Salzburg Views

We stayed at Hotel Amadeus on Linzergasse, not too bad of a walk from the train station. Our flight was scheduled to arrive at Munich Airport at 11:50 and we caught the 12:24 S8 (suburban train) to Munich Central Station and then the 13:27 train from Munich Central Station to Salzburg. I didn't think we would get through passport control and get our baggage in time to make the 13:27 to Salzburg, but we did and arrived around 3PM.

 

We had room 34, 2 bedrooms, a hall, shower room with 2 sinks, separate room for the toilet and an alcove with a couch. It was a great hotel in a great location, breakfast was included.

 

View of Festung Hohensalzburg(Salzburg Fortress) from Mirabel Palace gardens.

 

View of Festung Hohensalzburg from the overlook at the Kapuziner Kloster (Monastery). There were a lot of steps up to the overlook from Steingasse. There was also a steep road which lead back down to Linzergasse, very near our hotel. The Dom (main cathedral) is the large building with the green domes in the center of the photo.

 

View of the Modern Art Museum from the overlook.

 

The wind vane on top of one of the Monastery buildings.

 

Monastery (Yellow building, upper right quadrant) viewed from the Fortress. St. Peter's is in the bottom left of the photo and has some catacombs cut into the side of the mountain.

 

Off in the distance, the Modern Arts Museum. The Altstadt (Old City) is seen on this side of the Salzach river and the city center is on the opposite side.

 

Monastery (upper left quadrant) seen from the overlook at the Modern Arts Museum. There was an elevator to this overlook, it took about 40 seconds.

 

The fortress from the Modern Arts Museum.

 

We purchased the Salzburg card for 48 hours, it includes free use of public transportation, the elevator to the Modern Arts Museum, the funicular to the Fortress and free entry to most of the town's sights. It was well worth the price.

Easter Time

Easter went well, all were there except for the eldest who lives across the pond and was preparing for the Royal Wedding. We had 16 people and plenty of food.

 

Just a small selection of the food, some old, some new.

 

 

Some new alpines for the troughs.

 

Also bought two different types of campenula which will go into one of the pumice rocks that I have to carve out. I also have a campenula plant in the ground I will divide and put in the same trough. Each plant has different color blooms and blooms at different times. Forgot we had planted these.

 

Yesterday I planted basil, tomatoes, eggplant and replaced the dead Rosemary in the herb garden with one I was trying to make a bonsai from, it wasn't working out anyway.

Travel? Why Not! Salzburg

Travel

• 9 hours flight time from NYC to Salzburg Airport not including stops
• 2 hours from Munich by train
• 3 hours from Vienna by rail
• 2 hours to Innsbruck
• 20 minutes Salzburg Airport to Train Station
• 20 minute walk from Salzburg Train Station to the City Center

The City Center is split by the Salzach River. Sights on the Left bank of the Salzach River (Old Town)

• Hohensalzburg Castle dominates the city up on the Festungsberg mountain.
• Additional fortress walls and gates on Monchsberg mountain (next to the Castle) and walking paths and viewpoints
• Salzburg Residenz
• Main Catherdral
• St Peter's Abbey church, Baroque style
• Botanical Gardens of Salzburg University are behind the Castle mountain
• Mozart's Birthplace
• Getreidegasse (shopping lane)
• Sound of Music tourismus ist verboten

Sights on the Train Station side of Salzach River (New Town)

• Mirabell Palace and Gardens
• Capuchin Abbey, view platform below the abbey over the city towards the Fortress.
• Mozart's Residence
• Hop-on Hop-off Bus
• Hauptbahnhof, sounds better than Central Train Station

Sights outside of Salzberg

• Beer Museum and Restuarants, 10 minutes by bus
• Hellbrun Palace 20 minutes from city center
• Hohenwerfen Fortress 45 minutes outside Salzburg by rail

Beer Gardens

• StieglKeller, between the castle and the cathedral
• Augustiner Bräustübl Tavern, across the river from the Mirabell Palace

