Vienna State Opera House 维也纳国家歌剧院

June 22, 2022

Among all the tourist attractions in Vienna, Schönbrunn Palace was one of the must-see attractions. To avoid the peak hour as much as possible, we started early this morning and took the subway to the Palace, only to find that we forgot to bring our tickets. We bought the combined tickets when we visited the Hofburg Imperial Palace the other day, and the tickets were quite expensive, so we returned to the hotel to get our tickets. When we returned to Schönbrunn Palace, the tourist buses had come, and there were many people inside and outside of the Palace. We toured the inside of the Palace first. No photography was permitted in the Palace. There were so many rooms to see, and the audio guide was pretty helpful and informative.

Once done with the inside tour, we headed to the gardens. This royal's former summer residence was massive, with enormous royal gardens and fountains behind it. Even just walking around was exhausting and made us feel hungry. We took the first break in the gardens and shared a sausage and drink from the stall in front of the zoo. Then we continue our walk up the hill towards the magnificent Gloriette. The Gloriette was destroyed in World War II but has already been restored twice since then. It was a long walk to the Gloriette, and the beautiful Neptune Fountain was in front of the Gloriette. The Gloriette housed a café and an observation deck which provided panoramic views of the city. We had our second break at the Gloriette café. We had soup, cheesecake, and coffee. The incredible view came with a hefty price tag, and everything served at the café was expensive.

We returned to the Vienna city center in the afternoon. We always wanted to try Vienna's famous chocolate cake (Sachertorte) and Wiener Coffee. We couldn't book the seats in the original store, Sachertorte, so we tried out the cake at this top-ranked store near our apartment. The taste was nothing special, similar to what we had eaten on the river cruise ship two days ago that costed half of today's price. Some so-called famous foods were often expensive and exaggerated, and we would appreciate local street foods instead.

Today's highlight was seeing an opera play at the Vienna State Opera House tonight. But first, we went to a nearby Chinese restaurant for dinner. We had the signature duck and dried sautéed beef. Since the beginning of our trip, we found that duck and chicken dish prices were very similar in European Chinese restaurants. There were always one or two duck-related dishes on the menu, even in small Chinese restaurants. Since duck was a favorite of one of us, we ordered duck dishes whenever we dined at Chinese restaurants. Today's duck and beef were good, one of the best Chinese meals during this Europe trip.

Going to the Vienna Opera House was the culmination of this Austrian tour. We booked our tickets a few months before our trip. We had splurged a little and booked the front-row seats in the box on the first level. The space was small and crowded since it had three seats in the front row. The gentleman who shared the front row with us had his wife sit in the next box, and they could see and talk each other since they were literarily just sitting next to each other but were separated by the balcony wall. We thought that was pretty funny. Our box was not far from the stage. The sound and visual effects were excellent, and each seat had its own display for captions. We could choose the preferred language in the captions. Tonight's play was the Magic Flute by Mozart, which was Mozart's famous play we did not know about before. Mozart personally directed the premiere of the Magic Flute. The Vienna State Opera House was beautiful, and the show was terrific. We enjoyed every minute of it and checked it off our bucket list. The last time we went to Sydney during our 2020 world cruise, we saw Carmen at the Sydney Opera House. For comparison, the experience at the Vienna Opera House was better than that in Sydney for the similarly priced tickets.

欧洲游第三十三天：说起维也纳，美泉宫（Schönbrunn Palace ）是必看的景点之一。为了尽量避开高峰，今天一大早我们坐了地铁直奔那里，结果到了门口才发现忘记带门票了。前几天参观霍夫堡皇宫时买了联票。票挺贵的，所以决定回旅馆取票，等再回到美泉宫时游客的大巴都来了。这个皇家的昔日夏宫真是大，后面还有皇家花园，喷泉，连走马观花地看一下走得都累，先在动物园门前小摊上要了一根香肠垫饥，最后在凯旋门上小息一会儿，喝上一杯咖啡加奶酪蛋糕，算是把二个主要维也纳博物馆扫了一遍。下午回到旅馆附近的餐厅尝试维也纳著名的巧克力蛋糕（Sachertorte)和维也纳咖啡(Wiener Coffee), 未能在原创店订到位，只能在这家排名前列的餐厅还个愿。味道也没什么特别，比二天前在船上吃的没什么大差别。晚上去维也纳国家歌剧院看戏，先去附近的中餐馆点了招牌鸭和干煸牛，相当不错，是从来欧以来最好的一顿中餐之一。在欧洲中餐馆里，鸭和鸡价格相差不多，既使在小小中餐馆里都会有一，二个鸭相关的菜。去歌剧院看戏是这次奥地利游的高潮，几个月前我们就订好了票，选了一层楼的包厢，包厢前排有三个座位，很挤但离舞台不远，效果很好。看的是莫扎特创作的歌剧-魔笛，以前不知道莫扎特还创作不少著名的歌剧，莫扎特亲自指挥魔笛的首演。上次去悉尼时在歌剧院看了卡门，相比之下维也纳歌剧院效果比悉尼好些，性价比高一点。

Melk Abbey (梅尔克修道院）

June 21, 2022

We planned to visit Wachau Valley today and took the morning train to Melk, a small town on the Danube River. A short walk from the train station up the hill through the town’s main street was the Melk Abbey, the world's most beautiful abbey with more than a thousand years of history. The distinctive yellow-painted monastery was built on the cliff overlooking the Danube River. Converting a part of the abbey into a public high school now, it has a museum and a church and offers a guided tour in English. This place was spectacular in every aspect. The buildings and the surrounding garden were very well-maintained and beautiful. We visited the vast park first while waiting for our tour to start. The guided English tour took us through the museum, the library, and the church. The tour was informative and gave great insight into the abbey's history. Since no pictures were allowed inside, we only had pictures outside to share.

