The Sound Of Salzburg

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This is catch up before I post the rest of my pictures. I actually left my poor little laptop back in Budapest while Jodi and I kicked up our heels among the Alps. I have some days to circle back on….

So – as you peruse through the adventures of Jodi and Alison – here’s a little something for you to tickle your ears with to make the venture more enjoyable.

Where to start – I suppose the best place would be with the recording attached. I’m proud to say that, Jodi and I were vacationing in Salzburg over this past weekend, but we didn’t skip church! It was a little different, but as we couldn’t get into the dinner concert with the Mozart ensemble of Salzburg on Saturday evening, we did the next best thing and went to mass in the Salzburg Cathedral on Sunday morning! Actually – Frommers said that that’s one of the best concerts you can get if you hit a Sunday they do Mozart. We hit the Sunday! Jackpot.

I’ve only been to a mass one or two other times, but I do have to commend the Catholics on the strenuous exercise with which they worship. At my church, we stand up and we sing a bunch of songs and then sit down for the rest of the service. I discovered that Catholics do this up down thing that really works the glutes and I much admire that! Of course, that may be a German/Austrian thing – you know, its not worth doing unless it makes you stronger and better.

Here was worship in the Salzburg Cathedral. We got in, we sat down, we started, we stood up, we sang, we sat down, we listened, we stood up, someone else sang, we sat down, we prayed, we stood up, we listened to someone else sing and jumped in once in a while, we sat down…. And so it continued for an hour. There were many men who took turns getting behind the pulpit and saying some gutteral things and then announcing the name “Mozart”. After a few men and a few Mozarts, there was one really loud guy who got up and began to read very loudly from his notes. As I’m not fluent in German, it was really hard to follow. I heard him clear his throat a lot and I think I saw some spittle with some of his sentences – I picked up a lot of leiben and NEIN! Which the nein was always shouted very loudly and even took on a little Hitlerish effect. I have noticed that German is definitely NOT (that is NEIN!) the language of romance. Its really hard to be romantic and think of love (that is leiben) when someone is saying words about 90 letters long, spitting in your face and continually using phrases that end with the verbage “fahrt”.

But, through all the spitting, the NEIN!, the calisthenics and the hard pews, I truly truly enjoyed the Mozart! It was quite entrancing to look around the cathedral which was huge and ornate and listen to these voices and this orchestra reverberating through the whole building. It went into you and took over your head and all you could do was sit there and stare at all the paintings and the woodwork and everything else as the music was coming from behind you up in the loft - it was hard to actually concentrate on anything but the music itself. Amazing! The recording is not that fantastic as I had to move for a little old Austrian lady a few times, but overall, I think you get a little bit of the effect!

So – now that I’ve started in the middle of the end – I think I’ll go back to the beginning of the beginning…

Jodi and I left Budapest at about 2 on Thursday afternoon and flew through Hungary into Austria. There are still the old borders between the countries but they’re all closed now as its all EU. I did snap a picture as we passed into Austria – it just looks like the toll booths at home in IL. I think the freakiest looking ones were in Poland. It was slightly dark when we went through those and they were looming and very frightening. In fact, I think the 3 of us kind of squealed a little because they were so spooky.

So – we zipped through Vienna and then 3 hours past to Salzburg. It was very dim when we got there, but we could see the outlines of mountains – the Alps! We drove right onto our “hotel”, which was actually the Trapp House. The house that the Von Trapps lived in before they left Austria for the US. After they left the house, during the Nazi occupation, it was taken by Himmler as a summer house and the current wall that is around the house was built by labor camp workers and just hasn’t been taken down since. The wall now encompasses a few different houses as the property was huge. After the US came into Austria, they took the house and gave it back to the Von Trapps who then promptly gave it to an order of monks, called Christ’s Blood or something, whose ownership it has resided under until about 2006 when it was sold to a family that turned it into the Trapp House, a bed and breakfast. It was a very nice place and well done/redone. The only clincher is that the room was quite small and our “private bath” was indeed our private bath, but was actually out in the common hallway a little ways from our room. Hmmm…. Our host at the b and b kept on telling us what a nice and comfortable room it was. I actually can’t turn my head all the way right now as the “comfortable” mattress was rock hard and I think my side went numb every night. Other than that – it was actually delightful! J OH – most memorable thing about the place was the homemade Austrian brown bread that we were fed every morning.

We wandered around Salzburg a little on Thursday night and then ate at a Bierhaus as everything else in old town was closed. It was actually good food – Jodi had the roasted pork with bread dumplings and I had the boiled beef and potatos as that’s about all that was on the menu. As we discovered later, apparently that’s all that’s really on any menu in Salzburg. I think the Austrians just found some good, hearty food and kept on serving it so they don’t really have anything else unless they steal the Hungarian goulash soup recipe (which they did) or throw in a little Italian here and there (which they did).

