Semester Break Trip (Part 2 of 3)

Part 2 of my trip recap will focus on time spent in Salzburg, Austria, before traveling to Vienna for the big Austrian ball (this will be the subject of the next post). This was my second trip to Salzburg, the first occurring on Easter Sunday in April 1995, as a stop on a 5-countries in 10-days teen tour. While some people (and you know who you are) would question my travel methods, my travel intentions have certainly changed since then. Quality over quantity. Actually, it is interesting, because by the end of my year in Italy, I will have revisited nearly every stop on that "once-in-a-lifetime" trip I took when I was 16. At least that's how my teacher billed it. I am very happy that over the last 11 years, I have proven that moniker to be a misnomer.

Anyway, Salzburg in February was very different than Salzburg in April. For one, there were very few people there, which is something I love. The same was true for Ireland. It is so nice to be able to walk the streets and visit restaurants and not be just one of the masses. Actually, one very interesting aspect of Salzburg in winter was their treatment of their fountains. This is what the city does with its fountains in winter:

One neat thing I was able to do on this trip, which I was unable to do the first time because I had to attend Easter Sunday mass, was see the fortress that sits on a hill above the city. In addition to learning about the varied history of the fortress, one amazing benefit to making the funicular trip (which I love in its own right; show me a funicular and I will want to take it wherever it may lead) up the hill were the views of the city the trip afforded us. Here is a picture of Salzburg from the fortress (this picture is also my current computer wallpaper):

And here is a picture of Mark and myself atop the fortress. Unfortunately this picture is plagued by the same ailment as most pictures taken by strangers--they tend to focus on you instead of on the scenery. The worst offender of this was a woman who took a picture of Sri and me in front of the 12 Apostles along the Great Ocean Road in Australia. We had spent 15+ hours driving to see these structures and this woman was nice enough to take our picture in front of them. However when the film was developed (this was, of course, back in the halcyon days of 2000, when 35mm film was still the basis of recreational photography), we determined the woman had so completely focused on the two of us, the picture contained only the slightest hints of the great rock formations behind us. We were not happy. Anyway, back to out digital reality, here is the picture. You can't really tell that we are in Salzburg, but accepting the non-descriptness of the photo was easier than asking another stranger to take our picture:
The other special thing about Salzburg in 2006 is the city is in the nascent phase of a year-long celebration of Mozart's 250th birthday. I must say, I was a little disappointed by what I saw. The first Mozart-stop was to the museum in the house where Mozart was supposedly born. I expected a few things out of this museum--a little Mozart biographical information, perhaps a re-creation of the Mozart apartment. What I got instead however, was a weird, new age exhibit that seemed to have little to do with Mozart. Here is one of the exhibits. It contained a topographical map of Salzburg on the ceiling, stars on the floor, and illuminated upside-down pictures on the walls. Here is Mark "admiring" the exhibition. I still don't understand what this had to do with Mozart:
There was a second Mozart museum exhibition in town, too, and it seemed just as odd. The first room contained an oddly rotating, light/mirror configuration that was enough to make a sane person crazy....

Here are some other shots from Salzburg. The first is for the benefit of my brother, who has one picture of me in his room. It was taken in 1995 while I was standing in front of this fountain. Of course, it wasn't covered in glass then....

The next is of the inside of the dome of the Dom. This is where I attended Easter mass in 1995. What I didn't know then, but what I tragically discovered this time, was that the dome was destroyed by Allied bombing in 1944. The first picture is of the dome in 1944, the second one is of today:


This next picture is me on a bridge over the River Salzach, with a great view of the Altstadt part of town behind me:

This final set of photos taken by me is of one of the most unique stores I have ever encountered. This store sold nothing but delicately painted Easter eggs. That was the entire store. They even had Christmas eggs that could be hung on your Christmas tree. I have never seen a store only devoted to Easter before. It was rather interesting:

After sight-seeing all day, Mark and I attended a Mozart-based recital at the Mirabell Palace. It was amazing. I have never heard a recital that only included string instruments. The sound was incredible. Here is a picture of the room where the concert was held.

I very much enjoyed my time in Salzburg. It truly is a beautiful city....And the next post will take us to Vienna!