John Edward Cooper’s Notes
Monday 9 July 2018
|
[2018] [Sunday 8 July 2018] MS William Shakespeare Salzburg  “Your daily programme” This is the sheet detailing today’s schedule, left in the cabin yesterday evening:  Folder with maps Maps of Linz and of Salzburg   After Janet vacated the bathroom at 6.55am, I got up, shaved, and showered. We were berthed in Linz, and there was another ship berthed next to us, blotting out the light in our cabin. We went for breakfast. I think it was yesterday that I discovered a bottle of HP Sauce on the shelf above the buffet, and today I had it again with my sausages and rashers of extremely brittle bacon. We returned to the cabin for our stuff, including the Vox boxes. Before going ashore we picked up our lunch boxes. Mine had the default contents; but Janet, having the previous day seen a list for people with allergies, etc., to specify their requirements, had listed what she wanted and got it. We went ashore to board the coach with a “1” in the window for our 8.30am departure. It was a double-decker, and we went upstairs. Rolling agricultural country gave way to more mountainous terrain as we proceeded. On a journey of some 136 miles, it was odd to have a comfort stop only a little over 20 miles from our destination, at a Landzeit motorway restaurant-cum-hotel overlooking a large lake with mountains behind.  We’d been told that the waiter service was slow there, but Janet and I avoided that problem by sitting on stools at the counter, where there was a rather brusque server. An americano coffee and a Coca Cola Zero cost a rather excessive €8.40. I missed the fact that there was an observation balcony in the establishment, affording a panoramic view over Mondsee, for after I left to take photos my view from a lower standpoint was somewhat spoiled by intervening trees. I did find a location for some of the shots, where I stood somewhat precariously on something raised — a stump or post. It was hot and sunny — and a bit hazy in the distance.  Monday 9 July 2018 — 10:06:48 Mondsee and environs  Monday 9 July 2018 — 10:07:12 Mondsee and environs  Monday 9 July 2018 — 10:07:42 Mondsee and environs  Monday 9 July 2018 — 10:09:02 Mondsee and environs  Monday 9 July 2018 — 10:12:36 Mondsee and environs  Monday 9 July 2018 — 10:13:50 Mondsee and environs  Monday 9 July 2018 — 10:19:16 Mondsee and environs We arrived in Salzburg ca.11am. Our guide, with her dark blue Riviera “lollipop” with a “1” on it, wore the traditional Austrian “Dirndl”. She told us that the placement of the bow-knot on the apron is an indicator of the woman’s marital status or availability: on her left side indicates that she is single; on the right means that she is married or engaged (or otherwise not interested or available). She led the way, first southwards a short way then to the right, past buildings of the Mozarteum University, into the Mirabell Garden, where parts of the “Do Re Mi” song in The Sound of Music were filmed.  Monday 9 July 2018 — 11:14:46 Salzburg: Mirabell Garden  Monday 9 July 2018 — 11:15:50 Salzburg: Mirabell Palace  Monday 9 July 2018 — 11:15:50 (detail 1) Salzburg: Mirabell Palace  Monday 9 July 2018 — 11:15:50 (detail 1) Salzburg: Mirabell Palace We left there at the south end, and reached Makartplatz, where the guide pointed out the house in which the Mozarts lived from 1773 to 1780. Across the road from it to the right was the house where physicist Christian Doppler was born.  Monday 9 July 2018 — 11:19:50 Salzburg: About to enter Makartplatz from the Mirabell Garden, with the Mozarts’ home left of centre, Doppler’s birthplace right of centre, Salzburg Cathedral centre, and the Hohensalzburg Fortress above centre  Monday 9 July 2018 — 11:21:00 Salzburg: Makartplatz 8 — Mozart’s former residence, now a Mozart-themed museum  Monday 9 July 2018 — 11:21:22 Salzburg: Makartplatz 8 — birthplace of Christian Doppler in 1803 We turned right, crossed the road (Schwarzstraße) and continued along the short street ahead of us (Josef-Friedrich-Hummel-Straße) to the river. To the right, the guide pointed out the large house, the side of which took up the whole of the street, where Herbert von Karajan was born.  