The next day I got up early to take some photos. Across from the apartment there are some stairs that go up to a monastery that used to be a fortress. Above the stairs there is a statue of Jesus on the cross that is fairly lifelike a gory. From the apartment, he is about level with the window. I told Eve that during the night, Jesus comes down from the cross and searches for naughty little girls.
I walked up the stairs, below jesus, who by that point in his nightly hunt had returned to his cross, and up to the monastery. I actually went a bit beyond the monastery but it was very dark and I had read that the view from up higher was blocked by trees. I did come across a memorial to Mozart the chocolate man but it was too dark to take a photo. So I walked back down and was started by a figure off to the side. It was a statue. I was stared 3 or 4 more times by various statues dotted around the place. In the darkness it was a little unnerving. I found a good photo place in front of the monastery on a wall, which I later learned was the fortress wall, that goes for a mile along the ridge if the hill.
It was probably the coldest I've been this trip, sitting up above that wall, but the view was good and it was shaping up to be a great sunrise. I could see the castle on the hill across the river, with mountains behind it in the distance, and the sun was coming up behind one of those mountains. I waited an hour in the cold and watched as a huge cloud formed over that mountain and completely ruined everything. I thought maybe the rising sun heated the snow on the other side of the mountain and formed the cloud. Whatever happened, it was a rubbish sunrise.
That day we went up the vehicular funicular that goes almost perpendicular to the castle. The castle contains a museum that was interesting in parts. Notably the world war two part was interesting because it was completely absent. I was suspicious of this so did some googling and learned that Salzburg was the location of a labour camp, 5 Dachau sub camps and a transit camp for Roma people. Almost half of the towns buildings were levelled by the allies as well. Other things of interest were the section about a bloke called Paracesum, who was a bit of a renegade, pioneer doctor and the monk of Salzburg who wrote a heap of songs.
The girls had packed it in by that point and forced Shannon back to the apartment. I went and met them back there then we went to the Mirabell Palace. It was a big building with a nice garden. We couldn't go inside, we think because there was a concert that night.
The following morning we got the train to Vienna. I encouraged Shannon to leave earlier as I get so nervous about all the things that could go wrong. Everything went right though, including the uber appearing seconds after Shannon ordered it, so we waited at the station for a while. We are in a hotel in Vienna. Lily is very happy because it has "free" breakfast. To be fair, it also has lollies and the reception gave Lily and Eve a very nice bear each.
Yesterday we met up with Shannon's friends from South West Rocks who now live here. We went to a music museum that was where Phil first discovered the harmonica. It was good for the kids but I found it largely very boring. We then went to their house for a delicious duck and cabbage meal. I mean that, it was very very nice although I'd have cooked a few more ducks.
Today we slept in and then went to the museum of illusions. Despite it being located in the building that was also the Ukrainian embassy, which caused some confusion, it was fantastic. It was only small, basically a few rooms, but it was packed with illusions. Now I think about it, was it even just a few rooms? It might've been dozens.
After that we wandered to some of the spectacular buildings that I remember from my last trip to Vienna. They really are impressive. In one of the perfectly manicured hedges Lily found a hollow that had been carved out and what appeared to be some toilet paper.
We returned to the hotel to watch a movie (Napoleon - directors cut which goes for 3:24). About half way through Shannon received an email to say her flight tomorrow was cancelled and she'd have to leave a day later. It was quite a debacle, with much stress, but she managed to fix it fairly quickly. They are now taking a different route via London, which means they leave a little earlier, but get home at the same time.
That brings us about up to speed. Tomorrow I go to Uherske Hradiste.
I can't be bothered putting the photos where they belong, I'm just going to upload a heap at the bottom, like the good old days of this blog (which started almost 10 years ago!)
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