Our second stop on our tour of Central Europe with our kids was Salzburg, Austria – home of Mozart and The Sound of Music. Being big fans of both, we were looking forward to this city, and we were not disappointed. We took a morning train from Prague and arrived in Salzburg in the late afternoon. We really wanted to stop in Cesky Krumlov, but couldn’t figure a way to do it without creating a hectic and expensive trip. The upside is that we did get to Salzburg in time to attend the 8 p.m. concert that I was looking forward to in the Mirabell Palace.
We stayed in an AirBnB right next to the train station. That would normally not be a favorite choice for me, but getting in later and our plan to leave on an early train for Vienna made it an excellent choice for this trip, mainly because of hauling around luggage. I recommended this piece of luggage for our England trip, and I stand by it. A scooter suitcase for a 9 year old is traveling magic! Even the occasional cobblstone street doesn’t change my mind. We had carry-on luggage and four different planes to get to the first leg of our journey, Prague, including a very harried plane change in the huge Amsterdam airport, and that suitcase was a life-saver.
We try not to check more than one bag so that we are forced to pack lightly for the inevitable times we have to drag luggage around, getting on trains, planes, subways, ride-shares, and – toughest of all – buses. We do like one checked bag so we don’t have to stress about buying jams or other souvenirs you can’t carry on. As a family, we inevitably are attracted to exotic condiments, foodies that we are. I also have learned to roll up a duffel bag in there, since we always return with more than we left with and no on wants to stick dirty laundry back in the suitcase with clean clothes. Enough of packing tips – on to Salzburg fun!
In preparation for our trip I read The Secret Wish of Nannerl Mozart by Barbara Nickel with my nine year old. The older sister of the famous composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, she was a talented performer, prodigy, and composer, in her own right. It was a fair representation of what she must have felt like under Wolfie’s shadow and as a talented girl in that time period. The various palaces and rulers of the time period are described and it is always wonderful to read about such things so the kids are excited when they recognize them!
And while traveling I read Paul Johnson’s biography of her more famous brother, simply titled Mozart, a very balanced look at his life and his always scrutinized relationships with his father, Leopold, and his wife, Constanze. There I learned that Mozart hated Salzburg and preferred Vienna. But this was because of treatment by rulers and not because of beauty. Because Salzburg is gorgeous. Both books were excellent introductions to the area.
Mirabell Palace with its gardens is one of the prettiest places I have ever laid eyes on. I am glad we visited in June when everything, the many varieties of roses included, was in bloom. The concert was a program of Mozart’s music, in a place where he performed regularly, by musicians who have dedicated themselves to performing and interpreting his music. It was beautiful! We dressed up, took pictures in the garden, and took more pictures in the palace itself. The evening’s performance featured an oboist. We are all music fans, my undergraduate degree being in music and my 20 year old currently studying music in college. My nine year old left the concert asking for an oboe for Christmas!
I provide my kids with travel journals, pens, and a glue stick for big trips like this. It gives something something constructive to do on trains and planes, of course. But more importantly, it helps them process and remember. We do and try so many exciting things on our vacations that, on a 10 day trip, they can forget half of the things that they loved at the time. They glue tickets, programs, and brochures right into their journals. And then they write a few sentences about the experience. Of course, my nine year old needs prompting to do this, unless she is copying her older sisters, but the results are a keepsake of her own thoughts and feelings on her travel experiences.
Our second day in Salzburg was for adventure! We took an hour bus ride outside the city to the Alps, specifically Durnnberg Mountain, to the Keltenblitz alpine coaster. We went up the ski lift, which was beautiful by itself (though one of my older kids was not a fan of the height without seat belts) and came down the single rail on a little “car”. You determine when you purchase tickets how many times you wish to go down the mountain. We did it twice. My youngest would have like to do it once more. She kept the brake on much of the time on the first run and finally felt comfortable when it was time to quit. It was lots of fun!
There was a little snack shop at the top and the employees were very friendly. However, though the website advertised a petting zoo and a gnome trail for kids, the employees seemed to have never heard of these things. Getting back to Salzburg, though not difficult, held a few surprises. Although they are used to tourists out there because of the mountain and salt mines, beware that the buses back and forth do not run that often, or very late, and the bus drivers do not speak English. We were not charged extra on the way out, and we were charged twice on the way back, full price at each bus transfer. A group of German-speaking girls had the same trouble, so it wasn’t a language issue.
We spent some time walking around Old Town’s shops. We bought the famous Mozart truffles for a better price in the grocery store (the blue and silver ones are the authentic ones and are delicious, not the cheaper red ones). I found the most beautiful Bavarian outfit for my little one – we called it her Fraulein Maria dress. Authentically three pieced, she wore it to every nice occasion for the rest of the trip.
And best of all, we stopped at Cafe Wurfel Zucker for their incredible strudel and we were impressed. My littlest wanted warm apple strudel and schnitzel with noodle, just like the Favorite Things song. Every schnitzel we came across in all four cities was served with potatoes. So we are calling out the song as American. But the strudel – mmmmmm! I am dreaming of it right now. We took a picture in front of Mozart’s bright yellow birthplace and added a lock to the bridge.
The next day was one of our trip highlights, and that was Fraulein Maria’s Bicycle Tour. Walking around Salzburg the evening before, I’ll admit, I started to get nervous about this one. Though my nine year old rides a bike well and has been riding for a few years, its riding through busy, narrow streets that I did not like the thought of. Though she did make me sweat a little, there were several others kids on the bike tour. It took us to many of the Sound of Music sites from the film. We heard behind the scenes stories and re-enacted a few famous moments.
I believe we covered five miles, with two bathroom stops, including an opportunity to buy a bun at Stiftsbackerei St. Peter’s, dating back to the 12th century. There was no way we could have seen all of the locations that we did on a walking tour. Some were a bit outside town and obscure.
We did have one mishap. One of the most beautiful parts of the ride is along a long gravel pedestrian road with the city ofnone side and the majestic Alps on the other. At the end of it was a road and my little one had been following her sister too closely. Big sister stopped short and little sister skidded around her, scraping her poor little bum through her leggings. People ran over with alcohol wipes and our guided circled back with a big bandage. While I cleaned her up, a friendly paramedic even came by and checked on us. After a few tears she hopped back on the bike and I cleaned her up a bit more at the next bathroom. It was a good spot of road rash, but nothing more. It didn’t dampen our enthusiasm to sing Sound of Music songs loudly as we passed disapproving old Austrian ladies.
That evening was our show at the Marionette Theater. Since this frequently sells out in advance, I booked Mozart’s Magic Flute. I like that opera and a scaled down, one hour version with puppets seemed a good introduction for kids. My nine year old was furious at the end of it, though. She was waiting the whole time to hear the Queen of the Night Aria, and, in condensing a three hour opera to one hour, they left out the best part. In hindsight, I should have booked the Sound of Music marionette show, but I foolishly thought we would have had enough Sound of Music for one day. You almost forget you are watching puppets because the movements are so life-like!
We never made it up the hill to the Fortress. Its always good to leave something for next time we come! I could easily have spent another day or two exploring this quaint city. It turned out to be one of our favorites. We were the most adventurous here and it also had the best food! We had amazing steaks at Der Kastner and we enjoyed flaky breakfast pastries at Salz & Zucker Backerei each morning. This is a city made for families to enjoy. I hope we get to return someday!