The next morning we headed out of Salzburg, across the German border into a small town and a little ways up the mountains to Obersalzburg. There is a German bunker there and a museum as this was a town used by Hitler for a lot of vacations. In fact, where the documentation center sits is on top of the area where Hitler had a vacation house built.

The reason why we had gone up to Obersalzburg is because I was wanting to take a hike up in the Alps. Specifically, our destination was Kleinhaus, aka “Eagles Nest” which was Hitler’s house up in the mountains. It was a house that was given to Hitler by one of his friends as a gift, incidentally, as a friend, he should have known that Hitler was apparently a little apprehensive of heights…

Finding the path up was near impossible (there is also a bus that goes up and most everyone takes that) and when we finally did, it was straight up! I have to believe that Hitler never hiked this for two reasons…. First of all, I’ve seen his little beer belly and there’s no way that someone out of shape could get up this mountain. It was a total workout! The second reason I don’t think he hiked it is because I don’t think anyone so full of hate and blood and murder could ever walk through those mountains and come out thinking still of hate and murder and blood. It was AMAZING and BEAUTIFUL! It was even pretty hazy so we didn’t see the full view. It was just beautiful looking down on all these little Bavarian villages and houses. When you get to Eagles Nest, you have to walk through the really long passageway that you’ve seen pictures of, and then into the brass elevator that takes you up to the house – I can’t remember how far it is up, but it takes a few minutes. Again, the view was not that good because of the haze, but it was interesting being in the house and seeing what I’ve seen pictures of in books. I’ll post those picts later.

Saturday we headed out to see Salzburg, Old Town primarily. We did the whole walk around the top of Salzburg which, the old old section is built into the mountain. Theres a huge castle and fortress thing that you can either take a lift up to or walk (guess what we did J) and then the Moneschburg is a walk that you can do all the way around the top and see all sections of Salzburg. It was really beautiful and interesting. We couldn’t catch the concert that we wanted so we ate at this restaurant by St Peters which is the restaurant that Mozart used to eat at… I think some things have changed since then – oh, but not the boiled beef and potatos and roasted pork and bread dumplings…J The atmosphere was wonderful and the food even better! We ordered this Salzburg mousse dessert that was amazing when it came out (it looked a little like a Baked Alaska) but was a little too sugary and we only ate a little and then offered for all the waiters to share the rest with us as it was huge (you had to have 2 people to even order it) – none of the waiters took us up on it, FYI J We then strolled around the Old Town a little more and then went up to the Bristol hotel which has this fabulous view of the Old Town from the side of the New Town. Great day and great evening!

Sunday morning, we had to make it to mass to hear the concert and it was definitely worth it. We then had a coffee at the Café Tomeselli which was also another place that Mozart ate at… oh – we did see where Mozart was born as well as where he lived. We decided to leave a little early and then swing by Vienna on the way home in order to eat dinner.

Oh – the one other Salzburg stop we made was this place called Hangar 7 which is owned by the guy who created Red Bull. Its this huge hangar with art and airplanes and motorcycle and all and they have this glass room on the top that is a bar in the evenings. Very interesting and free!
Vienna and Salzburg were both rainy on Sunday, but it was nice to roam around the walking street in Vienna and see some familiar sites from before. I do love it in Vienna!

Then back home to Budapest – yes, it really does feel like home sometimes. Jodi was laughing because when I prayed for dinner I said “and help us to get home safely” – she just loved it that I called Budapest home. It is like a 2nd home, you know. Its just such a great city and full of great people and friends.

Flora came over and watched a movie with me and spent the night and, thank goodness, my flight wasn’t until 11 so it wasn’t like I had to get up at ungodly 3 a.m.

Its mixed feelings sometimes, but I am very happy to be going home as I miss people and things (maybe even my job a little …). I get back in on Monday evening and – boom – right away I’m off to San Antonio on Tuesday evening. Good times….

Back to life – back to reality!One more aside and a prayer request!... I pulled up e-mail on Sunday night when I got back, and I had gotten an e-mail from Andi, the girl that Mark, Jayne, Tammie and I had met when we were looking for the Danube River cruise the week before last. Its just kind of cool and providential to think that I just happened to stop her to ask for directions and I believe she was just the person that God wanted me to stop and ask!

FYI - if you can't open the link to the Salzburg Cathedral music, let me know and I'll send it to you individually as you DON'T want to miss this -- its gorgeous!!!!!