The Vienna Trip Part 5-Salzburg Part 3 (The City)

 So, now I finally get to show off the actual City of Salzburg. It was insanely touristy, which really ruined a lot of it for me. The feeling the town gave off felt false, like an air put on for outsiders. Besides that, it was very pretty. This first picture was taken on my way back to the bus after the Hellbrunn fountains.

The city was divided into two halves, the first half being the "Old City" and the second half being more modern. This shows me crossing the bridge to get to the Old City, where you can see a castle on the hill and the cramped buildings. A lot of older cities did this because there was limited building space due to protecting city walls. Also notice the car advertisement on the side of the building. That is the new Volkswagen Beetle. It looks like a regular car. I do not like this.
 

 Inside the Old City is Mozart's "Geburtshaus," or birth house. This is one of Salzburg's claim to fames, and all the tourist stores nearby were full of Mozart stuff. While looking for a present for my mom, I discovered some chocolates that were sold in only Austria called "Mozartkugeln." After returning home and skyping with my parents, I showed Mom what I bought her. Apparently the business she works with has some ties in Austria, and every year they are given a box of these chocolates that she absolutely hates. Of all the things I bought her, I bought the one thing she hates the most. She will still be receiving this present because of the irony.

 Many old cities also have more than one castle. Obviously this is pretty impressive, but I'm under the impression that this may now be part of a university. Brett and I were by ourselves and there wasn't any tour guides to explain what this was.

Overall, Salzburg was pretty, but also very touristy and expensive. I walked around with Brett and our other roommate, an Icelandic guy whose name we couldn't pronounce and explored the small streets and alleys. We even found a restaurant named after me! :D

The Vienna Trip Part 4-Salzburg Part 2 (Hellbrunn Fountains)

After the Stiegl Brewery, Brett and I made our way to the Hellbrunn fountains. It was created as part of a palace for the 1612 Prince Archbishop, who designed his fountains for not only visual appeal, but for his own stupid enjoyment. Hidden throughout the beautiful pools and fountains are trick jets that soak unaware nobles or tourists. This is the very first sign I saw when entering Hellbrunn, and it made me very, very nervous.

 

The palace itself was wonderful and enchanting, but after the sign I knew better. This place was designed for some little 17th century punk who wanted to squirt water up ladies' dresses. I watched where I stood and, most importantly, where not to stand because the ground was wet.

The first trick fountain we found was this big stone table. You can see that every seat (except for the Prince's seat) squirts water, along with jets from behind. There is also water in the middle of the table where wine bottles were placed to keep cool. We were told that the mechanisms that run the fountains are almost unchanged from original construction.

It was pretty funny, but seeing how I had a camera, an ipod, and a blackberry I really didn't want to risk it.

These mentally incapacitated stag shoots water jets from the tips of each of its horns. At this point I was really questioning the Prince's sanity.

This joyful little...thing is essentially a giant music box. All the music and figurines (over 200 moving parts!) were water powered! It was cool, but something was wrong...the ground was wet. I stealthily positioned myself at the end of the group. Smart move, as I witnessed the jets come from behind. Sneaky, but not enough to trick me, haha! VICTORY.

 

Finally, there was a small cave/building that had religious statues and a special fountain that was suppose to show the power of the church. As I explored (and dodged jets) I found this statue. Ok, some guy is going to cut the Devil, and hes....wait...Is the Devil poking his nipple? Yes, yes he is. He seriously was. Why, I have no clue. I'm pretty sure that isn't in the Bible..but its in my blog! :D

Oh, and once you exited the Hellbrunn Fountains, you could see the Sound of Music Gazebo. Awww yeah :D

The Vienna Trip Part 3-Salzburg Part 1 (Stiegl Brewery)

The next destination on my way to Vienna was Salzburg, famous for being where "The Sound of Music" was filmed! Unfortunately this section starts out disturbingly.

On the train ride to Salzburg from Regensburg, the train stops somewhere after Munich and will not start. An announcement comes over the speakers in German, and the lady next to me was nice enough to translate. She said that the train could not continue because the rails were locked. Ten minutes later another announcement explained the rails were locked because there was a police barricade on the tracks. Another ten minutes passes, and another announcement finally explains what is going on. A man had committed suicide by jumping into the front of the train in front of us. Not my train, the one before. I almost took that train, decided to get food instead.

So, it took the police half an hour to clean up the tracks and then we were on our way. Wonderful omen for the start of a trip...

Anyways, once I arrived in Salzburg I made my typical beeline to the hostel first, where I met my friend Brett. We were in a 6 person room, which we shared with an Icelandic guy who plays Team Fortress 2 and an awkward American/Romanian couple that never left the room. Awesome. Once Brett and I settled down, the two of us and the Icelander went to the old city to find food.

End day one. Day two begins with a tour...

of the Stiegl Brewery!

This brewery, located on the outside of town, makes delicious Austrian brews that are available in Jungle Jim's in Ohio! Notice the scenic mountain backdrop and the pretty yellow color. The whole thing had a very home-based feel to it. This brewery was around during the time of Mozart, so these people know how to make a good Wiess.

The entrance led to a nice courtyard in the center of the brewery, which was decorated in Oktoberfest and pumpkin themes. The whole place seems very...non-industrious.

The courtyard was filled with people eating the local ham stew (which I had and loved) and drinking various beers (biers), such as Goldenbraus and Radlers. Right next to this courtyard was a gift shop, where we bought the tickets for the tour. It was only 9 euros, a wonderful price! This 9 euros included more than just a self-tour...

The museum was based in the old brewery rooms and were filled with various nicknacks and trinkets of the past. There were many different rooms, but my camera kept dying and messing up the pictures it took, so this is the only room picture not distorted. You can see a pyramid of bottles from the past 100 years or so of production.

This crazy lady was one picture on a wall entitled "How Do You Open Your Stiegl?" I think this lady's answer was "without the help of my meds."

At the end of our tour we were given three beers and a free glass. Three beers cost 9 euros by themselves, so by taking the tour they just gave me a free glass...ok! The beers here (from left to right) are a Weiss (very smooth and sweet), a Radler (half GoldenBrau and half raspberry juice), and a typical GoldenBrau (not my favorite and not that bad). Definitely worth 9 euros...Brett and I left happy with our glasses to set out for the next tour.

Oh, and my blog has a new fun feature! Notice the fish at the bottom of the screen? Click to feed them :3