Austria 2009 By Wayne Brearley

Met at Gatwick Airport at some silly hour in the morning and caught the plane to Austria. We hired a minibus and went to our hotel. The hotel was called The Mozart Hotel after the famous composer who lived here in Salzburg. It was a lovely hotel. We went for a walk for some lunch and we went to the Mirabelle Gardens where they filmed part of The Sound Of Music. Had a look round then went for a rest and unpacked. We bought some souvenirs and we went out for dinner in a lovely garden. It was very warm till late in the evening. On Monday... We went to the water garden at Hellbrunn and spent our time trying not to get wet. I got caught by the fountains. The gardens and the museum were really good. We had a picnic by the lake and it was hot again. We went out to an Italian bar in the evening. On Tuesday... We had a drink by the lake then we went to Hallstat and had chicken and chips down by the lake. We climbed up the hill to the church where we saw lots of graves and a cave house full of decorated skulls. We went into a lovely church. On the way back we went to Mondsee and had dinner in the square. On Wednesday... We went to Obernhof to see the village where Silent Night was composed. We had a picnic lunch in the square and visited the church where Silent Night was first sung. In the evening we went to a cafe called The Old Fox which had belonged to and archbishop who liked hunting. We had a very typical Austrian meal with dumplings and sauerkraut and snitzels and a sausage meal called Farmer's Pan. On Thursday... We went around the castle and the old abbey in the centre of Salzburg. We had a lovely lunch out. We went on the Sound Of Music tour. It was very good but it was raining so we got wet. We went to the church where the wedding took place and we ate apple strudel. In the evening we found fish and chips. That was very good. We had a walk around the town and the park. On Friday... We went on a boat trip round the lake and looked at lots of gift shops. And Michael bought an Austrian hat. The lake was called St. Wolfgang. We had a lovely lunch in Wolfgang which was very very Austrian again. We returned to Salzburg in time for a trip to the puppet theatre or Salzburg Marionettentheatre. Famous for its classical productions, but the show on this occasion was a little lighter than usual - The Sound Of Music. The puppets were very clever, it must have taken ages to work out how to do it. On Saturday... We had a good breakfast as usual. I had lots of fruit again. Then we went out in the bus to Schafberg railway station where we had a tea or coffee and we got on the train to go up the mountain. It was brilliant. A bit shaky. Good views and we saw snow and trees being chopped down. I climbed in the snow. It was very cold. We climbed a bit further up the mountain on the path. It was very misty and cold. We had a picnic lunch. We went to a lovely little village with lots of shops. We saw the boats. We had a drink by the side of the lake in a lakeside cafe. We went back to the hotel to pack and then went back to the hotel to pack and then went back to our favourite restaurant, Alter Fuchs (The Old Fox).