Spring Break Part 4: Salzburg, Austria

  Another little day trip we took from Edelweiss was Salzburg.  First stop was Hellbrunn Palace.  It was built in the early 1600s as a getaway house for the Prince/Archbishop of Salzburg.  He had a fun sense of humor because the gardens surrounding the house are full of water games/pranks.  Supposedly, the fountains and little prank things still run on the same system they did back then.  It was fun to see!  The kids even liked this place.  Not a waterpark by any means, but when you've seen a lot of castles/palaces/big old houses, this one stands out as something unique.
I wonder if the house was this bright back when it was first built.  Probably not.  I like it though :)

There is a big park surrounding the palace grounds, and they have moved the gazebo used in The Sound of Music here.  I guess it was in a different park when they filmed the movie.  I had fun being 16 going on 17 again.  :)

Cuties.  Yeah, Callie had a lot of layers going on... haha.  It was cold that day!  Started getting nice when we were here, though!

Gazebo was locked.  Would have been fun to go inside.

 

A guide takes you around the palace gardens.   He turns on the water features for the group as you approach them. 

Our guide asked for volunteers (one of us should have!) to sit at the table.  I want a table like this one day.  Would be kind of fun having people over for a BBQ and then have a little water blast them in their seats.. hehe.   Obviously the prince would sit at the head of the table so he wouldn't get wet. 

 

More water features...

 

 

Lots of fountains and statues around the place!

The kids got a kick out of that face at the bottom of the statue.  It would roll its' eyes back into its' head and stick his tongue out.  Kind of random!  Reminded me of the ugly face on the wall at the cabin that sticks his tongue out and squirts water.  Ha!

 

 

 After walking around Hellbrunn, we drove over to downtown Salzburg.  I was a big fan of it. Salzburg manages to seem clean and modern but has so many cool old buildings.  Some pics of downtown...

Salzburg is the birthplace of Mozart. 

 

This fountain is in the Sound of Music :)

Shopping!  This place is so expensive.  Everything here was just hiked up so high.  Fun to browse though.

Lots of cute alleyways..

 

Loved the little church at the end of this street.

We bought hotdogs at a little shop where an old lady was making them all on her own.  The kids loved them and decided that "old ladies make the best hotdogs."  Super cutie listening to them discuss their dogs. 

I had never seen this kind before.  Two long skinny sausages.  They were actually really good.  And I'm not a hotdog person.

El had fun playing on the big chess set in one of the main courtyards. 

 

Some American college student was visiting the town and noticed us.  He asked if we wanted a family picture.  Why not!?  So, here is family picture Salzburg style.