You cannot be a Gymnophob in Europe

I finally bit the bullet and joined Fitness First tonight. I've been using a guest pass and really enjoy the classes so I thought what the heck, plus I got the hubby's corporate rate! I've had the luxury of the hubby's luxury vehicle but I will soon be back to reality and don't want my lack of wheels to cause my good routine to come to an end simply because I'm afraid to get on a bus and stare at the bus driver blankly because we don't understand each other. I've talked with my German friends about the bus system's fares and I think I now feel confident to take it to the gym by myself. Plus it's right next to Dave's office and if I get too frustrated I can pick up the car.

Anyhow, I got the "official" tour tonight after signing on and was very pleased with all of the amenities that they have. We walked back through the locker room to a female sauna and steam room where a 1/2 naked older woman sat there and stared at me dressed head to toe with my backpack on. Then we went through another door that led to the Spa. There are tanning beds, a "relaxing" room where you can relax after your workout or sauna where in fact a 1/2 naked man was doing just so. Thankfully he was adequately covered with the teeny tiny red towel on his lap. There is also an "open" coed spa area at the end of that same hall where we peeked in just in time for me to see the naked tail end of a few gentlemen leaving. We then walked back through the locker room where there were just all sorts of nakedness. We are not from a culture where being naked is considered socially acceptable. I completely accept it, it just leaves me feeling awkward more than anything every time I'm there. There is nothing kinky or sexual in nature with this type of behavior, it's considered completely normal. I'm comfortable with my own nakedness in the privacy of my own home, but not really in public with people that I spend every Tuesday night exercising with for 2 hours. 

Gymnophobia ironically has nothing to do with the gym. It is a fear or anxiety about being seen naked, and/or about seeing others naked, even in situations where it is socially acceptable. I wouldn't say that I have a fear or anxiety, like I said it's just more of awkwardness because this is something that as an American is just not typical. I'm actually finding myself more at ease in the locker rooms, but still haven't gotten the courage to shower in the mass open stalls. I'd like to think I can get over it, and actually try out the sauna. I don't think I HAVE to be naked, why not just wrap a towel around myself?

It makes me think about how we chickened out at the fancy spa in Baden-Baden. I want to go back when I know my potential gymnophobia has dissipated. Once we learn all of the rules of the sauna, I feel confident that we can go back with our heads held high...or rather low...well I'm not sure where we should be looking but I think after we learn the rules a few more months in the Fitness Center's rooms we'll be prepped and ready to embark on our spa journey.

Idar-Oberstein - Germany's Gem Mecca

Only a short hour's drive is the area of Idar-Oberstein, Germany's Gem Center on the Nahe River. Idar-Oberstein has a long history of working with gemstones where the first activities were recorded over 500 years ago. The first major activities started when miners found Amethyst and Agate in the area of the small towns of Idar and Oberstein, in the late 14th century.  

Amethyst in particular was considered extremely precious (of course, because it's my birthstone :) as it was one of the 5 "cardinal stones". Many historians however believe that mining started much earlier, with the first mining activities dating back to Roman times.

Bonnie and I thought it was a great day to go check out the gems and jewelry! Our first stop was the German Gemstone Museum.   With over 10.000 displays of different types of gemstones from all over the world, this place was definitely a sight!  The exhibition began with minerals and rocks from the region, showing the importance of the agate as well as jasper that also has a long history here.  There was a display of the mineralogical collection of nearly every known cut variety of gemstone.  There were explanations of how the gemological identification is made but they were in German so I didn't learn as much as I would have liked.  Not only were there sparkling cut gemstones and diamonds but also finely crafted sculptures and engravings.



Cat Sculpture

Beautiful Gemstones!

Victoria Imperial 184 carats, Red Cross 205 carats....yowza!

Harry Winston bought this diamond in 1933 from the
Diamond Producers Association

Louis Cartier 107 carat - named after the Jewellers in Paris-NY-London

NYC Skyline from 2000 in different quartz stones

Diamonds galore!

