Salzburg, part 1

Guten Abend!

It's been a rougher day so I apologize for not posting sooner. My body is being stubborn about getting an adequate amount of sleep. I seem to be getting a good night every third night which is luckily tonight! I woke up not feeling so well so I ended up not attending my German class. Salzburg really took it out of me. Though in the afternoon we took a bus out to the outskirts of Vienna to view a church designed by Otto Wagner, an architect we are studying. I'll post about it tomorrow, promise. We are going to the Kunsthistoriches Museum tomorrow though..hmm. That museum houses the personal collection of the Hapsburgs and is one of the reasons I came to Vienna! It closes at 6 so I intend to stay until I'm threatened to leave. Tomorrow's post might be ginormous. As a heads up.

Ok. So. Salzburg. We took the train out of Wien pretty early..I was pretty grumpy..so we arrived around 12 or so. Our hotel, the Ramanda Inn which boasted of wireless (if you stay there, do not be fooled, their wifi is dodgy at best) and served a delicious breakfast (I stole a croissant for a snack later; I unabashedly admit this.), is located right outside the train station. Imagine my delight when I only had to walk 25 feet to get to my hotel (the lazy theme, again. Sorry.)! We could check in yet, thus we dropped our luggage off, and headed out for a walk! We purchased our tickets for the tour of choice for the next morning. Naturally, Sound of Music was mine. It's kinda a thing for my Dad and I, watching that movie. We bond over movies--Forrest Gump, The Muppets Treasure Island, It's a Wonderful Life, Sound of Music, the Patriot, Mary Poppins. Mom always loved Julie Andrews, so it was an obvious and easy choice.

It was cold and rainy in Salzburg. I didn't exactly pack well so that hampered my thoughts towards the city for the first couple of hours. We had another walking tour (blah) which turned out to be okay, except for the downpour at the end. Salzburg was actually an independent country before it was annexed by Austria. As such, it has a longer and distinct history from that of Vienna, though equally as old (I think..). The ruler was both royal and clerical, holding the position of prince and archbishop of the church. One of these princes who had seven children, built a summer palace, with splendid gardens, now called Mirabelle Gardens. Several scenes from the SM (Sound of Music) were filmed there. It also featured some decent sculptures..one inspired by Bernini!

These steps were the last part of Do-Rae-Me if you are familiar enough.

 The landscaping was quite beautiful. Above is a view of the castle!

So...a needle pulling thread!

Hercules being all masculine.

This is one of the Wohnhaus (Living House) of Mozart. He wasn't born here, but he lived there when he was older.

There are several bridges but one is rather famous. It has locks on the chain link. Supposedly, if you put a lock with your beloved's and your name, while you are there with them, your love will be eternal. While touched, I felt it might be weird if I returned home from Wien and told David, "Surprise! You must love me eternally." It was a very pretty view though. Very pretty indeed.

Trust me. While this picture of me is atrocious, the other ones were WAY worse. I seriously need to stop making funny/scary faces.

And this would be the house Mozart was born in..Mozarts Geburtshaus (birth house).

The main street of Salzburg is rather narrow, but features Medieval aged houses with splendid signs. I was particularly fond of the Zara sign (Zara is a European brand that is only available in New York in the states. Recently they opened the online store for the US. Duchess Katherine is rather fond of the brand, as is her sister, Pippa).

There was a dog I particularly bonded with on this street so I missed the historic spiel about it. Oops. But seriously, that dog was precious.

We passed by a pure Baroque church, in that it embodies all the characteristics of the Baroque period without any Renaissance or Gothic or Classical elements. It was featured in my art history text book, so I should know the name. I do not, however.

There is a monastery in Salzburg that is quite old. The most fabulous part about it was the cemetery (macabre, I know). Some of the grave markers were so old it was the coolest thing to explore in. The torrential downpour did not encouraging extensive exploration. Another church in Salzburg with Gothic and Baroque elements was beautiful inside. Again, I'm scant on the details. In my defense, I was tired? Though I do remember there were five organs inside, and that Mozart played on one of them.

The absolute pinnacle of my short stay in Salzburg was the private concert in the castle. It was later in the evening. And my two ever present companions, grumpy and tired, were rearing their not so friendly heads. We walked a bit to this tram that would take you up to the castle. It was rather interesting and I'm not sure how to describe it. But the entire tram was angled equally with the mountain. The tracks literally went straight up, but inside the tram you would stand on these three platforms. It was a short ride thankfully, since I felt uncomfortable. When we reached the castle, and walked up to the wall, I quickly forgot any unhappiness. It was stunning. Salzburg lay beneath us, the mountains, encircling. We took endless pictures, which was great. I want to remember that view for the rest of my life.

Lucky for us, the most beautiful part of the evening hadn't even started. As we ascended the steps to enter the castle itself, we were all very excited and awestruck. Even the guys were impressed. There were cannons..so that might have been it.

See?

The concert room was intimate and beautiful in itself. The windows gave another spectacular view. As the sun set, I could not have imagine a more special ambiance. The ceiling was painted blue to mimic the night sky, the gold studs being the stars. The large beam running through the middle of the room was taken from a single tree. There were four twisted stone columns that were original to it's completion 1100. There was even a cannon mark from a siege. The castle had never been taken by force. Our tour guide told us an adorable anecdote. During a siege, the inhabitants of the castle were running out of food. There was on bull left. One genius had the idea to let it walk along the barricades so that the army surrounding the castle could see they had food. The next day, the cow was painted black, and let to eat grass on the ramparts again. The next day the same cow was washed and paraded about. The attacking army seeing that the castle had plenty of food retreated. Salzburgerins are sometimes called the cowpainters. Maybe it's the cowwashers? I'm also considering he was joking with us.

During an intermission, as the sun set we could take pictures. Again, the prettiest sight.

Beyond the view, the music was stunning. Uplifting, soothing, magical--all these and so many more. The ache of being homesick and tired seemed eased in those few hours. We all left very moved. And I felt that something had shifted that very much felt like my soul giving a blissful sigh. Pizza and beer afterwards was also fun. We caught the last bit of the soccer game between Germany and Portugal in an Irish pub where the bartender called me "lass." I giggled for a while which hindered me being able to order.

The next morning after a delicious breakfast, we set off on our bus. The weather was actually worse, but the four hour tour was thankfully on a bus, rather than walking.

I'll do the rest tomorrow. Just looked up and realized how long this was and that it was 11:49 here! Yikes! Must sleep.

Sweet dreams.