Austria – Salzburg

2011 December  —–

We headed back to Andorf on the 29^th, spent the night at Claudia & Murkus’ then took another train to Salzburg on the 30^th. Nestled right in the Alps, this old city decorated in traditional ways was breathtaking. That same night we went to Castle Mirabell where Leopold Mozart used to put on performances with his wife and children. Although the hall had been mostly damaged by a fire decades ago, the main staircase remained intact with the Marble Hall being restored to almost original grandeur. We sat only a meter away from the lead violinist performing some of Mozart’s greatest compositions. I am not ashamed to admit I had tears in my eyes for nearly the entire performance and tear up now writing this. How can I describe the emotion that we felt, sitting in the very room where the great master once performed? The wall murals, the marble floor, the high windows, the Christmas tree, and the acoustics perfect. To close our eyes and imagine Mozart sitting where we now sit? The lead violinist so in tune with his instrument that we got the impression that he was not playing the violin, but that the violin was playing him. His eyes closed, swaying and moving with the music, his cheek caressing the violin, his hand gently holding the bow that that seemed to have a life of its own as it stroked the strings, his fingers dancing on the stem. It was magical!

After the performance, we walked around, looking in shop windows and basically getting a feel of the town.

The next day we did a tour of the house where Mozart was born as well as the house the family moved into later. It was very interesting in that both places explained the family history, original letters written to family members, original music sheets, original instruments, but also a lot of history on early Salzburg life. We wanted to do a bit of shopping, but since it was New Year’s Eve, all the shops closed early so we continued to wander through the streets of the old city, in the snow. Again, the snow only added to the atmosphere of holidays in an ancient Alps city filled with history. As a note here, there are by-laws that ensure the cities keep their historical nature, and even grants or subsidies to property owners. New buildings must be built to maintain the esthetic theme as well.

We went into the Salzburg Cathedral. The original church dates back to 774 and went through 2 more building phases, the most recent in the 1600’s, which is what we see today. These grand old buildings still hold the magic of olden times and it makes one’s heart ache to realize that many of these elegant works of art were purposely bombed during the war to damage the moral of the locals. Thankfully, there are people who aggressively work to restore them, as close as possible, to their original state which in turn brings millions of tourist dollars to the area. History repeats itself wrapped in a different coat. The same thing is still going on in the middle east with the Americans destroying for the sake of oil then making money on ‘restoring’ the country. OK, off the soapbox……

We were getting cold and wet and were getting ready to head back to the hotel for a rest before the night time celebrations when there was a series of very loud bangs. They were shooting off cannons from the castle that dominates the city from its high perch on the hill. The shots reverberated through the hills and mountains and into the city. We were not sure what that was all about, and were ready to leave again, when we came face to face with a procession of historically dressed guards coming up the street, pulling a cannon. Even though we had no idea what was going on, we followed the crowd that was following the guards. They came to a nearby ancient part of the city, did some kind of presentation with the cannon, some fancy salutes with their swords, stood with great pride and pomp in the heavy snow, then it was all over. Even though we had no idea what was going on, we feel privileged to have witnessed it.

We went to a restaurant that used to be an ice house and then a beer cellar for dinner. At least now we were in a bit more control over the quantity of food, and although delicious it did not hold a candle to Michaela’s family’s home cooking. From there were tried to find a taxi to take us back to the old city so we could partake in the New Year’s eve celebrations. The snow that was falling all day had turned to rain and there was a biting wind. We quickly decided to forgo the fireworks in favour of being dry and warm. Back at the hotel, we sat in the lobby having some wine and were content when the fireworks started. It had nearly stopped raining so we went outside to have a better look. No matter which way we looked, there were fireworks. Householders were shooting off smaller ones, hotels and businesses larger ones, and of course the biggest and best were from the castle on the hill. It was a show we are not likely to forget. Just a note: Michaela did not have one drink of alcohol the entire trip and was feeling morning sickness most of everyday. Even the most tasty morsels and sweets had her wrinkling her nose and shaking her head.

Alas, on New Year’s Day we had to say farewell to Len and Michaela as they had to return to London and we had to return to Munich. Now it was my turn to experience the tears that only days before Michaela’s family shed upon her farewell from them.

Hermann collected us from the train station then we went for a brief to visit his daughter and her family. It was an early night for all of us, as we had a 7:20 plane to catch to Delhi.