Salzburg

Another lovely day weather-wise.  We left the ship at 8:30, which made for an early wake-up so that we could eat breakfast before leaving for the bus.  We had an almost 2 hour bus ride to Salzburg with a rest stop near Lake Mondsee surrounded by mountains .  Strange to see road signs pointing to Salzburg, Passau (where we will go tomorrow) and back to Vienna (Wein).  We arrived in Salzburg on time to meet our city guide.  Walked a few blocks to the Gardens where Julie Andrews played around the fountain with the children in the Sound of Music.  Lots of Sound of Music scenes along the drive to Salzburg - the church where Maria and Count Von Trapp married, the meadows where she danced, etc. and in the town itself.  In fact, one exhibit upon which we stumbled was devoted to pictures taken during the making of the film.  Julie looked soooo young with a waist of about 17 inches :).  We walked across a pedestrian bridge from the New Town to the Old Town and then saw the monestery, university of Salzburg, the Cathedral, lots of shops, etc. It's a beautiful town but got very warm and crowded as the day progressed.

We really enjoyed visiting Mozart's birthplace, up four flights of steep steps with knees aching.  Very interesting and learned a lot about his life, his family relationships, and his argument with the ArchBishop which got him thrown out of his birth town leading to his time in Vienna.  Then we decided to walk back across the river (Salzauch) to have a quiet lunch on a shady patio at the Sacher Hotel.  Since our lunch at their Mozart Cafe in Vienna was so good, we figured it was a good idea.  So we enjoyed sitting on the patio overlooking the river, shared two types of sandwiches with beer then splurged with a shared Sachertorte and coffee.  And, of course, excellent service!  Wunderbar!  After our respite from the warm day and crowded streets of old town, we returned to find Art's requisite tee shirt...that's now 3 old ones headed to Good Will!  We strolled down Judengasse...the street where the Jews were placed in a ghetto during the war...looking for the old synagogue...finally found our way to the Information office where the 1st clerk didn't know what a synagogue was,  Her colleague told her where it was located (in the new town).  Not satisfied we asked a walking tour guide standing outside of the office if he knew and he pointed us back down the street to a building whose sign said it was a Creative Arts SCHULE (which could have been translated as school or the yiddish word for synagogue.  I went into the building and it was beginning to be renovated....curved brick ceilings and thick, rough stone walls suggested a previous use but there were no signs to help us out.  We also found a large plaque in German that indicated that Theodor Herzel had worked there...the guide told us that he was a lawyer who wanted to be a judge but could not be appointed because he was Jewish.  Herzel was born in Pest, Hungary, moved to Vienna with his family and studied law there, practicing in Vienna and Salzburg.  He is considered the founder of Zionism.  Interesting that he was considered important enough to have a substantial plaque on the wall of the old Magistrate Court when there were no other indications of the presence of Jews in the Judengasse.
Pictures of Salzburg and Linz

After a pleasant drive back to the boat, we changed and went to the lounge for the complimentary open bar prior to dinner.  Another good dinner  during which we passed through 2 more locks, we played a fun game of Name that Tune Trivia.  Our team lost by one point with a lot of childish competitive grumbling afterwards :)

We can't believe that we have only one full day and one more night onboard before we head to Prague to end our trip.  The thought of packing tomorrow night is enough to make me call it a night and block out the thought.  Tomorrow we cruise into Passau at 9 AM.