After visiting the Melk Abbey, we boarded the river cruise down to Krems, a charming medieval town located at the eastern edge of the Wachau Valley. While cruising on the Danube River, we saw many gorgeous castles and vineyards along the shores. The weather was perfect for cruising on the river. We had our lunch on the ship, and it was a relaxing and enjoyable ride. We also passed by a couple of big river cabin cruise ships. We had dreamed of taking a week-long river cruise on the Danube before this Europe trip, and today's short version river cruise could reduce our appetite for our dream Danube river cruise with just a small fraction of the cost of the big cabin river cruise.

Krems was a beautiful medieval town with many historic buildings and lots of small alleys with cobblestone streets to explore. Next to the Krems was its neighbor, another little medieval town called Stein, situated along the banks of the Danube River. This little town forms part of the Wachau Valley UNESCO World Heritage Site. Down to the alleys and up to the hills, we strolled from one town to another and had a great time. As we walked around and tried to find a place to eat, this lovely Spanish restaurant caught our attention, and we decided to have dinner there. We ordered Tappas, and the food was excellent.

We took the train back to Vienna. After arriving in Vienna, we decided to check out Belvedere palace. When we exited the subway station, we walked in the wrong direction and ended up at the Museum of Military History instead. When we finally got to Belvedere Palace, it was already closed. The guard at the gate was very friendly, and he let us go to the garden and took some pictures. The palace was huge and gorgeous.

欧洲游第三十二天:一早从维也纳坐火车来到多瑙河边上的一个小镇Melk(梅尔克)。小镇上有号称世界上最漂亮的修道院-Melk Abbey (梅尔克修道院）。这座已有千年历史的修道院建在小镇的山岩上，俯瞰多瑙河。跟着解说向导在里面走了一圈之后我们从梅尔克小镇坐游船沿着多瑙河来到下游的另一个小镇Krems an der Donau (克雷姆斯），沿路在河的二边能看到许多城堡，算是享受过了梦寐以求的多瑙河船游。另外我们还在小镇上吃了顿西班牙晚餐。味道很不错，也算是改善一下伙食。晚上回到维也纳后，又去了另外一个景点，可惜巳关门了，好心的门卫还是让我们进去照了几张照。感觉太阳落山后的维也纳街上游客少了许多，安静多了。

Bratislava, Slovakia 斯洛伐克

June 20, 2022

We went back to the Hofburg Imperial Palace this morning to see the other two museums, Sisi Museum and Imperial Apartment (Kaiserappartements), since we only had enough time to see the silverware collection yesterday afternoon. The Hofburg is the former principal imperial palace of the Habsburg dynasty. Now, it is the official residence and workplace of the president of Austria. The tour of the Sisi Museum, the Imperial Apartments, and the Silver Collection are three tourist attractions open to the public. We purchased combined tickets which covered all these three museums as well as the Schonbrunn Palace outside of Vienna. The Sisi Museum displays many personal objects contributing to the life of Sisi, Empress Elisabeth, and the famous wife of the emperor Franz Joseph, letting us know that money and status do not necessarily bring happiness. The Imperial Apartments are filled with historical fittings and furnishings. It is where Franz Joseph and Elisabeth lived and worked. The picture taking from the Imperial Apartment was not permitted.

After touring the two museums, we went to the Wiener Minoritenkirche, the beautiful 13th-century Gothic Church. The highlight of the church was the exquisite mosaic reproduction of Da Vinci’s Last Supper, commissioned by Napoleon over 200 years ago, and it was amazing.

Done with the museums and church before noon, we decided to go to Bratislava, the capital of the neighboring country of Slovakia, just over an hour by train from Vienna. It was a last-minute decision, but it was well worth the day trip. The Old Town was about 20-minutes walking distance away from Bratislava's train station. The bus station was just outside the train station, but since we didn't research local transport options, we thought it would be easy just to do the two-feet option. We walked past the Grassalkovich Palace, the presidential building, and saw the last minute of the guard changing ceremony. Once in the city center, we were eager to find a place to eat and take a break. After having a simple lunch, we strolled around the Old Town.

Bratislava had the fewest tourists compared to this morning's Vienna or any other town we have visited. We walked to the little Blue Church, one of the city's famous tourist attractions, and it was a very unique and beautiful church. From there, we walked to Bratislava Castle. The castle campus and the castle gardens were gorgeous and free. We had a mesmerizing panoramic view of the old and new Bratislava from the castle. Earlier on the way up the hill to the castle, we saw the big Chinese Restaurant across from the castle and thought we might want to have dinner there. But since we had not had authentic Slovakia food yet, we decided to try a different restaurant. On the way back to the train station, we had dinner at Bratislava Flagship Restaurant, the largest restaurant in Bratislava. We ordered the traditional Slovakian cuisine, a combo of sausage, potato, dumplings, and cheese. There were a lot of dumplings, and they were delicious. Now we understand the new meaning of dumpling dishes.

We returned to Vienna by train at night. We did more walk around the city center and went to the St. Stephen's Cathedral. The street was a lot quieter by now and we enjoyed it.

欧洲游第三十一天：今天继续看霍夫堡皇宫里的另外二个景点，Sisi Museum (茜茜博物馆)及Imperial Apartment (皇家公寓)。茜茜博物馆展示了大量的私人物件以及一个真实的皇后，让我们知道金钱和地位并不一定能带来幸福。看完二个博物馆后临时决定去邻国Slovakia (斯洛伐克)的首都Bratislava（布拉迪斯拉发）。从维也纳坐火车一个多小时就到了，去了古城，总统府，蓝色的教堂，城堡和一些景点，在回维也纳前，吃了一顿斯洛伐克的晚餐，那里的饮食还是离不开香肠，土豆，面疙瘩和奶酪。

Vienna, Austria 维也纳

June 19, 2022

Sunday morning was quiet, and almost all shops and the farmer's market were closed except for some restaurants. After breakfast, we went to see the last two tourist attractions of Graz, the Mausoleum of Ferdinand II and the Landhaus Courtyard, before boarding the train to Vienna, Austria's capital and largest city.

