Salzburg

Due to all the rain and cold weather in Hallstatt, Paul suggested we leave a day early and spend some time in Salzburg instead.  Our hotel was nice enough to let us skip out early with no penalty, so that's what we did.

While taking Rick Steves' walking tour of Salzburg, Paul got pretty thirsty and tried to drink from a fountain:

We also saw a neat cemetery.  Bills for the graves are sent on a regular basis until someone doesn't pay, and then the body is removed.  What this means is that the graves are kept very nicely decorated with plants because the relatives are still alive and paying for the space.  Graves with a rectangular area for plants exist in the Homewood Cemetery near our house in Pittsburgh, but they are either weeds or pachysandra now - none of them seem to be maintained.  The cemeteries in Europe are much prettier in that regard:

We also checked out some art deco fifties schmuck:

Okay, we didn't actually go inside, but I find the word schmuck amusing.  Apparently, it means jewelry in German.

Paul was intrigued by a sun dial that showed the time and the date... if the vendors hadn't set up shop right on top of it (the sun dial pole is to the left of the dude in the center of the photo, the sun dial markings are on the pavement under the shop and beyond):

Then there was this street with its fancy brass signs and loads of people:

where we stopped for an elderflower liquor (although I think we may have been given pear instead...):

We also toured the Hohensalzburg Fortress:

I got confused and tried to play Caracassonne again:

We topped off the evening with a Mozart Dinner Concert, which entertained as well as fed us:

For one of the props of the evening, the male opera singer borrowed a Rubik's cube from one of the attendees, which was pretty amusing.  All in all, the performers were great.  I would have liked a few more instrumental pieces, and it would have been nice not to have been charged 6 Euro for a bottle of water on top of the 108 Euro we had already paid for the dinner and music.  Pah.  I dislike paying for water in general, but that was probably the most expensive bottle yet.  And it was most likely just tap water poured into a reusable glass bottle.

Castles, Dali, and Picasso, oh my!

We visited a castle on the top of Montjuïc in Barcelona. It had some neat stuff, including a big gun:

a lovely garden:

and a great view of the shipping port:

It's unbelievable how big that place is.  Thousands of shipping containers, and many ships out at sea waiting to pick them up.

We also took a day trip out to the Dali museum.  That was certainly an interesting place!  From shiny things:

to paintings of rock people:

to Abe Lincoln's "cheeky" (look closely, folks) portrait:

We also visited the Picasso museum, but weren't allowed to take photos.  Paul and I concluded that we like Picasso's earlier work - you know, before he was about 19 when he still painted and drew quite realistically.  The first piece of artwork they had by him was a drawing that Picasso did when he was 9.  Pretty neat!

Carcassonne by the Numbers

This post is for our nephew, a lover of numbers and the game Carcassonne.

There are two parts to Carcassonne - the really cool old walled city and the modern city.  Our hotel was in the modern city and as we made our way to the walled city of Carcassone for the first time, we realized that great things were in store.  This guy was clearly giving the city +10 points.

And he was right, it's definitely neat!  Paul pointed out that it's an interesting situation - no one actually lives there, it's just for tourists.  I thought it felt like a Renaissance fair.

We also saw this cute train that we think a certain Mr. F. might like. +5 points!

After wandering around for a while, we came upon a church and had a look inside.  It contained many beautiful stained glass windows. +5 points

While we were wandering around the church, three men began singing a song somewhere between a hymn and chanting.  I am sure they would have sounded lovely on their own, but the sound of their voices amplified by the hollow space of the church was breath-taking.  +10 points!

We also saw a gentlemen using a remote control tractor!  +3 points

Having not had enough sugar, we gorged ourselves on nutella banana crepes, orange juice, and a delicious cappuccino.  +3 points

Then, Kate got in trouble and this very serious guard told her to behave. -20 points

But then a nice couple from Calgary, Canada, bought our dinner after a wonderful conversation about Canada, the Rockies, and not to buy into that tourist nonsense by purchasing bear bells - you just sound like "dinner's coming!"   +10 points!

What is the total number of points for the city of Carcassonne?

Playing Carcassonne in Carcassonne!

Then we thought that even better than awarding points to all the cool things about Carcassonne was to play an actual game of Carassonne - IN Carcassonne.  Can you figure out who won?

Paul claimed this finished road that went all the way around the city (12 tiles):

Kate claimed the city of Carcassonne (4 tiles):

Paul claimed the farmland outside the city that touched two cities:

And finally, Kate claimed a smaller, 1 tile city (okay okay, it was part of the larger city, but for the sake of this game, we are considering it separate):

A Tube with a View

View from atop the Fortress of Palamidi

On Friday, we climbed 999 steps up the side of a large hill to the Fortress of Palamidi.  For anyone that knows me, this is quite the feat since I'm not the fondest of heights.  One of my goals for this trip is to work on that, so I'm going to take this opportunity to pat myself on the back and reward myself with gelato for making it both up and down those 999 steps.  (I like to reward myself with gelato on just about any occasion I can.)  Also, as I'm sure you can guess, I did not "cleap over."  Neither did Paul, although he may have wanted to at one point while I had his hand in a serious death grip.

The Fortress of Palamidi sits on a hill above Nafplio. Built in the 1710s, it's a sprawling fortress full of barracks, food storage areas, a church, and my favorite (because I like saying it), "murder holes."  Barring the occasional fear-inducing precipice, it's a fun place to wander around.

That's the church behind the tree.

At one point, I ducked through a tunnel and then noticed another tunnel right next to it.  Curious to see where that one lead, I peeked in and promptly announced to Paul that it was "just a tube with a view."  Since he couldn't stop laughing, I thought it might make a good post title.  

I'm standing next to the tube with a view.

Also neat about this fortress is that you can really explore quite a lot of it - not much is roped off. There's a small area that was called a prison at one point even though it was just a secondary gunpowder magazine.  I can see why one would call it a prison though - we had to duck through a tiny entrance to get into this small, cave-like space (I have no idea why we look so happy.  Seriously, it was like a scary dungeon in there!):

Just a few more cool photos:

Don't look now but I think there's a creeper (the Minecraft variety) in that building!