Tuesday April 9
Linz/Salzburg
Included Excursions – Gems of Linz: Castles, Cathedrals & Mozart (1.5 hours), Biking in Linz with your Adventure Host (1 hour)
Optional Excursions – Sound of Music Salzburg (10 hours), Cesky Krumlov – A Sleeping Beauty Awakes (9.5 hours), Mauthausen (Concentration Camp) Memorial (2.5 hours)
The two long optional excursions today are because of the time to drive to these locations from where we docked. We had decided to do the Sound of Music tour, so we had to ride on the bus almost 2 hours to Salzburg.
Of course, during the ride he shared some facts –
- Salzburg is the 3rd largest city in Austria. They have more jobs than residents.
- Austria has 9 million residents – 2 million in Vienna, 300,000 in Graz, 138,000 in Salzburg.
- There are 9 states, and they share borders with 8 countries (can you name them all?).
- Austria is not a member of NATO, but they have been in the EU since 1995.
- Austria and Germany were allies, so they were not bombed by Germany, but they were bombed by the Allies.
- They have the largest mountain region in the Alps (but not the tallest peak). There are 220 ski resorts in Austria. Lift tickets are 70-75Euros per day (at Colorado resorts, they are close to $300 per day!).
- The Winter Olympics were held in Innsbruck Austria twice – in 1964 and 1976.
- Until 200 years ago, Salzburg was a separate country, ruled by the Roman Catholic church (from 800 to 1800) - it was like a mini-Vatican.
- This was the childhood home of Adolf Hitler. He came back here in 1938 and gave his famous speech.
- The cathedral holds 20,000 people.
- They get about 5 million visitors each year.
- The first concentration camp in Austria is nearby – Mauthausen, where over 100,000 were killed. It was also the last camp in Austria liberated.
- Mozart’s symphony No. 36 is called the Linz Symphony
- The guide noted that today the sky is not blue, it is hazy. He said that is from the sand blowing from Northern Africa.
I had been to Salzburg before during our 3-week trip to Europe in January 2007. It was very, very cold – I remember going from shop to shop to get out of the cold. But I remember it as a charming Old Town, with lots of cute shops.
The bus dropped us off across the river, and our guide walked us through Mirabel Gardens, and the steps where they sang Do-Re-Mi in the movie. This palace was built by a bishop for his mistress and their 15 children.
Because this was a Sound of Music tour, we saw a lot of movie filming sites, and we got a lot of details about the real von Trapp family.
Maria was originally a novice. Georg had 7 kids, and the oldest daughter needed a teacher. They married, but it wasn't a great "romance" like in the movie - he was 25 years older. than her. They had 3 more children together. The end of the movie was so Hollywood – they didn't climb over the mountains to escape, they took a train to Italy, traveled through Europe, arrived in Ellis Island, then ended up in Stowe VT (where they have a lodge). He died in 1945, she in 1985.
When the real Maria saw the ending, she told the director he needed to take geography lessons – climbing over those mountains would have landed then right near Hitler’s Eagles Nest. The director replied that Hollywood makes its own geography.
There was a fortress up on the hillside – it was used by the bishops when needed for defense and took 600 years to build.
We walked on a bridge to the Old Town. The bridge is covered with ‘love locks’ – on many pedestrian bridges in Europe (and I've seen one in San Francisco too), they are covered with little locks. People buy the little locks (I saw them for sale in stores nearby) , they scratch the initials of each of the couple’s names, put the lock on the bridge, and throw the key into the water. It is supposed to signify a forever love. The locks do damage – sometimes weighing down the bridge. On this bridge, the locks are attached to a piece of chain “fence” section, and they are damaging the chain. Last week they cut off 2500 locks and have to keep doing that.
Some more facts –
- In April 1938, the only book burning in Austria took place here – they burned Jewish books.
- Hitler was baptized in this church.
- Thomas Moore also baptized here - he wrote Silent Night
- Salzburg is more expensive to live in than Vienna – it’s the most expensive in Austria. A tiny house costs 800-850k euro.
- 50% own, 50% rent homes (Vienna 45/55).
- All men must serve for 6 months in the miliary or for 9 months in social services.
- Retirement age is 65 for women, 60 for men. Soon it will be the same.
- They get 5 weeks of vacation per year. The average salary is 2500 Euros per month after taxes. People earning 60,000 to 90,000 Euros per year pay 48% taxes, but that includes their health care and university costs. There is no property tax.
- Salzburg was also divided in half after World War 2 (like Berlin)
Our guide then took us up to the Abbey from the movie. This Abbey dates back to 714AD, and is the actual abbey that Maria was in as a novice (she hadn’t yet become a nun). It is also the abbey used in the movie. The “bell” the kids rang when they went to see Maria at the abbey doesn’t exist, it was just for the movie. Beautiful views of the Alps (and Italy) in the distance!
