Finally! Getting to see a bit of Austria.

The local train company is running a special for 2 months. We didn't know about it so we missed a few weeks. But the special is that for 11 Euros($22NZ), we can travel anywhere in Austria from 12 midnight to 12 midnight Saturday. Including interrupted travel. So our first choice destination was Salzburg.

Before we arrived, Greg had a few provisos on our sightseeing list i.e. no Sound of Music tours and no sights of anything that had anything to do with the Sound of Music(SoM). Which turned out to be next to impossible.

The first thing we did was have lunch in The Mirabell Gardens, (featured in SoM when "I am 16 going on 17" is sung...I think). We take a packed breakfast and lunch to save money. but it also means we get to appreciate the scenery. Looked at the outside of a few touristy things, prince's apartments, a Baroque museum, the museum of modern art, but didn't feel compelled to fork out money for any of these things. Until we caught sight of the castle.

We walked up and down a few hills, sheltered from the rain in a few churches, but couldn't get close to the castle until we forked out some money. So we paid 7.50 Euros each, after hassling JOrdy for getting older at an inconvenient time thus deeming her no longer a child and no longer entitled to the discount prices. But we all felt that the Castle was worth the money. It had a few museums inside which were all included in the entry price - marionette museum, Historic war Museum, torture chamber, tower observation deck, mechanical organ, two whomping willows in the courtyard, a cow, some cannons, and the prince's apartments.

Sorry no photos yet as Blogger seems to be having some technical difficulties. We cruised the old town for a bit afterward enjoying the quaintness of the little streets before having dinner and some local beer.