Day 4: Salzburg: mountains, Mozart... and no froggies!

What a beautiful drive to Salzburg! We plunged into pea soup from the sun of Munich, but before long chalets and churches began to poke out of the mists, nestled against the mountains. And the colours, now that autumn is upon the land, were spectacular!

Surprisingly, our rooms were ready, so now, after checking in, it's time to head to downtown Salzburg.

8:30 p.m.

What a beautiful little town! It's so easy to get around. Parking was a bit expensive, but very convenient and memorable -- the garage was inside a mountain. As luck would have it, they were just pulling a pork roast out of the oven as we walked into the Gasthaus Hinterbruhl in Salzburg Zentrum (centre), right by the stairs up to Hohensalzburg Castle.

We decided to take the funicular up, however -- now full of spatzle, potato dumplings and succulent pork -- and enjoyed incomparable views of the city below.

There was a lot of construction going on outside of Mozart's birthplace, so we continued on their 'high street', St. Blasius Church (and former hospital) drawing ever closer, then meandered down toward the River Salzach again.

The most amazing smells, heavily laden with garlic, assaulted us before long, and so we found ourselves in Sternbräu for a 'snack'. A knuckle of pork, two sausages, a potato dumpling, a bowl of goulash and a plate of chips later -- oh, and a tasty glass of unfiltered Gösser Zwickl for me -- we decided that supper might just be out of reach, and so, ordered dessert (as you do).

I really enjoyed the atmosphere there: it was like a biergarten, but toned down. Its many vaulted ceiling helped to keep each table's conversation local, such that many families and elderly couples were there, enjoying what seemed to be a regular evening out for them.

The staff were great too. Our waiter had spent a lot of time working near an American base in Turkey, and his English was excellent; so much so, that he even made fun of us for asking whether the fabulous garlic smells might mean escargot was on the menu.

"We don't serve that French [heavy disdain] food here! This is Austria! We don't have snails or froggies! Our food was on four legs, and a good size!"

Good times!

Don't forget to check out the Picasa album for more pictures from each day.