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Welcome To Pennsylvania!

After being born in Minnesota, I mostly grew up in Pennsylvania, north of Philadelphia, in Bucks County. It was an area smothered in history. Plenty of George Washington Slept Here's to go around. Washington crossed the Delaware into New Jersey to attack and capture the Hessian Soldiers. Bowman's Tower was constructed as a vantage point to see the whole valley. William Penn, Valley Forge, The Liberty Bell. Levittown.

Being a midwest boy at heart, I never really adapted to living in Eastern Pennsylvania. Growing up, I suppose I didn't mind the hot and humid summers, or the warmish, slightly rainy, ocassionally snowy winters. However, I never warmed up to the culture. I tended to think of the East Coast as cold with attitude, a little too this, too little of that, and with people who drive WAY too fast.

Once high school was over, it was time to get out of Dodge. I made my break back to the Mid West (ish) for College, with a slight detour to Nashville.

Buck County homepage
Bucks County Visitors Bureau
Bucks County Historical Society
Pennsbury Manor
Historic Fallsington

Key West - Florida

One of my best friends, whom I met when I lived in Chicago, had moved to Florida, near Orlando and then on down to Key West.

Doppler Image from NBC6
Radar Image from NOAA

Key West City
Key West
Key West Tourism
Gay Key West
Fantasy Fest

London, England

England

I had long thought about visiting England, it always seemed like an interesting, historic place, still alive and vibrant. I loved the accent, loved the tv shows, and there seemed to be so much civilized education and culture happening there.

However, actually getting there never seemed to come up as an opportunity. My sister, however, got to visit as part of a high school trip. And then she went over as a college exchange student, where she met her future husband. Then she went back after college graduation with a group of friends. And when the summer was over, and her friends were ready to come home, she decided that she wanted to stay awhile longer. And then she got engaged. After the wedding in America, they moved back to London for several years. And right when I was ready to go for a visit... they moved to the States.

It seemed like I might never get there. But then Garth dragged me over in 2002 for a 5 day trip and it was just great.It was posh, and common, and "age" just dripped off everything. One street near Trafalgar Square in London looked like a Hollywood set, it was so perfectly English. Ah, the home of afternoon tea, Doctor Who, and Princess Diana... it was all lovely. Of course, there is that bit about imperialism, The bloody Tower of London and several other unpleasantries, but it's still a wonderful place to visit.

And it seems that most of the Garden Design schools are in England.

We have a great time when we go to London, and 2003 was no exception. We stayed again at The Dolphin Square Hotel , near Pimlico Station on the Victoria line of the Tube. This is also the same stop for the Tate Gallery, which we seem to miss on every visit. Dolphin Square has great attentive staff, a great location and great rooms. This year, we had an addittional sitting room to go with the usual kitchenette, bedroom and bath. All of this means we had a refrigerator, stove, microwave, hot water pot for tea and coffee, towelwarmer and a real queensize bed - not two twins pushed together like so many other hotels. AND with this setup we had TWO! televisions, and a full set of towels - bath, hand and wash - and this was the only hotel out of five this year to have a fan and an iron.

* If you stay at Dolphin Square, either email them for a reservation and rate, or go through www.hotels.com
* Check to see if your rate includes the wondeful continental breakfast - tea, coffee, toast, cereal, yogurt, cheese juices - but if it doesn't, don't pay the 9.50 pounds price for it, it's not THAT good.
* To get to Dolphin Square from Heathrow airport on the Tube, take the dark blue Picadilly line east (Cockfosters) and change easily to the green District Line (Upminster) at Hammersmith, Barons Court, Earls Court, Gloucester Road or South Kensington (This will save you from dragging your luggage up and down way too many stairs at other stations) and then finally change to the light blue Victoria line at Victoria Station heading South one stop to Pimlico. When leaving the Tube station, head straight out the exit gates and bear to the right, and up a ramp (Bessborough North, I think). Once out on the sidewalk, turn right and proceed a few blocks, turn left after the church on the corner and before the school and playground, turn right again and Dolphin Square is about 3/4's of the way down the street on the left side.

* If you do stay at Dolphin Square, the Thames river is due South (turn right out of the hotel, right at the corner and keep walking straight). There is a convenience store, internet shop, and Indian restaurant between the church and the Tube station, with a wine shop directly across the street from them.

