Hellbrunn Castle

In the early 1600, Markus Sittikus von Hohenems, prince-archbishop of Salzburg, built Hellbrunn Castle outside the city as a summer residence.

Bex and David waiting for our tour of part of the grounds. This would be no ordinary tour. Sittikus apparently had a keen sense of humor and enjoyed practical jokes.

If you look closely, you can see that the boys at this table are getting sprayed by little fountains. But that's not the whole picture. Our tour guide told the boys beforehand that they had to stay in their seats with their hands on the table and could not move, no matter what. After all, this was a table where the Archbishop entertained guests and you could not get up from your seat unless the Archbishop did first.

The boys did seem to be whooping and hollering more than seemed necessary from the trick fountains that suddenly sprung up from the center of the table and from behind their seats.

Only once the tour guide allowed the boys to leave did the rest of us see that there was a stream of water shooting up the center of every seat -- every seat, that is, save the Archbishop's. And his guests could not move until the Archbishop did first.

And so the tour continued, past gardens and statues and you never knew when jets of water would suddenly burst to life and spray you. It made photographing a big tricky.

There were many moving figurines, as well, and all the fountains and figures were water-powered by the flow of a nearby stream.

David had Emilie and Rebecca wear raincoat, but none of the kids knew that we would be seeing the famous trick fountains of Hellbrunn when we arrived for the tour.

In this grotto, a crown was pushed up and down by a jet of water, symbolizing the rise and fall of power. It should be noted that at all of these "games" there is always a spot which is never wet: that was where the Archbishop stood or sat, which is today occupied by the tour guide.

Em and James trying to figure out the exact moment to leave the grotto.

Micaela taking her chances

James getting surprised by yet another hidden jet. The video of this tour consists of me saying things like, "Oh, look at that......AHHHHHHHHH! I'm getting soaked!"

Another feature was the mechanical, water-operated and music-playing theatre built in 1750 showing various professions at work.

James and Em

Water even shot out of the antlers and nose of this buck head.

We took a tour of the gardens as we waited for our clothes to dry. Thank goodness the rain had stopped earlier and it was much warmer by now than it was during the Sound of Music Tour.

James tossing Bex to the fish

And there was a playground on the property. Here we hummed the theme from Raiders of the Lost Ark as James leapt from one train car to the next. He met two local boys at the park who asked for his phone number as we left and said, "You should call us the next time you're in Salzburg."

Em doing an imitation of a statue. The Sixteen going on Seventeen gazebo is right across the field from the playground.

Micaela bounced on one end of the tarp bridge and Em flew up on the other

Em's a great big sister.