Day 13 - Part 1

Indi woke up in the morning with bad nasal problem, maybe due to temperature drop that night. Nevertheless he tried to wake up and Kathy prepared hot tea for him. I started to cook the Mie Goreng with chicken, using the noodle and spices recommended by Alex. The result was close to excellent, not because I cooked it, but because the spices were right. We were using Go Tan Bami Goreng spice. It was the Mie Goreng that Kathy had eaten for breakfast in Bintan last year. Ah yes, Indonesian cuisine is simply excellent and people love it!

Before we left for Salzburg we checked our email, and my Indosat 8MB email account was flooded by junk mails, 100% by junk from over the past 10 days, 1600 pieces of them. Perhaps I should consider closing that email account.

We drove to Salzburg, and there are road constructions everywhere, which slowed down our drive. At 2pm we arrived near our hotel “Hinterbruehl” in Schanzlgasse, Salzburg Old Town Area (just at the foot of Nonnberg Abbey). Hinterbruehl Gasthof was built in 1380, was a house, then a tavern, and now a hotel with restaurant owned by the Wagners. It was really an old building. At the ground floor you can see the arched structures to support the upper four storeys. The wall is extremely thick, both for structural purpose as well as isolation. Our room was on the first floor (which is the second floor according to Singaporean standard), with its old double-layered window overlooking the small Kajetaner Platz and its fountain. Our double room has its own washbasin. However, toilet and shower are in other rooms at the same level. The toilet is tucked in the stair corridor, and has a small uncovered vent window.

We were surprised to find that the parking fare at Kajetanerplatz is outrageously expensive – EUR30 for whole day parking – and our hotel did not include free parking (except half-hour free drop off inside the paid parking area). Mr. Wagner, the hotel owner, advised us to drive slightly north to Nonntal (behind Hypo Bank) where there are parking place for cheaper rate for 24 hours. When we arrived there, we found out that cheaper is not cheap after all. Whole-day parking is charged for EUR13 while hourly parking is EUR1.80.

We decided to just find a Kurzparkzone (short-term parking area) and renew its ticket every few hours (maximum three hours for EUR3). The locals notified us that parking in Kurzparkzone is free from 7pm to 9am the next day. We decided to park in Kurzparkzone near the hotel later at 4pm for three hours, then to leave the car until the next day. From 2.30pm to 3.30 pm we decided to just drive around Salzburg and get some food items from Spar (Semmel rolls, Antipasti, Weisswurst, orange juice for Indi’s flu attack, and Milka chocolate bars). At 3.30 we found a parking spot near the Natural Science Faculty in Salzburg University (400m walk from the hotel), and had our lunch inside the car (if the driver stays inside the car, this is not considered as parking, so we were not liable for paying parking fares during our lunch in car).

Exactly at 4pm we paid for parking ticket for three hours, which will automatically extend overnight until 9am the next day. We then walked back to the hotel, feeling happy to have saved so much for parking fares! Indi caught cold and needed to rest, so we decided to take an early sleep, which means we would be missing the sun for the day (sun sets at 5pm). It is much more important to stay healthy during the vacation! Anyway, there is not much sun outside since dark clouds had been hanging outside since morning.