Salzburg 2011

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The first inkling of what kind of a place Salzburg was going to be was in the train. It was overflowing with tourists; backpackers, families, couples, singles, all of them! In all the places I have visited, the one thing I can always count on seeing are Chinese and Japanese traveling groups. Never have I not seen them and Germany was no different (wow, I am good at negatives, aren’t i?!) In case you didn't know, Salzburg is the hometown of Mozart and also where the Sound of Music was shot.

As promised by Eva, the first thing you notice in Salzburg is the never ending display of Mozartkugel, chocolates stamped with face of Mozart by Mirabell all over! You cant find these anywhere else (Mirabell has some sort of trademark on the name and/or shape of the chocolate). Salzburg was the picture perfect European town, the perfect tourist eye-candy. Shops, cafes, food carts, narrow cobblestone paths, street performers, river (Isar), cathedrals, people.. the works!

Salzburg is a hilly town (the hills are indeed alive!) and very reminiscent of San Francisco with homes built into the hills all the way up. You can hike for hours and visit churches etc. along the way. I was not in the mood for major physical effort and kept my hiking to a minimum. I had bought a ticket for a hop on hop off bus tour which I lost. Just as well, I decided to wander around and people watch instead. It was a pleasant surprise to run into Jaune Plensa’s face of a girl installed in the grounds of one of the churches, she is also to be found in Madison Square Park, NY this year.

For the evening I had purchased concert tickets to hear Mozart in the fort on top of a hill. That was quite an experience, the view of the entire surroundings was breathtaking, the hills, river, town, cathedral tops… I can easily recall it all into memory now! The concert itself lasted a little over 2 hours. Prosecco and Mirabell candy was available during breaks. They are quite a Prosecco loving country, I must say!

The day went by quickly and sure enough I was back in Germany, ready to say my goodbyes. The surprising thing is that although this was one of my most relaxing trip, I felt the most tired during and after my return. My conclusion is that I need some activity on my trips and good amount of ‘me’ time. As much as I love being with dear friends, no trip is complete without the right dose of solitude spent only in company of the place that I am visiting.

I bought some white sausage from the airport and after much debate with myself did not buy any more alcohol (in Salzburg I had already bought Dom Perignon for Eva and Johannes and a liquor for a friend back home)

And that was that!