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Monday, 26 May 2014

Day 38: Rainy Days in Austria

I had been worrying all weekend about the car.  I'd had a bit of a brain fart, and though I had known and even put it in my notes to contact the car lease company 4 business days before the due drop off date, as what was outlined repeatedly in the lease agreement, and that was all meant to happen when we were in Garmish, I’d somehow thought that it instead was when I was in Salzburg and it didn’t click until 6PM last Friday that this was all wrong. Which of course was after business hours and too late to do anything about until 9:00AM Monday morning.  Today.  Now.
So I tried calling, and couldn’t get through. And tried again, and still couldn’t. And again, and again, for about 40 minutes, and now I was getting quite concerned.  What would happen if I couldn’t drop the car off?  I was meant to give 4 days’ notice.  They’d said so over and over on all the instructions supplied. With no luck getting through, I tried ringing the Barcelona office and got through straight away.  I explained my problem, and he said no problems, but you know you are meant to give 4 days’ notice?  Yes, yes sorry :–(  I thanked him all grateful, then Michelle said, I think he thought you wanted to drop the car off in Barcelona?  But I said Munich!?!  Sure enough, ringing back he thought I was dropping off in Barcelona.  Problem not solved.  I tried Munich again.  Tried their head office and tried the supplied mobile number.  I even tried their Skype ID.  No luck.  I called the Australian broker, and they said it shouldn’t be a drama, and they would try on my behalf, and to just assume it would all be good and to drop the car off.  So much worry over a stupid mistake.
So continuing our Sound of Music experience, we drove out to Mondsee to visit the church used in the movie.  Warning.  Don’t look too closely at the altar piece.  There are a number of skeletons from previous bishops just sitting in there.  Lovely.
I finally heard back about the car, and it was all good.  Huge relief.  I could drop it off tomorrow no dramas.  They even apologised that I couldn’t get through to them. So for lunch, I finally had a wiener schnitzel, and it was good.  I can fully understand how Christopher Plummer fell in love with them (If that story is true.  Like I’ve said more than once, you should never believe what tour guides tell you.)
For the afternoon, we drove out to Berchtesgaden, where the Untersberg is, as well as the salt mines which gave Salzburg its name and prosperity.  But as we arrived, thunderstorms rolled in, so much of the beautiful scenery was hidden from view.  We did manage a walk through the township between the rain and showers.  A beautiful town of colourful buildings, murals and water fountain statues ranging from the classic to the bizarre.
We finished up with coffee and cake in a little café / sports bar.  The owner got a bit upset when we got up to pay the bill without asking for the bill first.  Always ask for the bill at the table in Bavaria!





In the evening I went for one last walk around the town, revisiting the Mirabell gardens, the gnome garden and hedge maze.  Salzburg has been a gem, one of the loveliest places on the holiday so far.

A few, not many photos here on flickr.

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