Wow what a great Hotel we had Martin find us!! Right in the middle of Old Salzburg. We arrived at 10pm really tired and hungry- went straight out to eat.The boys and Hattie tried Wienerschnitzel, Paddy said he thought it was like the little Wiener dogs, its not of course its beaten pork, deep fried in egg crumbs.And then down to the old part of the city. The castle was lit and the kids kept commenting on how clean the river was and also the air. We went right past Mozarts home, and the streets he was brought up in. The 200 year anniversary is this month so every where has Mozart this and Mozart that. The old streets are not allowed to have tacky modern signs in them so every where looks old. There are so many churches here.The next day after a really great nights slep we ventured up to the castle. This was hilarious. There is a venicular to the top. I hate these things they look and are scary! I closed my eyes the whole way up, kids all died laughing, Alex videoed it, then the battery ran out on the damn video I dont know whats wrong with the thing! We reached the top to an awesome view, the Alps, the river and the town of Salzburg. Fantastic!! Looked around the rest of the town and then sat down for strudel and coffee with whipped cream and the kids had hot chocolate with whipped cream -YUM! It was cold here so we needed it.After a rest we visited the Mirabelle gardens. This is the palace wher Mozart played music for the queen. The gardens are beautiful and lots of people were getting married there . At 12.00 a huge siren goes off, a little like a tornado siren and then all the city bells chime.We then saw this huge dance parade go through the city- we think it was Gay pride as there were lots of rainbows but not really sure, great dance music though. Patrick was drawn to the music like a moth to a flame!Caught the bus back to the station- didnt pay free on Saturdays, I got off the bus and then Paddy asked me where my camera was- I was beside myself I thought I had left it on the bus- he was joking I didnt find it funny- first argument of the vacation!! Train took 6 hours to get to Venice through what can only be described as jaw dropping countryside. Flowers , rivers, the Alps and the Dolomites. Some mountains still had snow capped peaks. The skiing looks very different to ours, not such wide runs and very steep hills! Lots of cows and free range chickens everywhere.Met this weird little old man on the train who kept coming out of his carriage to look at us in ours!rnThere was also this rude German man who kept on telling off the boys for putting their feet up, he said hed charge 60 Euro if he saw their feet up again!!rnWell arrived in Venice at 10pm, the station must have the best view in the worl, straight out on to the Grand Canal.