Day 44: Schloss Mirabell

After visiting the Fortress, the kids did a few rides, as promised. First up, the Round-Up. Chris opted to remain on sturdy ground. The kids convinced me to join them, so up and around we went. Mostly the same as the American version. Biggest difference is that kids were flipping themselves upside-down and no one was getting in trouble for it. And either there are no chains to "lock you in" or they just don't use them. I never understood them anyway, as centrifugal forces will keep you in your seat. The "belts" are just for show. Anyway, looser rules.

The Round-Up

Next, the kids wanted to do the swing ride, similar to the one they did at Oktoberfest (only this one goes counter clock-wise, weird). We got in the long line to buy tickets. But most of the people in line were adults buying for their kids only, so the line went faster than I would have thought. And, there is organised chaos at this ride. The ticket master only sells enough tokens for one ride, waits for that ride to start, then begins selling another "pre-counted" set of tokens for the next ride. For this ride, it's important, because there is no line to get onto the ride. Once you have a token, you wait around the ride, and when the swings slow down, you rush to claim one. It's a bit "everyone for himself" but it seems to work ok. We just have to prep our kids to be assertive if they want to sit together.

After the swings, Venice asked to go on the ferris wheel. This ferris wheel is SUPER tiny (8 family cabins?) and doesn't go very high. Different than the really big one we went on at Oktoberfest and definitely smaller than the London Eye, which we hope to ride when we visit there in the future. Chris was willing to leave solid ground for this one so that we could ride as a family.

Ferris Wheel (top)
Swings and the rush to get a seat (bottom)

Again, rides are pretty expensive. About €10 per ride (for the 3-4 of us), so that adds up quickly. So, we only do the few rides and are ready to head back to the hotel to rest.

In addition to resting, we try to research what to do next. The internet connection here stinks. It drops you periodically and disappears. And when you can get it, it's weak and mind-boggling slow. So, research is tedious and frustrating.

While I still don't want to take a bus for "The Sound of Music" tour, I do feel that if we came all the way here and I didn't see a single "Sound of Music" site, I'd regret it. Seeing the outside of the theatre wasn't enough. So, I searched for sites and came up with the Mirabell Gardens at Schloss Mirabell. This is where they filmed much of the "Do-Re-Mi" song. Perfect.

On the way, after a snack of street pretzels, we crossed the Salzach River using a Love Locks bridge. From afar, you couldn't see the locks, but it became clear as you got closer. Fun to see all the locks and imagine who put them there.

Schloss Mirabell was just a few blocks beyond the bridge. The gardens were very crowded. Not so much that you couldn't walk around in peace, but enough that if you wanted a photo without anyone else in it, you had to either be very creative (we achieved this in some of our photos) or patient for people to pass (we achieved this in some, too). As we entered the garden, a giant tour group entered with us and posed in front of the first fountain. They were a fun, boisterous crowd that seemed like they were going to be there a while. And not to mention, Chris had an open container that started to feel a bit conspicuous, so we sat on a bench to let the group "do their thing". As we enjoyed Chris' beer, I searched YouTube for the "Do-Re-Mi" video, as studying material. Watch the video, yourself, if you're so inclined, and see if you can spot the scenes we were able to capture.

With the large tour group dissipated and the beer can empty, we were ready to explore the gardens ourselves.

The roses were photographed by Venice.

he Fortress in the background (left), A beautiful Venice with a pretty flower (left)
Diana trying to emulate the statue (right)

Ok, so there are definitely some nice things about traveling on a weekend. Even though you're with all the crowds, there are things you see that you otherwise would miss. We walked back along the riverside and got to see another market, of sorts. All the craft makers had stalls of their wares, including scarves, clocks, clothes, purses, jewelry, and more. (This was all gone on Monday morning, so definitely a weekend-only event.)

Another view of the Fortress from the river (left). The craft tents along the river (right).

There seem to be a lot of fountains here. If it weren't so cold, the kids would play longer.
Despite the weather, Xander did get his shoe all wet and squeaky.

One of the things we learned, quickly, is that Mozart was born in Salzburg. Many of you classical music lovers might have already known this, but it was new to us. Well, you can't miss this fact here, as Mozart is EVERYWHERE. Mozart bags. Mozart chocolates. Mozart pencils. Mozart squishy balls. You name it, Mozart is on it. And he's on our free city-map. His place of birth, that is. We had decided to not aim for it, as it was a little off our path, or so we thought (dang map isn't to scale). As we were walking back to our hotel, I saw everyone looking up and taking photos. Turning to see what they saw, I saw what they saw. Mozarts Geburtshaus, Mozart's birth place. Photo snapped. Done!

A little hard to see, but Xander is standing under the "Salamander" sign (one of his nicknames) (left)
Mozart's Birth House. 

Back at the hotel, we asked the front desk to make a reservation for us at the K+K restaurant. When we arrived at the restaurant, we were informed that our reservation was "upstairs". This is not the only time this would happen. I'm not sure what happens on the bottom floor (that must be where the cooler kids sit?) but dinner reservations for us seem to be "upstairs". 

My dinner "won" tonight. It was beautifully arranged and tasted wonderful. Xander wasn't feeling to well, so he ordered only soup. No worries. Once he got a little food into his system, he was able to eat off the rest of our plates and no one went hungry and no food was wasted. He was even feeling better when dessert time came around. We all tried a different dessert with Chris trying the local Apple Strudel and me trying the local Sachertorte. The strudel was pretty good. The Sachertorte was a little dry (is that the way it's supposed to be or are there better ones out there?)

Diana's dinner (left), Xander's layered chocolate cake (middle),
Venice with a lamp on her head (right). I thought this lamp looked like one of those "lemon nets"

And so ends another day filled with great explorations and beautiful views.