Salzburg

We toured most of the Old Town sites today, beginning with the Domquartier. The Residence part of the complex contains the state rooms of the prince-archbishops who governed Salzburg for centuries. The rooms, which contain several museums, house 1300 years of artifacts and artworks. Old Town, as it is currently, was built in Baroque style by architects who studied in Rome. The town was heavily bombed in WWII but most of the old town remained intact except for the dome of St. Peter's which was later rebuilt.

There is a self-guided tour of the complex. The audio guide is boring but the rooms are magnificent. There's a terrace that overlooks Old Town and a view of Salzburg Cathedral. 

The Salzburg Cathedral is beautiful but St. Peter's is unbelievable.  Outside is that cemetery where the Trapp family hid in the movie before escaping but in real life, they got on a train and went to Switzerland. The cemetery is one of the oldest in Europe. 

After the tour of the Domquartier, we found a chocolate shop we had been looking for. It turned out to be a cafe as well so we had coffee and apple tart mit schlag (one of the few German phrases I remember). 

Then we went up the funicular which looks scary to see the views from the fortress. I think it's the highest funicular I've ever been on but it was also the smoothest. The fortress was built to scare invaders and worked well. It was never used so few of the rooms are open. What is open is a restaurant overlooking the valley. We had soup for lunch and listened to an American lecture his companions about how sad it is schools don't teach American history anymore. You can't get an angle to capture the bottom of the funicular but below is most of it.

View from the fortress:

All that walking was exhausting so rest time was extended. Then we walked somewhat aimlessly,  first to the river, then through the streets, some of which had high end stores.

Many restaurants are also closed on Mondays. We walked to a recommended one that was supposed to be open but wasn't so we went to another one that has high recommendations, Pauli Straube. It's  a walk up a cobblestone hill  that looked residential, probably students. Then you climb the two flights of stairs to the pub. We didn't have a reservation but they put us at a table that we would share if someone else came. The table was big so when a couple came in, they sat at the opposite corner. They were Americans, from Seattle. We met another couple in the restaurant who were from Columbus. 

That was our first traditional Austrian meal. Lola had a skillet dish with pork, potatoes, and dumplings. I had beef, chicken, and bacon served with a huge salad. Both dishes had a fried egg on top. It's not like me to eat so much meat at one time but their meat is great. Best bacon ever.