Salzburg Day 1

Took the train from Vienna to Salzburg today.  It was an easy journey, but disappointed that I could not see the Alps due to the cloudy skies and snow falling in the countryside and in Salzburg.  The visibility here is terrible today.  Where there should be mountains there is just a white haze!  Salzburg is a very picturesque city, however, despite the grey, winter conditions.  When I got to Salzburg I got a bus and then walked to my hotel and checked in.  They were serving tea/coffee and cake in the lounge so I had a little snack before venturing out.  By then it was past 3:00 so I didn't have much time for sightseeing. I walked into the Old City, which is not far from my hotel and wandered around the winding, cobblestone streets.  I went to the Salzburg Museum, which tells the history of the city.  It's an interesting little museum and I had about the right amount of time to see it.  When I left there it was 5:00 and had gotten dark.  I walked around the Old City some more, and wandered into the Cathedral.  There was a Mass going on up at the front, with a very few folks actually worshipping.  The mass was being said in Italian!  It's a beautiful cathedral still all adorned for Christmas.  Then I wandered around the Old City some more and finally found a cute little place to have dinner.  I very much enjoyed my veal goulash with dumplings and a large (they said it was the medium size!) beer.  After my dinner I went to the castle up on the hill, which you access either by climbing the 700 meters to the top, which I did not want to do in the dark with the icy, slippery conditions of today, or by taking the funicular tram up the steep incline to the castle.  I opted for the funicular.  As I was waiting for it to depart a woman and then a man with musical instruments got on the car I was in and I figured they were two of the musicians I was going to hear in concert soon!  I was right!  They were two of the string quartet that I heard in the concert at the castle.  They did three Mozart pieces, one of which was the Clarinet Quintet in A which is very famous and parts of which I once could play on the clarinet, and they also did a piece by Dvorak and Strauss waltzes.  They gave us one encore.    It is a lovely setting, the concert being performed in what was once a banquet hall in the castle.  The concert ended at 9 and I walked back to the hotel.  Salzburg is very pretty all lit up and with snow on the trees and buildings.   Pics are some shots of Salzburg, the concert venue, me and dinner!