We toured the Salzburg Altstadt (old city) today, our last day in Österreich 🇦🇹.
Enjoyed breakfast in the hotel restaurant, which was similar to breakfast in the huts but with eggs cooked to order and more selection.
We headed over to the Mozart Bridge to start the Rick Steves free audio tour, which walked us through the highlights of the Altstadt for a few hours of the morning.
After the tour we shopped in the Christmas in Salzburg shop and bought some ornaments.
We attended the noon organ concert at the Cathedral. I was hoping for a Baroque or Classical performance with multiple organs playing simultaneously and filling the cathedral with sound, but instead softer more modern pieces were performed on a single organ at a time.
We found a lunch spot nearby in the Altstadt where I had weißwurst mit kartoffle salat (white sausage with potato salad – mmm). We walked across town over to the hauptbahnhof (main train station) to find out why Allan could not purchase a train ticket in app for tomorrow morning. We crossed a bridge over the Sazlach river and walked through part of the Schloss Mirabelle, and made our way over to the bahnhof.
Found out that the train Allan wanted was sold out – couldn’t squeeze in one more person. So he purchased a ticket on an earlier train instead.
We walked back toward the Altstadt and stopped for a couple scoops of strawberry ice cream. We ambled up Steingasse (an alleyway) hoping for access to the Kapuzinerkloster (Capuchin Monastery) atop the hill above.
We backtracked when we realized there was no way up from there. We found stairs that climbed up onto the grounds of the kloster for great views over Salzburg and the Altstadt.
We decided to walk over through the Altstadt to tour the Festung (Fortress) Hohensalzburg. We rode the Festungsbahn funicular up to the fortress – great views of the city from up here.
We toured the museums, took the panorama tour, and then had dinner at Panoramarestaurant zur Festung Hohensalzburg – I had bratwurst, sauerkraut, hash brown potatoes and a bier. Great views from this outdoor restaurant, enjoying cool beers on a warm summer evening. We rode the funicular back down.
Decided to try the free opera performance in the Kapitelplatze – Mozart’s Idomeneo. It was a recorded performance however, displayed on a large screen (like a movie theater) – sponsored by Siemens.
Watched 45 minutes but then left because it was too hard to follow (sung in Italian with German subtitles. We walked over to the cafe at the Hotel Elefant to try the Salzburger Nockerl dessert (egg custard with himberre (raspberry)) – delicious!
Walked back to the hotel for Allan to pack and get ready for early departure at 3am.
Return to New Orleans
Allan left silently in the early morning, and I slept for another couple hours. I checked out and took a cab to the hauptbahnhof for my Österreichischen Bundesbahnen (ÖBB, Austrian Federal Railways) train to Flughafen München Franz Josef Strauß (MUC, Munich airport). The train took a little over two hours, crossing the German countryside, occasionally stopping at a village rail platform. Arrived at the Münch Ost (East) station where I transferred to an S-Bahn to the flughafen. After the lengthy security screening line, I went to the lounge near my gate, snacked, and grabbed a couple fruits for the flights.
After an uneventful two-hour flight to London Heathrow, I went through security screening, and then over to the British Airways Galleries South lounge in terminal five to eat and hang out waiting for my flight to New Orleans to board. They don’t assign a gate until near boarding time, so it’s always a scramble to get to the gate. I flew premium economy on this trip, but on this flight got upgraded to business class – seat unfolds to flat bed, quieter cabin area with fewer people, and better food – nice way to end the trip on a nine-hour flight.
Arrived in New Orleans on-time, but my checked bag containing my hiking poles and knife did not (can’t carry on in the cabin), and many other people were missing checked luggage too. Everyone was complaining about New Orleans losing their bags (because New Orleans is not always the best-run city), but the problem was much more likely in London than here. After getting nowhere with the person in the baggage claim area, I exited Customs and went to the counter to file a claim. I took an Uber to the Ponchartrain Hotel in the Garden District where my wife Alexandra had a room for us for a couple days. British Airways shipped the missing bag to me a few days later, but it was missing the knife. Other than that, this was a spectacular trip!