Other than the fabulous gems Idar-Oberstein is known for the Felsenkirche oder Chuch in the Rock.



Felsenkirche - Church in the Rock

It is about 200 ft up in the rock face and was built between 1482 and 1484.  According to legend, (from the trusty Wikipedia) there were two noble brothers, Wyrich and Emich, who both fell in love with a beautiful girl named Bertha. The brothers lived at Castle Bosselstein, which stood atop a 135 m-high hill. Bertha was from a noble line that occupied the nearby Lichtenburg Castle. 

Neither brother was aware of the other’s feelings for Bertha. When Wyrich, the elder brother, was away on some unknown business, Emich succeeded in securing Bertha’s affections and, subsequently, married her. When Emich announced the news to his brother, Wyrich’s temper got the better of him. In the heat of the moment, he hurled his brother out of a window of the castle and sent him to his death on the rocks below. 

Wyrich was almost immediately filled with remorse. With the counsel of a local abbot, he began a long period of penance. At this time, Bertha disappears from the historical record. Many romantics feel that she died of a broken heart.

As Wyrich waited for a heavenly sign showing that he was forgiven, the abbot suggested that he build a church on the exact place where his brother died. Wyrich worked and prayed himself into exhaustion. However, the moment the church was completed, he received his sign: a miraculous spring opened up in the church.

Wyrich died soon after this. When the local bishop came to consecrate the new church, he found the noble lord dead on its steps. Wyrich was later placed in the same tomb with his brother.



Falsenkirche above Hauptstraß

We didn't make it up to the church because we spent most of the day on the jewelry lined Hauptstraße.   Shop after shop all of the jewelry started to look the same!  Since many of them sell the same general stones, I wonder how they compete really and stay in business?   I was on the hunt for jasper beads to make a necklace with a jasper pendant that I have and I finally found a strand of loose beads at one of the last shops we went into.  We enjoyed some good food and beautiful weather, and a few sparkly and/or shiny purchases.  Next time it would be great to explore the Gemstone Mines - the only mines in the Steinkaulen Mountains open visitors, as well as hike up to the church and Oberstein & Bosselstein Castle's that sit enthroned high above the town.

Königsschlösser 10.6.11

The title Königsschlösser would be one of the biggest tourist traps in Bavaria, the King's Castles. We checked out of the B&B and headed through the mountains to the ultra touristy area of Schwangau and the Hohenschwangau & Neuschwanstein Castles. This is definite fairy-tale land. It's hard to believe sometimes that the places we've seen were once inhabited, this town just looked so make believe! We were ushered through the ticket office like cattle and it wasn't even that busy, but it was beautiful weather which brings out many people in the off season times. We climbed up to Hohenschwangau (High Swan) --->

and waited for our tour time to flash so we browsed the shop and bought a book on the crazy King Ludwig II.  It's nice to go through Hohenschwangau 1st because it gives more history plus the tours are a bit more personal with a real person and smaller groups.  It was built in the 12th century but ruined by Napoleon and Ludwig's father, King Maximilian II rebuilt it in 1830, so this is where Ludwig lived as a boy with his younger brother Otto (who was also mentally insane) in the side house with their nanny.  The family used it as a hunting/summer place until 1912.  It is now owned by the Wittelsbach family (who ruled Bavaria for 7 centuries).  Everything inside was original which was pretty cool.  The King and Queen had separate chambers on different floors but there was a secret door in the Queens room that went directly to the Kings room....hmmmm.... :). Ludwig had holes drilled in the ceiling in his bedroom and put candles out there to seem as if he was looking at the stars.  He sure was a dreamer and a romantic, dreaming up his perfect castle that he was able to execute on his 18th birthday when he inherited the throne.

