07.35 It is Easter Monday. It is morning in Austria and Salzburg. Outside the springbirds sing beneath a gray sky. Today we'll explore the city more thoroughly. First, as soon as we're ready, we will examine the breakfast table.

08.52 We are soon ready to go down to the lobby to have breakfast. I hope for a good start on a good day.

09.48 Breakfast was a lot and yet not. We were in all cases, full and content. All around us in the breakfast room sat practitioners of capoeira from all over Europe. It is still cloudy but a bit sun can be seen on the horizon. Our accommodation, Jufa (http://www.jufa.at/salzburg-e.php), is one of the best we´ve had on any trip. It's new, fresh and modern. It has a small cafe and a dining room for breakfast, lunch and dinner. It is conveniently located in the city and you can live in both dormitory and private rooms.

Jufa (Jugend und Familie Gasthaus) in Salzburg.

Christer socializes with animals made of stone outside the high school in Nonntal.

10.55 We’ve left the safety at Jufa and wandered out into the urban environment in Salzburg. Christer is sitting holding a map taken inside the tourist information. We are sitting on a bench in the square Mozartplatz.

11.19 Yet another bench, another place and town square. This time we are on Kapitelplatz. It includes a beautiful fountain, Kapitelschwemme. I’ve been assisting some Asians to take a group photo in front of the fountain. A violinist is playing "Ave Maria". Here it´s probably even more wonderful on a sunny summer day. Beside us stands the statue of a man on a large golden globe. On the square there is also a large chess board. A committed little guy is just about to move all the chess pieces into their proper position.

11.34 We've looked at an old water wheel (Wassermühle). Near here is also the starting point of the funicular which leads up to the fortress Hohensalzburg. Transportation up and the entry cost US$14 together so we leave that experience out.

Here you can go with fiaker (horse carriage), unfortunately, far too expensive. The picture is from Residenzplatz.

Salzburger Dom, a cathedral in Baroque style.

Peter is walking around on Kapitelplatz, Salzburg.

Peter has photographed Japanese tourists.

11.47 After walking around in the old cemetery, we´ve now entered St. Peter's Church. It smells old and it´s really beautiful in here. It has quite an amazing ceiling and wall paintings. Everything leads up to a gilded altar.

12.10 We’ve looked into an icon exhibition that we saw advertisements for last night. They also sold icons, expensive ones. Perhaps you want a Russian icon for a few thousand euros? We are now at University Square. Here they sell, no icons, but some local delicacies. I have just tasted a bit of cheese and realized that if I try a little more I will actually buy the cheese. In the house behind this Mozart's sister, Anna (Nannerl) has lived.

St. Peter's catacombs.

A visit to St. Peter's Church, Salzburg.

Icon exhibition, large values in a small space.

12.40 We are looking for warmer temperatures in the same place where we searched cover from the rain yesterday. Here they sell stuff from the brand Mandarina Duck. A backpack costs 469 euros. Maybe something to carry the icons in?

13.42 We’ve walked across the Salzach River to the city's newer part. We are now behind what was once the railway station. We hope that the chaos we´re observing here will lead to a new railway station. Here we will buy our Vienna-tickets.

14.24 It took a little time to buy tickets from the machine. The machine did not like my notes. First I tried with a 50-euro note. The machine just spat it out. After that I withdraw some new, tastier, banknotes. It was tested with another machine with the same result. The banknote was spat out. It did however like the 10-euro notes and tickets could be purchased. Now we are looking for a place to have a late lunch.

Getreidegasse, a pedestrian street in the oldest part of Salzburg.

The river Salzach is the border between new and old Salzburg.

Easter bunnies outside Café Habakuk on Linzer Gasse.

15.15 After a long walk in restaurant-empty parts of Salzburg our lunch finally became some large bacon sandwiches with drinks to it. Bacon may not sound delicious, but this was the fresh produce purchased in the University square and incredibly tasty. Everything was consumed on the steps of University Church (Universitätskirche).

15.38 Now this is nice! The sun has shown itself. We are now at Makartplatz. To the right of us is the house where Mozart once lived in (Mozart Wohnhaus). Right in front of me is Dreifaltigkeitskirche, Trinity Church. We're back on the newer side of town.

