Exploring Alstadt and Mirabell Gardens
Today we needed to meet with Hannes to sign Bens registration paperwork, then open a bank account, possibly eat something incredibly tasty and then do a bit of shopping.
We started out walking down to the Alstadt part of town where Mozarts home was. On our way we decided to pop into a real estate agency and ask them the best way of finding permanent accommodation. To our dismay she mentioned that in Austria tenants provide 3 months notice and thereby the real estate agents know in advance when something is available or due to become available and they generally need minimum 3 months notice to find a potential tenant an apartment, furthermore it is highly unlikely that we would find an apartment for only 1 year. She did give us another 2 websites to look at that may have some apartments from private Lessors that we could approach.
Ben immediately went on line and searched and he found the cutest 3 bedroom yes an apartment we will all have a bedroom that is in the same area we are in and has a terrace balcony so we have put an enquiry in to see if we can go and view it.
While we were in the estate agency we were chatting away to the loveliest agent who gave us her card and said we can send her an email or what app her any further questions. We did ask her which bank she recommends and she said she had been with her bank Oberbank for 40 years so that is the one we are now seeking out.
It was in the Alstadt location at Alter Markt 4, 5020 Salzburg which was only 10 minutes away. (Sie finden das zuständige Einwohner- und Standesamt im Kieselgebäude, Saint-Julien-Straße 20, 4.Stock). Lucky we were dressed for winter as it started raining but it didn’t dampen our spirits as it was only a slight drizzle.
We made it to the bank and went inside to be greeted by only 1 teller and no lines of people, it was very peculiar and we were told we would need an appointment which we made for the afternoon at 2pm. Meandering our way through all the fantastic little corridors of shops and boutiques made me wonder where the locals do their shopping, where the main shopping centre was. So far we haven’t found it but it is a definite on my must find list!
On the way back we tried a MozartKuggle which Ben says was like an orchestra in his mouth. The complexity of flavours was hard to describe but it was dark chocolate with a combination of nuts, cream and possibly biscuit. We also tried a pretzel - Yum and a pecan caramel tart.
After Hannes came over to sign the paperwork Jessy and I went out for a shop as Jess had found a white maxi skirt that she loved. Unfortunately it was completely see through so we did not buy it. We also went into a number of other stores where all the clothes were hanging in colour block combinations which I love it makes it so easy to process.
Back at the apartment we decided to rest and I am glad as I was feeling a bit dizzy and tired but I decided to push through, I’m positive if I can trick my body and mind into being on Austrian time then I will be sweet!
We had every intention of making it to our bank appointment at 2pm but for some reason I thought it would be a good idea to quickly fit in registering all 4 of us at the registration office now that we had the forms signed before our bank appointment. This was not a quick process and all the forms were in German so we needed to decipher them and fill them out all the while answering questions and getting out all the documents required. Again the agent was extremely helpful, very friendly and also curious as to why we were here and why we wanted to live in Austria. It was during the middle of the appointment that Ben looked at me and said ‘how did we manage to do this we have completely forgotten about our bank appointment and are running late’. It was like a twilight zone moment that time had passed without us even realising it while we were busy chatting at the registration office. Signed papers in hand we scurried off to the bank trying to believe it would be ok that we were only fashionably half an hour late. We were met with a sea of people all out and about going in every which direction so we couldn’t even try to walk hastily.
When we were walking at 9am there was no one around, yet the afternoon opened up the plaza like a wave of people spilling into every corner with chatter, colour, and movement as if the city had suddenly come to life.
There is system to walking in Austria we have discovered too and that there are lanes of walking and you stick to the right lane or the left depending which direction you are going and you mustn’t overtake lol. We have also discovered that absolutely no jay walking at all which is hard to conform to.
I digress……by now we are 30 minutes late when we arrive at the bank and thinking it was shut (as the hours said from 8am - 12:00pm we were pleasantly greeted by our friendly bank manager who started to complete the bank forms. Good news too we were able to get a joint bank account together as I wasn’t sure if I would be able to be on the account but they are approving it.
We hit a snag when it came to the forms and the tax questions as Ben would be working in Austria so paying tax in Austria and because we also have our business we would be paying tax in Australia. He couldn’t quite work out what to do about that one so we need to come back tomorrow at 3pm.
On the way back to our apartment we made a stop into the Visa registry office for my Visa at (Amt Fur offentliche Ordnung, Schwarstrasse 44, 5020 Salzburg - email - ordnungsamt@stadt-salzburg.at) but again the hours were only from 8am to 12:00pm so it was closed when we got there. We had fun trying to work out firstly where it was located and after going up a few levels, knocking on a few doors and completely freaking out the staff who couldn’t speak English a lady from another department came down and confirmed we were in the right place but to please come back tomorrow.
Right near the Visa registry office was the Mirabelle Gardens and the flowers were in full bloom, immaculately manicured vibrant and colourful flowers everywhere and beautiful sculptures adorning the gardens. We wandered around these taking it all in and then made our way back to the apartment.