The train ride from Graz to Vienna was comfortable, and we had the whole cabin ourselves. Our hotel apartment in Vienna city center was in a good location, tranquil, and about a 10-minutes walk from either the train station or the famous tourist spots, and had a large bedroom, a living area, and a small kitchen with excellent conditions. The old-style elevator was cool too.

After dropping off our luggage, we went straight to the Hofburg Palace. We bought the combined ticket package, which covered multiple palaces and museums. We only had time to see their silverware collection before the museum was closed for the day. The museum closed at 4 pm, which was earlier than we expected. The exhibition was impressive, and some of them were still used in the state dinner. It was too early for dinner, so we walked around the plaza area and took many pictures of the famous tourist attractions.

Dinner was Vienna-style schnitzel, Wienerschnitzel, with vegetable salad. At this point, we had tried so many different types of schnitzels, even homemade ones, and it was the first time to have an authentic Wienerschnitzel. It was unique that the bread coating was "puffy," separating from the meat. Our one order came with two pieces of large-hand size schnitzels, one for each of us. The taste was delicious. Look like we would have many more schnitzels on this trip. After dinner, we strolled around the crowded area near the Catholic Church. We stopped by Holy Trinity Columns for the victims of the great plague.

Austria, and especially Vienna, known as one of the most stunning cities in Europe, has spectacular architecture and beautiful palaces. But we had already seen so many of those buildings since the beginning of this trip that our curiosity started fading away. Walking into the crowded Vienna city center and being surrounded by all those vast structures made us feel overwhelmed, especially since all the famous tourist spots were very busy and packed with people. We definitely missed the Swiss Alps’ peaceful nature and wanted to go back to hike on a sunny hillside or a foggy trail path.

欧洲游第三十天：星期天的早晨非常宁静，除了一些餐厅之外几乎所有的商店关门停业。一早又去看了格拉茨的最后二个景点，费迪南德二世陵墓及Landhaus Courtyard。下午坐火车来到维也纳，住在公寓式酒店，带厨房的，相当不错，离火车站和旅游热点十几分钟的路程。放下行李后就去了霍夫堡宮殿, 因为时间不够就先参观了他们的银器博物馆。晚餐又是炸猪排加蔬菜色拉。饭后去天主教堂附近转转，路上都是游客。奥地利尤其是维也纳，作为奥地利的首都，城市建筑和古老宫殿的确很漂亮，非常壮观。但看多了会产生一些审美疲劳，加上满城的游客，就真想回到瑞士阿尔卑斯山里，徒步在无论是阳光明媚的山坡或者是雾气弥漫的小路。

Graz, Austria 格拉茨

June 18, 2022

Graz is Austria's second-largest city but is not as famous as Vienna and Salzburg in the tourist industry. As such, it has a lot fewer tourists. Last night, the city square was packed with young people drinking and chatting, and the music was loud and lively. Early this morning, we woke up to see a completely different scene. The last night's noisy open-air bars transformed into a farmer's market. If last night was the energetic world of the young generation, it was a paradise for the elderly this morning. Besides the fresh vegetables and fruit, the farmer's market also had butchers, seafood shops, bakeries, coffee and breakfast shops. After buying produce, the locals would have coffee and breakfast there and chat with their neighbors. We joined the locals and bought strawberries, cherries, and smoked meats at the market and then had our coffee and bread there. We always enjoyed a quiet morning in a foreign country and observed the locals doing their routines. There was also a flea market nearby at the square where the concert was held last night.

After breakfast, we started our sightseeing tour. We purchased the 24-hour Graz tourist card and planned to sweep through several tourist attractions. We started at the city center and then headed to Eggenberg Palace on the city's outskirts. The Eggenberg Palace was a private residence of the Eggenberg family and then the Herberstein family from 1460 to 1939, not an imperial or archbishop palace. In today's terms, it was a billionaire's mansion. We had a guided tour in English. The palace was constructed relying on the calendar as a basis. The four towers of the palace symbolize the four directions east, south, west, and north. The palace had 365 windows representing the number of days of the year. The 24 halls conveyed the 24 hours of the day. There were also paintings on the ceiling symbolizing each day, seven days a week. Although Eggenberg Palace was a 17th-century building from the outside, at the core of the palace, there was a square Gothic chapel built in 1470, and large portions of the building dated back to the late middle ages to the early modern era. The palace was expanded continuedly without completely destroying the old constructions. The palace was surrounded by a large beautiful garden where peacocks walked slowly and leisurely. It was the most worth seeing of all the attractions today.

We came back to the city center area and took the Schlossberg Funicular to Schlossberg Hill. Schlossberg was one of Graz's most famous attractions. It once served as a fortress to defend the city but was largely demolished by Napoleonic forces, except for the clock tower, which had stood on the Hill for hundreds of years and was a symbol of Graz. Schlossberg Hill was large and beautiful, with many minor tourist attractions, and it was the perfect place for the city view. We walked down the hill via a set of stairs that zig-zag on the slope of the Hill.

On the way to Schlossberg Hill, we also visited Kunsthaus Graz with the collection of Modern Arts, most of which we didn't appreciate. Nevertheless, the visit let us experience the other side of Graz's culture against the characteristics of the old town. We also stopped by Franciscan Church and Hauptplatz. Another cultural structure we wanted to see was the Murinsel, designed and constructed to celebrate the honor that Graz was designated the European Capital of Culture. The Murinsel is suspended over the river by two bridge walkways. It is a beautiful dome floating on the river. There was a café inside the dome. We enjoyed some cold local beer there and views of the river.

Back at our hotel, we had our dinner in the hotel's beautiful courtyard.

