Sweet Salzburg

You all have been so patient with me as I start my  new volunteer job over here all while still getting settled into the new house.  So, without further ado, the Salzburg round up!

First stop was the Augustiner Brauhaus  (we really just went to the hotel to drop off our bags, then took a taxi to the monastery)

a wall of beer steins greets you upon entry

the front of the brewery

Just like the Kreutzberg monastery, this is a larger Austrian version that also brews beers.  Wonderful!

happiness is a cold beer with good friends!

Then we went off to explore the idyllic town streets

small and quaint, featuring such unique boutiques as Zara and H&M.

and we happened upon the "theater in the square" series where you could sit below the Festung Hohensalzburg and watch a theatre production while drinking a glass of wine.  

On our way back to the hotel, we realized as we were crossing the Salzach river, just how amazing the view was from where we were standing.  Since we're typical American tourists, we snapped a picture.

Next day we embarked for our awesome Sound of Music tour, which I highlighted here.  Cheesy? yes; absurdly fun? but of course!  Fun fact:  60-year old women who have waited their whole lives to take THIS tour will get very irritated with you if you do not sing along with Julie Andrews and co. on the bus tour.  I only this week finally got "Do Rae Me" from playing on constant repeat on my head. 

The mansion behind us may look familiar to you...

After the excursion de Von Trapp, we went and visited the Museum der Moderne, on the top of a mountain overlooking Salzburg.  There was a wonderful resturant attached to the museum where one of my cravings was finally satiated:  Kombucha!!  I failed to see it offered in Germany, but lo-and-behold, there it was sitting plain as day on a menu in a random restaurant in Austria.  I later found out that they mix it with everything and drink it from wine glasses - how very European.  Mission "Find the Darn Kombucha in Germany" has officially begun.   

view from Museum der Modern

The evening in Salzburg was wrapped up with a piano concert highlighting homeboy Mozart's sonatas.  The pianist was quite devoted to her craft, even coming back for 3 "mini-encore" performances.  I guess if you're going to perform Mozart, you best do it right.

encore, encore!

We wrapped up the evening sitting on the roof of a hotel next to the river, with a spectacular view of the city.    

I ordered a French 75, which I was incredibly excited -almost as much as the Kombucha earlier- to see on the menu (there was a sazerac listed on it as well).  The excitement was quickly dashed when after ordering it, I received a weird pink drink in a martini glass that tasted oddly similar to a cosmo.  I REALLY do regret not taking a picture because the Austrian version of a French 75 is definitely NOT the same as the kind served in it's home of NOLA.  I almost shudder to think of what may have been served if I had ordered a sazerac.  My libation situation went from thrilled due to the kombucha to deeply disappointed with the cosmo masquerading as a sacred NOLA cocktail.


In summary: Salzburg is gorgeous and very friendly, but also small.  It's romantic, but I feel like if you had more than two days in the city you'd find yourself a bit bored.  I'm still planning on bringing Mr. Bama to Salzburg once he gets back to Germany, but I don't think I'd visit it again without him -- now that's not the case for Vienna, which I hear is much different than Salzburg.

So, we bid adieu to the city of Salt (salz = salt) and began our trek to Budapest.