Salzburg, Austria & Chiemsee, Germany

July 1, 2007

We started the morning as early as we could. Breakfast was not served until 8:30am, and since it was really inexpensive for what you got – and it was a Sunday morning (many places are closed on a Sunday here) – we were going to eat there this morning. I kind of woke up at about 6am and Mike was already awake. I rolled over and went back to sleep. He didn’t get up until near 7am though. I’m hoping that once we more back, we can sleep in sometime… But we were more than ready for breakfast when they finally opened the doors, and even had our day planned before we ate. After a wonderful breakfast, we headed over to Kapuzinerberg. It’s a small mountain on the edge of Salzburg that we thought would not only have some nice views, but it would be nice to take a hike through the woods and get away from all the people. (Not that there were many out at 9am on a Sunday.) But at least since it was early, it wasn’t hot yet.
There are quite a few paths to choose from that wind through the woods on the mountain. We meandered our way over to the Franziskischlossl. The view points on the way there were great. On the way up the mountain we walked on the side with views of the newer part of the city (I think it’s the south side.) When we got to the Franziskischlossl we could clearly see the surrounding mountains again, which was great. We walked down the other side of the mountain which had great views of the older part of the city and the castle with huge mountains behind it all. The views were spectacular and it was definitely our favorite part of the walk.
We wandered through some of the streets of the old part of town next. We decided to go pack to St Peter’s to explore the catacombs. It was only 1 euro each to go in, and it was worth it. Instead of the catacombs that we went to outside of Rome, these were built into the side of the mountain. You can only see a couple of the chapels and its all self guided, but it is interesting. And the views of the church and cemetery from the catacombs is really pretty. There was no wedding in the church today, so we poked our heads in for a minute. We didn’t stay too long since it was a Sunday and we were in jeans and t-shirts. It was a really, really beautiful church. There were paintings all over the walls that were amazing, the altar was gorgeous, as was everything else.
After that, we walked through some of the theater district, and then wandered down Getreidegasse. It’s a narrow lane filled with shops with very fancy signs. Mike and I were joking about McDonald’s being there with a fancy sign and what should we find half way down the street… and McDonald’s with a very fancy metal sign like all the others. McDonald’s is everywhere! There was an outdoor craft like market that we poked through. Aunt Sue – we even saw those wine bottle plates you were talking about!
On our way back to the train station we walked through the Mirabellgarten, which is yet another film location of “The Sound of Music.” The gardens are very pretty, but were filled with people, so we didn’t linger too long.

Since we still had quite a bit of the day left, we decided to stop at Chiemsee as it was on the way back to Munich. The main train drops you off at Prien and you can walk 15 minutes into Stock on Chiemsee or take an old steam train. Since we just missed it and would have to wait 40 minutes for the next train, we walked into Stock. There is not much to see in the city, especially on a Sunday when nearly everything is closed, but it was a nice, easy walk. We stayed for about 3 hours, and it was well worth it. The lake is beautiful and is surrounded by mountains. You can swim in the lake, rent boats, walk, and take a ferry out to an island with a palace. We just walked a bit around the lake, took some pictures, etc. The boat rentals were rather pricey and there was a line.