After the tour we had about an hour and a half to get up to Neuschwanstein.  It looks like it's just up the hill but oh it's not!  We received a map at the ticket office with the time and distance between the castles so that you can plan accordingly and not miss your scheduled time otherwise you are out of luck!  The map said we had a 55 minute climb, well that would be going super slow I guess and we made it in about a half hour.  There are amazing views of the village from Neuschwanstein as well as the other castle.  We grabbed a snack at one of the tourist/souvenir huts and waited again for our number to flash. There must not have been enough English speaking people so they put us on an audio tour with about two tour busses worth of people.  Here we really were ushered through like cattle but we still saw a bunch of the castle, Ludwig’s lavish quarters with the original finishing’s.  Really it's not all that old even though it looks like it but it was built from 1869-1886 and only a third of it was finished (due to Ludwig’s death).  He spent 17 years building it but only lived in it for about 6 months before he was dethroned.  He was declared mentally unfit to rule Bavaria and was taken away from Neuschwanstein.  Two days later he and his doctor were found dead in a lake but no one knows if his death was murder or suicide.  Maybe we will get some clues in the book we bought about him?!  

After Neuschwanstein we climbed another 15 minutes to Mary's Bridgefor an unbelievable view of the castle.  It was pretty high up there but for some reason that didn't make me want to lose my stomach.   The long decent to even ground wasn't too bad.  We stopped at the bottom of the hill at the Jägerhäus for some "kings" snacks of bread, cheese, grapes and beer.  Plus it was a beautiful afternoon and a lovely view of the castle.  We had an hour or so drive ahead of us to the next stop in Bregenz, Austria.

 

Pictures from the day:

Königsschlösser 10.6.11

Friday October 7th  
We didn't have any plans set in stone for this leg of our trip.  The hotel we stayed in Bregenz was super nice, like a suite, right in the pedestrian area of the town.  We window shopped and grabbed some dinner at a Döner/Pizza shop - which is an interesting specialty mix!  We headed back to the hotel, we have had a busy and fun week.   It's only about 200 meters from a very large lake in the area, Lake Constance, or the Bodensee, as it's called so we thought we would check out some sights around it on Friday.  There are 4 countries that border it, Austria, Germany, Switzerland, and Liechtenstein (which I don't think actually borders it but is right in the area).   Friday when we woke up it was yucky, miserable weather, so after a tasty breakfast we headed in the direction of home making a few pit stops on the way.  The weather wasn't really cooperative so we couldn't enjoy the beauty of the lake.  We did go through a very abundant apple orchard area and I was looking for a cider shop to stop in for cider donuts!  No luck!  We made it to Meersburg where we wanted to see Germany's oldest standing castle but it was pouring so instead we went to a tourist info building that also had a wine museum where we bought a few different kinds.  Then if we like it we can go back to tour the area when it's nicer out!
 
We took a very scenic drive home through the Black Forest and it was really something to see all of these quaint little hillside villages tucked away in the trees.  It was still drizzly but the sun was trying to shine.  So, our week long trip has come to an end. The closer we got to home the more traffic we ran into and it was mid-afternoon!  Stau's to the max!  Our total drive time of 4.5 hours really took about 8 but it was a good chance to get caught up on the week.  It was fast paced but tons of fun with so much to see and so very much worth it.

Zugspitze & Linderhof Palace 10.5.11

We have an awesome view from room 10! 

We weren't totally sure of the plan today but figured we would go down to breakfast and get any information from the hosts that we needed since no one was around when we got in.  There was a table to one side of us and Eddie and Theresa to the other and we were all Americans!  The other family used to live in a town right by us (they were Military) but now live in England. We shared information on the area and made a plan for the day.  Since it was a beautiful morning we thought it was a good time to get to the highest mountain in Germany, the Zugspitze, at 2,962m or 9,725'.  After that we took our trusty tour guide, Rick's advice, and headed to one of Mad King Ludwig’s castles - Linderhof and see some of the small towns in the same area.  We invited Eddie and Theresa to ride with us since they didn't have a car and were looking to do the same sights. 
 
