores in town sell the same brand of Mozart souvenirs, and the streets are lined with vendors selling other Austrian knickknacks. There are a couple nice parks, but the historic center has no green space. It didn't help that the temperature was around 35 degrees celsius during the day. I'm not sure exactly what that is in Fahrenheit, but it's in the 90s.
Our campground was fairly nice and even had a pool! It was very nice to come back after sweating all day in town and jump in the pool. But the pool, like many other places in town closed at really odd times. It was open from 9am until noon, then closed until 2, then reopened until 7pm. I know they have siestas in Spain and Italy, but it seems a little ridiculous for a pool with no lifeguard in Austria.
Salzburg definitely had the highest concentration of grocery stores of any city we've been to. That's good, because we make a lot of picnic meals from the grocery store, but it was difficult make it to a grocery store when it was open. All the SPARs (the chain of grocery stores that were everywhere) closed at 6pm on Saturday and were not open at all on Sunday. Most of the restaurants in Salzburg are either Italian or Greek, so we were surprised to come across a decent looking beer garden. We were beered out, but we did get a couple sausages that turned out to be the worst things we have eaten in a long time. There is a SPAR at the mall across from the train station, and the whole mall closed at 6. We got lucky and decided to check the SPAR in the train station (yes, there are literally two full size grocery stores of the same chain across the street from each other), and it stayed open til 11 and was open on Sundays! We were so tired of schnitzel and frankfurters that we bought a bunch of fruit and vegetables for salads and snacks.
Normally I wait to write about our leaving train ride for the next cities entry, but this ride was so fitting of our time in Salzburg that it deserves to be here. We got up early to check out and catch the train to Munich. Ironically, we got on a RailJet, which is Austria's fastest and nicest train, but it was the most annoying hour and a half of the trip. Soon after we sat down, a family from somewhere in the Middle East sat down a couple rows in front of us. I'm not sure if they even knew how many kids they had, but I counted 7. They all appeared to be spaced roughly 9 months apart. The kids looked like the ones in the commercials trying to get you to send 15¢ a day to feed and clothe them. The father showed his ticket to Augsburg to most everyone around him, and everyone told him, "No this train only goes to Munich." He was told this repeatedly in German and English, but still decided to stay on the wrong train. I guess no one really corrected him, because they were at least going the right direction. The conductor checking tickets explained to him how to make the Augsburg connection, but I don't think he understood any of it. I wouldn't be surprised if they are in Zurich right now.
The kids did not stop screaming/singing/making weird noises the whole ride. The mother made them all white bread and hotdog sandwiches, which they proceeded to get more on the floor than eat. The family was sharing a 2liter bottle of Coke. One of the kids apparently didn't like his sip because he spit it into the aisle of the train. He made it ok though by rubbing it into the carpet with his foot. After they were done with the Coke bottle, they felt that the appropriate method of disposal was to throw it on the floor. The one thing that really took the cake though, the mother changed the youngest babies' diaper in the train seat, without putting a blanket or towel or anything down. There were baby changing tables in the WC 15 feet away! After the conductor announced that we would be in Munich in 5 minutes, the mother found it a good time to walk aisle of the train while breast feeding the youngest baby.
Well I guess nobody bats a thousand, and we certainly missed on Salzburg. The city probably would've been more enjoyable if weren't overshadowed by our recent memories of the baroque grandeur of Vienna and the spectacular mountains of Hallstatt. Oh well, we're looking forward to Munich!
The best way we could think to describe the city is that someone came through and painted all the buildings various shades of beige and paved the city with asphalt and gravel. Half the stores in town sell the same brand of Mozart souvenirs, and the streets are lined with vendors selling other Austrian knickknacks. There are a couple nice parks, but the historic center has no green space. It didn't help that the temperature was around 35 degrees celsius during the day. I'm not sure exactly what that is in Fahrenheit, but it's in the 90s.
Our campground was fairly nice and even had a pool! It was very nice to come back after sweating all day in town and jump in the pool. But the pool, like many other places in town closed at really odd times. It was open from 9am until noon, then closed until 2, then reopened until 7pm. I know they have siestas in Spain and Italy, but it seems a little ridiculous for a pool with no lifeguard in Austria.
Salzburg definitely had the highest concentration of grocery stores of any city we've been to. That's good, because we make a lot of picnic meals from the grocery store, but it was difficult make it to a grocery store when it was open. All the SPARs (the chain of grocery stores that were everywhere) closed at 6pm on Saturday and were not open at all on Sunday. Most of the restaurants in Salzburg are either Italian or Greek, so we were surprised to come across a decent looking beer garden. We were beered out, but we did get a couple sausages that turned out to be the worst things we have eaten in a long time. There is a SPAR at the mall across from the train station, and the whole mall closed at 6. We got lucky and decided to check the SPAR in the train station (yes, there are literally two full size grocery stores of the same chain across the street from each other), and it stayed open til 11 and was open on Sundays! We were so tired of schnitzel and frankfurters that we bought a bunch of fruit and vegetables for salads and snacks.
Normally I wait to write about our leaving train ride for the next cities entry, but this ride was so fitting of our time in Salzburg that it deserves to be here. We got up early to check out and catch the train to Munich. Ironically, we got on a RailJet, which is Austria's fastest and nicest train, but it was the most annoying hour and a half of the trip. Soon after we sat down, a family from somewhere in the Middle East sat down a couple rows in front of us. I'm not sure if they even knew how many kids they had, but I counted 7. They all appeared to be spaced roughly 9 months apart. The kids looked like the ones in the commercials trying to get you to send 15¢ a day to feed and clothe them. The father showed his ticket to Augsburg to most everyone around him, and everyone told him, "No this train only goes to Munich." He was told this repeatedly in German and English, but still decided to stay on the wrong train. I guess no one really corrected him, because they were at least going the right direction. The conductor checking tickets explained to him how to make the Augsburg connection, but I don't think he understood any of it. I wouldn't be surprised if they are in Zurich right now.
The kids did not stop screaming/singing/making weird noises the whole ride. The mother made them all white bread and hotdog sandwiches, which they proceeded to get more on the floor than eat. The family was sharing a 2liter bottle of Coke. One of the kids apparently didn't like his sip because he spit it into the aisle of the train. He made it ok though by rubbing it into the carpet with his foot. After they were done with the Coke bottle, they felt that the appropriate method of disposal was to throw it on the floor. The one thing that really took the cake though, the mother changed the youngest babies' diaper in the train seat, without putting a blanket or towel or anything down. There were baby changing tables in the WC 15 feet away! After the conductor announced that we would be in Munich in 5 minutes, the mother found it a good time to walk aisle of the train while breast feeding the youngest baby.
Well I guess nobody bats a thousand, and we certainly missed on Salzburg. The city probably would've been more enjoyable if weren't overshadowed by our recent memories of the baroque grandeur of Vienna and the spectacular mountains of Hallstatt. Oh well, we're looking forward to Munich!
