Day 7 Linz and Salzburg

After getting our rather stiff legs back into shape (and we weren`t the ONLY ones!) we started off on our next touring day. By this point, we were already thinking that this cruise is far too short for the number of stops it makes – just confirming something we had figured might be the case when we booked.


Linz itself really is not known for any one thing in particular and would probably rather NOT be known for one thing that it was. That being that Adolf Hitler grew up in the city and spent much of his youth here. Beyond that, it is a university town and a centre of the German steel industry. In the last 15 years, they have been working on improving the cultural side of the city, and are concentrating on the future rather than the past. The modern art museum and the museum of technology have some of the most interesting architecture in the city, both lighting up with thousands of LEDs at night.

And the other thing it is known for is its cake, Linzer Torte, an almond cake with red currant (or raspberry the way Monica makes it) filling. After a brief walking tour of the city we also made a somewhat less brief coffee and torte stop in the main square.

The Main Square

Looking at the Cathedral from the Royal Palace

Monica with her Linzer Torte

Linz was also the "jumping off" point for the three big optional tours; Salzburg, Cesky Krumlov in the Czech Republic, and the Gmunden Lakes District (or Salzkammergut). Since one of the big selling features was to go back to where we first met lo those many years ago, we chose Salzburg, naturally. After a two hour drive, most of which was spent snoozing, we arrived in Salzburg.

To be honest, after 37 years neither of us remembers much of Salzburg, beyond the fact we climbed the hill to the castle that overlooks the city, so much of the tour was new to us. We saw most of the standard tourist sights, especially those used in 'The Sound of Music', including the park where the Do-Re-Mi song was filmed and the cemetery that was used at the end of the movie – which doesn't look at all like it does on film.

It was unfortunate that our city tour went a little over time, but we had also been keeping an eye on the funicular that goes up to the castle to see how quickly we could get there at the end of the tour. We noticed, though, that it didn't seem to be moving at all, and there was no way we would have enough time to walk up like we had done in our first visit. So, having determined that we'd have to come back again to accomplish that goal, we consoled ourselves with a slice of warm Salzburger Apfelstrudel and a cup of coffee, kindly provided by our friend Roy.

Looking up at the castle - in front of us is the "Do-Re-Mi" fountain 

Mozart's birthplace - you think anyone could possibly miss it?





Yes - this is the second piece of cake in one day!

Fortunately we managed to dodge the rain – we had some on the way to Salzburg, and another shower on the way back, but stayed pretty dry while we were there, unlike Linz where back at the ship they had been having a huge thunderstorm all afternoon. Once we got back and had dinner, our final Austrian night included a visit by a musical trio called La Strada, made up of two violinists and a guitarist. They played a variety of pieces from classical to opera to folk music, and were every bit as good as the buildup they got from Rachel, the Cruise Manager.