Not Quite July Temperature

July 1, 2011 – chilly with evening rain

Today is our last full day in Salzburg. Kyle and I slept in and started getting ready about eleven, the time Mom and Dad headed out to the fortress. We decided to meet by the large fountain in the horse carriage square at five-thirty. Kyle and I were originally looking at renting segways but we would have had to ask someone and then track them down and Mom and Dad said that they probably wouldn’t just rent them if you didn’t do the tour, so we bailed on the idea.

Instead, we hit up Four Seasons, the skateboard shop just down the road from the hotel so Kyle could look at flat bills, which they did have lots of cool ones but for 40-50 euros Kyle wasn’t going to buy one. We left with a new mission: find a pizzeria. We looked as we walked towards Old Town and found a cute little one in a pass-through alleyway. Kyle and I both order Cola’s and margarita pizza and while we waited we played the guessing game, where you pick an animal for the other person and they have to guess what they are with yes or no questions. We ended up tying as Kyle guessed Wolverine out of his butt! Our pizza was good but not amazing; the price was more for the atmosphere.

After lunch, we looked in a couple souvenir shops on our way to the market place, where they sell huge pretzels, jewelry, really anything touristy. I got two stickers, one for me and one for Anna, and a cow bell ornament. Instead of getting a hat, Kyle had been thinking a t-shirt but then had a change of mind and decided on a beer glass. With our prizes tucked away in my backpack we started our ascent to the fortress, which we had originally just been going to see the view. When we got to the top and the ticket cost was 7.40 and we had no other plans for the afternoon we decided to go up and check it out. Of course I had already seen the fortress but thought Kyle would enjoy this more than just walking around the city.

The sky was blue and the temperature was perfect as we went to the look out. We walked farther and did the tour with audio guide that I had done before, going onto the lookout point and the torture room were a couple of the highlights. As we finished up the tour I was thinking that was all the fortress really had to offer we came across another sign which pointed to the state rooms and museum. By now the temperature was dropping, the sky was graying, and the wind was getting strong. We passed by an opening to another balcony and debris was being flung at our bare legs and I even got something in my eye. We hurried onwards where we stopped in the puppet room and then found the steps to the museum and state rooms. The state rooms were the coolest and the best part was that I got to see where the royals went to the bathroom! It was this little room that overhangs the building so that when they use the facility their discards fall hundreds of feet. On our way out of the fortress it started to rain and we ran inside on last doorway so I could dig my umbrella from my backpack. This doorway was of a old renaissance church that had been rediscovered in 1994 – Kyle’s birth year!

We hurried down the hill back into Old Town and then bustled through so we could put on warmer clothes and get our rain jackets before meeting the parents at the fountain. On our way back I said to Kyle, “I bet Mom and Dad are at the Hotel since it’s raining.” Sure enough, when we got up to the rooms there they were! They had just gotten to the Hotel about ten minutes before us and had thought we might stop back since both our rain jackets were still in the rooms. This was about an hour before our scheduled meeting time so I browsed the internet till everyone was ready to go to dinner. I found out that the pizza place we went to for lunch is one of the best restaurants for the price in Salzburg! About 5:30 we left the Hotel in search of a restaurant close to the rock and roll festival that was taking place tonight and tomorrow night only. With the thought of chocolate covered pretzels on our minds Kyle and I raced off with Mom and Dad in tow towards the small shops we had been to earlier. Unfortunately, by the time we got there, everything was closed.

We all popped into a little Mozart chocolate shop, where Dad bought candies and Kyle got a magnum bar; the only distinguishing difference between a magnum bar and a dove bar is that the magnum has a Merrill “M” stamped on the lower left hand corner. Nothing there looked appetizing to me so we started walking back to the Hotel when Mom again mentioned the warm brownie sundae that was at a café that she went to for breakfast the morning before; this sounded delicious to me, so we hurried over and got there just in time to order. I, of course, got the brownie sundae and Kyle got the “fruit cup” meaning it was an ice cream sundae with fruit, since the magnum bar did little to tide his growing frame.