Snowzburg and the Incomparable Snowzart!

When I woke up this morning, the fist thing I did was check the forecast for the day.  I had to do a double take, I thought that maybe I had looked at the Calgary forecast by accident.  Salzburg, Austria -2 celcius and snow.  That's right, snow!  The whole day it felt like we were in a giant Salzburg snow globe.  If you look closely, I bet you can see us.

Bottom right, under where his arm should be....

I'm not going to lie to you, I expected the weather to be crappy on this trip, and you know what?  I have been 100% correct so far!  I am also 100% cool with it too.  It was very chilly today, but it made our stops for cafe and pastries that much more amazing.

It takes about 10 minutes to walk from our apartment to the Old Town.  Fin was complaining on Saturday that he had an itchy bum.  On the way into town today, we found this fantastic poster.

I can't believe they made a poster to welcome Fin.  Austrian's = Awesome.

By the time we got into town, we were officially frozen.  

It was so cold, people were crocheting their bikes so they wouldn't freeze.  True story.

Fin was desperate to go shopping, just so he could warm up.  We passed on the shopping and went for the next best thing, a nearly frozen pretzel, and a horse and buggy tour around town.

Fin watches closely as the bus tries to over take us.

Is it me, or does Bronwyn look like a middle linebacker is this photo?  Layers baby, layers.

I had to interpret everything that our driver said.  Apparently I'm the only one in the family that speaks broken english.

One of the things that our driver pointed out on our tour, was the Capuchin Monastery.  You have to climb several steps to get up there, and I mean several.  But once you get up there, it is all worth it.  The monastery is on the opposite side of the river of the Old Town, and it has fantastic panoramic views.

There was a great mural of Motzie in a walkway under the road on our way to Capuchin.

We started climbing...

And Climbing.

But what an amazing view.  The Old Town, and the fortress high above.

Less grump = less takes to get nice photo.

The walk down was a whole lot easier than the walk up.  We had another gumball race on the way down.  I may have won.  We will just leave it at that....

Our next stop was Wolfie's birth house/museum.  This was actually a really fascinating venue.  Apparently Mozart is one of the mostly widely misrepresented famous individuals in portraits.  Several of the images in the museum have been proven to be inaccurate representations of his likeness.  I feel the same way.  I am much taller than the pictures give me credit for.

House of the Wolf.

Oh ya.  No pooping in the park across the street from Mozart's house.

After the museum, we were starving, and in need of food.  Earlier in the day I had read about a famous cafe in Salzburg called "Cafe Bazar".  It was highly recommended as one "the" places to have a cafe in town.  Cafe Bazar has served many writers over the years that have come in search of inspiration.  The atmosphere, and the food was fantastic.  Even Picky Pickerson loved his meal (back down, I was talking about Fin!).

Inside Cafe Bazar.  Looks like more readers then writers to me.... stupid guide books.

Great view of the Old Town and the Fortress from just outside Cafe Bazar.

Cafe Bazar is in the building on the right.  It has a great view of the Old Town on the opposite side of the river.

After lunch we made our way to the tram that would take us up to the Fortress.  But before we made it to the tram, we had to stop for a battle royale!

Bronwyn gets an early lead.  Or is she leaving with that horse?

But too many mistakes lead to a Fintan win.

The Man with the Golden Ball was the ref.  Well played sir.  Well played.

An old timer tries he luck at a Baroque VLT.

I asked them if they could see "The Frog in the Well".  But apparently it was just a bowl.  "The Frog in the Bowl" sounds more like an Asian thing.

On to the Fortress!  There has been some form of tram that carries people up to the fortress since 1892.  For some reason, the family wasn't keen on climbing anymore stairs, so we took the tram.

The fortress itself isn't all that spectacular once you get up there, but the vistas, even on a snowy day, were fantastic.

On the way out of the Old Town, we stopped at one last church.  This was the very interesting Franciscan Church.  The interior has a very interesting mix of Romanesque and Gothic features.

Well, that's enough for one day.  It's time to make our way out of Salzburg.  In the morning, we will be on our way to Prague.  Until then, something for you to ponder.

Fintan:  "Dad, since I have your DNA, will I love wine when I grow up?"