Tips for visting London
* It can take awhile to remember that cars drive on the left side of the road, so be extra vigilant when crossing the street.
* Jaywalking and crossing against the light seems to be permissible but i'm not advocating it - be careful!
* Remember the exchange rate, which often hover around one British pound = $1.50 USD
* Like driving, walking is done "to the left"
* When using the Tube and sightseeing, a day pass can pay for itself over and over. A single Tube ride costs about 1.60 pounds, while an all 6 zone day pass is about 5.10 pounds. A zone one day pass, which covers most of London, is 3.40 pounds. Check the Tube website for current prices.
* When using the Tube KEEP YOUR TICKET! The ticket lets a rider in AND out of the subway system. Lose the ticket and you won't get in, and you may have a real hassle getting out as well.
* Tube trains show their final destination on a line, which is usually, but not always, the station at the end of the line
* "Mind the Gap" - this is a phrase repeated over and over on the Tube. Why? The Tube stations are old and have settled and shifted, and in some stations, there is a significant gap between the train and the platform.
* Despite my original thoughts, taking two pairs of shoes on a trip is a good idea, especially if one pair gets wet.
* One of the hardest things to do in London was eat. There are plenty of pubs and taverns, where one can go to the bar and order food and carry it back to the table, but they tend to be small, busy, noisy, very smoky and for most Americans, awkward. There are plenty of small restaurants - small like 10 feet by 40 feet, so it often looks more like a take out, or take away, food vendor, which, more often than not, it is. Actual sit down restaurants seem hard to find. One that we did find and like was the Duke of York, just across the street from the Victoria Tube station.
* Customer service - generally in Europe, customer service doesn't come close to American Standards. London wasn't too bad, although they tend to exhibit a "shit happens" attitude. Once our meal order was lost and we waited an hour for food, and another time, broken glass was in a drink. In America, dinner would have been free at the very least. In London, it was "Sorry, food will be right out" and "Do you want me to replace that drink?" Don't expect even minimal customer service and you won't be disappointed.

Co-Operative bank
HSBC
Barclays
National Westminster Bank
Lloyds TSB
Royal Bank of Scotland
HBoS formerly Halifax Building Society and Bank of Scotland

London
Heathrow
the Tube
BBC
Westminster - Westminster Tube stop on the green District, yellow Circle and grey Jubilee lines
Tower of London - the Tower Hill stop on green District, and yellow Circle lines
Tower Bridge - the Tower Hill stop on green District, and yellow Circle lines
Covent Garden - the Covent Garden stop on the dark blue Picadilly line
Royal Opera HouseBBC - the Covent Garden stop on the dark blue Picadilly line
Kew Gardens The Kew Gardens stop on a southern spur of the green district line. When leaving the Tuibe station, there is a bridge to cross over the tracks, then you'll walk straight through a street of shops. Continue straight across the street, or as straight as you can, and you'll eventually reach one of the entry gates for Kew. We managed to get quite misdirected when first going to Kew, we didn't see and clear signs for Kew, so we started to follow the Kew Parking signs and wound up getting further and further away from the gardens.
Harrods - Knightsbridge Tube Station
Forbidden Planet - Tottenham Court Road Tube Station
Tenth Planet - Barking station on the green District line and pink Hammersmith/City line. Leave the station, cross the street and head a little to the right, there is an entrance to an indoor shopping mall, head into the mall and then to the right, there is a Dalek standing guard in the doorway.
Virtual Guide to London Shopping, clubs, accommodations, etc
- Parliament - Westminster Tube stop on thhee green District, yellow Circle and grey Jubilee lines
- Trafalgar Square - the Charing Cross stoopp on the black Northern Line and the brown Bakerloo line.
- Big Ben - Westminster Tube stop on the ggrreen District, yellow Circle and grey Jubilee lines
- Millenium Wheel - Westminster Tube stop oon the green District, yellow Circle and grey Jubilee lines
The Dolphin Square Hotel , near Pimlico Station
email reservations : [email protected]
Ebury Wine Bar and Restaurant - not cheap but cheat food. 139 Ebury Street, London SW1W9QU, 020 7730 5447, email : [email protected]. A five minute walk, or so, from Victoria Station on the light blue Victoria line, the green District line and the yellow Circle line.
Portebello Road and Market - that long street of vendors hawking everything under the sun, i'm told it's not the best part of town and what the hell was i doing there anyway, but if you go, it's the Notting hill Gate stop on the northbound green District line, the yellow circle line and the red Central line.
The British Museum - Tottenham Court Road Tube Station, follow the signs.