Monday 9 July 2018 — 11:25:18 Salzburg: Josef-Friedrich-Hummel-Straße 1 — birthplace of Herbert von Karajan in 1908  Monday 9 July 2018 — 11:25:52 Salzburg: Josef-Friedrich-Hummel-Straße 1 — statue of Herbert von Karajan In front of us, spanning the River Salzach, was a footbridge, the Makartsteg (“Makart footbridge”). (Hans Makart was an influential 19th-century Austrian artist. The Salzach is a right tributary of the Inn, and its flow eventually joins the Danube.) There were thousands of padlocks attached to the fences either side of the walkway of the footbridge, placed there by lovers declaring the permanency of their love by throwing the key into the river. (Janet and I first encountered this phenomenon on 9 September 2012 on a footbridge across the Moscow River, along the middle of which were several artificial trees whose “foliage” was such padlocks.)  Monday 9 July 2018 — 11:27:04 Salzburg: Makart Footbridge over the Salzach, with its thousands of padlocks  Monday 9 July 2018 — 11:27:32 Salzburg: View across the Salzach We crossed the bridge.  Monday 9 July 2018 — 11:29:22 Salzburg: View upstream of the Salzach Continuing southwards, we crossed two streets that met in a fork there, and went through a passage in a building leading to the shopping street Getreidegasse.  Monday 9 July 2018 — 11:32:00 Salzburg: Way through to Getreidegasse It led, though, initially to a courtyard, with trees and the tables and chairs of a café, where also there was a wall plaque showing the “Salzburg Stierwascher”. The legend is, that during the Peasants’ Revolt of 1525, Prince-Archbishop Matthäus Lang, in the besieged Hohensalzburg Fortress, fooled them into giving up their siege by parading the sole remaining bull day after day, painted a different colour. This convinced the besiegers that the fortress’s food supplies were too ample to make continuing the siege worthwhile. Afterwards, the bull was brought to the river Salzach and washed. Since then, someone born in Salzburg is referred to as a “Stierwascher”.  Monday 9 July 2018 — 11:34:02 Salzburg: Courtyard of “der Stierwascher am Salzachgries”  Monday 9 July 2018 — 11:33:14 Salzburg: Wall plaque featuring “der Stierwascher am Salzachgries” From there, an arch led to an adjacent courtyard, and a passage led from this to Getreidegasse.  Monday 9 July 2018 — 11:34:38 Salzburg: Further courtyard on the way to Getreidegasse When I got to Getreidegasse, I couldn’t see the tour group. I could hear the guide on the radio, but not see the group. I guessed that they’d gone down another passage through the buildings to the next street; I tried one, but couldn’t see them; then I tried another, and did see them. This brought us out in Universitätsplatz. The guide pointed out the rear of the house where Mozart was born, on the north side of the square. (Whether or not she’d pointed out the front of it in Getreidegasse, I don’t remember; I’d become separated from the group at the time.)  Monday 9 July 2018 — 11:40:26 Salzburg: Rear of Mozart’s birthplace in Universitätsplatz Directly opposite, on the south side of the square, was the baroque Kollegienkirche, the church of the University of Salzburg — too huge to photograph in one view.  Monday 9 July 2018 — 11:41:06 Salzburg: Kollegienkirche (Collegiate Church) in Universitätsplatz  Monday 9 July 2018 — 11:41:14 Salzburg: Kollegienkirche (Collegiate Church) in Universitätsplatz Just there, at the east end of the square, we turned right, heading south along Wiener-Philharmoniker-Gasse.  Monday 9 July 2018 — 11:41:34 Salzburg: East end of Universitätsplatz  Monday 9 July 2018 — 11:44:16 Salzburg: South-east corner of Kollegienkirche At the end of that was a concert-hall, the House for Mozart, formerly known as the Kleines Festspielhaus.  Monday 9 July 2018 — 11:44:40 Salzburg: Haus für Mozart To its left, through a bridge under an extension of the building at its eastern corner, we came to the adjoining building, the Felsenreitschule (“rock riding school”, so called because the premises were formerly used by the Austrian cavalry, but later used as an open-air theatre for performances of the Salzburg Festival. It is on the site of a former quarry in the side of the mountain Mönchsberg, and has arcades cut into the rock-face. (We didn’t go in to see this, though.) It was the location of the final concert of the Von Trapp Family Singers in the movie The Sound of Music before their escape to Switzerland.  