Day 41 - Salzburg Austria

Photo 1: 

Finn and Tilly at the Toy Museum

2: Tilly in the snow at Untersberg Summit

3: Finn and I in the cable car

4: Hellbrunn Palace

5: One of the rooms in Hellbrunn Palace

"There's no kangaroos in Austria" is printed on a lot of items in souvenir shops here. It brings Australia a little closer when my eyes see the silhouette of a kangaroo printed with the text. Marmot oil is a big seller here which seems to be the natural version of Dencorub. In 2010, Tilly fed two wild marmots on the Swiss Alps. They resemble a ground hog and are quite cute so the idea of using them for a healing oil was not appealing. 

We started today by going to see the residence of Mozart rather than his birthplace which we saw yesterday. Mozart lived here from 1773-1780. This houses many items relating to the famous composer but the most interesting was his piano. The keys are reversed. That is the ivory are ebony and vise versa. 

Tilly then had her wish of visiting the Spietzeug (toy) Museum. The kids had a ball there as well and again it was very hands on. We had to either wear surgical shoe covers or slip on shoes provided by the museum. Only Tilly opted for the latter. 

We then caught the bus to Hellbrunn Palace and Trick Fountains. The palace dates from the late Renaissance but only one level was open for viewing. We then took a tour of the trick fountains - these are fountains set out in beautiful gardens and grottos but have hidden sprays so everyone gets wet. I quickly realized what might happen so my camera was well protected. These fountains date back 400 years. 

Our final sight was Untersberg. Another quick bus trip and we arrived to catch the cable car that ascends 1853 meters to the Untersberg Summit where the views over Salzburg are fantastic. The cable car was very crowded and as we ascended I must admit that I was quite scared. The car was carried by one continuous wire that at times seemed to struggle to get up. Once at the summit we had hit snow again and lots of it. It was 8 degrees and a lot of people were in t-shirts. The kids built very small snowmen or were they women? And I got some great shots before descending back to Earth. 

We say goodbye to beautiful Salzburg as we head to Innsbruck tomorrow.