On yesterday's card I didn't even get to the subject of the card: Hellbrunn Castle. The castle was small, the grounds were large and fairly nice. The water works behind the castle were totally bizarre. They were built by an archbishop who apparently had a very strange sense of humor. It consisted of a set of displays, bizarre in their own right (floating hats, strange creatures with lolling tongues, mechanical figures moving around) which were used to distract his guests, then he would blast them with streams of water from various angles. People who backed away from the fun, but stayed to watch, would get squirted from behind. He was quite ingenious at keeping you off guard. Just when you thought you were safe, you were wet.

The fortress above the town (card 10) was by far the best attraction. It was started in 1077 and gradually built up after that. It was largely original: you get a really good sense of what it was like to live there 900 years ago. It had torture chambers, a chapel, the world's oldest functioning organ, prince's chambers, concert hall with spiral marble pillars (with cannonball dent), incredible spiral staircases; and was really a self-contained city.

We had an impressive girl guide who spoke fluent German, English, French and Italian. Unfortunately there wasn't time for her to say everything to everyone. The view from the fortress was impressive: Hellbrunn castle to the south and the city to the north. I couldn't figure out how the old city was built. There is an old wall around the monastery hill, but only the monastery within. There is the fortress on another hill, entirely self contained. The river separates the two, yet there are old buildings in the lowlands as well (1400). Oh well. The architecture is grand, but not as grand as Vienna. The food wasn't as good as along the Danube. But it was nice.

Saturday was a day of rest and relaxation (a vacation). We lounged in the forest above the monastery, ate a picnic lunch there; the same type of forest as the Vienna woods. We crossed over and lounged in the hills above the casino, finished the picnic lunch, discovered a great pension on the hill. Went down to hear a concert (not amplified). So lounged in an outdoor cafe the rest of the evening. Ah, rest.