Monday 9 July 2018 — 11:46:34 Salzburg: Felsenreitschule (right)  Monday 9 July 2018 — 11:47:36 Salzburg: Felsenreitschule  Monday 9 July 2018 — 11:47:52 Salzburg: Felsenreitschule Directly opposite the Felsenreitschule was a grey four-storey building, with an archway with really massive voussoirs. Above it, in the wall, was a large sculpted stone shield with the crossed keys of St. Peter in the centre, so it was evidently part of the estate of the adjacent St. Peter’s Abbey.  Monday 9 July 2018 — 11:50:16 Salzburg: Entering the estate of St. Peter’s Abbey  Monday 9 July 2018 — 11:50:28 Salzburg: Crossed keys of St. Peter We went through the arch and entered a large courtyard, in the centre of which was a statue of St. Rupert of Salzburg atop a small fountain. We then went through an arch, very plain by comparison, at the opposite end of the courtyard.  Monday 9 July 2018 — 11:50:56 Salzburg: Courtyard with statue of St. Rupert of Salzburg  Monday 9 July 2018 — 11:51:42 Salzburg: Statue of St. Rupert of Salzburg  Monday 9 July 2018 — 11:51:52 Salzburg: Entrance to the courtyard of St. Peter’s Abbey We found ourselves in the main courtyard of St. Peter’s Abbey.  Monday 9 July 2018 — 11:52:24 Salzburg: In the courtyard of St. Peter’s Abbey, looking southeast towards the Abbey Church and beyond it Hohensalzburg Fortress  Monday 9 July 2018 — 11:52:46 Salzburg: In the courtyard of St. Peter’s Abbey, looking east at the eastern and northern sides  Monday 9 July 2018 — 11:52:56 Salzburg: In the courtyard of St. Peter’s Abbey, looking southeast towards Hohensalzburg Fortress  Monday 9 July 2018 — 11:53:48 Salzburg: In the courtyard of St. Peter’s Abbey, looking northeast at the northern side  Monday 9 July 2018 — 11:54:22 Salzburg: In the courtyard of St. Peter’s Abbey, fountain and statue of St. Peter  Monday 9 July 2018 — 11:54:22 (detail) Salzburg: In the courtyard of St. Peter’s Abbey, fountain and statue of St. Peter So we entered the Abbey courtyard through the arch on its west side; but we left through the more ornate arch, topped by a crossed-keys emblem and above that a sundial, on its north side. Ahead of us was the Franciscan Church.  Monday 9 July 2018 — 11:54:32 Salzburg: Leaving the courtyard of St. Peter’s Abbey through the northern archway  Monday 9 July 2018 — 11:55:12 Salzburg: Franciscan Church We turned right when we got to it, and proceeded through the triple archway of the building on the west side of Domplatz (“Cathedral Square”).  Monday 9 July 2018 — 11:56:14 Salzburg: Triple archway leading to Domplatz The view of the west façade of the baroque Cathedral was spoiled a bit by the presence of temporary tiered seating that was being erected in the square in front of it for some theatrical or musical event.  Monday 9 July 2018 — 11:57:14 Salzburg: West façade of the Cathedral We passed by the southern tower of the façade through an archway into Kapitelplatz, whose most noticeable features were a nearly 30-foot high golden sphere with the figure of a man standing on top of it, and an unrestricted view of the Hohensalzburg Fortress.  Monday 9 July 2018 — 11:58:16 Salzburg: Archway to Kapitelplatz  Monday 9 July 2018 — 11:59:18 Salzburg: Kapitelplatz Here the tour ended. The guide had offered tickets at a reduced guided tour-group price of €7.70 each for the Hohensalzburg Fortress, including travel up there by the funicular, and Janet and I had availed ourselves of the offer. Otherwise, the cost would have been €9.80 each.   We decided to have a drink somewhere. We were in Kapitelplatz, south of the Cathedral, and made our way through the square to the north of the Cathedral, Residenzplatz — so called because the former Prince-Archbishops of Salzburg resided there.  Monday 9 July 2018 — 12:05:44 Salzburg: Views around Residenzplatz — Cathedral on the south side  Monday 9 July 2018 — 12:06:02 Salzburg: Views around Residenzplatz — central Fountain, and Neue Residenz on the east side  Monday 9 July 2018 — 12:06:02 (detail) Salzburg: Views around Residenzplatz — Fountain  Monday 9 July 2018 — 12:06:30 Salzburg: Views around Residenzplatz — north side  Monday 9 July 2018 — 12:07:22 Salzburg: Views around Residenzplatz — Alte Residenz on the west side We found a café down a nearby street; I had a beer and Janet a diet cola. Janet recalls: “We… chatted to a couple from Belgium — about cars! Morris Minors, etc.” Neither of us knows much about cars; but I think Minis came into the conversation, with me recalling that originally there were the Morris Mini Minor, named as though it was a small version of the Morris Minor, the Austin Seven, the Wolseley Hornet and the Riley Elf. It amused me, when a carriage drawn by a pair of horses passed, that it was followed by a shit-shoveller riding on a vendor-style tricycle. Then we went back to Kapitelplatz to find our way to the funicular.  