Day 12: Salzburg

Another relaxing morning in Salzburg. I was awake long before my parents and I'm pretty sure I went to bed after them.
We found the Salzburg LDS church whose sacrament meeting was at 10:50; so around 9 we headed into the city and walked around the very quiet center of town to go see the cathedral and hopefully sit in on their mass. The cathedral is famous for its multiple organs. We asked a man if we were in the right place 'for the 4 organs'. And he quickly interrupted, 'seven!' Wow- even better. Apparently it was even a holiday (I think specifically a catholic holiday) of thanksgiving; so the mass was very special and started with a large procession of people all dressed in various traditional clothing. We really want to find out the history behind all of that.  But what I loved most is that their traditional clothing isn't just costume. Half of the women attending the mass were wearing dirndlen and a lot of the men wore leder hosen. Sunday hasn't been the only day that we have seen people wearing such clothing around town. I think that is pretty cool!
The music in the mass was phenomenal- with organ and a special brass band for the holiday. But we had to leave pretty quick to be on time for sacrament meeting.
It was wonderful to be among people in the church. It just feels like home no matter where you go. We met some other traveling Americans and compared our experiences and our routes with them.
After a road-side day-planning pow-wow, we started with a tour at the Hellbrunn palace fountains. Our tour guide sure enjoys shocking people. The whole purpose of this tour is not really for history, but for getting people wet. This is the splash zone of Austria. It started with an old stone table and seats where the guide asked people to come sit. Then he turns on fountains that spray all around them but also directly up their seats- soaking their derrières. It was so funny. The whole tour became a game of jumping and running away from the fountains that the guide would surprise you with. He became the most untrustworthy man. But it was all in very good fun and is so enjoyable. It makes for funny videos, too.
The end of the tour leaves you at a large and beautiful public park where you can find the gazebo from Sound of Music.
Around 2:00 I was so sleepy. My body is used to car naps while we drive somewhere but I could feel myself falling asleep so I took a nap in the car while my parents did more historical exploring in town. They visited the Mozart museum which was a bust; they weren't impressed by it.
When they were done exploring they came to wake me up and we went up to visit the fortress up on the hill. We took a tour that takes you to the high tower where you can get a panoramic view of the city. We also visited the torture tower, which was never actually used for torture. They stored the instruments and tools there but never used them. Though it was used as a dungeon.
While we were walking on the ramparts we had perfect timing for the evening bells down below in the cathedral and we were surprised by a responding song from the fortress with their old organ-like music box. It was really loud and came from right above us. You'd have to see pictures to know what I'm describing. 
It was a lovely evening but as we were heading home for another early night we could see clouds rolling in. We could probably expect rain tomorrow.