There are 3 options to get up the mountain, cable car, cog and cable car combo or hike it!  We did the cable car since we knew what to expect from the Untersberg experience.  What a ride, it's almost like hugging a rock wall as we climbed up parallel to the mountainside!  At the top it was pretty cold and a little bit of fresh snow had fallen earlier in the week.  Thank goodness the sun was shining strong because the wind in some spots was pretty darn chilly.  It was so worth it though, the views were just majestic. 

I don't think words or pictures can really do the panoramic views any justice.  The Eibsee Lake which we parked near was a beautiful turquoise color and reminded us so much of the glacial lakes that we loved in Glacier National Park.  There are large terraces, the Bavarian and the Tirolean.  It's crazy to be able to go back and forth from the German to the Austrian side through the walkway which was the former border control before the countries opened their borders.  We spent a good amount of time up there, mostly just taking in the scenery.  It's pretty amazing to see all of the construction that has gone on at the summit; buildings & restaurants that take up a lot of the peak' s space.  The gold cross that marks the summit on the German side was quite tempting to climb out to but with the winds whipping at 9,000' I'd say we made it close enough! 
 
After Zugspitze we headed towards Linderhof Palace. We had heard from more than one person that this was the best of King Ludwig's castles.  Plus, this was the only one of his places that was fully finished (1878).  I have to say, it was quite the gem, just a quaint little place - suitable for one lonely and crazy king.  The Baroque façade was influenced by French architecture and the inside was very Rococo from the time of Louis XV - he was very fond of the French kings.   The rooms were decorated with the illusion that he had in his head, a private fantasy world that he alone lived in.  Can you say Michael Jackson?!  That is what we all thought of as we toured through the grounds, that we were in a European Never-Neverland.  He lived most of his last 8 years of his short 40 year life in this castle, alone.  The more I learned about this young king the sorrier I felt for him!  After the castle tour we went through his grotto which was inspired by Richard Wagner's Tannhäuser opera.  It was a private theatre for Ludwig to enjoy his operas where he was the only audience member.  The first electricity in Bavaria was generated here to be able to change the lights different colors.  The gardens and fountains were beautiful and still so beautifully maintained.  It was tough to leave such a beautiful place out in the middle of the woods so we stuck around a little longer and Eddie and Theresa treated us to lunch!
 
We drove back to Ettal and walked through the very old and (even more!) Rococo style Ettal Monastery.   

In 1938 the Holy Roman Emperor returned from Rome with this "miraculous" statue of Mary and Jesus that now sits on the high altar as the centerpiece.  He was in political and financial trouble so to please God he founded the monastery.  Today the abbey is still active with 50 monks where they make their famous liquor and beer, run a hotel and teach in their private high school.
 
On the way back to Garmish we stopped in the small town that is famous for the Passion Play, Oberammergau, to check out the town’s main industry - wood carving.  

We stopped in a few shops to see some of the town’s craftsmanship and boy was it expensive!  Some of the statues and nativity scenes were beautiful and had great detail but just a little out of our price range.  I did manage to splurge for a nice wooden cutting board, made from beech wood.  The houses are all painted with characters or biblical scenes, as well as many of the buildings in town.  It was a neat stop, on the way back to the B&B.
 
We were all beat, it had been a great day with our new friends Eddie and Theresa.  Dave and I walked into town for some dinner, and found a nice little German pub-like place where the man running it commented (in Deutsch) that I was talking good in Deutsch...now I don't know if he was pulling my leg but I ate it up!  He gave us Ouzo - oy vey - we didn't need that but the gesture is nice and I just didn't want to be rude :). We stopped at a McD's and got a cappuccino and headed back to the B&B only to walk by an Italian place where our new friends were outside finishing up their dinner.  We stopped and waited for them to walk back and we are all turned in - busy day ahead tomorrow.  Learning a bit more about Mad King Ludwig at his boyhood castle, Hohenschwangau and his dream castle, Neuschwanstein.