Monday 9 July 2018 — 12:46:34 Salzburg: Back in Kapitelplatz, heading for the FestungsBahn At the south end was Festungsgasse (“Fortress Alley”), along which we went; and near the first corner we found the station of the funicular — the Festungsbahn (styled with “camel-case”: “FestungsBahn”). I expected it to be the white building on the very corner — that’s the location from where the steep rail-track seemed to rise — but the actual entrance was in the unrendered stone building to its left.  Monday 9 July 2018 — 12:48:26 Salzburg: Entering Festungsgasse, heading for the FestungsBahn  Monday 9 July 2018 — 12:49:34 Salzburg: FestungsBahn lower station  Monday 9 July 2018 — 12:49:34 (detail) Salzburg: FestungsBahn lower station  Monday 9 July 2018 — 12:51:16 Salzburg: Boarding the FestungsBahn car  Monday 9 July 2018 — 12:53:36 Salzburg: View from the FestungsBahn car The funicular terminated within the bastion (Hasengraben Bastion) that was around the western end of the fortress proper.   Plans of the Hohensalzburg Fortress  Monday 9 July 2018 — 12:55:08 Hohensalzburg Fortress: Looking back to the Hasenturm (Hare Tower) We skirted around the tower on the north-west corner (Reckturm), and found a seat between it and the next tower (Bell Tower). The high wall there was north-facing, so provided shade from the sun. There we ate our packed lunches. To the left of us, in the north-west angle of the bastion, was the Fortress Restaurant. The waitress greeted us with “Grüß Gott!” — which I knew about, but hadn’t till now encountered; if I’d had my wits about me, I’d have returned the greeting. As our guide had, she also wore the “Dirndl” — with the bow on her left. I had a Franziskaner dunkel Weißbier and Janet had a Coke Zero (€8.20 for these, a bit less expensive than the Landzeit had been). A small basket containing mega-pretzels was also provided, but I didn’t have any.  Monday 9 July 2018 — 13:26:30 Hohensalzburg Fortress: Refreshments in the Fortress Restaurant Then we went up the flights of stone steps, just in front of the Bell Tower, from the Hasengraben Bastion, up into the Fortress proper.  Monday 9 July 2018 — 13:42:32 Hohensalzburg Fortress: Steps up, just behind the Bell Tower, from the Hasengraben Bastion to the Fortress proper  Monday 9 July 2018 — 13:44:00 Hohensalzburg Fortress: Steps up from the Hasengraben Bastion to the Fortress Here was the location of former Stables and Salt-storage. We availed ourselves of toilets here. We followed the way before us around till we got to the Main Courtyard.  Monday 9 July 2018 — 13:45:58 Hohensalzburg Fortress  Monday 9 July 2018 — 13:46:06 Hohensalzburg Fortress  Monday 9 July 2018 — 13:45:16 Hohensalzburg Fortress  Monday 9 July 2018 — 13:47:08 Hohensalzburg Fortress  Monday 9 July 2018 — 13:47:52 Hohensalzburg Fortress  Monday 9 July 2018 — 13:52:50 Hohensalzburg Fortress  Monday 9 July 2018 — 13:54:26 Hohensalzburg Fortress: Views around the Main Courtyard  Monday 9 July 2018 — 13:54:40 Hohensalzburg Fortress: Views around the Main Courtyard — cistern  Monday 9 July 2018 — 13:54:54 Hohensalzburg Fortress: Views around the Main Courtyard — St. George’s Chapel  Monday 9 July 2018 — 13:54:54 (detail)  Monday 9 July 2018 — 13:55:02 Hohensalzburg Fortress: Views around the Main Courtyard An arch in the building to the right of the St. George Chapel gave access to a bastion (Kuenburg Bastion?[i]) near the north-east corner of the Fortress proper, at the same level as the courtyard. This afforded excellent views, east through north to west, of the whole Salzach valley and especially over Salzburg Old City. We didn’t enter any of the buildings in the Fortress — museums, etc. — because time was short, and we wanted to visit the Cathedral before it was time to return to the rendezvous point for the coach back.
|
Subscribe to Posts [Atom]