That restaurant looks very cosy.

I’ve done my share of looking at ‘cosy room with snowy scene’ kind of screen watching over summer, to get that Christmassy feel.

marg - it was a nice day.

Adelaidean - February was my least favorite month in Australia, January my second. Funny, they're also my least favorite months here in the Northern Hemisphere, for completely opposite reasons. It's a balmy 8 F here in Colorado this morning, with about a foot of snow, thanks to three back-to-back snowstorms. I'm ready for spring.

Dec 26 -

We took bus #11 to Josefiau, planning to change to bus #840 - a regional bus to the Jennerbahn in neighboring Germany, knowing we had a 15 minute connection.

Once at Josefiau, we waited…and waited…and waited. No bus. We were in a completely unfamiliar area, unsure what to do. Bill scoured the VVT app looking for an alternate bus to get us back to central Salzburg.

Some 35 minutes later - and just as we were about to give up and walk across the street to a bus stop where we hoped we could catch a bus back to the Hauptbahnhof - our very late bus turned up, absolutely heaving with people.

A male passenger kindly offered me his perch on the wheel well, Bill joined the passengers standing in the aisle. Thoughts of COVID danced through my head.

It soon became clear why the bus was running so late; at every stop more people would pile on, many having to buy tickets from the driver, others who weren’t sure if they were boarding the correct bus, etc. The bus so full now that people were standing on the entrance steps.

I’d assumed the bus would empty out at Untersbergbahn, but we were the only two who got off, having to squeeze our way to the front.

We walked the short distance to the Untersbergbahn, where we had to wait a few minutes to board the cable car, which was also packed; 44 people butt-to-butt, any potential views completely obscured by heads, shoulders and limbs. It was a slow climb to the top.

The Untersberg is the northernmost massif of the Berchtesgaden Alps, a prominent spur straddling the border between Berchtesgaden, Germany and Salzburg, Austria (Wikipedia).

It’s also the mountain that appears in the opening and closing scenes of The Sound of Music, the fictitious escape route of the Trapp Family Singers, who actually left Austria by train. And, the Untersberg borders Germany, not Switzerland.

I’d been to the Untersberg in 2019 and had fond memories of the views and the topfenstrudel at Bergrestaurant Hochalm; this was Bill’s first visit. It’s one of the big ticket items included in the Salzburg Card (€32, €27 for seniors, ascent and decent).

Today though, it was extremely icy, the wind atrocious, and the Bergrestaurant Hochalm closed. Bummer. We poked around at the top for a bit, took some photos, and helped a nervous young woman wearing improper shoes navigate the icy descent to the cable station.

It was a short, very cold visit.

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Untersberg
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Untersberg
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Untersberg
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Untersberg

We went back down, and boarded the waiting bus #25, getting off at Makartplatz, then walked to the natural history and technical museum, Haus der Natur. My niece and I had spent six hours here in 2019, and I knew Bill would enjoy the aquarium and technical areas.

There were a lot of people out on this beautiful day.

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Salzburg
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Salzburg
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Salzburg

We started with lunch in the museum’s bistro; which unlike my last visit when it was very busy on Dec 27, was almost completely devoid of customers.

I was disappointed to discover that there are no longer wait staff to take orders; a central touch screen ordering/payment system has replaced most of the humans. I was looking forward to the lovely salami bruschetta I’d had last time, but it was no longer available. This formerly vibrant restaurant felt a bit depressing.

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Haus der Natur, bistro

But, the food was still pretty good. We shared a pizza, and Bill had noodle soup that was mostly broth, €27 with beverages.

We spent the next few hours wandering the museum. I pooped out early and cooled my heels in the picnic area while Bill explored; I have a low tolerance for museums and this one is huge. While I waited, I gazed down at the street below watching a parade of horse drawn carriages, followed by a guy on a bike pulling a cart. He was cleaning up behind the horses with a shovel in one hand and a cell phone in the other.

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Haus der Natur

Afterwards we walked to Mirabellplatz, poked around a bit, and then caught a bus to the Hauptbahnhof to pick up a few last minute items to take home from Spar. We loaded up on my favorite Austrian cookies, Campino hard candies and L’OR coffee pods, which cost about double in the US.

On a whim, we popped into the nearby H+ Hotel for drinks in their lobby, €17.30.

Then we sought out dinner at Way to India, situated a few blocks from the Hauptbahnhof, not expecting much, but pleasantly surprised - chicken tikka, paneer, rice, garlic naan, sparkling water, €38 and very good.

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Way to India


We then took bus #1 to a stop five minutes from the apartment; the first time in five days that we’d managed to find a bus home.

Despite all the holiday closures, those 72 hour Salzburg Cards had paid off; without them we’d have paid €69 and €64 (senior) for attractions, not to mention some ~10 buses/trams.

Impressions:

Overall, we really enjoyed what we saw of Sud Tirol and Austria. Both offer some spectacular mountain scenery, walking/hiking opportunities, friendly people and reasonably priced food and accommodation. We’d been told by a bartender in Innsbruck that Sud Tirol was more southern Austria than northern Italy, and we found that very much the case. We look forward to exploring more of Sud Tirol and Austria in the future.

Almost done…

Dec 27 -

Alas, it was time to leave. We packed up, tidied the apartment, and walked to the Gorianstrasse bus stop one last time, where we took bus #22 to the Hauptbahnhof.