Pictures of the day:

Zugspitze & Linderhof 10.5.11

Berchtesgaden & The Eagles Nest 10.4.11

After breakfast this morning we were mapping out our route for the day, trying to figure out what we wanted to see.  I probably could have stayed in Salzburg a few more days, it's a great city with so much to see and so much history.  The Eagles Nest was on the agenda today though as we headed to Garmish for the next few days.  We were looking online and found a tour company that we hadn't planned on but thought we would give that a try for the  Eagles Nest.  It was only 30 minutes away so we thought if we couldn't get on we would do it ourselves but when we got to the TI they had room for 2 more!  We had 2 hours to kill so we walked through the remote little alpine ski town of Berchtesgaden.  The whole walk that the TI gave us took about 2 hours and goes through the history of the 900 year old town but we needed lunch so we just looked in some of the cute shops in the Marktplatz, took a peek in the Abbey Church and took a walk around the Royal Castle from about 1200.  We then enjoyed lunch outside with a beautiful view of the Alps!
 
The Historical Eagles Nest tour was definitely more than just a ride up to Hitler’s mountain retreat, it was 4 hours of excellent historical significance of the whole mountain.  It was the cradle of the Nazi party and became a stage of where world history was enacted.  We learned all about Hitler’s life on the drive up to Obersalzberg, the tiny former Nazi community above Berchtesgaden.  We also learned about how the Nazi Party took over the area and Martin Bormann transformed the mountain into Hitler’s headquarters.  We saw actual buildings, administrative and residential, from the Third Reich as well as Albert Speer's home and architectural studio, Bormann's model farm, and the location of Hitler’s home that is no longer standing.  In fact, once it was destroyed they planted so many trees so close together so that no one had room to build any type of shrine or memorial there.
Hotel zum Türken

At the Documentation Center we were taken into the Bunker System, below the mountain.  It is an extensive fortress-like system built as an air raid shelter, as war headquarters and as a possible last refuge for the leaders of the Reich.  We saw living quarters, bathrooms, studies and file rooms.  It was a pretty impressive system.  Then we made our way to the Eagles Nest which is perched up high at 1834m or 6017'.  

The long tunnel took us directly to the original brass lined elevator that goes directly up through the heart of the Kehlstein Mountain into the actual building.  There were no bedrooms in this 50th birthday "gift" house to Hitler, no one ever stayed there, it was primarily for entertaining dinner parties and showing off the view.  He didn't like heights and found the place rather inconvenient to go to!  Eva Brown did spend more time there than Hitler.  It is now a restaurant that closes down sometime in October.  It was a four hour tour which put us a little behind schedule getting into Garmish but we are glad that we took the tour and gained the extra knowledge about our world history.
 
We took the mountain bus back to the TI and headed to Garmish - normally about a 2.5 hour drive from where we were but having to head back towards Munich to get around the mountains landed us in a number of stau's! Yuck, we're beginning to find this more common in Germany driving.  It might make me think more about the train.  I called the Gasthaus to let them know we'd be arriving late and they kindly left the keys on the front door for us.  The Gasthaus Höhe Tannen is a large B&B on a quaint residential street nestled in the foothill of the mountain among many others just like it.  We found our room, on the top floor, and headed out to try to find a place to eat.  We didn't have a map or know the town but figured we would run into something.  We ran into a couple coming in as we were leaving that offered us a little direction, Eddie and Theresa, who gave us their flashlight too to use in the dark!  We found a steakhouse just down the road that was still serving with a very nice waiter who spoke English!  We were tired and hungry, had a great meal, luckily found our way back, and now are off to bed.  I can’t wait to get up tomorrow to actually "see" what it looks like out our balcony!


Pictures of the day:

Berchtesgaden and The Eagle's Nest 10.4.11

Salzburg 10.3.11

Our first attempt at the city bus system was quite successful this morning as we made our way to the other side of town to the Untersberg Mountain. It was about a 1/2 hour ride to the cable car that goes up the mountain.  We met two girls on the bus that we noticed were also staying at our hotel, Melissa and Jen, who were seeing the same sights today as we were. We got to the lift just in time to take the next car up and it was packed right full, probably about 25 people. I was packed right smacked dab in the middle which was probably a good thing because the experience made me a little nervous to begin with. It was about a 10 minute ride up to the summit at 1853m or 6084' and when we got to the top we were greeted with the warm sun and 14 degrees Celsius. It was beautiful! 

