One of the many beautiful signs on the Getreldgasse.

Up at dawn and off to the train station for our earliest morning of the entire trip (and I’m glad it’s just one). We had some pretty scenery today as we rolled towards Hitler’s birthplace of Linz, Austria for our first railroad quick-change. It all went off without a hitch and we traveled the last hour into Salzburg smoothly. We knew the main train station in Salzburg was under construction and it is a major maze of wooden ramps and barrier walls – what we can see of the new station looks extremely modern and beautiful.

Our historic Hotel/Villa is off the beaten path in a lovely, leafy neighborhood. Once there my husband and I set off for some exploring. We walked down Linzer Gasse, the pedestrian-only (almost) street close to the Kapuzinerberg (mountain) that leads all the way over the Salzach River and into Old Town. We did a quick stroll through parts of Old Town and spent some time looking at, and photographing, all the amazing wrought iron signs on Getreldegasse. What a fun and charming street.

Back at the Villas, we picked up Mom and went into Old Town for dinner – settling to dine outdoors on this beautiful, warm, dry evening, at Zum Eulenspiegel, literally in front of Mozart’s birthplace and childhood home. Our food was excellent and Fred loved his Wiener Schnitzel and German potato salad.

I was out-voted for the evening’s entertainment, and so we attended the ‘Sound of Salzburg Show’ at the very oddly decorated Sternbräu Inn. I will say the guidebooks were right when they reported a “hardworking quartet and piano player” and there was some real talent there; but the production value left a lot to be desired and, personally, I’m not all that into the ‘audience participation’ thing. It was a small but very international audience (from China, Scandinavia, Italy, Portugal and Malta, besides all the English-speaking countries I expected to see) that joined us to enjoy listening to songs from the Sound of Music, Austrian operettas and classic folk tunes as well as a little Mozart.

I still say: Do ~ Re ~ Me ~ Fa ~ So ~ U Must Be Kidding!