Up early for breakfast at the Post Hotel to board the bus for our day in Salzburg. Easy run down the F8 to the Austrian border - guess what, no passport check! Straight through TO the ‘Sound of Music’ city of Salzburg.
We decided to keep our packed lunch for dinner & give everyone a cash allowance for lunch, so Mary & David dashed off to find a bank to obtain the Austrian shillings. The bank was no help, so off to an ATM to extract 52 lots of 110 shillings. Money issued, off to explore Salzburg.
In town there was a "Scharmeien" orchestra playing - trumpets with not one, but six bells. Harold even got to have a blow on one, but declared it was too much like a bagpipe, so decided against ordering any for the band. Kevin was caught in a music shop trying a didgeridoo, but said it was one for the touristS only.
For those who ventureD up to the fortress on the hill, extensive views Over the city were had. After exhausting ourselves looking in some of the hundreds of gift and souvenir shops we then all met at the Mirabell gardens for a quick stroll around the colourful displays before boarding the bus for our Sound of Music tour.
Unfortunately the rain spoiled the event, but we did manage to see the famous glass summer house that was used for the "I am Sixteen going on Seventeen" scene between Liesl and Rolf. To our surprise the scene was re-enacted by Harold and Jess doing their version, "I am 70 going on 80".
We finished the tour in the Charming town of Mondsee where we ate our picnic dinner and viewed the massive church that was used for the wedding scene in the movie. Harold and David decided to call into one of the local coffee shops for a quick Cappuccino and apple strudel. To David’s surprise a very attractive blond waitress, upon setting eyes on David, blushed and became extremely excited. She thought that David was her boyfriend coming to visit her without any notice. David explained that he could not be her boyfriend as he was from Australia. The Austrian lass then explained that her boyfriend was also Australian and from Melbourne and that her boyfriend looked very much like David.
After returning to Bad TÖlz a group of us met with Herbie at a local
pub and were educated in the fine art of sampling a very special local brew that was guaranteed not to leave you with a hangover. Herbie was right, because although we drank one keg dry and had to wait for a second to be tapped, we did not wake up with a hangover in the morning.
