Beyond The Hole
Salzburg: Cafe Culture
August 18, 2002 @ 07:03 AM
Hallo, I am here in touristy downtown Salzburg! Unfortunately this post will have to be short, computer time is expensive here; money I have ear marked for confectionary treats!
First impressions of Salzburg: its not at all what I had expected. The cute half-timbered houses of my imagination are replaced, in reality, with old stone buildings. There is a permanent, solid feel, to this town. Like Munich and what I have seen of Germany, life in Salzburg seems organized and efficient, but by no means hectic. The coffee here is excellent, if that’s any indication of the quality of life (and it should be)! No offense to my friends in Germany, but the coffee I had there was not too far removed from dishwater. Perhaps Austria is a bit more fine-tuned culturally. Still, how does one explain those feathered Bavarian hats?
My activities: today is my third full day here. I´m planning to stay until Wednesday when I leave for Amsterdam. My appetite for sight-seeing has plummeted as my trip nears its unfortunate end. Instead, I’ve spent my time in Salzburg relaxing, enjoying (many cups of) the fine coffee, lounging outside in the warm summer air, biking along the river in search of the best picnic spots, making new friends, and meeting family.
This past Friday I met, for the first time, my distant relations here in Salzburg: Heidi and Ursula. They were most gracious, serving me coffee and cake, of which I can never seem to get enough, and thus eagerly took seconds, or perhaps thirds. I gave them a thorough account of my travels and we chatted into the early evening. I regret not having more time to visit and getting to know them better. (Heidi or Ursi — if you’re reading this, e-mail me, I’d love to hear from you)!
Salzburg is crawling with musicians and most of the tourist activities revolved around music. My first night in town I went to a concert in Mirabell Palace with my dorm mate Michael. Staying at the hostel are a number of music students studying here for the summer. You can often hear them practicing in their rooms during the day, and so far has been everywhere from pleasant to downright nerve wracking for some of the violinists. I’ve never heard Mozart, Brahm, et al. butchered in so many interesting ways.
One of the students, Helen, has been playing the violin since age five and is hoping to give private performances for various British aristocrats when she returns home to Scotland.
Before Salzburg and after Paris, I spent three days in Alsace, not far from the German border in what used to actually be part of Germany. Alsace is famous for its wine and its vineyards and its German tourists. People are more likely to speak German, then English. The tourists are everywhere and the vineyards are everywhere. I did a little hiking through some vineyards, visited a surprisingly fine little museum in Colmar — so nice they even let me check my baguette at the clockroom — sampled some wine, ate way too many Doner Kebabs, and spent my last night getting sick :-) All in all though a fun place. Well I´ve got to run, expect more when I get to Amsterdam — can hardly believe my trip ends in little more then a week. I´ve been traveling so long I´ve nearly forgotten what home is like — but it will be nice too see all of you once again. Miss you all.
