The Little Women spent Easter Weekend in lovely Salzburg, Austria, the fabled home of Mozart, among other things.

The Little Women were impressed with the old town’s Baroque architecture, which includes a cathedral, churches and fountains.

Although the Little Women have seen a few White Christmases, this year was the first time they enjoyed a White Easter, with several centimeters of snow on the ground on Sunday morning.

Fortunately, the weather improved the next day, and they visited an open-air museum with buildings from rural areas near Salzburg.

Apparently the people there have a tradition of building fences without nails, because the museum included four or five different types of such fences.

Another highlight of the museum was its Austrian tractor exhibit.

The Little Women finished their time in Austria with a visit to Hellbrunn Palace, built 400 years ago by the prince-archbishop of Salzburg.

Hellbrunn Palace was not a residence (as our readers can see from its almost closet-like dimensions in the photo above), but a Lustschloss or “pleasure palace.”  It was a place where potentates could bring their friends for the day to forget about their cares (e.g., possibly breathing the same air as commoners) back in the city.  The palace is perhaps the only place in the world that features warning signs like this one:

Most readers will recall that this is the international sign forbidding the doing of jumping jacks in the presence of death-ray cross-fire.  However, at Hellbrunn it also means that visitors should not let their cameras get wet, because even in a garden scene as peaceful and elegant-looking as this

lurks di-hydrogen-oxide horror.  For example, there are fountains hidden in this dinner table and in the chairs (except for the host’s spot) — the perfect thing to wake up your guests who have had some wine and are dosing off.

In such a place, danger is everywhere, including in this fountain disguised as a deer head.

But at Hellbrunn Palace, water isn’t used only for nefarious purposes.  It also powers some clever moving figures:

At the end of their visit, the Little Women discovered that Hellbrunn also has a great park.  They agreed that any palace with a playground that has four types of swings is definitely a pleasure palace.