Kylin's European Grand Adventure: Day 15

We are having a frustrating time with the blog/pictures because the Internet is soooo slow. What will probably happen is that we will load pictures once we get to the hotel in Budapest for this last week so when we do that, I will let you know so you can go back to look at the photos.

The day started early with the bus leaving for Salzburg at 8:30 which took two hours including a stop for 30 minutes at the Lake District which was really picturesque. Also, the scenery along the highway was gorgeous. Our local guide was extremely informative and, of course, I'm suffering from brain overlaid!

Salzburg is all about Mozart, Hayden and Catholic Churches. Oops, I forgot chocolates. The Main Street is interesting in that the signs above the shops have to pay an air tax for using the air. Also, they have certain standards to which they must conform. The McDonald's arches were actually unobtrusive.

The archbishop who was responsible for most of the architectural influence loved Rome so brought in an Italian architect to help design the city. They bought homes from the citizens and then tore them down to make the large plazas found in the city center. The next few rulers who followed kept the same style so they don't have the many different styles normally found in other cities. Also, the bones in the cementary were thrown into the river if there was no family to move them to another cementary.

John and I visited the 3 churches around the large plazas in our free time. They were all pretty ornate - even the parish church.

Linz is a modern city. Their steel industry was converted by Hitler into a munitions industry during WWII and so the city was heavily bombed. Hitler had lived here during some of his formative years. They received money from the Marshall Plan and have rebuilt their city into an industrial and cultural city of the modern age : modern art, computer art competitions, etc. The contemporary and computer arts buildings light up,at night with different colors. The Contemporary is only one color at a time while the computer arts does more of a light show.

John and I continue to meet lots of people and are enjoying that.

Entertainment in the lounge was 3 young people with opera voices singing music by composers of the area and, of course, from the Sound of Music.

View across river in Salzburg

Lake District

Courtyard at Mirabella (sp)

Parish church in Salzburg

Lake District

Mirabella

Looking out from Mirabella

Another view from courtyard

Mc Donald's sign

Date built

Close to Cathedral

One of the 5 squares

Square of the book burnings

View from a square

Had lunch here

Courtyard for monastery

St Peter praying for forgiveness (St Peter's square) and giving the cock a kick with this foot.

Cathedral - baroque

Mozarts birthplace

St Peter's cemetery - where one can be buried today if one has the right connections with the church. They simply remove the bones from someone who doesn't have a living family to make room for those they want. :)