At that point in the tour, we were free to wander on our own, with instructions where to meet at 2:15pm. Amy and I walked down from the abbey on a different route than we had come up and wandered through the streets. We looked for the “farmer’s market” our tour guide had mentioned, and Google maps took us to a square with a few vendors selling food. I could smell the strawberries before I saw them, and of course I bought a pint. They were absolutely delicious
Amy bought a poppy seed pretzel, and I bought an apple one, and we sat on the church steps and ate our snack.
We went to the main shopping streets and wow, have they changed since 2007! The charming little local shops I remember are gone, and in their place are expensive chain stores – Swarovski, Pandora, Versace, Prada, etc.
There is also a Red Bull merchandise store – our guide had told us that the owner of Red Bull lives in Salzburg. He also purchased the Salzburg soccer team (and the New York Red Bulls).
One of the shops we had the most fun in was a cheese shop – they had lots of delicious samples. One of the most unique was a woman was using a cheese curler and made what looked like thin cheese flowers. Then she put wine pearls (red or sweet white) into the middle, and you ate it in one bite. Delicious!
I also had to try one of the Mozartkugel – a chocolate ball with a ball of pistachio marzipan in the middle (made from pistachios, hazelnuts and almonds). It doesn’t actually have anything to do with Mozart, other than they originally came from Salzburg and so did he, so they named it after him. Our guide had pointed out the original store, so I bought one to try. It was as good as it sounds, and I got a little box of them to bring back to Vic.
We met up with our guide at 2:15pm, and together we all walked back across the bridge to the bus. We then drove about 25 minutes to Mondsee. This little town, and its lake, were also used in the Sound of Music movie.
We first saw the tree lined street that the car drove through, and it’s also where the kids were hanging off the trees.
Then we walked to the Basilika St. Michael, which is where Maria and Georg were married in the movie. Beautiful church, which is why the director chose this one for the movie instead of the one in Salzburg in which they were really married.
We had free time again, so Amy and I walked down to the lake. With the mountains in the background, it reminded me of Lake George (NY), which I miss very much. The lake is actually owned by one woman – it was gifted to her family from an emperor. She only owns the water though, not the land around it. If you boat or fish in the lake, or swim at the little beach, you need to pay a fee (which goes to her).
Back on the bus for about an hour and a half, to our boat in Linz. On the way back, they showed a documentary with the actress who played Liesl in the movie, showing a lot of the places that we had just seen. The tour guide also mentioned a documentary with Julie Andrews and Diane Sawyer that I would like to watch. I kind of wanted to explore the old town of Linz when we got back, but it had been a long day, so we just went back on the boat.
We had to be at the port talk at 6:40pm tonight, so Amila could explain some of the disembarkation process. Even though we have one more night, they do it two nights before the end of the cruise to answer a lot of the questions before they are asked. Also, a lot of people have early morning flights on Thursday morning, so tomorrow evening will be a shorter one.
Unlike large cruise ships, bags only have to be out in the hall in the morning to be taken onto land. If you purchase a transfer from the cruise line, they give you tags and they will put your bag onto your bus, and it needs to be in the hall 30 minutes before your bus departure. If you don’t purchase the transfer, it has to be in the hall no later than 8:30am and you have to be out of your room by 9am. But you are free to stay on the ship until 3pm and can still have breakfast and lunch if you are waiting for a later train or flight.
For the gratuities, many had already prepaid ($128 per person for the week on this cruise). If you had not prepaid, or wanted to tip additional, they would be putting out a box on the front desk that you could put your tips in (colored envelopes for the different staff). All the tips are pooled together and divided out equally, except for the cruise director. She is tipped separately because her role is different – she will continue on to Prague with those who purchased the land extension, and then she will go to a different ship. Every week there is a different cruise director.
After Amila spoke, the Captain came into the lounge and everyone was given a glass of champagne and we all had a toast.
Tonight’s dinner was the “Farewell Gala Dinner” with a really nice dinner menu. Just before dessert, ALL the staff did a little parade around the dining room. There are 43 on board, and it was nice to see all the people who have been working in the kitchen (so many!), engine room and maintenance, and cleaning staff.
I finally remembered to bring the bottle of strawberry wine that I bought in Bratislava. I had it in the refrigerator in our room, and I shared it at our table at dinner. Yes, on European river cruises, you can bring alcohol onboard and drink it. Most will not even charge a corkage fee. We al enjoyed it – it was quite sweet, and tasted a bit like a wine cooler.
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