Salzburg - Guests of the Captain

The clocks have gone back an hour in Europe overnight so I'm up earlier than normal. There is a lot of mist and fog coming over the mountain when the sun starts to come up and it's quite lovely to watch. A bit later, it starts to rain, and rain...and rain...

We go down for breakfast then out to buy some fabulous soft and furry socks and the rain is settling in, which is fine for us - we had the lovely day yesterday where there was a bit of cloud but no rain. It's a bit of a shame for the tourists who arriving this morning though - hope they are there overnight and it's a good day tomorrow.

We have a bit of time before the train so I decide to pop into the museum, thinking it is somewhere to go while it's raining but expecting it to be a bit country town-ish. Alison popped back to yesterday's shop for a nice coffee. The museum was great, though, and surprisingly high-tech and informative. It started with a 3D video about the town, but that was in German and I was surrounded by Germans so I couldn't change it to English.

It was all about the history of Hallstatt and for a small town, there is a lot of history. Lots about the salt mine, a lot of which we learned yesterday, but also parts on how the people lived, and all about what was known as the 'Hallstatt Culture'.

And the discovery of a necropolis provided a lot of detail on how people lived and died during the Iron Age and before.

Then it's back to check out of our beautiful hotel. They had told us that it was too rough for the ferry so they are organising a taxi. There are six of us taking it and it is a short trip to the station. It's looking rough out there!

I went outside to take some photos of the storm and station guard tell some tourists the train was not running and buses were coming. That was all that was said - no announcements to the people inside the waiting room, not a word. So the bus arrived and he came in and told everyone to get in the bus - people were confused and not sure what to do, he gestured for everyone to get on the bus!

So we go to the bus, the driver loads our bags and we hop on, still no word about what is happening. Our friend from the taxi hadn't heard what was happening so I told him what I had heard and we decide to stick together - we are all going to Salzburg...

The bus heads to Hallstatt and stops briefly, the driver seems surprised that no one is getting off. We say we just came from here and a local girl asks where we are going. When we say 'Salzburg', the boy in front of me says we have to get off at the next stop and get the train to Attnang Puchheim, so thank goodness for the locals! 

Some wet scenes along the way... It's still picturesque, even in the rain!

We get to Bad Goisem and the driver actually says anyone for Vienna, Salzburg and others to get off here, which we do. With our friend from the taxi, comparing notes...

Stand around for a while, station master says he's not sure when something will come for us so we go inside and sit and wait. 

It's not too long before he says a train will be coming in 20 minutes, which it does, so we sit on it and wait...

And off we go - finally - an hour after we were meant to be leaving, but at least we are leaving. We finally get to Attnang Puchheim and cross over to wait for the Salzburg train. Poor Alison is discovering the joy of the travel day - these days are long and boring when nothing goes wrong, and when trains don't come and it's rainy and there's buses and no instructions given, they can be hard work! But we are finally on the train to Salzburg...

And as we ride, the grey clouds disappear and the sun comes up!

We do finally arrive in Salzburg, an hour later than planned, but that's not a problem. Into a taxi and to our amazing night stay at the home of Captain Von Trapp and Maria - Schloss Leopoldskrun - the palace that was once owned by Max Reinhardt, Uncle Max in the movie. It was built in 1736 and was used for filming of The Sound of Music exterior scenes. And we are staying here tonight! 

I was so excited when I came across this and they had rooms available. When I first looked at it, they were having a conference here and it was booked out, but I had another look a few weeks before we left and they had moved the conference back a week and we could now book a room! And here it is...

We check in on the side building and the lovely receptionist walks us over and into our room - we waited till she left before jumping for joy! Here's my hand-written welcome letter and look at the key!

And the room itself... Sorry, that should read 'suite'... It's the Tilly Losch Suite - she was a dancer and choreographer.

You can almost see the view from the window - overlooking the Fortress...

Then we went outside, where the exterior scenes were filmed...

Then over to the cafe for a very much-needed coffee and cake - complimentary...

And at reception...

There is also a signed photo of Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer.

For dinner, we walk around the lake to a lovely restaurant with a lovely waiter, who keeps up the good-looking Austrian tradition very well, we dub him Mr Silver Fox and he brings us a welcome drink - a French wine with elderberry and cucumber and it is actually delicious!

Then a most delicious fettuccine and risotto and because the mains were so good, we got a dessert - chocolate mousse with cherry ragout....delicious!

Then we walked back, attempting to capture some of this amazing place with ordinary cameras...