Salzburg

I spent the last week on the first of my two breaks.  Over the course of slightly more than a week, I visited Salzburg (Austria), the area around Neuschwanstein Castle (Germany), Schaffhausen (Switzerland), and some relatives in Switzerland.  It was a busy week in which I saw a lot of things, took 2363 pictures (although a lot of them were multiple attempts at the same thing with different settings), and spent approximately 32 hours in trains (there wasn't really a direct route between many of the locations, meaning I had to go through Munich 3 times and I spent more time going north and south than going west).

Salzburg

I spent 3 nights and 2 days in Salzburg.  There are 2 key things for music-lovers to know about Salzburg: It is where Mozart was born and grew up, and it is where The Sound of Music is set.  While I was there, I visited the house Mozart was born in and the house he grew up in, and saw his statue in Mozartplatz.

I also saw many of the places in The Sound of Music:

• The gazebo ("Sixteen Going On Seventeen")
  
• Nonnberg Priory (Maria's convent)
  
• Mirabellgarten (part of "Do Re Mi")
  
• The Residenz Fountain (appears in "I Have Confidence in Me")
  
• Various other locations that appear briefly in the movie

Some of the other places I visited:

• The cathedral (It was very richly-decorated, but for a long time Salzburg was ruled by its Archbishop)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• The Untersberg (a mountain near the city).  It was snowy and cloudy when I was up there, but I still got some decent pictures.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Schloss Hellbrunn (a pleasure palace built by one of the archbishops).  It is known for its trick fountains (basically, a way for the archbishop to make his guests wet after they are drunk at parties).
  
  
  
• Hohensalzburg Fortress
  
  
  
  

Well, I guess the other parts of my trip are going to have to wait, because I have things I need to do.  It probably did not help that I took 1131 pictures on Sunday alone.