Travel? Why Not! Amsterdam

Travel

• 8 hours NYC to Schiphol Airport
• 2 hours London airports to Schiphol
• Less than 5 hours, London St. Pancras to Amsterdam Centraal by rail
• 15 minutes Schiphol Airport to Amsterdam Centraal
• 15 minutes Paddington/Heathrow via Heathrow Express
• 30 minutes Paddington/Heathrow via Heathrow Connect
• 2 hours by express train from Brussels

Sights

• Hop on/Hop off Canal boat, good for the first day, sit back, see the city and plan the rest of you visit.
• Tulip Museum, 15 minute walk from Centraal Station
• Houseboat Museum, further down the Prinsengracht from the Tulip Museum
• Pipe museum, also on Prinsengracht
• Royal Palace
• New Church, same plaza as Royal Palace
• Botanical Garden
• Hermitage Amsterdam near the Botanical Garden
• Small Brewery with tours, past the Zoo
• list of museums in Amsterdam
• Holland Official Tourism website

Travel? Why Not! Munich

Travel

• 8 hours NYC to Munich Airport
• 2 hours London airports to Munich
• 13+ hours, London St. Pancras to Munich Central by rail via Paris (sleeper train) Not much of an option.
• 40 minutes Munich Airport to Munich on S-Bahn 1 or 8(either Central or East stations)
• 15 minutes Paddington/Heathrow via Heathrow Express
• 30 minutes Paddington/Heathrow via Heathrow Connect

Sights

• Hop-on Hop-off Munich City bus tour
• Marienplatz, lots of sights around this plaza.
• Munich Residenz, multiple museums in former Palace including the Treasury displaying jewels from former Royals. Near Marienplatz
• HofGarten, Court gardens of the Residenz
• Main Deustsches Science and Technology Museum on the Isar River
• Alpine Museum - Mountaineering museum, near the main Deutsches Museum
• Bavarian National Museum, armour, musical instruments and the history of Bavaria.
• BMW Museum, next to Olympiapark via the U3
• Nymphenburg Palace and Park
• Munich Botanical Garden, next to Nymphenburg Palace

Beer Halls/Beer Gardens

• Augustiner Keller, near Central Station
• HofBrauhaus Beerhall, near Marienplatz
• Lowenbrau, near Central Station

Good things come to those who wait

Finally, the Meyer's Lemon has buds, and lots of them. Had re-potted the plant over the winter to make sure the graft was above the soil, also trimmed some roots and not too long after I saw new growth and now buds. Hoping for a huge crop of lemons.

 

Grecian Windflower (Anemone blanda), people say you plant these and forget them, but for us they never seem to increase in population.

 

Hosta, won't bloom for quite awhile. This batch will be moved soon.

 

Lilac, hard to believe this will become the gorgeous, scented bloom we look forward to.

 

Glory of the Snow (Chionoxdoxa Luciliae)

 

We have already had crocus, hyacinths (blue and pink), daffodils and Siberian Squills blooming.

Corned Beef

In honor of St Patrick, I converted a plain old beef brisket into a something that tasted exactly like Corned Beef. I used the recipe from Michael Ruhlman's book Charcuterie, and cut the recipe in half.

• 2.8 pound beef brisket
• 2 liters water
• 1 cup kosher salt
• 1/4 cup sugar (I used raw sugar)
• 1/2 oz pink salt (6.25% sodium nitrite)
• 2 tablespoon pickling spices

Bring the water, sugar, salts and 1/2 the pickling spices to a simmer in a pot to dissolve the salts and sugar. Let cool to room temperature, chill. Place brisket and brine into a 2 gallon zippy bag and leave in the fridge for 5 days.

Cook in a slow cooker all day with water, a beer, the remaining pickling spices and some potatoes and carrots. The plan was to eat the potatoes and carrots, but they were too salty. They had sacrificed themselves for our pleasure.

Looks like Corned beef, tasted like corned beef, no one died.

 

So 2 Passes and one Fail, Corned beef, roasted Cabbage with fennel and supremely salty root veg.

 

Another Success - Paella #2, just as good as the first. This time there were 5 diners and we still had lots of leftovers.