Our first morning in Salzburg begins with a walking tour of Salzburg.  We start our tour at the beautiful Mirabell Palace and  Gardens.  Elena discovers this plaque on the wall which fits the musical theme of our tour.  Although my German is a little rusty, I believe  this poem reflects the music provided by nature in the garden.

The Mirabell Garden has a design of various geometric shapes filled with flowers divided by paths of boxwood trees, hedges and arbors.  The contrast of light and shade was striking.

One of several fountains in the garden…we each tossed in a coin and made a wish.

This arbor path is featured in “The Sound of Music” as Maria and the children run along singing “Do-Re-Mi”.

The arbor path viewed in the opposite direction.  The air was clear and fresh and everything was green from the recent rains.

We had much of the garden to ourselves and wandered through these somewhat hidden passageways.

Throughout our travels, we stopped and listened to the street musicians who were obviously talented and well-trained.

The Mirabell Palace was built around 1606 at the behest of Prince-Archbishop Wolf Dietrich Raitenau as a residence for his mistress Salome Alt.

Off to the side of the gardens, there is a circle of these really unique and grotesque, yet oddly charming statues of little people.

This lion statue looked like it should have tear tracks down his face.