15.51 We are now near a fountain in front of the Mirabell Palace. It was built by Archbishop Wolf Dietrich for his mistress, Salome Alt. She bore him 10 children. It all took place in the 1600´s.

Christer together with one of the 28 marble dwarfs in the Mirabell Palace
dwarfgarden (Zwergelgarten).

Mirabellgarten.

16.14 We’ve finished looking at Mirabell Palace’s beautiful garden with fountains, dwarf statues, etc.. It is the garden which is the sight to see here. The castle itself contains an office to renew the passport and other less spectacular things.

16.37 We are currently walking up the Kapuzinerberg. We’ve walked through an extremely steep road from the Linzer Gasse. We’ve covered a bit and have a good view over the city roofs. The mountain was named by the capuchin monks who have a monastery on the mountain and it´s 640 meters above sea level. I wonder what level we started from.

17.03 The view of Salzburg is incomparable. Here around us everything is so quiet and down there life goes on. Here I can stay forever. But there are other things that wait this eventfilled day.

View of Salzburg.

Peter is heading up the Kapuzinerberg.

Christer is waving.

17.19 You can walk kilometres of trails on Kapuzinerberg but we have neither the time or strength to do so. We walked a short loop and prioritized views of the city. Behind bars behind me now is a character, a man, a saint perhaps. He is behind bars to be left alone from vandalism.

17.44 We walked down the mountain and have continued south towards our hostel. Behind us now is the icehockey arena where Red Bull Salzburg play their home games. They are one game from becoming Austrian champions this season. Right now a carriage which was pulled by two horses passed by.

Red Bull Salzburg play their icehockey here.

18.28 We're sitting in the red and orange coloured sofas in the lobby of our hotel. We are waiting for some check-in people to leave the reception. We want the girl there to arrange for coffee and pastries for us.

18.55 After some waiting we´ve places our orders. There was coffee and two slices of soft bread each. Why is there only one person working at the reception and the bar? It feels hectic to run between the two tasks.

20.08 We’ve rested in our room for an hour now. We’ve also been checking up on excursions for the tomorrow. Soon we are out on the town for a late dinner.

20.30 After we´ve been standing in a phone booth we moved to a bus stop. We´re seeking refuge from the rain and also to check whether there are appropriate times for the bus departure on Wednesday. Bus number 28 departs from here to the railway station at 08:28. When are we ready to move on?

Suddenly, we thought we saw the grim reaper in the eye, but it was just a piece of art that looked at us.

21.17 We are enjoying a buffet at the Chinese restaurant Yuen. It is really good and very filling. As usual, it becomes a struggle between economy logic. Are you supposed to eat as much as you can just because it is possible or eat enough and feel comfortable?

22.14 We drank, paid and went home. Now, tomorrow's outing is planned. We need a well-oiled schedule. We feel great after all the delicious food we had.

Tonight's dinner restaurant was the Chinese restaurant Yuen. For 10 euros it was free to eat as much as you wanted.

Tuesday 6th of April

08.13 It's Tuesday and an ordinary day. Construction workers are moving along outside the hostel. An explosion in a mine in West Virginia and an upcoming election in Britain. That's what we heard about on CNN. Today is the day when we are going out into the nature.

09.39 During breakfast we got the opportunity to study a larger group of teenagers, school groups, scout groups, what do I know? They were on a trip and had gathered outside the hostel. They behaved like Swedish adolescents. They talked, pushed each other and argued. However, we saw no one who used a cellphone, that´s odd. Perhaps they had been left at home? Let's get ready for our day out.

Hohensalzburg Castle had a blue sky as background today.

11.07 We took a brisk morning walk through Salzburg. After some searching at the railway station we found the location of the bus we looked for. We also found a ticket machine. Christer bought his ticket without any problems. For me, it malfunctioned. Today it was the coin dispenser which absolutely did not want to behave. It spat out coins making the purchase taking too long and I had to start all over. Eventually, however, I also got my ticket.

