Deeanne Gist - www.deeannegist.com - Inspirational Romance Author

Friday, February 24, 2006

Hellbrunn Castle in Salzburg

I absolutely loved this place. It totally appealed to my wicked sense of humor. (Hello to any new comers. We are retracing some footsteps my college roommate and I took across Europe back in 1981. Click here for more details.)

An Archbishop had this built in the 17th century. He was an expert in hydrodynamics and invited all the aristocracy to his gardens for dinner and for a demonstration of his "water gardens." The extravagantly gowned guests would convene around a table on the grounds, eat dinner and for dessert receive a rather shocking surprise.

The Archbishop would signal his bulter to pull a trigger and water would shoot up from the middle of each seat, soaking the backsides of his unsuspecting guests. (Notice in the picture above that the seat at the head of the table where the Archbishop sat had no water coming out of it. Ha!)

He would laugh and laugh, then offer to take his guests through a tour of his gardens while their fancy attire dried. One of their first stops was "Neptune Grotto." But to enter, you must pass the rather innocent looking deer mounted on either side of the door. Once more, the Archbishop would give his butler the nod. (The tour guides here clearly enjoyed their job. If I had ever lived in Austria, I'd have applied to work here. What a hoot!)

Inside the grotto was a crown "floating" in the air via the application of an exact amount of water pressure. It was really cool to watch that crown rise and lower in a perfectly straight manner according to the water pressure.

In order to exit, you must go beneath an archway made of water. That wasn't so bad, though, because you didn't get wet. Still, folks on the tour would hustle down the path until finally some arrogant soul would saunter through (because he knew he wasn't going to get wet).

The Archbishop (or in our case, the tour guide) would give a nod. The water turned off (soaking the person on the walkway as the streams lowered) and then came back on (soaking him once again as the streams lifted). Hilarious.

On Monday we will hop over to Vienna. In the meanwhile, we have a new contest posted. Our winner of the last contest failed to respond to her notification :( so we have sent notification to our first-alternate winner. :) As soon as our jaunt in Europe is over, I will announce last month's winner to you!

posted by Deeanne at 11:41 AM

9 Comments:

Barb said...: I'm thinkin' this guy didn't have a lotta repeat guests?!
On a different note, it's always so interesting to me when I see the occasionally brightly-colored manors and homes of Europe, as in your first photo there. My sister was in our root-country of Czechoslovakia last summer and the photos she brought back of the colorful houses was just such a fun surprise.
Jezreel said...: I wish I had a US address. :( Then I could be in the contest.

But that would be a fun place to go to with all the water :P I'd love that!
Deeanne said...: Oh, Jezreel. I'm so sorry about that. So far, we've had folks from 29 different countries visit and I simply cannot afford to ship to places like Peru and Japan and Thailand and Seychelles (where ever that is), etc.

How 'bout this ... how 'bout you email me with your guess and I'll tell you if it is the right answer or not. Then, you'll have the inside scoop before anybody else. Would that help at all?

You know what struck me about the old houses, Barb? Not the color so much as the *oldness* of them. Here in Texas we get a "historical marker" if we live in a house 100+ years old. Yet when my hubby took me to France for our 20th anniversary, we visited a castle that was built in the *13th century.* I have to say, I've never looked at those "historical markers" here at home quite the same way. Ya know?
Barb said...: Jezreel is teacher's pet!

Re history--oh definitely! Europe is a totally different historical perspective than we are. Visiting dark, old, stone-floored, cold and cavernous French churches, as well as the Chateau d'Amboise, really made me appreciate carpet and electrical lighting and central heating! Fascinating as those places were. Why'd Mr Greg take you to France for your 20th? Why not, say, Cancun, or Hong Kong, or Sydney, or Jerusalem?
Deeanne said...: Greg took me to France because he was going anyway for business. So, romantic guy that he is ... he sat at the front of the plane (all expenses paid) and I sat at the back.

I dunno. There's somethin' just not quite right about that! ;-)
Barb said...: I'm sure his only thoughts the whole flight were romantic ones involving you!
Jezreel said...: Hehe that reminds me of my own husband, Dee! Something he'd do. But the only way you can get him on a plane is if he's in first class - he's a BIG man!

And hey, Barb! I resemble that remark! I'm kidding... Us Canadians need a little pick-me-up sometimes, you know :)
Barb said...: The Seychelles are east of Africa in the Indian Ocean, Miz Dee. Obviously you're getting worldwide attention! Woo woo!
Hey Jezreel, the good old teacher's pet position ain't a bad place to be! Lotsa perks there, if you can take the heat!
Jezreel said...: I've always loved being teachers pet ;)