Salzburg during the Salzburg Festival

We didn't know it when we planned our trip, but our night and day in Salzburg coincided with the Salzburg Festival, which has been in operation since 1920, and is a premier venue for all classical music. The festival also accounted for the crazy crowds and even crazier parking we ecountered. Here you see Steven and Benjamin in front of Mozart's birthplace. We elected not to tour this museum, as we expected it to be wall-to-wall with tourists like ourselves. (We feel watching the Magic Flute the previous night counted toward punching our Mozart ticket.)

We did elect to have pastries and coffee at a famous coffeehouse, Cafe Tomaselli,"seit 1703." And then visited the castle on the hill, Festung Hohensalzburg. You can do it the hard way, and climb to it, or do it the easy and fun way, and take the funicular. We elected for the easy and fun route. Once in the fortress/castle, you find a miniature town that is now a museum. It was the home of a series of archbishops. Take a look at the spectular aerial view here.