May 2001 › Aunt and Uncle Arrive › Day Two › Amsterdam Canal Trip › Day 3 › Delft and Day 4 › 2 Hours in Salzburg, Austria › Salzburg City Center › Kobenzl Hotel, Salzburg › Flight School › Troon, Scotland › Brugge, Belgium › More Images of Brugge, Belgium Other Months › Index page

2 Hours in Salzburg, Austria Wednesday, May 09, 2001; posted by Paris Last week I visited our offices in Salzburg, Austria. I had a couple of hours in the morning to myself, so I got up early (!) and walked to and through the old city center. I did not have much time to really study the sites I saw, but I will say the town and the nearby mountains were beautiful. On this day, the temperature reached over 80 degrees - it was rather warm to be walking the city with a dark wool suit, even in the morning. The Dom cathedral, one of the first Italian-style cathedrals to be built north of the Alps. It houses the bones of St. Rupert (assistant to Father Christmas) and was built between 1614 and 1628. It was heavily damaged during WWII and did not come back into service until 1959. It holds 10,000 people. A walk in the cathedral, looking at the alter and pipes from the pipe organ. Refreshingly cool inside. The largest combination of church bells are suspended above (weighing over 32 tons). Here is a large square and above it, you can see the old Festung (fortress) Hohensalzburg looming over the city center. It was built in the 11th century as a refuge when popes and emperors were struggling for power. The famous medieval Getreidegasse commercial street lined with shops and very ornate wrought-iron store signs. I bought some very nice hand-painted glass Christmas ornaments in this area. This is the house where Mozart was born in 1756. There are tours of the places where he lived. In addition, there are many things Mozart-named or related, although Mozart left Salzburg on bad terms. (Herbert von Karajan, conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic was also from here.)