欧洲游第二十九天：格拉茨虽说是奥地利第二大城市，但其旅游知名度远低于维也那和萨尔茨堡。感觉游客并不多。今天大清早发现旅馆对面从昨天晚上满满的露天酒吧变成了农贸集市，完全是一个不同的景象。如果说昨晚是年轻人的世界，今早是老年人的天堂。农贸市场里有新鲜的蔬菜和水果，还有肉店，海鲜店，面包房，当地人买完菜后喝喝咖啡吃个早餐与街坊邻居们聊个天。生活也是同样的美好。

我们也兴冲冲地买了草莓🍓，樱桃🍒和烟熏肉，同时也在那里吃了早餐，咖啡☕️和面包。我们购买了24小时的Graz旅游卡，把几个重要的景点扫了一遍。从近郊的埃根博格宫殿开始，这也是今天所有景点中最值得看的。宫殿的四个塔楼象征着东南西北四个方向。宫殿有365扇窗象征着一年的天数。24间大厅则象征着一天的24个小时。天花板上还有画象征着一周7天的每一天。宫殿的四周是一大片公园，孔雀🦚慢悠悠地走来走去。今天看的另外几个景点包括现代美术馆，穆尔人工岛等都有些失望。还好最后为了看钟塔上了城堡山，上面不仅能眺望格拉茨城区，还有着格拉茨最漂亮的小花园。

Mirabell Garden 米拉贝尔花园

June 12, 2022

Today we had to say goodbye to the beautiful city of Salzburg and head to Ljubljana, Slovenia. Before leaving, we revisited the Mirabell Palace near our hotel in the early morning. The palace was built in 1606 by the Prince-Archbishop, Wolf Dietrich Raitenau. He erected this luxury palace for himself and his mistress Salome Alt. But the good time didn't last very long, and he was deposed six years later. His successor kicked the mistress and her family out. Today, the city government uses the palace for official functions, but the garden is open to the public. It is one of Salzburg's most popular tourist attractions, and several scenes from the "Sound of Music" were filmed here. We had visited this place a couple of times since we arrived here. Today's weather was perfect. Under the blue sky and white clouds, the garden was even more attractive. Since it was early in the morning, there weren't many tourists, and we enjoyed the quiet atmosphere and beautiful landscaping. After Mirabell garden, we went to the city center for breakfast and did our last walk around the city of Salzburg before heading to the train station.

The train from Salzburg to Ljubljana took four and a half hours, which was covered with the Eurail Pass we purchased. Something interesting happened during our train ride. We made seat reservations for our train ride as we learned by now that the train could sometimes get crowded even for the 1st class tickets. When we boarded the train and located our train cabin, our seats were occupied by two women. We thought we might enter the wrong cabin since one of the ladies insisted it was her seat. We double-checked our reservation and cabin number. It turned out she did not even have the 1st class ticket. She quietly left the cabin and went to a different car. The other lady politely switched to a different seat but stayed with us in the same cabin. She was not very talkative during the ride, but we did chat for a little. Before we arrived in Ljubljana, the second train conductor came to the cabin to check our tickets. Surprisingly the train conductor pointed out that the lady had the 2nd class ticket. But the conductor let her stay because the 2nd class cabins were full and the train was just a few minutes away from the destination. Only at this point the lady told us it was her lucky day because the first train conductor in Austria knew she sat in the wrong car but did not say anything. All we could think of was glad we made our seat reservation. It was almost three and a half weeks into our Europe trip, and we always admired Switzerland and Austria's public transportation honor system. Today's encounter showed us a different side.

Arrived in Ljubljana, our rented apartment was five minutes walk from the Ljubljana central train station. We texted the apartment owner using the WhatsUp app to inform our arrival. The app was a popular and helpful communication tool outside the States. The owner's son was waiting for us outside of the apartment. It was a one-bedroom apartment on the second floor. The unit was not bad, except the shower was tiny. Another strange arrangement was that the bedroom was connected to the kitchen without the door, but the dining/living room was in a separate room. As usual, once we settled, we headed out to see the new place and get familiar with the area.

On Sunday, most of the stores were closed. We found a restaurant nearby that was still open and had a good review on Yelp. We sat and ordered a local beer, beef tongue, salad, and Slovenia sausage. They didn't disappoint us; it was one of the best dinners on this trip. Their sausage seemed to be better taste than those in Switzerland and Austria. After dinner, we walked to the city center. We got the first taste of the beautiful Ljubljana, like Triple Bridge, Franciscan Church of the Annunciation, Preseren square, and the summer concert in Park Zvezda.

第二十三天：非常喜欢萨尔茨堡这个城市，今天下午要离开，有点依依不舍。早上再次去旅馆旁的米拉贝尔花园(Mirabell Palace)走走, 蓝天白云下的花园非常的美，尤其是大清早大部分游客还没出门。之后来到城中心，坐下吃个早餐，听着教堂的钟声，看看过往行人🚶‍♀️🚶，发个呆。下午坐火车来到斯洛维尼亚的首都卢布尔雅那。老规矩，放下行李🧳，先去外面走走熟悉下环境，为明后二天做准备。晚餐是当地的啤酒，牛舌，色拉和香肠，味道很不错。斯洛维尼亚香肠比我们在瑞士和奥地利吃到的好吃多了。

Hallstatt 哈尔斯特达

June 11, 2022

Today we headed to the fairy-tale-like town of Hallstatt. The mountains surrounding Hallstatt made traveling there a bit more complicated. We started with Bus 150 from the Salzburg bus depot to Bad Ischl Bahnhof. After 90 minutes ride, we arrived at Bad Ischl and switched to Bus 542. We were on Bus 542 for 20 minutes before having to do a second and final transfer at the Gosaumuhle bus stop. We had about 5 minutes to switch from Bus 542 to the neighboring Bus 543. It was a quick transfer as two buses parked beside each other. Since we wanted to see the Dachstein Giant Ice Cave first and return to Hallstatt later, we did not get off the bus at the Hallstatt bus stop. Instead, we continued our bus ride to Obertraun Dachsteinseilbahn Talstation. Once we arrived, a short walking distance from the bus station, we took the Dachstein Krippenstein cable car up the mountain to the Schönbergalm station. We were assigned to a group based on our preferred language at the cable car station.

