| It all started on Friday the 3rd September.
Liz and I flew out to Salzburg from Stansted and by about 11pm
had checked into our hotel.
Saturday morning we spent sightseeing in
Salzburg, we visited the Mirabell Palace and the place was
swarming with bridal couples having their wedding photos taken.
Liz and I spent our time dancing round the fountain that
featured in the sound of music (the bit where they sing Doe a
deer etc etc, yes you do know it Dr Curtis!). After that it was
off to the tourist information office and time for a nice
refreshing cold beer on Glockenspiel square
(looking out over the statue of Mozart). At 1.35 we caught the
train to Vienna, arriving just after 4.30pm.
We bumped into our Gainsborough and
Northampton mates and had a couple of beers in Stephansplatz
Square. We moved on out towards Prater area , walked passed the
fare ground and about 40 minutes later arrived at the stadium.
We were in the back section behind the goal that Gerard scored
on. Now at 2-0 up and with the last train back to Salzburg at
11.25 on the other side of Vienna Liz and I had to sadly opt to
leave early (glad we did as the England fans kept in for 30
minutes and then made to walk back to the coaches even if you
were not on the official trips!). As we walked down the steps
from the Upper Tier it becomes 1-2, as
we approached section D to pick up a tram it became 2-2!
Sadly none of the trams were leaving until the
final whistle, but we flagged a cab and by luck the driver had a
TV set up, so we saw the last 8 minutes driving to Vienna West
Station. We arrived about 10.55 so if we had delayed then we
would have missed it and faced a wait til 6am for the next
train. Most England fans on
the train had watched the games in the local bars as not many
tickets going about, but I would guess at about 5,000 at the
match (official allocation 2,200!). We arrived back into
Salzburg at 2.58am and retired for the night.
On the Sunday we visited Hohensalzburg Fortress up on the
hillside with stunning views of Salzburg. Then it was on to
Getreidegasse area of Salzburg to visit Mozart's place of
birth, next it was on to Hellbrunn - Palace and Trick
Fountains. It's a great place to visit and the bloke that lived
in it was a mad man. The food table had water spouts under
seats and as he was a prince people couldn't stand until he did,
so when he got board he got his servant to turn the taps on and
they had to sit and suffer!!! The places was full of such
bizarre things, including an amazing moving village scene all
powered by water. An English couple we got talking to, have
parents who lived in Lewes so they looked out for Brighton
results).
Once we got back into the city we ventured out
for our evening meal. We found a great restaurant (bit like a
big beer Keller) and tucked into deer, apple strudel and the
local beer.
Monday and it was a hike up to a very old monastery next to the
Salzach river. Once we reached the top (in sweltering heat) we
had views over the whole of the Salzburg region. We bumped into
a couple who had been to the play off final in Cardiff (spotted
the badge on my Brighton shorts) as her brother was an avid
Albion fan!. Now it was time to head off to
Poland. |