A Rainy Day in Salzburg

Magnificent Austria, with its vast green lands and towering mountains, truly lives up to its reputation. My first impression was ever so slight while driving through a few valleys on the way to Zugspitze from Neuschwanstein, nevertheless I was entranced by beauty as tremendous as the surrounding mountains. However there is more to this tiny country in the heart of Europe than splendid alpine scenery. 

Mirabell Palace Gardens. The song "Do Re Mi" from Sound of Music was filmed here. 

After settling into our friend's place in Munich, the next morning we hopped a train for Salzburg, a quick two-hour journey south, to spend a day wandering the narrow streets one Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart once called home. Unfortunately, the weather was not on our side - and not just on the opposite team, but a 'spit-in-your-face, no way I will let you enjoy this city's splendor' kind of way. Okay, a bit over the top, but basically it was a gloomy day. The railway station was a mess outside, and the great 'Stelly' instinct of course led me in the opposite direction from the historical part of town. Thankfully, the wiser 'Peace' genes kicked in and I asked a passerby in flawless German which way I should be heading. 

At least the pictures make it look pretty

As the rain started falling, we arrived at the entrance gate of the Mirabell Palace and gardens. The palace was home to the Prince Archbishop of Salzburg - Mozart's famed employer (remember in Amadeus when he "bows" to his applauding audience whilst mooning the Archbishop?). Today was the perfect day to spend indoors wandering through the grand salons that hosted the most elegant balls of the day and numerous concerts by the family Mozart. Regretfully for us, there was a wedding going on inside, and the rooms were all taken. Ever the Curious George I am, I still poked my head in to catch a glimpse…. and what to my wandering eyes should appear but a young Chinese couple strutting down the aisle with cheer. L-U-C-K-Y ME….

I swear seven kids were right behind me!

Back outside, the gardens were elegantly planted with brilliant colored flowers in a well orchestrated pattern that rivals the most lavish palaces in Europe. As we strolled through light drizzle, we dazzled at the famous Pegasus Fountain and admired large vases of autumn flowers perched along the wide pathways. Opposite were finely manicured trees shaped like tall boxes. As we were about to leave, a canopy-covered archway caught my eye and immediately I ran over to it so I could skip my way through to the tune of Do Re Mi. It was the highlight of my time at the palace. 

A short walk from the palace and we came upon our next stop, Mozart Residence (not to be confused with the house he was born in, located across the river in Old Town) which was used by Leopold, Wolfgang, and his sister Nannerl after returning from a musical tour in 1773. Our understanding before the trip was that this particular house is more worthwhile than the other Mozart house, and with no weddings taking place inside, we welcomed to be out of the rain. The house - that is, apartment - was very large with a great central salon that is where some of his private concerts would take place. However we were a bit disappointed at the lack of musical instruments and other historical items one would expect to see. There was a video feature playing about the life of Mozart, specifically that of his time in Salzburg. 

The main exhibit of the house was a collection of paintings portraying Mozart from all ages of his short life. Surprisingly no two paintings looked the same and for good reason. As it turns out, most of the paintings are fakes. There were only one or two portraits ever done of Mozart during his life time, none which are known for sure if he modeled for them. The consensus among scholars was that there are fewer than three portraits that according to accounts from his contemporaries accurately depict Herr Mozart. Check out this piece from the New York Times about the Mozart Painting Exhibit.

After leaving the Mozart Residence, we headed across the river to Old Town and Salzburg's most famous street: Getreidegasse. The historic market street of Salzburg, today it is a tourist hot bed packed full of people, worse in this traveler's opinion than trying to walk through Beijing's Hutongs on a Saturday afternoon. While there may still be many magnificently beautiful iron signs above the shops - a tradition dating from the Middle Ages - most of the stores now lining the street have names like McDonalds, Louis Vuitton, and the like. Thankfully a few traditional ones still linger, my favorite being the Sporer Schnapps pitstop, a tiny one-hundred year old distillery that has been in the same family since its founding. Following Alan Jackson and Jimmy Buffet's motto that indeed "it IS five o'clock somewhere," we helped ourselves to a few shots. 

Four wonderfully sweet glasses of Schnapps

From tourist street, we walked carefree over to Residenceplatz and Salzburg Cathedral. There were far fewer people in this part of town, and as it started to rain yet again, we found ourselves sitting in a pew inside the cathedral. First thing I noticed was that this is not the same church from Captain von Trapp and Maria's wedding - I remember it well with its massive high altar and my mother telling me how before Princess Diana's wedding to Charles, the movie scene was THE fairytale wedding all little girls dreamed of. As Alex wandered through the church marveling at the tall ceilings and detailed artwork glorifying all things Christian, I sat reminiscing about days long ago when I attended mass regularly; more importantly, I sat in disbelief that I was actually here, in Salzburg. Despite my many adventures abroad, it still amazes me when all the planning and daydreaming - some of which is years in the making - finally comes together and in that moment everything around me stops, giving me that elusive peace rarely found in our busy world. For that moment, nothing else mattered. It was pure bliss. 

We walked up to the castle fortress above the city, aptly named Festung Hohensalzburg (High Salzburg Fortress), for a much needed panoramic view of the city. One of the largest fortifications in Europe, Hohensalzburg was instrumental in ensuring that neither it nor its namesake city was ever conquered by invaders. The views from the top were cloudy at best, misty at worse, but the walk was fun nonetheless. On the way up, we stopped in a meat shop (actual meat - no pun intended) that had a rather diverse spread of local sausages (head out of the gutter, people!), the best being wild boar. Just after, we found ourselves in the cemetery of St. Peter's Abbey, where the von Trapps hid (in the movie) from them stinking Naaazis and that little shi* Rolph finally grew a pair. One unique thing about the cemetery is that people don't own the graves they are buried in, rather they are rented for periods of ten years (the living relatives foot the bill). 

Since the weather was showing no signs of changing, and after seeing most everything we wanted, we headed back to the train station early and onwards back to Munich. A charming town, as touristy as it may be, was worth it even in the rain.

Salzburg Cathedral and Old Town