From there, the ice cave was another 20-minute steep uphill hike. We had to wait for about an hour to start our guided tour. The Dachstein Giant Ice Cave was the first ice cave we have ever visited. The illuminated ice cones and beds were attractive. We took some pictures, but since it was dark inside, the quality of the photographs may not be very good. We were slightly disappointed with the giant ice cave visit since it didn’t have the glory of dry caves. Then we continued to Krippenstein station. From there, we did a short hike on the mountain with a panoramic view of the surrounding mountain and a distant view of Hallstatt. We wish we could explore the mountain more, but we needed to get down to catch the bus back to the town. The Bus 543 back to Hallstatt runs hourly in the summer. Unfortunately, we missed the bus, so we decided to have a quick, simple lunch/snack at a small café near the bus stop and patiently waited for the next bus.

On the way back to Hallstatt, the bus winded through small villages. Sometimes, we felt the bus might hit the houses along the roads. We got off the town square of Hallstatt. Hallstatt is a small village on the southwestern shore of Lake Hallstatt. After being featured in K-drama, it became a popular tourist place for East Asian tourists. The town has about 800 permanent residences but received 10Ks tourists daily in the summer before COVID. We first learned about the Hallstatt from Rick Steven’s video. The town has a perfect tourist setting. It is located on the shore of a calm blue lake and has historic buildings on the cliff. The oldest salt mine is nearby, but we didn’t have time to visit. There were a lot of tourists even in the COVID era. We strolled through the narrow streets along the lake and up the hill. We stopped by a stand to have daily baked Schaumrollen. Wow, that was good. The town was beautiful from every angle. We took so many pictures that day. We would stay overnight next time to visit.

We decided to return to Salzburg by train for a different experience. The train station was on the other side of the lake, and the ferry ran between the town of Hallstatt and the train station based on the train schedule. While we waited for the ferry, we had our coffee break at the café near the ferry terminal and enjoyed the great view of the lake. The ferry took 15 mins to cross the lake, and the station was a short walk distance. After a few mins at the station, we hopped on the train back to Salzburg. It was a great day trip.

Our dinner was at this Chinese Restaurant near the Salzburg train station. This was not the first time we had dined there. The other day we tried their Hong Kong-style duck, which was really good, and we knew we would come back for more. After dinner, we walked back to the Salzbach River to see the sunset for one last time. Tomorrow, we would say goodbye to the city. We love Salzburg, and it has a rich history, beautiful baroque buildings, and natural wonders.

欧洲游第二十二天:大清早出发坐了二个多小时的公交车，中间还转了二次车，终于来到奥地利著名小镇哈尔斯特达（Hallstatt)。我们先去了小镇边上的巨冰岩洞，第一次去冰洞，有点失望，就算是到此一游吧。小镇的确很美，清澈的湖水，美丽的白天鹅，明信片标志性的建筑，只可惜我们时间有限没能多留。建议朋友们以后来此镇的话至少住一晚。晩上回到萨尔茨堡，最后再看一眼太阳落山时的城堡🏰，明天我们就要和这座城市说再见。

Trick Fountains 奇巧喷泉

June 10, 2022

The bus No. 25 took us to Hellbrunn Palace at the bottom of abundant water Hellbrunn Mountain, which Prince-Archbishop Markus Sittikus built for enjoyment and leisure. The center of the palace is the world-famous Trick Fountains, where spring water, coming from the mountain, jetted out from unexpected hiding places to entertain his guests over 400 years ago. While his people were trying to feed their families and have roofs over their heads, he used the tax collected from the people to build complicated water fountains and a lavish summer palace just for entertainment. He hardly stayed overnights in the palace. However, the Trick Fountains, water engineering masterpieces of the 18th century, are still very impressive and fascinating today. The tour to the Altemps fountain with the Star Pond was guided in English or German. The tour guide took us to a beautifully carved stone table with ten stools. As told, the Archbishop always sat at the north end of the table. While the guests were sipping the wine and enjoying the delicious food feast, the water jets would suddenly come out of the hole in the middle of each stone stool except his. Imagine how embarrassed all the guests would feel with the wet pants while the Archbishop was laughing at his guests. The tour guide let us try to sit on the short end of the table without getting wet. The waterfall and sculptures were stunning. The rest of the tour was an audio self-guided tour.

We visited 21 stations of the trick fountains in the fantasy world of Markus Sittikus. The water automats of five water-driven figures along the small stream amazed us with the technologies the engineers mastered to achieve. The motion was driven by water flow from the mountain, not an electric pump in the modern days. The Mechanical Theater was another masterpiece, although it was constructed in the later days. One hundred sixty-three water-driven figures depict the life of a small city, where people were working, shopping, and entertaining tirelessly. We could not catch up with all activities of each figure in the show. The Grottos was another fantastic wonder. Now the park workers have control over the fountain system. Usually, they warned us before turning on the water jet from hidden places. We had a fun experience and many unexpected. We highly recommend this place to visit.

From Hellbrunn Park, a trail led us through the forest to the Folklore Museum at Hellbrunn hill. The museum had a collection of traditional folk house items in Salzburg and the figures of Samson, Giant Heroic Figures from the 16th century. It was a small museum, but it was interesting to see how people lived back then in Salzburg. The museum offered an excellent view of the park below, the surrounding area, and the Salzburg Fortress in the distance. Hiking down from the hill, we wandered around the park. It was such a beautiful place to walk, sit and relax. There were some big fish in the pound. We learned that the white sturgeon could live up to 80 years and up to 4.5 meters long.  

We took our lunch break at the park’s café. Chicken salads, pancake beef broth, and dessert all tasted very good. Then we went to the Hellbrunn Palace with an exhibition about Markus Sittikus. At the end of our visit, we walked more around the beautiful garden and saw the “sound of the music” Pavillon. The gazebo was used in the movie and was presented to the city of Salzburg as a gift at the end of filming. The original filming site was in another park, and the pavilion was relocated to Hellbrunn Palace Park in 1991.