11.22 Our bus (postbus) left at 11:15 and we are now on our way out of Salzburg. The bus is a hyper-modern one with a computer screen which displays the current and next stop. It is unfortunately quite expensive to travel by bus so we had to settle for a trip about thirty kilometres away from Salzburg.

Austrian countryside.

12.10 I am writing this under the cablecar in St. Gilgen am Wolfgangsee. It is from here our tour will begin. It's a sunny day today. St. Gilgen is a small village with about 3700 inhabitants and is located in the Salzkammergut region, one of the most beautiful areas in Austria. Further away from Salzburg are even more beautiful places, but those we do not have time for today.

Sankt Gilgen.

Sankt Gilgen town hall.

Christer at the lake Wolfgangsee.

12.57 We've been to the supermarket Spar. We bought juice, juicy bread and some other things. At first we thought the cashier was speaking French, but we realized it was probably German with a very odd accent. Now we will pack what we bought before we set off. I hear ducks chattering.

13.14 We walked through the charming and quiet village, with its hotels, restaurants and beautiful facades. It is this kind of place where you should stay if you want peace and quiet and enjoy a maximum of life. We now stand and admire a fantastic beautiful house. There are wood and stone in several floors. There some amazing carpentry and a tree winds up along one wall. Now we will seriously begin to walk along the lake Wolfgangsee. There is a trail to follow.

Beautiful house in Sankt Gilgen.

Christer is leaving Sankt Gilgen.

Wolfgangsee, a lake in the Salzkammergut region.

A good hiking trail around the lake.

13.20 We walked past Karl von Frisch´s house. Who is he? Well he received the Nobel Prize in 1973 for his work on how bees communicate.

13.39 We’ve seen several common hepatica and wood anemones. We are having a classic bench break. The air is clear, the water is crystal clear, the view is breathtaking and the birds singing.

Peter walks along the Wolfgangsee.

14.28 We arrived at Hotel Fürberg and then turned to a smaller trail. We’ve sat down in a slope overlooking the lake and St. Gilgen. We are at a place called Ochsenkreuz. It is time for lunch. The trail we used continued with a steep climb and we will not walk across any mountains today.

15.51 A couple with a dog on a leach just passed. We are back at the trail and are sitting on a bench by the lake. It is time to read in our books. It is a lovely spring feeling around the lake with lots of spring flowers everywhere.

It was a late lunch in the middle of the woods. Peter notes the whole thing in his travel journal.

It is not a bad idea to read a good book by a beautiful lake with birds singing as background music.

17.09 We're back in St. Gilgen village. We rest for a while on a bench near the lake. A lady (grandmother?) is shouting to Linus. Other children are at a small bridge and throw stones into the Wolfgangsee. Now we heard a huge splash, has Linus fallen in? No, it was just a man who threw a large stone.

17.50 Soon the trip has come to a full circle. We are back in place under the cablecar. We will take the postbus back to Salzburg. It has been very clean where we’ve travelled today, not any litter at all. That is nice! This place has been fantastic to visit and it is certainly even more beautiful in summer when the lake´s water is warm and the green trees brings even more beautiful views.

There are at least one boat that is ready for the summer season.

Two shadows waiting for the bus.

19.20 The journey home was just fine. It's a nice sunny afternoon. We are sitting on a bench in front of the cathedral at Domplatz. It is a bit cooler in the shade than in sun. People go around whistling and a man in a gray baseball cap just biked past us.

19.47 We're back home after a day of hiking. We will soon head out again for some kind of dinner.

20.09 We've been down in the lobby and back. We had intended to eat pizza there. There will be none of that. They had run out of their pizzas. Our fine plan came to a dead end.

20.39 We got out and into Sabah's kebap on Rudolfplatz 1A. It is a small kiosk with a few small tables and small seating areas. There is not much but it is food. We also have beer each to our kebabs.

21.07 It was an easy hearty meal which was ended with a Mozartball, a local candy, purchased at the reception. The TV down in the lobby is showing the musical "Sound of Music". The film set in the neighbourhood has never really made it here in Austria but it draws hordes of tourists here.

Tonight's dinner place.