There's a restaurant at the top and a shop but we didn't dilly dally, it's about another 30 minutes hike to the very top of the mountain. It was pretty packed with people but oh so worth the view of the Alps and Salzburg when we got there. We made our way back down and caught the cable car with only two other people, which was kind of scary! I could see everything all too clearly, including the steep drop down! 

It was fun though and we couldn't have asked for better weather, hopefully Zugspitze will be just as good! We took bus #25 back to the Zentrum-City Center-to pick up tickets for a cruise on the Salzach River.

We sat at a little outdoor cafe next to the river and had a quick bite before the cruise. A couple who was waiting for the cruise sat down next to us and started chatting to us...they were Americans too...Linda and Steve who live on the coast of Georgia and they were tickled pink when I told them I knew the area because it was right where we took a family vacation some 20 years ago, to Jekyll Island! They are retired from the military and are very familiar with the area that we live. We had such a nice time chatting with them but then as we were boarding the boat sadly had to part from them because they didn't pick up tickets for the ride! They had the Salzburg Card like we did but they didn't pick up an original ticket for the boat. They had to go back to the ticket booth and Linda yelled, "save us seats" but the boat filled quickly and they never showed...we felt bad but it may not be the last time we ever talk to them...read on...

The cruise took us to Hellbrunn Palace where we stopped yesterday to see the Gazebo from The Sound Of Music but this was a chance to tour through and see the famous Trick Fountains. Hellbrunn was built in the1600's by Prince Archbishop Sittikus.  It was his lavish summer "day" place -no bedrooms, he returned to Salzburg at night.

The cruise was slightly delayed because the water level was very low. We got moving...very slowly...because the currents were soooooo strong and we were going upstream. The 75 seat boat is powered by water jets and 25 minutes into the ride one of the engines had a problem and an alarm was going off like crazy, and of course we thought "only does this stuff happen to us" but the captain reassured us alles good and we docked shortly after. We then boarded an authentic London Double Decker for a 5 minute transfer to the Palace. We got tickets for the Trick Fountain tour and who do we see but our Hotel mates, Jen and Melissa again! The Trick Fountain tour was fun and we managed to get tricked by a few of the fountains :)

We toured through the Palace and said goodbye to the girls who were leaving early in the morning back to the states. They were going to the Mozart Dinner Theatre after Hellbrunn and so were Linda and Steve who didn't make the boat, so I gave the girls a message to pass on to them if they happened to run into them! I hope we hear from them!

We caught the same bus #25 back since Hellbrunn was in the same direction as Untersberg and then had to catch the #1 bus to the Steigl Brauwelt for tastings of Austria’s largest brewing company. Now some of you know that Dave and I have a hell of a time when it comes to buses and this trip isn't as extreme but we can chalk it right along with the rest of them. We were nearing the rush hour so the buses were actually running a little behind. We got to the city center to switch and ended up getting on the #1 going the wrong way! So we get off and are on our way until we sat and sat and sat in a stau for almost an hour. We ended up getting off the bus not knowing where exactly we were going but luckily there were signs for the brewery, thank goodness, because the little freebie city map did not show it in the right place! After a good 20 minute trek we found it! Unfortunately the waiter told us that since the store was closed we couldn't get our beer tastings (which btw were a €9,50 value with our Salzburg Card!) oh well we still tried a few. 

Beer is always better fresh at the brewery, and it sure was.

There was a very nice biergarten there but with terrible service and excellent food! Dave had a Pumpkin Cream Cheese Pie with Smoked Salmon and cabbage salad that was an Austrian specialty. I had a delicious organic beef goulash with a bread dumpling and it was soooooo good! It was the tenderest beef. We also had a St. Peters Bread which is a pretzel filled with 3 different kinds of cheese spread. After our bellies were full we walked back to a bus stop that we saw on the way there, caught the bus and had a smooth ride back to town where we walked about a kilometer to the Hotel.

