Post by Ken Mullins

"Whoever will cultivate their own mind will find full employment. Every virtue does not only require great care in the planting, but as much daily solicitude in cherishing as exotic fruits and flowers; the vices and passions … demand perpetual weeding. -- Mary Wortley Montagu ===== (near Salzburg, in Austria) A prince-archbishop with a sense of humor, Markus Sittikus, built Schloss Hellbrunn in the early 17th century as a summer palace and an escape from his functions at the Residenz. The Italianate villa became a beloved retreat for rulers of state, who flocked here to eat, drink, and make merry. (It became a Garden of Eden to all who beheld its exotic fauna, citrus trees and trick fountains.) At first, the grounds of Hellbrunn seem to be nothing out of the ordinary, just another of Austria’s elegantly manicured palace gardens. But Hellbrunn is a bit different. Hidden in the stonework of fountains, chairs and flowerbeds are trick fountains. Be prepared to get soaked in the mock Roman theater, the shell-clad Neptune Grotto and the twittering Bird Grotto. No statue here is quite as it seems, including the emblematic tongue-poking-out Germaul mask. Studded with ponds, sculptures and leafy avenues, here you will find the Sound of Music pavilion of "Sixteen Going on Seventeen" fame.