Salzburg Day 3

01 May:

Europcar on 24 Marsstraβe, Munich: bad idea!
Holiday in Germany, so closed even though they told us to bring it back today.

What a headache. Fernando waits while I walk down 3 levels of the parking garage in the dark to find the service people. Very scary. Dark corridors surrounded by concrete. Locked exits. Afraid that someone will be around the corner I can't see around. No one from rental company on the rental car level of the parking garage. Jerks. Find my way back upstairs. National number says they will open at 9am but we have to catch a train at 8:47am. So we go across the street to the other location on 19 Marsstraβe and they say to leave it with them. If we get charged more I will scream.

Train to Salzburg:
While on train, Fernando fears half of train will split off and go to different city. Very scenic ride.

Meet a nice guy on vacation. German. He loves Obama. He said, "Obama will increase tourism and save the world from oppressive Americans". Ugh. You think I'm exaggerating but I'm not. We try to convince him to come to Utah since he likes hiking. He says he will now that Obama is president. Like that would change his experience.

Salzburg:
One word- amazing. Nuns and high power catholic dude walking around the streets. Really. Good street musicians. Cobblestone streets. Churches. Lots of churches.

Water taps to fill up water bottles for free. Delicious mountain water. Hills. Rolling hills with the alps in the background and the stairs. Oh those stairs. 

A billion stairs walked, 100 billion steps walked. Felt like giving up by the end.

Mozart Residence:
Talk about capitalizing off someone. House was great for her. Fernando was bored but that was too bad. All audio tour but very little moving. Large amounts of text and few displays but the displays were letters, manuscripts, original pianos, art. Amazing. Sorry Fer.

The quieter side of the city:

Ice cream with no taste testing, tricky to chose a flavor because u can't read the language. Gardens galore with the most fragrant flowers. I guess it's the gardens from Sound of Music. Should really see the movie again because I guess after the places I went to in the town, a lot of it is in the movie. Flowers cut out in the grass in elaborate designs.

Some high school band playing in the background (played 'Circle of Life' - not very Salzburgish). Everyone clapping that they are so good when they really aren't. Super old middle ages streets so small only two people can walk in. What did they do with their horses then? They definitely had them then, right? We see a small set of stairs that lead to where some tourists are overlooking and taking pictures. Pretty we think. We'd do almost anything for good pictures. Scratch that. We've now proven we will do anything for good pictures. One set of stairs let to another, then another, then another, until we had climbed a mountain. The videos I took from the top are shakey cause I couldn't control my legs. 

Did I mention the beautiful river that runs through the center of the city? Legs still shaking, we crossed the river on some beautiful bridges to one of the top tourist destinations in the world.

Old town:

Service people very nice. Bought sandwiches (with weird meat that looks like uncooked bacon and tastes like salami. I threw my meat out) coke and water.

Found fountain from mountain water and continuously filled up water bottle. So good. Started self guided tour but since didn't read book first it was hard. How can u be sure you are in the right place and then not find a water wheel? It can't be that small. Ugh. While taking tour, found myself pretty music box piano, mini violin, Fer's shot glass (smaller than a mug) and the perfect gift for Craig jr. Not telling what it is. Fernando fell in love with city and bought a beautiful watercolor from a local artist. Saw half a dozen priests, nuns, and some cardinal/archduke or something. Fun to watch Japanese tourists take pictures with him like he was Caesar at Caesar's Palace in Vegas. Too bad he was the real deal. Priests with him were laughing.

We found McDonalds on the prettiest street. Silly.

Bought an apple strudel (kinda like a mushy apple pie with powdered sugar) and Black Forrest cake. Turned out the Black Forest cake had alcohol (We're not cut out for alcohol. Gross) but the apple stuff was good.

Fortress (all stairs and some concrete):

With wisdom, decided not to take funicular to go to fortress.

How hard can it be? Is only a 15 minute walk. Not a walk. More of a pipeline straight up a mountain but up... Yes... stairs. And of course when whoever built it 1500 years ago didn't follow stairs code so they were different sizes. Of course. After dying potentially 5 times from exhaustion just to save 6 euros, finally arrived. But the stupid villagers who built the place neglected to put in elevators, so we climbed another billion stairs on the tour. 

This was the first set of about 30 of these sets of stairs. Wanted to cry. Legs beyond shaking. Cool stuff though. And the view...

If I haven't lost weight from today alone...

Took little funicular down hill. Like tower of terror at Disneyland but welcomed. I'd rather die on a downhill tram then walk down those stairs. Refilled water bottle for trip back from free for all fountain. Walk back to train station exhausted.

Train ride back to Munich:

Slept dreaming of shower.