It was a fun day, we were pooped! And the grand total of today's savings with the Salzburg Card = € 75!!

Pictures from the day:

Salzburg 10.3.11

Salzburg 10.2.11

Today was a jam packed, sightseeing fun filled day!  We started off with The Sound Of Music Tour by Bobs Tours with Rosa Maria our guide and 2 other super nice couples from St. Paul, MN.  RM gave us a mini-city tour which was great because this was the first of our real sightseeing.  Salzburg has about 150,000 residents but about 8 million tourists come through each year and what brings them? The Sound of Music and Mozart!  You will find souvenir store after souvenir store filled with memorabilia galore of both of these.  I need to get the DVD of the movie (they even had it in blue ray) but they are region 2 and that doesn't really make sense for us in the long term! RM pointed out different places throughout the city that scenes were shot for the movie.


The Gazebo

The wedding church in Mondsee:

Leopoldskron Palace-what was used as the back of the von Trapp's House



The Pegasus statue where the kids danced before heading up the stairs in Mirabell Gardens - also where a lot was filmed





The wall that Maria walked along singing "I've Got Confidence"



Tree line that the kids were running through

I haven't seen the movie in years so it will be cool to see the things she pointed out when we watch it. She also took us to the Lake District of Salzkammergut that was absolutely breathtaking!  RM took us to a mountainside bobsled track that was a lot of fun, a little scary at first but fun on the way down!



Mondsee Lake



We stopped in St. Gilgen for a quick snack on the terrace of a Gasthaus of apple strudel and coffees (I had cappuccino:)

It was a beautiful lake view as we sat on the terrace and watched the fog lift right up from it.

She even took us by the Red Bull headquarters! We had no idea that was here!

We headed back to the city singing along to the songs from the movie and RM told us stories about the real Maria and Captain von Trapp which I can't really remember since I have a hard enough time just remembering all she told us about the movie.  After the 1/2 day tour she dropped us at Mirabell Gardens where we did some exploring on our own. 

Then we toured through Mozart's Residence, the restored house where he lived when he was 17 for about 7 years.  Here we saw original pianos and other instruments of his as well as family portraits and other household belongings.

The Mönchsberg Mountain lines the back of the Old Town and also holds the Hohensalzburg Fortress high above the city.  We took a lift up the mountain to the terrace with amazing city views. 

This also took us directly to the Museum of Modern Art Mönchsberg.  We toured through the museum, not being all that into art, and left there with a feeling of...huh?!   We didn't really get the exhibitions but we saw them and now we can read the brochure to see why the artists did what they did!

After the Museum we walked through the Old Town, which actually survived the bombings in WWII while the rest of the city didn't.  Some of the sights here included:  St. Peters Cemetery which inspired the cemetery used to hide out in the SOM movie, the large water wheel that brings water to the city, an 18th century horse bath, the Salzburg Cathedral with statue of Mary, Residenzplatz, Mozartplatz and the Kapitelplatz with the man on the big golden orb looking up at the castle and Getreidgasse which is a busy touristy shopping area.  The final sight of the day was finally heading up to the Hohensalzburg Fortress. 

We went back up the Mönchsberg but this time on the funicular cable car. 

We walked the courtyard and grounds and captured some amazing views of the whole city.  We decided to walk back down the steep hill and search for dinner. 

The best part about all the sights today (not including the SOM Tour-but did get a €5 discount with Rick Steves!) was that they were included with the Salzburg Card.  Our entry fees and rides, etc were about €60 so I'm pretty happy with my good hotel deal!  We found a nice outside spot for dinner, both had schnitzel and Austrian brews then made the trek back to Hotel Ganslhof to rest our weary feet.  Day 3 is shaping up to be another beautiful one and probably just as event filled!

Pictures from the day:

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Salzburg 10.2.11