Live Image from Earthcam - Big Ben
Live Image from Earthcam - Trafalgar Square

Live Image from Earthcam - London's Transportation Museum

Bath, North East Somerset, England
We were off to see historic Bath in November , 2003. First settled by the Celts, whom legend has is it discovered the hot springs medicinal qualities, and later occupied by the Romans, who promptly built their own temple and spa - Sulis Minerva, Bath is famous for it's hot springs and became known as a sort of "resort" area.

Eating in Bath was like eating in London - difficult. But then, England had just won the Rugby World cup for the first time in almost 30+ years so everyone was out and about, filling up all of the pubs and restaurants. We finally ate at a great Italian restaurant, on the second floor of the local mall, due north of the Abbey and right across the street from another church, of which I've forgotten the name.

* Getting to Bath from London - take the Tube to Paddington Station (green District, yellow Circle and brown Bakerloo lines), then catch the train out to Bath. It leaves every 30 minutes, and makes several stops along the way.
* We stayed at the Francis Hotel, right on Queens Square, which is a few blocks past Bath Abbey and the Roman Baths. To get there, or to the main tourist area, walk north on the major street right outside the train station - essentially, just walk down the stairs from the train platform, out the door, across the street, and keep going straight. This will out you a block or two east of the Roman Baths and Bath Abbey.

We also made it to the Museum of Costume, which was really quite interesting seeing how clothing and fashions changed over time, and why.

Here are a few of the items of interest:
Bath Museum
Beckford's Tower
No.1 Royal Crescent
Victoria Art Gallery
Bath Abbey
the Roman Baths

Other related Links
Local Government
Bath University
Bath City F.C.
Pictorial Guide
Preservation Trust Bath Events
Bath Hotels
University of Bath
Jane Austen Centre in Bath
Museum of Costume
Information for Bath
Beautiful England - Bath
City of Bath
Sacred Sites - Aquae Sulis
Official Site - Roman Baths
TheBathNet
Mushroom Maps and Guides
Ghosts of Bath
Visit Bath - Official Bath Tourism Site
The Francis Hotel

Paris, France

I went to Paris for the first time in November, 2002, when Garth finally dragged me, somewhat unwillingly at first, to Europe. In 2003, we took the night train from Salzburg and this was the best train trip of them all, even though it left at midnight. It was a ten hour trip which meant we could settle into our berths and sleep the entire night witout worrying about missing our stop. The conductors collect and keep the passports and tickets until the end of the trip because we are crossing borders - Austria, Germany and France. We also got tea/coffee and a roll for breakfast. It was all quite civilized :)

Charles de Gaulle airport was not so civilized, and this year it was truly awful. It has been rated as one of the worst airports in the world. last year I would not have believed it in the slightest, but this year, it is 150% true. First we had to get tickets and boarding passes, but the desk for that was after passport Control, but PC wouldn't let us through until we had our tickets... Then once we got through that hassle, we stood in line for the security checkpoint where only one scanner and metal detector was working, only to find when we got to the checkpoint after 20 minutes that we were in the wrong line for our gate. Apparently, CdG now groups gates into groups of 2 or 3 gates and there is only one checkpoint for each group, so a passenger can't go thru any checkpoint and get to their gate, they have to go through a specific checkpoint for their gate only. it was all very stupid. Once we got in line and then thru the proper checkpoint, another 20 minutes, we wound up sitting on the plane for an hour becuase the security checkpoint was so slow that the rest of the plane's passengers were still in line. We waited on the plane longer than the flight itself from Paris to London. And then because we were late, we almost missed the single daily flight back to Seattle. Thankfully, when we landed in London, British Airways had staff greet us and rush us through the terminal to our plane, letting us know that they were holding the plane for us. Ugh.

But other than the airport, Paris is great fun and there is so much to see. It seemed like we were out of our friend's apartment first thing in the morning, then out and about all day until late at night. I found the people to be friendly and helpful. Remebering to say "Sil vous Plait" and "Merci" goes a long way to making people everywhere a little bit nicer.

What is there to see?
The Eiffel Tower This city looks so managable when walking on the streets and sidewalks, but from the top of the tower, one can see just how big, developed and sprawling this city really is.

Arc de Triomphe

Champs Elysees - this is just fun to walk along. Lots of shops to browse, people to see, and sites to see.

Notre-Dame Cathedral - easily one of the most famous cathedrals anywhere. Stunning, impressive and worth seeing. There is also an organ concert but I'm no longer sure when or how often it is held. I missed it again this year.

Sainte Chapelle - Wonderfully gothic on the outside, the lower chapel isn't very impressive, but then it was made and decorated for "commoners" while the upstairs chapel is visually stunning with all of its stained glass windows. I thought it was worth seeing but also thought the admission price was a little high for what it is. There are plenty of other, free, churches to see.

Tuileries Gardens - fun to walk through, more impressive when plants are green and blooming.

Jardin du Luxembourg - impressive any time of year, contains the Medici Fountain.

Louvre - one of the best museums ever, so many ancient and famous works of art, it is overwhelming, and at some point, I'm sure one can burn out on seeing historic items and paintings. Still, we manage to race thru at least a wing on each trip. Worth spending the entire day there, and helpful if you can plan out specific items you want to see. Venus de Milo is moving to it's own gallery soon, the Winged Victory is stunning in its stairs landing, and Mona, while all the way at the end of the Denon Wing, is worth the walk to see her. Some think it is a small painting - and I thought small meant 5 x 7 inches, but it's more like 11 x 17, maybe a bit more. I think many people expected it to be life size or bigger, given the size of other famous paintings hanging throughout the museum. Go in the off season and the crowd is much smaller.

Sacre Couer - one of the best sightlines of the city, high up, and spectacular architecture. No pictures are allowed to be taken inside. Please respect others when inside, it is a church after all. There are tours up the towers and down into the crypt, they close at 6pm, so get there early.

Rodin Museum - a fun place even if you aren't a fan of Rodin's sculptures. There is a big garden area out back, and it's fun just to walk along.

Versailles - this really should be a must see item on the tourist list. It takes a suburban or RER train to get out to Versailled, but it's not much of a hassle. Exit the train station and turn right. A few blocks down there should be signs for Versailles, and then a major traffic street, turn left and head directly for the chateau. There are several tours available, but start with the "A" tour and come back for the others if you have time. In the spring and summer there should be Garden tours, but in the off season, people are free to roam about through the grounds, although nothing is blooming, little is green and most fountains are turned off. Still, it's impressive to see the design work.

Opera Garnier - home of the "Phantom of the Opera", it is a visual feast of details. If you actually see an opera there, the seats are uncomfortable and sight lines are often not very good.

Memorial de la Deportation

Musee d'Orsay - lots of statues, some changing exhibits, and much bigger than it seems. Find the stairs and escalators to get up to the 4th and 5th floors, there are plentyu of things to see up there and they almost seem hidden away.

Catacombs - an interesting, slightly macabre tour, millions of bones, some interesting history, and it was fun to point to my dusty boots when i got home and say "This is dirt from the catacombs"

Hotel De Ville - now a government building, it is just grand and majestic from the outside. We haven't made it inside yet, and i'm not sure we can even go in, but one could spend hours just looking at all the architectural details outside.

Croque Monsieurs / Madame - tasty food at almost every corner brasserie, bread/roll with ham and cheese, or ham, egg and cheese.

Four Cheese Pizza at Pizza Hut - there is one near the Fountain of the Innocents, and a Frech four cheese pizza beats anything anywhere else -- blue cheese, brie, goat cheese and something else. I prefer not to eat at american brand name places when i'm traveling but this is one very worthwhile exception.
St Eustache church at the Les Halles subway stop - just another great church to see.
Chartes - a grand cathedral with quite a history. Take a suburban train out to it, and you can't miss it when leaving the train station, it's the tallest place in town.

Le Gai Moulin Restaurant

Saved Early Morning Image from ABC Paris

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Sacre Coeur
Notre Dame

Notre Dame
Pantheon

Jardin du Luxembourg
Square du Temple

Germany

Germany Tourism
German National Tourist office
Munich
Frankfurt
Berlin-Dresden

Romania

Formerly a communist state, I think it is slowly recovering. In the 1980's, the tourism was pretty poor, bad lodings, skimpy meals, poor service. It's beginning to sound like things are changing, and like so many other cities, they are making the most of potential tourist sites, like Transylvania and "Dracula's Castle". The castle portrayed on these tourist events has been spruced up substantially, when I last saw Vlad the Impaler's (Vlad Dracul) catsle, it was nearly a shambles of a ruin. Still, it's fun to be in the mythic home of vampires. And you'll find that the vampire legend has changed and is different for every culture. Brahm Stoker's Dracula is quite different than the 1930's Universal Studios film version.

Romania Tourism
Touring in Romania
History
Romania Info

Rome, Italy

November, 2003
DISCLAIMER: Maybe it was because I wasn't feeling well when we arrived, or that we got seriously scammed by a taxi driver in our first 10 minutes of arriving, or that almost every modern day Roman seemed terribly rude and unhelpful, but I really didn't like Rome at all. Crowded, dirty, piles of dog poo everywhere, I found it to be just nasty. BUT, I will give it a second chance, someday, and people and poo aside, the 2000 year old ruins are worth going to see.

* Bring cash - it seems that almost every vendor and restaurant in Italy don't like to take credit cards. This didn't endear Rome to me either. But then I've heard that Rome, and maybe Italy in general, runs on well greased business wheels.
* If you want good Italian food, eat it at home or in another country. Maybe Americans are too used to Americanized Italian food, but I found 9 of our 10 meals to be quite poor. And every restaurant had exactly the same menu. And every restaurant was Italian food, there was no variety of any kind.
* The Vatican - another cash only money machine. Even if you don't want to support the hypocrisy, anti-women and anti-gay stance of the Catholic church and it's empire, St Peter's cathedral and the Vatican Museum are worth seeing. It probably galls the church to no end that one of their most famous assets, the Sistine chapel, was painted by Michelangelo, a known homosexual.
* The Colloseum - yep, cash only here too but impressively large. It's amazing to think that s almost 2,000 years old. it would still be a great venue today if it hadn't fallen into dis-use around 300 AD or so.
* Churches - it seems like there is one on every corner, and every one of them is worth seeing. Just spectacular. It made me wonder with a bit of envy what it would be like to go to mass there each week. My childhood church in Pennsylvania was just plain, simple and functional. Minimal adornment, even when the new church was built. Nothing in America really compares to any of the churches in Europe.
* Avoid the hotel Torino, near Termini (the train station) and possibly the other Lombardi hotels. The room was adequate, the continental breakfast was OK, but the staff, with one exception, was rude and unhelpful at best.
* When making train or other travel plans, verify your information 2, 3 or even 4 times. Garth made all of our travel arrangements, and did a great job; he knew far more about the train schedules and destinations than the station agents. Fortunately it all worked out for us, despite the incompetance of the station agents who were of noe help at all. One of them even issued tickets for the same day after being told and shown that we wanted tickets for 2 days later. It was just awful. Thankfully the staff onboard the trains knew everything and were all very helpful in getting us to the right places.
* Train tickets - first you have to buy a train ticket, but this just mean you get to ride the train, it doesn't mean you will actually get a seat. Reserving a seat is a separate ticket and charge.
* Watch were you step when walking - dog poo seems to be everywhere.

