For our second day in Salzburg we set out to do explore the city. We started with the Fortress that sits above the town. After spending sometime enjoying the views and the marionette museum, we settled down to a beer and pretzel snack with amazing views of the Alps. The funicular ride up the hill was reminiscent of the hills in Pittsburgh and provided a quick up and down. When we came down from the hilltop fortress we wander into the cemetery at St. Peters church. A very ornate and beautiful cemetery with catacombs built into the hillside walls. The church was also a very ornate and lovely sight.
As we strolled back into the city we were treated to a special Salzburg event, St. Rupert’s festival. St. Rupert if the patron saint of Salzburg and the city was alive with a carnival and street festival. The festival is Salzburg’s Oktoberfest event and the locals in traditional costume and authentic foods were everywhere. It was a clearly a big event for this little city.
We also visited the Toy Museum. It is a very small exhibit by museum standards, but one with places for children to play. We arrived late in the day and may have been the only people there while we were visiting. Siena loved the toy museum. She was a circus performer in the center ring, she made the toy trains go around by pushing the start button, she packed groceries and boxes in bags at the model store and she looked at all the exhibits as she ran around the building. One of the things that was great about our trip is Siena was walking. She walks so much better now, only a few weeks later, but she was very much able to hold her own on this trip and for her it was her first chance to explore everything. And explore she did.
We wrapped up our day with an al fresco dinner along the river at the Hotel Sacher. The hotel is known for its flourless chocolate cake dessert, the Sacher Tort. The tort seemed to be knocked off on every dessert menu in Salzburg, but we went for the real thing. The dinner, the views of the city across the river at night and of course the company of my two beautiful girls made it a special evening. As for the tort, it was just average and a little dry for my liking. None the less, a wonderful night.