Once there we bought a Bayern ticket (€39, good on regional transport within Bavaria - inclusive of Salzburg) and then took the RE 5 train to Munich, the train getting quite busy as we progressed.

We arrived at the Munich Airport before noon; unfortunately, the United check-in desk wasn’t due to open until 1 pm.

So, we had lunch at a nearby kebab shop and waited.

When the counter finally opened, an American woman (we suspect from Texas) went ballistic when she was told to get at the end of a short line as they’d combined the queue for premium classes and various airline status holders. She made a complete ass of herself; loudly complaining over this imagined hardship, asking for names of employees and supervisors. It was embarrassing.

Meanwhile another American kept throwing around his Global Priority membership or some such, also making a completely unnecessary fuss. We pretended to be Canadian;)

Once checked in, we cooled our heels in the Lufthansa Senator lounge at the Terminal 2 H gates.

The flight was just as I like, smooth; ten hours of movies, no sleep. We’d been invited to book our meal online the previous day (Business Class) and we were both surprised at how good it was - excellent in fact. Bill had the spare ribs, I had the chicken breast, both were gobbled up.

We arrived in Denver a bit early; we were through customs and immigration like s*** through a goose thanks to Global Entry; our luggage there minutes after we arrived. Sweet.

We had a 2.5 hour layover, not much fun after such a long day. We spent it in the United Red Carpet Club at B gates, which is either new or completely remodeled, it didn’t look familiar to either of us. There was a full buffet, the last thing we wanted at this point, but UA seems to have upped its game (finally!). The airport didn’t feel very busy considering it was two days after Christmas.

Our 19 minute flight to COS was a bit late leaving and seemed to take forever; first flying north almost to Fort Collins, then south of Pueblo then back north to COS - a necessary route due to the wind, but smooth as silk for a change - woo-hoo!

Once at COS, we had our bags within minutes; our ride was waiting. We collected our car and were home just after 11 pm.

Thanks for reading!

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^^^”Today though, it was extremely icy, the wind atrocious, and the Bergrestaurant Hochalm closed. Bummer. We poked around at the top for a bit, took some photos, and helped a nervous young woman wearing improper shoes navigate the icy descent to the cable station.”^^^

And thus you will remain a sainted memory in her travel recollections!

Thanks for posting, Mel! I enjoyed taking this trip virtually with you very, very much. Brilliant pictures. Helpful information and always written with a wonderful sense of humour.

Cannot wait till your next trip report! ;-)

I love “travelling” with you! Thanks.

nyse - :angel:

Ingo - thanks for reading. I need to get busy planning the next trip; not sure where to at this point.

martharap - thank you and good luck with your NZ planning.

Thank you for this wonderful trip report Mel. So much detail and information to absorb and delight in.
Whilst our next trip will not be a snowy one we are re reading your comments and pondering how much we can see in the short time we have.
Mild and not too hot here today: 25C, but as someone who grew up in Perth I do appreciate your struggling with the February heat there. I fortunately lived close to the beach.
Again thank you.

The scenery at the top of the Untersberg is beautiful! But the atrocious wind and icy conditions might deter me. You mention the nervous woman who was wearing inappropriate footwear. What was she thinking? So nice of you to help her.

Love the photos of Salzburg. We were in Salzburg for one day in the mid 90’s. Would love to return and include a visit to Vienna, too.

I love your comment “We pretended to be Canadian.”:)

love_travel_Aus - good luck with your planning. Enjoy that 25 C.

Karen - you'd be amazed what people wear (and don't wear) on the tops of mountains and hiking trails. I see it all the time, and it blows the mind. We were in Vienna for just a day many moons ago and are thinking maybe it's time we go back.

We see Mel & Bill @Munich Aeroporto. They are trying hard to pass as Canucks while the loud American gal carries on.

Mel (nervously whispering to her spouse): "You go first!"
Bill (adamant): "Nope, I went first last time. Your turn hun'."
Mel (deep sigh): "Ok....(raises voice) GEE HONEY, um, I can't wait to get home to Vancouver...and uh...how about them Blue Jays?"
Bill plays along seamlessly: "Well darling, if the Roots store is still open when we get home, think I might buy me another toque."
Mel: "Can't believe what Trudeau said yesterday at that press conference!"

In the background we hear a Texan accent:
"LOOK I DON'T WANNA GIT ALL 'KAREN' ON YOUZ BUT..."

Bill (makes sideways glance; unsure where Mel is going with the latter comment): 'Uhhh yeah...that Trudeau. Dangit! I mean uh (lowers voice then whispers into Mel's ear) ...what do they say up there 'stead of 'dangit'?
Mel says nothing.
Bill continues loudly: 'So YEAH. That varmint Trudeau...uh...telling us all that we hafta...um......like do extra duty on the Grizzly fence repair teams this month. I mean..."

A young German woman has overheard them and approaches with a big smile.
German woman: "Jah, unt I jus' heard you speaking of Canada. I too shall go now to Toronto. Am sooo excited. Unt so nice to meet you Canadians. Here in Chermony I am liking so much the musics of Canada. Will you tell me what is your favorite Rush album? Mine is the Fly by Night."

The Texan accent again, close by:
"MOTHER MARY AND JOSEPH!!"

Mel looks at Bill in a panic. Bill looks back equally stumped. They then respond at the same time:
"American Woman."

I am done. the Mel TR

zebec - your imagination never disappoints:sun: