Salzburg, Austria & Dinner on the Farm

Hey everyone!  Here I am again and trying to wrap up the last few days of our European trip.  Today we are in Salzburg, Austria, birthplace of Mozart and the setting for many scenes from The Sound of Music.  Now if you find yourself humming or singing "So Long, Farewell" or "Do Re Mi," don't blame me!  I just planted that seed, didn't I!  

We will have several hours to roam around, starting first with a guided tour.

Let me introduce you to Gabby, who guided us through some lovely areas of Salzburg.  She was just so cute, really knew her stuff, and spoke excellent English.  She was delightful.

Here we are in the world-famous Mirabell Gardens.

Several scenes from The Sound of Music took place around these gardens.  Up on the hill is the 900 year old Hohensalzburg Fortress.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Salzburg's most famous son, was born in this bright-yellow townhouse in 1756 and spent the first 17 years of his life here.

Zipfer-Brau is where we had lunch.  Isn't this a nice example of a gallery wall?  Pretzels hanging from the light fixtures makes you realize this can be a fun-place.

While we were waiting for our lunch, we started chatting with a couple sitting next to us.  They were from Germany originally, but had moved to Hawaii.  They were on holiday visiting friends.  Of course, they asked where we were from, and hearing Arizona, they said they had lived as "Winter Visitors" for several years in Yuma, AZ!  We almost fell off our chairs!  In case you don't remember, we lived in Yuma prior to our current home.  What are the chances of accidentally sitting next to people in a foreign country and finding you had all lived in a small town like Yuma.  Now does that make it a "big world" or a "small world?"

No more chatting once this deliciousness arrived.  Beer and brats.....YUM!

This is the Salzach River.

Makes you want to burst into song....."The Hills Are Alive With Music!"

Covering the fence on both sides of the pedestrian bridge across the Salzach River are "locks of love."  They are each carrying a hand-written or etched message of love from one person to another.  Kind of crazy but also rather artsy, too.  Salzburg isn't the only place we've seen these locks, but this was the best one for photographing.  I heard just recently, that some of these lock-covered fences have gotten so heavy they were causing the fencing to collapse, and were going to be removed and replaced with a solid surface of some kind.  Too bad.

This very picturesque city has been invaded by Americana -- Tommy Hilfiger and McD's!

At least those "Golden Arches" have been kept tiny and displayed in such a charming sign!

More charm!

I was completely enamored with the local Farmers' Markets.

I think it would be so much fun to shop this way.

Both the green and the white asparagus didn't even look real!

Oh, and gorgeous flowers, too!

This city was so clean, even with the heavy foot traffic, both tourists and locals.

This is Alex, the artist behind some lovely works of art.  Yes, we bought one of his paintings, and I'll share when we decide where and how we want to display it.

It was a perfect day to stroll around Salzburg, but then it was time to board our coach, find our hotel, and get ready for a traditional Austrian Farmhouse Dinner!  We were back on the coach for a short drive into the Austrian countryside to this charming abode......

This is the Lenzbauer Farm.

Mrs. Lenzbauer was just delightful.  She struggled at times with English, but did very well.  This farm has been in their family for several generations, but was no longer profitable enough to carry on without some outside assistance.  This is why they decided to open up the farm to the tourist trade.

They built a separate building that houses a large dining room, its own kitchen and restrooms.  I didn't even try to take pics inside, because there were way too many people.  But it was lovely.  The tables had all been built by a BIL, and Marta's husband & father helped cook the meals.

Prior to dinner, we were served homemade wine in the barn.  One of the sons makes the wine and was also serving wine throughout our dinner.  This was the cleanest barn I've ever seen!

This guy was an absolute ham and just demanded attention!  This was like a "petting zoo" for adults! I'm sure some of our group had never seen farm animals before -- they were giggly like little kids.  Of course, maybe the wine had something to do with that.....heehee!

This little guy & his buddy (not shown) are considered family pets.  This one does have a once-a-year job to carry the local priest through the little village on Palm Sunday.

The family chooses not to use any chemicals on their farm, so the cattle produce great milk for some delicious cheeses that we got to sample as our appetizer in the dining room.

I choose to believe these bunnies are pets, too!

Our dinner was rabbit stew....NO, JUST KIDDING!  We had a delicious pork pot roast (yes, they have pigs) with farm fresh veggies and wonderful freshly baked bread.  Everything we ate and drank came right from this farm.  This is a very industrious family, just working hard so they can keep this farm that they love.

This is a playhouse for the grandchildren....so cute!

All too soon, it was time to board the coach, make our way back to the hotel, and have a good night's sleep.  We will be leaving for Munich the next day.