Left Hellbrunn Palace, we continued our day trip and took the No. 25 to the bottom of Untersberg. From there, we rode the cable car to the summit. Untersberg offered a wide choice of routes for hikers and mountain bikers. Unfortunately, the sky was cloudy, and the visibility was very poor to see much. From the top station of the Untersbergbahn, we did a short hike to the peak. We came back quickly because we had an early dinner reservation at 5 pm at Barenwirt, a popular Austria cuisine place where we couldn’t get a table yesterday. We had roast pork with a huge dumpling ball and fried chicken salad, both being their most popular dishes. The food is delicious. The dumpling tasted good but had too many carbs.

Another reason to have an early dinner was that we would attend a “Sound of Music” show at the Salzburg Marionette Theater, which is included in the UNESCO List of Intangible Cultural Heritage. We did not remember the last time we watched a puppet show. The show was great, and it was better than expected.

第二十一天：时间过得很快，来欧洲整整三个星期了。前二天一直在萨尔茨堡城里的博物馆，城堡和教堂里转悠，今天换个环境去城外的海尔布伦宫放松一下。这座当时大主教的花园式避暑行宫不仅有迷人的花园，更以各种独具匠心暗藏的喷泉而出名。400年后的今天，这些喷泉仍然在给游客们带来惊喜。中午在花园餐厅用餐，色拉，煎饼丝牛肉汤和甜品都不错。下午去郊外的山头上，坐缆车上去的，因为云雾缭绕山顶，也未能看到城市全景。匆匆下山赶去旅馆推荐的火红的餐厅。昨天去过说是全满，今天的也满了，只能订上早早的晚饭，不过这正好符合我们需要。饭后要赶去看具有世界文化遗产的奥地利的木偶戏-“音乐之声”。点了烤猪肉，给了一大碗德国酸菜和一大个土豆面粉团，猪肉很不错，土豆团也还可以，酸菜就有点多了。饭店最有名的特色菜炸鸡味道的确不错，但垫底的蔬菜色拉和中午的相比就要差一截了。

DomQuartier, Austria

June 9, 2022

We started our day with a butter croissant and a salami sandwich for breakfast. Today's weather forecast was not very good. It started raining when we walked across the Love Lock bridge. We passed by a 19-century weather station on the street on the way to Salzburg Museum. The three sides of the station have been providing the temperature, barometric pressure, and humidity since 1888. It looked like a piece of art that belonged to a palace or a museum. With more rain in the forecast, we changed our plan to stay inside and visit the museums instead. We bought the 72 hours Salzburg Card for 40 Euros per person, covering all public transportation and free admission to all city museums. The river cruise we took and the two Mozart museums we visited yesterday were all covered by the Salzburg Card. We would try to visit as many museums as possible to maximize its benefits. Today, we first visited Salzburg Museum at Neue Residenz, situated on the opposite side of Residenzplatz in the Old Town. Through multi-media and colorfully designed exhibitions, the museum provides comprehensive insights into the uniqueness of Salzburg with a diverse array of objects from the collection to explain how Salzburg became what it is today. We saw a few paintings of Salzburg that might inspire us to paint the same theme in the future. The music instrument collections were interesting too.

We toured the DomQuartier, a building complex consisting of a Cathedral, Residenz precinct, and St. Peter's Abbey. Over 400 years ago, the Salzburg prince-archbishops' absolutist rule installed spiritual and secular power over the people. As we walked through the exhibitions, we learned a few things about the prince-archbishops' life. To see the prince-archbishop, people had to wait and start from the large stateroom to the smallest private room. Only a few select guests were ever allowed access to the private area of the princely apartments adjacent to the study. The residence of the prince-archbishops was luxurious and extensive. We were especially interested in various ceramic heaters. We took a few pictures of them. Then we walked into the backside of the Salzburg Cathedral and had a full view from the organ gallery. The Cathedral Museum houses the Cathedral treasure as well as paintings and sculptures, dating from Gothic to Baroque, from the Cathedral and churches belonging to the archdiocese. The tour ended at St. Peter's Museum, which displays art treasures from the extensive collections of St. Peter's Abbey. We had looked for St. Peter Cemetery, a site inspiration for the “Sound of Music”, for a while. We finally located it behind St. Peter Abbey.

From the DomQuartier, we went to Nonnberg Abbey. The "Sound of Music" shooting location where the story began in the movie, and the nuns sang every morning. The Abbey was up the hill between the Old Town and Fortress, and it was a steep climb up the hill to reach the Abbey. The church was small. When we walked in, people were sitting there with no lights. After a few minutes, we figured out that putting 50 cents euro in a box would turn on the altar lights for five minutes. It was a good way to raise money for the church. The altar was terrific. There also were some lovely Roman frescos in the back of the church, which also required 50 cents euro to get the lights on.

While walking down the hill, a local guy suggested we stop by the Stiegl taste site. We ordered two different kinds of beer, and both were good. After a nice break, we continued to walk to see another film site of the "Sound of Music," the famous "horse Pond." Unfortunately, it was under construction, and we did not have good pictures.

We went to the restaurant the hotel host recommended, but it was fully booked for the day. We just grabbed a panini and a sausage from the street vendor and returned to the Hotel. 

