Salzburg Surroundings

Yesterday, we woke up in Salzburg, found some breakfast, then visited the Hellbrunn Palace. We visited the staterooms of the palace (and learned about Markus Sittikus, the archbishop of Salzburg who built the place) before visiting the highlight: the "trick fountains". Basically, he built a bunch of water features to mostly play tricks on his guests. Guests on our visit? The kids! They were soaked. There was also a multi-storey miniature theater that played Don Giovanni, all powered by water. The gardens were very impressive.

After visiting the fountains, the kids played in the park. Tim and GP took a walk up to the folklore museum and a panoramic overlook. Maya and I briefly checked out the pavilion that was used in the Sound of Music. After we were finished at Hellbrunn, we piled back in the cars a bit and drove down the street to Germany (Berchtesgaden, to be specific) to humor Amy at a local "tourist trap". We had lunch, then we visited the public portion of the Salzburgwerks salt mine. We had to thank Amy for dragging us along... two long slides, two cute train rides, and a very informative underground walking tour were enjoyed by all.

Sadly, after the salt mine, we had to part ways with the Piccos. They headed back to Trento, and we headed on into Germany. Up today: castles!