Day 10: Thursday 19th September 2013: Salzburg & Cruising the Danube

Day 10: Thursday, 19^th September 2013: Salzburg & Cruising the Danube

Today we woke to more rain and another cold day! The rain is not a good sign for the conditions of the river upstream! But after an early breakfast and an early start – 8.00am on the coaches, we set out for Salzburg. The rain was very persistent and it was cold at the beginning of the day. Our first stop was at Mondsee (one of the small towns in the Austrian Lake District) – unfortunately it was pouring with rain, so it was not that enjoyable. The coaches were parked about a 10 minute walk from the city centre and we all trudged along with our sea of umbrellas to the beautiful Collegiate church that was used for the wedding scene in “The Sound of Music”. This is another very ornate church that we have visited!

The church featured in the wedding in The Sound of Music - at Moondsee (outside of Salzburg)

the interior of the church at Moondsee

more of the interior of the church at Moondsee

on the road to Salzburg

the clouds were very low on the mountains

more of the interior of the church

Our stay in Mondsee was short – we trudged back to the coach in the rain and headed to Salzburg. Thankfully, the rain had stopped by the time we arrived there!

We enjoyed a 1.5hour guided walking tour of Salzburg with some of the film locations from “The Sound of Music” being pointed out. For example, we saw the steps where Maria and the children sang “do, ray, me” the fountain that Maria flicked water at the lions from as she left the convent, the long hedge that the children hid & played in and a couple of others. We also saw the building that Mozart was born in and the building that his family lived it later. There were more churches and plenty of other older buildings, including a fort. Unfortunately, because our time in Salzburg was shortened a bit, we only had about 1.5 hours of free time so not enough to really go and see too much, so we just wandered around some of the narrow streets, window shopping. We did stop off and have coffee and cake in one of the cafes that Mozart used to frequent! It was called Café Tomaselli. Founded in 1705, this café has a history of being a favourite hangout for celebrities – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and his wife Constance were once regulars. Nowadays, especially during the Salzburg Festival, notable figures including local dignitaries and stars of music, stage, and opera can be spotted enjoying the old-world charm of this coffeehouse. Catching famous people relaxing between appearances isn’t the only reason the locals flock to this café. Café Tomaselli is also well known for serving a variety of coffees and homemade cakes and strudels sold by the café’s “Cake-Maid”, a rather unique title to this café. The “Cake-Maid” carried round a huge tray of cakes that she brought to the tables and you could choose what you wanted from the tray. You then paid her for the cake and another waiter came and took your order for coffee, etc. We had cake for lunch! 

the street near Mozart's birth place

 

cake from Mozart's favourite restaurant

more cake from Mozart's favourite restaurant in Salzburg

the steps that the children sang "doh, ray, me" on in the Sound of Music

the hedge that the children ran along and hid in from The Sound of Music

Mozart was born in one of the apartments in this building (on the 3rd floor)

We met up with our guides again at 3.30pm for the 10 minute walk back to the coach, then relaxed for the 2 hour drive back to the ship. We left Austria during this coach trip and entered Germany. We met the ship further up the river than originally planned because the river is still rising and the captain wanted to make as much ground as possible toward the first of the low bridges that could be a problem getting under.

Once back on the ship we got ready for dinner in the Erebies restaurant – a smaller, more intimate, restaurant that holds only 24 guests. Here there is a set menu where you have a taste of the appetiser and dessert and choose from two dishes for the main. It was a very enjoyable evening! Ali has tried so many new foods on this trip! Whilst there are some “standing order” items on the menus, she has chosen to try something from the main menu for each dinner! Most meals she has enjoyed at least part of the meal, if not all! I am very proud of her maturity. One of the things that has been a bit hard, is that dinner is not till at least 7.00pm each day, and by the time you get through 3 – 5 courses, it is late, so we just come back to our cabin and Ali goes to bed.

At dinner tonight, we noticed a lot of noise and vibration from the engines. We were told this was because the Captain was trying to get to the Regensburg bridge – the one that would potentially cause a problem – before the water level was too high. It was estimated we would get there at about 1.00am at the speed we were travelling. But the water was rising at about 5cm/hour. At 8.00pm the level at which we could get under the bridge was only another 10cm higher, so it wasn’t looking promising! We were told that if we were not going to be able to get under the bridge, we would stop at another village at 10.30pm rather than continue on and be stopped in the middle of nowhere! As I was writing this blog, we stopped, so I guess that means we are not going to make it under the bridge tonight! Let’s hope the water level goes down tomorrow!