Austria - June 13-xx

There's lots of pictures of Vienna on another page also.
Salzburg pictures are on this page.
Breweries are on another page also, as has become normal.

The main road across Austria runs along the northern edge of the Alps. Mountains to the right and hills to the left. The expressway is 130kph and the road goes by fast.

We took a longcut and ended up on a private toll road to the top of a mountain where a hotel and a gift shop awaited. This loop of windy excellent asphalt was 10€ for the 35km. Terry bought a miniature sewing kit and Bob bought some schnapps at the gift shop so the toll was worth it. Oh yes, there were views also and of course a switchback road.

Farther down the expressway, a side road leads to Stuibenfall above the town of Umhausen. It's the tallest waterfall in Europe at 150 meters in two sections. There's a small natural arch very near the top and if we ever re-film "The Final Solution", this is where Moriarty and Holmes will fight.

Views are everywhere. We pulled off at a turnout to eat some lunch and had this view (left). Mountains are neat. We should get some in Indiana.

It's the height of Strawberry season in Austria.
There's at least one farm stand in every little town.
They're fresh, sweet, juicy, and excellent.
About 2.80€ per kg. ($1.25 a pound).

Finding Hitler's Eagles Nest is not easy. Getting there is even tougher. First it isn't on any maps. Even the tourist maps on the information boards in Berchtesgaden, Germany don't have it listed although there are references to Kehlstein. Then, once you get told it's up the road to Obersalzberg, you have 5km of 24% grade to climb. Fun.

This road leads you to the car park (1€) and you take a bus (13.50€ per person) up another 10-minutes to the top of the hill in the background of this picture.

Once at the top, a 124 meter tunnel leads to an elevator to rise the last 407 feet into the only remaining building of the complex. Near the end of the war (April 25th, 1945) British and American bombers destroyed all the houses and support buildings except the conference center (Kehlsteinhaus) which is now leased as a restaurant.

The blue umbrellas are Hofbrau of Berchtesgaden,
no relation to the one in Munich.

Most people walk up the final path to the top of the mountain.
Others just eat and the food is not overpriced at all.

The views, of course, are magnificent and justifiably famous.
The blue lake in the right of the photo is the Konigssee (King's Lake).
There's a larger picture of the panorama here.

Outside seating is the order of the day, even when overcast as it was that day.
When cold or raining, the inside seating is used and tourists aren't allowed to
wander freely to avoid disturbing diners.

This building is grand. The fireplace, the thick walls, the stone work, the fine woods all reek of class.

The complex was built as a "gift" for Hitler's 50th birthday from the NSDAP (Nazi party). Martin Boorman was the chief mover and shaker of the project which took only 13 months by using lots and lots of laborers and lots and lots of dynamite to build the road.

The bunkers and Kehlsteinhaus were used by the American military as a recreational area until 1996. Since then the Bavarian government has built the lower parking lot, a documentation center / museum, instituted the bus service, and now leases the building as a restaurant. The busses are specially made with retarders and big brakes and a very sharp turning circle.

Berchtesgaden is about 30km south of Salzburg and is a major tourist center with a salt mine, a theme park, spas, hiking, skiing, and the Konigssee.

Here's some pictures from Salzburg - our favorite city so far (Barcelona is Bob's second favorite and Annecy is Terry's).

A crypt in another graveyard. Anyone up on their Latin?
ANNO DOMINI CCCCLXXVII ODOACER
REX RHVTENORVM GEPPIDI GOTHI
VNGARI ET HERVLI CONTRA ECCLE
SIAM DEI SEVIENTES BEATVM MAXIMV
CVM SOCNS SVIS QVINQVA GINTA
IN HOC SPELEO LATITANT IBVS OB
CONFESSIONEM FIDEI TRVCIDATOS
PRECIPITARVNT NORICORVM
QVOQVE PROVIN CIAM FERRO
ET IGNE DEMOLITI SVNT
We think someone pious was buried here in 477 but the tomb is now empty.