第二十天:天公不作美，今天萨尔茨堡的天气是我们来欧洲近三周最差的一天。一整天都在下雨，本打算去郊外看宫殿改成了继续在城里看博物馆，先去了萨尔茨堡博物馆和DomQuatier(主要看主教宮殿), 这个城市以前受天主教控制，可以看出那些主教们是非常腐败奢侈，但因为他们奢侈，给我们留下了豪华宫殿和无价精品。下午按音乐之声的观光路线把没去过的景点补上。当然不忘喝上一杯咖啡及在啤酒庄里品尝当地的啤酒。晚上就在路边的小摊上买了一根香肠充饥。

The City of Mozart 莫扎特的故乡

June 8, 2022

Salzburg was the filming site of the movie "Sound of the Music" and the birthplace of its favorite son, Wolfgang Mozart, one of the world's most famous musicians. There are many monuments to Mozart in the city, and music is in the air in Salzburg. Today's theme was to follow in the footsteps of Mozart to visit as many Mozart things as possible. We started our day by having breakfast at Cafe Tomaselli, where Mozart's family often dined when they lived in the Old Town. Then we took the funicular up to Salzburg Fortress, high above the rooftops of Baroque-style buildings. It was a vast compound and offered a 360-degree view of Salzburg and the surrounding area. The history of the Salzburg Fortress dates back almost 1000 years ago. We did the panorama tour, which took us from the salt magazine via the dungeon to the viewing tower, through the battlements to the famous Salzburg Bull, a roughly 500-year-old wheel-driven barrel organ. It was an exceptional experience. Although all the castles we visited on this Europe trip were terrific and picturesque, we wish we knew more about local history to make the visit more interesting. 

With its Baroque-style dome and two towers, Salzburg Cathedral, where Mozart was baptized, is the centerpiece of Salzburg. Its distinctive and impressive architecture on the city skyline left on many of our pictures. The inside of the Cathedral was even more impressive. The imposing organs hung on the splendid façade of white marble with detailed frescos on the dome. The interior was simplistic but magnificent. Walking down in the basement of the Cathedral, where many archbishops were buried, we ran into the Vanitas installation, one of 13 Modern Art installations in public spaces. It was interesting. We also saw another piece of an art installation at the plaza earlier today, Sphaera, a man standing on a golden ball. He was looking for the female counterpart, "Woman in the Rock." But he looks at the wrong direction. In the afternoon, when we passed by a parking lot in the cave, we saw the sculpture on the entrance door to the parking lot.

We had a quick lunch at the old marketplace and continued our Mozart theme activities by touring Mozart's birthplace, a museum focusing more on his family and youth. Before this trip, with our limited knowledge of music history, we didn't know much about the Mozart family. The museum was not just about Wolfgang Mozart but also about the parents, Leopold and Anna Maria, and sister "Nannerl." The Mozart senior was also an accomplished composer, music teacher, and the author of a violin-playing book. We learned more about Leopold Mozart than Wolfgang Mozart from the museum. After visiting Mozart's birthplace, we walked toward the river. We saw the river cruise that was about to leave. Due to the high-water level, the river cruise hadn't run since we arrived. With a few minutes to spare, we hopped on the boat quickly and started 45 mins river cruise on the Salzach river. The ship passed the Mozart bridge a little further and turned around back to the Old Town. The ride was pleasant, the view was incredible, and it was free-covered under the Salzburg card. 

We then walked across the Love Lock bridge over the Salzach River to see Mozart's Residence, where Mozart lived until he went to Vienna at the age of 25. Mozart's piano was the highlight of the museum. On our way back to our hotel from the museum, we saw another Modern Art installation, Caldera. No one knows what the stature means, and someone says it is Mozart'‘s wig.

Attending a Mozart concert in Salzburg was a natural thing to do in Salzburg. We had booked the show before we left for Europe. The Mozart Dinner Concert occurred in the Baroque Hall of St. Peter Stiftskulinarium, the oldest restaurant in Europe and part of the famous Benedictine monastery. There was no obvious sign of the Baroque Hall. Following the direction of Google Maps, we came to the large courtyard within St. Peter but couldn't figure out the concert place. We saw a historic and fancy restaurant at the corner of the courtyard, and the hostess took us to the Baroque Hall. We were a little bit early, and the hall hadn't opened yet at the moment. Only a few minutes later, they started to usher people to tables. We got upgraded to a table in the first row next to the stage. The three-course dinner menu included clear lemon chicken soup with curd cheese and rosemary dumpling, supreme roasted chicken on the glaze of red wine and herbs with creamy white polenta and vegetables from Padre Prior's garden, and the famous Salzburger Nockerl. The food was served during the intermission of the concert. The concert was most of The Mozart Opera, performed by two opera singers and a small ensemble dressed in costumes. We were not familiar with Mozart's Opera, only knowing he was a great composer for classical piano and string music. Although we hardly understood what they were singing, the music was beautiful, and the singing was fantastic. The concert's highlight for us was when the opera singer knelt in front of our table and sang to Connie. The beautiful Mozart music and delicious local cuisine inspired by historical recipes from Mozart's time gave us a fantastic night in Salzburg.  

第十九天：萨尔茨堡是电影“音乐之声“的拍摄地，但它更以音乐天才莫扎特出生地而出名。莫扎特短暂的一生超过一半的时间是在萨尔茨堡度过的。今天除了参观著名的萨尔茨城堡，坐了河上观光游船之外其余的基本就以莫扎特为主题了。我们早上在莫扎特常去的饭店吃了早餐😜, 下午先去他出生及童年居住的房子，然后参观莫扎特一家的住宅，晚上莫扎特晚餐音乐会很不错，音乐伴随着美酒佳肴，还有什么能比这更好的来结束忙碌的一天。

Kufstein, Austria

June 7, 2022

Today was a travel day, leaving Innsbruck for Salzburg, Austria. Before leaving the town, we did our last morning walk around the Old Town and went to the marketplace for breakfast. The marketplace was just a block away from our hotel. We went there twice in the last two days, but it was closed because of the holiday and Sunday. Today was our last chance, and we finally made it inside. The marketplace was smaller than we expected, and there was not much to offer for breakfast. We only had coffee there and left shortly after.

