Salzburg, Austria - Day 6 & 7
Blogged on 21 September, 2008 at 12:26 AM by Andrew19th – 20th September
Hellbrun & the End
The vacation was nearing its end, and we had to decide which places to visit in the remaining days. The decision for today was Hellbrun, famous for the ‘Trick Fountains’ (and not related in any way to ‘hell’). After wishing my brother a happy birthday in the early morning, we headed out to catch the train to Salzburg once again. Luckily, this was the third day with good weather, enjoying some short sunny moments.
At Salzburg, we caught the bus towards Hellbrun, immediately visiting the Trick Fountains. If you haven’t noticed yet, it was a large place filled with fountains of different kinds, obviously with their own histories. A fun thing about this place was that one fountain could start to shoot water just in front of you, or above you. It would happen when you least expect it. For instance: You’re at one spot and need to walk through a hallway. There are active fountains at the sides of the hallway, but if you walk in the centre, you will not get wet. However, you realize that at the beginning of the hallway, there are small holes on the floor that – at any time – may shoot water upwards. Knowing this, you rush through this part and walk calmly towards the end of the hallway. This is where it gets you. At the end of the hallway are a few other holes nicely hidden in the wall that would be in front of you, that would shoot water directly onto you, just when you’re feeling all relaxed and calm because you (thought to) have avoided the water.
And below are a few other photos of my mum, dad and myself on this cool slide, without mentioning it was a children’s slide. Just look at our delightful faces.
After reluctantly deciding to let the younger children play with that slide, we headed towards the Salzburg Zoo, which was only a few minutes’ walk from where we were. There isn’t much to say about it, but by all means, I do not say it wasn’t exciting. I can mention that I was looking forward to see the wolves and tigers at the zoo, but we spotted none on our way in. Luckily they woke up on our way back, though I still didn’t get to see the Jaguar. A few photos below (hopefully I can get a few more ‘different’ photos uploaded in the future, but I need certain...permissions):
While walking out of Hellbrun, we took another photo at the entrance. Don’t we look like a serious music band with those looks and poses?
The day ended with a good meal at our favourite restaurant back in St. Johann im Pongau. Nothing could finish off the day better than the excellent beer, food and dessert the restaurant has to offer.
The next day, Friday the 20th of September was practically our last day in Austria. We decided to forget the ice caves for this vacation, and be a little relaxed on this last day (also because we had no chance of waking up early after the beer from the day before, which were followed by a complimentary round of red wine liquor). We simply visited some shops in St. Johann, then later headed to Salzburg, moving about the city. In the evening, for the third consecutive time, we dined at that same restaurant, most of us ordering the same kind of beer, the same kind of dish and the same kind of dessert. We surely are going to miss this restaurant.
Back at the hotel, we packed our things since tomorrow, we will be leaving the hotel early...very early. In fact, while I am writing this, I realize I have to wake up in less than 6 hours (and even less until I would have posted this). Below are the last two photos for the moment (we’ll make albums with much more photos when we’re back in Malta):
Wish us a safe trip back. Good night to all :)