Street musicians, Strasburg style.
A squeeze box, 2 balaclavas, and a bass balaclava.
Playing Mozart of course.
The round-back bass produced a lot of sound.

The Residenz in Salzburg was the state apartments for a series of "Prince Archbishop"s including some of the Franz Josephs. Some of the rooms are open to the public and they are glorious.

The ballisters on the staircase in the main hall were tuned to be played like a xylophone. They all now make different sounds but hardly in tune any more.

Ceilings throughout were painted in fresco with ornate plaster moldings of cherubs.
The paintings have been restored to full brightness.

Each room has one of these porcelain-like trophies. They are the heating registers.
Hot coals would be shoveled in by servants from corridors behind the walls.

Mirabel Palace was built by Archbishop Wolf Dietrich von Rastenau in 1606 for his mistress Salome Alt. Lucky girl. It was expanded by Dietrich's successor and again in the 1700s. The garden out back covers 4 city blocks and has been restored and lovingly tended.

The building now is used as the Mayor's office and, except for a hallway, is all office rooms. Terry found an open door leading to a staircase and we explored up 4 flights of grandeur.

Hellbrunn schloss in Salzburg was the summer palace of Archbishop Markus Sittikus (he's that successor who expanded Mirabel). He never lived there or conducted business, just visited from Vienna for parties. There's hundreds of acres of mostly-grass gardens and a series of fountains that were engineered to spray water on the viewer. The guy had a sense of humor.

Bright yellow seems to be the official house color of Austria.
Palaces as well as ordinary houses.

This is a recent addition to the Hellbrunn grounds. It's the gazebo used in the
film The Sound of Music. It's where Leisel (?) danced around singing
I'm Am Sixteen, Going On Seventeen. Now go try to get that tune out of your head.

Did we mention, after Mozart, The Sound of Music is Salzburg's big tourist industry? There's nightly Broadway-style performances, walking tours, bus tours of filming locations, and even a dinner theater. Did you know the Von Trapps escaped from the Germans by hiking down to the train station at the edge of their estate and booking passage to Italy. So much for dancing over the mountains to Switzerland.

Just another peaceful lake with hills right to the edge. This is in Hallert and
this picture was taken from a window in an 8-car parking lot in the middle
of a tunnel. Hallert itself doesn't allow any cars in the city limits and people
walk miles to get to the tourist town.

Vienna's Technisches Museum is a miniature Science and Industry museum. Lots of big engines, dynamos, planes, trains, etc.

This is an old wooden water-powered quadrupel bellows machine with iron gearing. It provided air for a Bessemer-process iron plant. Interesting that the double-acting bellows boxes rotate on a pivot rather than have a link in the connecting rod. Seems like doing it the hard way.

A exhibit this year goes into great detail about the recovery aid Austria received after WWII. CARE, Red Cross, aid from Switzerland and Sweden, the European Recovery Program (Marshall Plan) all get attention, especially the American aid. This included the Fulbright scholarships which sent professors to Europe and students to the United States.

The Marshall Plan had propaganda built-in with books, leaflets, posters, movies, etc. Since it was to last only 4 years (1948-1953), it needed a kick-start to get the population on board.

We saw quite a few references around the country to the recovery. Many of the companies set up in the late 40s are still in operation although many were nationalized in 1953 while Austria was still a dependancy (It became a nation on it's own again only in 1955). See www.staatsvertrag.at for more information.

Vienna's Applied Arts museum (MAK) is a design museum that was interesting but we couldn't take pictures, such as the laughing Buddha bobblehead from 1762. Here's a couple of self-explanatory items in the gift shop.

It must be noted that we were rained on each and every day while in Austria, but only for about 5 minutes.

Europe foods. Compared to German-speaking food, we found French-speaking food bland and predictable. More variety and more taste in the food with butter and starches rather than salads and french fries. ♫These are a few of our favorite things♫.