Salzburg..Day 1

We were staying a little way from the "old town" , so had a brisk walk each morning and evening to reach the "sights" very good for our fitness and waistlines anyway.
We started each morning with this breakfast in a warm friendly tiny little backerie.Backerrie Holztrattner..to give them a plug!:)) --such good value too! - good for our budget. I particularly liked that a chocolate came with our morning coffee!!!Yay:)..and I didn't feel the least bit guilty with all the walking we were doing.

Day One saw us visit the Salzburg Dom, Hohensalzburg Fortress(an 11th century castle set high above the city which was b0th a fortress and home to the medieval Archbishops of Salzburg. ( The big gold ball is "Art").. Actually, there was quite a bit of "Art" dotted around the city. - it's quite wonderful..all been beautifully placed so it pops out at you unexpectedly and delightfully when you round a corner.

The fortress was fascinating both inside and out. Interestingly, it was used as a prison for German soldiers as recently as 1930.)WE spent a good amount of time just ogling the view ad nauseum:)
St Peter's Stift and various "sound of Music" locations which you will probably recognise if you've ever seen the movie.


We finished the day with a wonderful warm hearty meal in a restaurant called "St Paul's stubn" somewhere near Nonnberg Abbey ..highly recommended if anyone's visiting Salzburg..You need to go up the stairs and you will find the little restaurant behind a thick curtain...presumably a cold insulating feature, but I was worried for a minute I was about to walk straight into someone's loungeroom!!

We finished with the prettiest walk ever beside the river and back to our hotel.

My Dishcloth is Married:)

I see on the news that the Swedish Princess has married. I have hands-on first hand experience, that she is very good at doing dishes, if somewhat short-lived. I wish her and her Prince a very happy and longlived marriage.

Queen's Birthday Holiday

A beautiful sunny day

is perfect for a bit of a walk( 6 kms) and a spot of at home tourism.


Our route: Mosman Wharf to Shell Cove via Cremorne Point..

We ambled along, stopped on the way to see the lighthouse, watched some boys fishing, ogled at the homes of the rich, and finished up with lunch @ Mosman Wharf.

Last night was the start of the socceroos World Cup campaign. The news when I woke this morning, was a 4-nil drubbing to the Germans. This little fan was undaunted,still wearing the colours with pride this morning .

Füssen to Salzburg

Guten Morgen:)

I wake up... in Germany!! with this outside my bedroom window!!:)
Today, we go our separate ways on our separate adventures., but first, we run up to say goodbye to our castle and take some farewell pics. Barry and I are slightly under the weather.. he with a flu and me with sore cracked and bleeding legs from the dry and cold..ok so we are feeling our age and not exactly in tip top form, but we are having fun and really enjoying the adventure. Having negotiated this far, we are settling into the time patterns on the other side of the world, and feeling like international jetsetters!!



Then it's back to Füssen for us, and off to Prague for Megs and Christopher.
We wander around Füssen which is completely deserted like a ghost town on a Sunday morning, but o so pretty. We manage to find a cup of coffee and a schneeball ( not a fan),take some photos and find a beautiful river and some fun statues. Fussen is tiny, but so pretty surrounded by those snowcapped mountains and in spite of the freezing cold, I'm happy to wander and explore.

Then it's back on the train to Munich where we have a desperate dash to catch our train to Salzburg. The boys retrieve our luggage from the lockers for us, while Barry and I grab something to eat and hoof it to the platform on the other side of the station. Our train arrives and we wave goodbye to the boys and settle in. The train is swish and new and warm and comes complete with leg rests, power to our seats and a trolley dolly who gives us afternoon tea. We load our photos onto Baz's laptop and relax and look out the window. The scenery is glorious..lush green grass, tiny little villages with their church spires gleaming and beautiful snowy mountains,I'm in heaven!There's a footpath running alongside the traintracks for kilometres. We see ppl riding their horses and couples out walking on an afternoon stroll..I'm wondering where they're going..It's a long way between places and it's freezing out there! they seem to be oblivious. I think they're enjoying themselves and just out for a ramble.

In the late afternoon we arrive in Salzburg. It is raining and SOOOO cold. We realize we need to find our hotel.. I know where it is relative to the river and the town centre, but as the bahnhof was undergoing renovation, and we were directed through a rabbit warren of tunnels and ramps, we have no idea which direction it is in relative to us. We ask a few ppl, but no-one seems to know, so we head off in the direction of town(we think) in the sleet and wind. Baz remembers he has his tomtom,so we dig that out and he consults. After many fruitless searches, Baz decides I have the spelling wrong as the street doesn't exist. We dig out our booking papers standing there in the rain..Tempers are starting to fray. No, I have the spelling right. Baz decides the tomtom is wrong. Now any sensible person would have hailed a taxi, but I think, as this was our first grown-up foray into international travel without the aid of the very capable kids, we were determined to prove ourselves, and battled on trundling our suitcases through the rain until we arrived wet,windswept and dripping at our hotel..but o yes!!..we have proved we can get from a to b on our own!!hehe. We dry off and head into town for a look around . We find a warm cheerful restaurant, very Austrian and full of locals.
The table behind us is having a very convivial birthday celebration with lots of drinking and singing. We feel quite pleased with ourselves and tuck into our dinners..mine is a goulash topped with a very artistic sausage..I wonder what masterchef would score it!!!!!.

Walking back to our hotel, we pass a shoe shop where I see something that makes me realize Austria must get a lot of rain!

Shitbags!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We are interrupting this cogenial and jolly travel tale to bring the sad news another implant has gone to heaven.....Shit!!... Periodontist is perplexed and "devastated".....yeah..me too. Current plan of action is to have the de -integrated implant removed and the presumably infected bone tissue scraped and cleaned on Monday..MMmmmm I've had this before..I anticipate pain and suffering:(.

O well, we can't save the implant, so the sooner we get on with an action plan the better. Perio is unsure at this stage if he will want to replace the implant..he is trying to figure out why I've now had 2 failures after many years. ...especially as he did a full perio review just 2 months ago and reported everything was healthy:( Bugger:(