Colosseum
Roman Forum
Imperial Forums
Capitoline Hill
Trevi Fountain - this is spectacular, especially lit up an night
the Pantheon - not so impressive on the outside but we've been told it's stunning on the inside
Piazza Navona - I think we went here, and if so, it was worth the walk.
Vatican City
St. Peter's Basilica
Vatican Museums
Sistine Chapel
Villa Borghese
Museo Borghese
Piazza Del Popolo
Piazza Venezia
Spanish Steps
Mouth of Truth
Mausoleum of Augustus
Appian Way
Aqueducts
Catacombs of San Sebastiano
Catacombs of San Callisto
Porta Portese Flea Market
Church of Sant'Ignazio
Church of San Clemente
Galleria Borghese
Castel Sant'Angelo
Raphael Rooms
Palazzo dei Conservatori
Fontana dei Fiumi
Fontana delle Tartarughe
Obelisk of Piazza San Giovanni
Obelisk of Santa Maria sopra Minerva

Great buildings of Rome
Asinocotto - Gay Dining in Rome
Rome Tourism
Romamor - Tourism
Rome Guide
Goto Roma Guide
Rome Attractions

Venice, Italy

As bad as Rome was, Venice was oppositely good. Wonderful, friendly, helpful people. Charming locale. Although the food isn't the best here either. But then, they cater to tourists who they will never see again, so why should they care if the have good service or good food?

We stayed at the Hotel Principe, a five minute walk fromt he train station and we didn't have to go over any bridges or steps. Friendly, luxurious and very comfortable. Also a tasty continental breakfast. Which is a good thing, because most shops and restaurants don't open til 10am and hardly anyone serves anything approaching breakfast fare.

* We arrived at 6:30am on the night train from Rome. Nothing is open til 10am, serving breakfast isn't a priority, so bring your own or eat at your hotel.
* The biggest problem with taking a night train is the time gap between checking out of one hotel and into the next one, often 10-12 hours difference. At some points, sights to see will be closed, or you'll run out of energy to see them, and even with a long dinner, there might be several hours with nothing to do. Train stations are often open to the outside and are thus cold at night. We opted to return to our hotel, collect our bags and hang out in the warm lobby until it was time to go to the train station.

* Also bring cash for Venice, very few merchants here accept credit cards.
* Get the one or three day water bus pass. VEnice is wondeful to walk around and get lost in the warren of alleys and passageways, but if you want to get to sights somewhat faster and save your feet, take the water bus. A trip or two down the Grand Canal and out to Morani island is worth the ticket alone.
* The only transport in venice is by boat and foot - no cars, mopeds, bicycles, skateboards or rollerblades.
* There are no screens on the windows, so be careful of mosquitoes in your hotel room.
* There is one small supermarket "south" of the D'Oro bus stop, and a self service laundromat two bridges north of the hotel Principe, heading away from the train station.
* Watch out for the older shuffling waiter who looks like Sgt. Schultz from Hogan's Heroes, at the restaurant just out and to the left of the train station - if he likes you, he'll try to grab your crotch.
* Retail shops close around 6pm, restaurants are often open until around 9pm.
* Get odor eaters and foot supports for your shoes. You'll need them in Venice.
* Venice is wonderful in its ambiance. Pedestrian oriented, lots of charming retails shops, a sense of history, a slower pace of life. I think i could live in venice, although it is just a tourist town with no other business diversity. My computer and gardening skills wouldn't do me much good for a career there.

St Mark's Basilica
St Mark's Square - Piazzetta San Marco, called "the drawing room of the world" by Musset
Palazzo Ducale
Gallerie dell'Accademia - houses Venice's single most important art collection
Rialto Bridge
Murano - In 1296, the glassblowers of Venice moved to an island
Museo Vetrario, or Glass Museum, which is located in the Palazzo Giustinian near Murano's center
Church of Santa Maria e San Donato
Madonna dell'Orto - "the finest Gothic church in Venice."
Santa Maria della Salute - designed by Baldassare Longhena, who proposed a massive octagonal basilica that combined elements of Venetian Byzantine architecture with domes inspired by St. Peter's in Rome
Campanile di San Marco, or Belltower of St. Mark's

Things to do in Venice

Venezia

Sionvalais.com

Sionvalais.com

Comune Venezia

Comune Venezia

Comune Venezia

Veneto Turismo

Vaporetto Venise

Locandaal Gambero

Hotel Locanda Sturion

Piazza del Santo

Jesolo Tourist Office

Caorle

Vaporetto Venise

Salzburg, Austria

November 2003
Another wonderful city, at least the old part, Alt Stadt, full of 18th century charm and architecture. This city was unlike and better than the other cities we had been to so far - it wasn't too hot inside restaurants, stores, and hotels; there was a variety of food, restaurants didn't all have the same menu and there was a variety of ethnic foods - german, italian, chinese, etc. In fact, we had better italian food in Austria than we did in italy. The people were all very friendly and helpful, and almost everyone spoke English, often better than Americans and the British.

