Day 43/44/45 - Friday/Saturday/Sunday - Salzburg

( For my Daughter Daisy who is counting down the days for my return - 21/20/19 Days to go )

I left this morning on the train from Heidelberg after 7 days there. I had two interviews with SAP. This week I will be here in Salzburg.

I will be catching up with Astrid Weiss Astrid WEISS is working as a HCI Research and Teaching Assistant. She holds a PhD in social sciences (2010) and a master’s degree in sociology (2005) from the University of Salzburg. During her study she specialised on methodologies of empirical social research. She joined the ICT&S Center in 2006 and engaged in the FP6 EU-project ROBOT@CWE, focusing on the evaluation of usability, user experience, social acceptance and societal impact of human interaction with advanced robotic systems in collaborative working environments.

Currently she is working for the Christian Doppler Laboratory for Contextual Interfaces to investigate key factors influencing human-robot collaboration within the factory context and the EU FP7-project IURO, that aims at developing interaction paradigms for an interactive urban robot. Her specialities are user-centred design methodologies (ethnography, cultural probing), user studies in HCI and HRI, statistical data analysis.

So for the weekend I will be checking out Salzburg and the surrounding areas. I will update this entry as the weekend progresses.

Saturday- Day 44 / 20 Days before I am home Daisy

Today I walked from the car park which was at one end of the hill across the ridge, to the fort and down the cable car. To give you a better idea. I started at the orange circle in the top left of the map and the green trail is approximately where I walked. I took many tunnels and passages between the streets as well but this will give you a general idea.

Sunday - Day 45 / 19 Days to go Daisy
Today I went to Hellbrunn. The main building of Schloss Hellbrunn Castle or the Hellbrunn Palace it is more of a manor and pleasure ground than a proper palace, to be quite honest, was built between 1613 and 1615.

It is a rectangular court with two pavilions on the front corner. The three storeys are divided in the façade by so-called "Kordongesimse" decorations. A double-sided stairway in the front leads to the central main gate of Schloss Hellbrunn Castle. Under this staircase you will find a grotto - fountain by Santino Solari. On the first floor of Hellbrunn palace, you will find the remarkable "Fürstenzimmer" or "Prince′s chambers", most significant the "Festsaal". A long alley connects Hellbrunn with the city of Salzburg. 

It was decorated by Arsenio Mascagni around 1615; the Italian painted the walls and ceilings completely with street scenes and 12 very plastic, golden Caesars. 

The plastic mode of the painting simulates a peristilium or "pillar court". In a similar fashion, Mascagni painted the octagonal "Musikzimmer" or simply "Octagon", a music room which borders the Fürstenzimmer.


I also toured the trick fountains and the park before heading back to Salzburg for a Segway tour. 

The three faces of Jesus, God the Son, God the Father and God the Holy Ghost. Pope Urban VIII  band this type of picture in 1628

I then headed back to Salzburg for a Segway tour and to do some night shots of the city.

My tour guide

The house in the Sound of Music

Again from the Sound of Music

Statue to Mozart

Fountain to Neptune