We visited the Hofburg (Imperial Palace), a former Habsburg palace in Innsbruck, Austria. Hofburg in Innsbruck is considered one of the country's three most significant cultural buildings, along with the Hofburg Palace and Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna. We passed the palace so many times in the last three days but never had the chance to get inside. Since picture taking was not allowed, we didn't have any pictures to share. To find more information about the palace, click the link:https://www.burghauptmannschaft.at/Betriebe/Hofburg-Innsbruck.html

On the way to Salzburg, we got off the train at Kufstein, Austria. Kufstein is a small medieval town located between Innsbruck and Salzburg. Our original plan was to spend a half day there sightseeing. But when we arrived in Kufstein, we found no luggage storage facility at the train station or the nearby area. It was hard to drag the suitcases down the cobblestone streets, and visit the beautiful fortress with the luggage in hand. We ended up crossing the bridge and did a short walk on the trail along the river. We found a café by the bridge not far from the train station and had lunch there. We also used the café as the resting place and took our turn to see the old town area and take some pictures. Then we got back on the train and headed to Salzburg.

Our hotel in Salzburg was located in a quiet area, not too far from the river and the Mirabell Palace. After we checked in and settled, we went to the old town. Because of the recent rain, the water level in the river was very high, and the river current flew very fast. We quickly walked around the old town and glanced at a few famous structures. We returned to our hotel and ordered Chinese takeout for dinner. Our room had a nice balcony. Sipping the local beers and eating our Chinese food on the balcony, we enjoyed the first night at Salzburg.

第十八天：来Innsbruck几天一直没时间去皇宫里面看看，今天就要离开去下一站。不想有遗憾，早上走之前赶紧买了票进去走马观花地看一圈。因为不让拍照，所以没任何照片可上。今天的目的地是音乐之声的故乡Salzburg（萨尔茨堡）。去的路上火车会经过一个小镇kufstein，我们按计划中途下火车，准备在Kufstein先来个半天游后再继续前往Salzburg。没想到火车站居然没有行李储存服务。拖着行李箱，城堡是没法进去了，只能匆匆在外面看一眼。来到萨尔茨堡的第一感觉就是这个城市真漂亮。晚上在阳台上喝上奥地利的啤酒，吃上外买的盒饭，美好的一天又过去了。

Innsbruck, Austria 因斯布鲁克

June 5, 2022

We started our day early as usual and went out looking for a place to have breakfast. We walked around the quiet streets nearby. The only place that opened in the early morning was this bakery called Der Bäcker Ruetz behind our hotel. It was a nice cozy place with many choices of pastries, breakfast bread, and sandwiches, but it only had a couple of small tables. We grabbed some coffee and breakfast bread, sat at the town square just a few steps away from the bakery, and enjoyed our first breakfast in Austria.

Innsbruck offers Welcome Card to the tourists, a complimentary card for free public transportation, and discounts for other activities. We got the cards from our hotel since our stay exceeded the minimum requirement. With the card, the first thing we did was to head out to Nordkette, the Top of Innsbruck. We could hike up to the summit, but we took an easy route. We walked to the Congress station not far from the old town and took the Hungerburg funicular to reach Hungerburg in just 8 minutes. The station was beautiful and contemporary. Then we switched to a cable car to Seegrube. After getting to the Seegrube station, a short walk distance from the station was an outdoor seating area outside the Seegrube restaurant. We did not stop at the deck immediately; instead, we started our hike along the Path of Perspectives, which winded in breathtaking alpine surroundings. It was not a typical hiking path; the subtle architectural structures embedded seamlessly into the landscape along the trail. A view platform extended out over the edge of the landscape to provide uninterrupted views of the city. An array of stepped wooden benches form an amphitheater with the backdrop of sky and valley. Several benches could be found along the trail for view, relax and reflection. The quotes from the Austrian's most influential philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein were inscribed on the steel surface of some structures, like "Don't let yourself led by example of other people, but by Nature!" or "Things are right before our eyes…". It was not only a physical hiking trail but also invited us to take a moment to observe the landscape and reflect over the life. It was a true Path of Perspectives.

After about a mile of hiking, we returned to Seegrube Restaurant for a light lunch and cappuccinos. After our lunch break, we went on the cable car to Hafelekar to enjoy the breathtaking views of the Top of Innsbruck above the tree line. Once off the cable car, there was a short hike to reach the summit. Because of the high elevation, this last part of climbing up the hill made us very tired, but we made it. We were at the top of Innsbruck.

We returned to the hotel for a short nap to recover from our hiking. In the late afternoon, the weather changed to cloudy with little rain. We started a self-guided walking tour of "In the Habsburgs' footsteps" based on the information we got from the tourist's office. We started at the Golden Roof, then passed by the Cathedral of St James, Tyrolean State Theatre, Leopold's Fountain, and House of Music. The route continued to the Imperial Palace and Court Church, the Jesuit Church (University Church), and Rudolf's Fountain on Bozner Platz. Next to the plaza, we saw a Chinese restaurant with a duck dish, which one of us could not ignore. We were also hungry, so we had duck over noodles for dinner, and the food was okay. At least it was reasonably priced for duck dishes. We had found that duck dishes were on the menu of almost all the Chinese Restaurants in Austria, even fast-food places, and had thought about trying it. Today we finally did it.

After dinner, we walked to the Triumphal Arch, built in 1765, for the wedding of the second son of Empress Maria Theresa and Emperor Francis Stephen. The emperor died 13 days after the wedding. Later, a memorial motif was added to the Arch to describe the wedding and commemorate the emperor's death. Innsbruck was a special place for Maria Theresa.

第十六天：今天去Innsbruck的最高点，从山脚到山顶之间有无数的徒步小道，每一条看着都难，我们还是花钱坐缆车上山。在山腰间先走一圈，然后在餐厅享受美食，喝上一杯咖啡，欣赏脚下的城市美景。缆车到山顶后，还要沿着陡峭小路走到最高点，上年纪了，走着有点气喘😀。下午回到旅馆睡个午觉，傍晚在老城里走了一圈，在一家中国小餐馆吃了简单晚餐。