Salzburg is a real city, not just a tourist haven, and as such, stores are open, buses are running and life begins as usual before 7am.

We took a night train from Venice to Salzburg, and as noted before, the Venice station attendents were more confusing than helpful. The train we took split in two at one point, some cars going to Nice, France and the rest going on to Austria. We had to change trains to get to Salzburg which we had expected, but the Venice attendent told us to change at Innsbruck instead of Kufstein, but neglected to tell us which train we needed. Fortunately, an Austrian conductor at Innsbruck directed us to the right train.

Thankfully, despite all of the travel shows depicting Salzburg as only about mozart and the sound of music, and while the city plays both to their utmost advantage, there is much more to experience in the city. Still, we did visit Mozart's birthplace and his later residence before he moved to Vienna; we ate Mozartkugelm and drank mozart liquer.

There's the Hohensburg Fortress, several chruches and after December 1, Christkindlmarkt, the Chistmas bazaar - lots of Austrian crystal ornaments, nutcrackers and food.

Our hotel was very good. They offered us a nice continental breakfast, stoed our luggage, the room itself wasn't too hot, the beds were comfortable, and it was a 5 - 10 minute walk to Alt Stadt.

We ate somewhere different for every meal, and we added a tip to the bill just as we would do in the US.

To quote Mozart's wigmaker in the movie Amadeus "You will love it!"

Hanuschplatz

Hotel Mohrenwirt

Salzburg

Salzburg Altstadt

Mozart's Geburtshaus

Mozartblick

Salzburg Vorstadt

City View of Neumarkt

www.Neumarkt.at

Wallersee View from the See Camp in Neumarkt

www.Neumarkt.at

Wallersee View from Schloss Seeburg in Seekirchen

www.Seekirchen.at

Salzburg Tourism
Salzburg - Stage of the World
This is Salzburg
Grossglockner High Alpine Road
Haus de Natur - Natural History Museum
Official homepage of Salzburg
Mozart Kugel
Salzburg Festival
Salzburg Airport - webcams
Festung Hohensalzburg

Hohensalzburg Fortress - there is a way to walk up, or there is a funicular to easily ride up.
Krimml waterfalls
Hellbrunn Palace - You can reach this castle by bus #55 from the train station or the eastern edge of the old city; get a map and directions from the Tourist Office.
Domplatz and Cathedral - this was simply breathtaking, and we got to hear the choir singing traditional Christmas songs
St. Peter's Church and Cemetery
Mozart-Wohnhaus (birthplace)
Residenz - of the prince-archbishops after Hohensalzburg
Festspielh�user - home of the Salzburg Festival
Spielzeug Museum - toy museum
Schlo� Leopoldskron - it's the back of the Von Trapp family mansion in the film Sound of Music
Mirabell Gardens - laid out in the 18th century. They were designed by Fischer von Erlach in 1690 to the orders of Archbishop Johann Ernst Thun. In the Sound of Music, Maria and the children were seen dancing around the statue of Pegasus, the winged horse, and throughout the gardens singing "Do-Re-Mi". Near MarkatPlatz
The Cathedral was originally built in 774 but was destroyed by fire in 1167. Reconstruction commenced in 1598 and the Cathedral became even more magnificent, making it now, it is said, the most impressive Romanesque Cathedral north of the alps.
Ice caves
Salt mines

The Black Forest
The Orient Express
The Great Pyramid
Peru
Machu Pichu

EarthCams

First Floor
Foyer Kitchen Living Dining Conservatory Greenhouse Garden
Media Game SciFi Collectors Library Gallery Computer Workout
Tower Lab Crypt Secret Garage Office Outside

Second Floor
Spirituality Power Gay Crafts Work Egypt
Bedroom Geneology HTML Tower Castle Misc
Family Mike Danny Randy Jon Michael Garth Mark

The page last updated on November 1, 2004

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Notre Dame	Pantheon
Jardin du Luxembourg	Square du Temple