Driving a British car on the continent at night did bring a whole new set of challenges - which included remembering to drive on the right and figuring out how to "de-dazzle" (their word, not ours) our headlights so that our British car wouldn't blind every on-coming driver from Calais to Munich. Below you can see Jesse attempting to decipher the multi-lingual directions for attaching the little de-dazzler (in his left hand) to our head lamps.
20 minutes later, Jesse managed to affix the stickers supposedly in accordance with the directions, but not everything was smooth sailing after departing the EuroTunnel. Either we screwed up somewhere along the way or the stickers were simply crap, but apparently EVERY truck driver in France and Germany thought that we had our high-beams on... and had to make it a point of blinding us with their high beams (much higher beams, we might add) as a public service message to turn down our lights. Needless to say, this didn't make for a restful night drive across Europe (if anyone has any suggestions on how the hell to attach these things, please, fire away!!!). Anyway, after driving for 14 hours straight (ok - we did zonk off for two hours in a rest-stop somewhere in middle Germany), we eventually arrived at our first destination, the medieval city of Salzburg, Austria:
A beautiful city all around and the birthplace of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart:
You name it, and you could find a Mozart version of it - From Busts (yes, with a few of Strauss in there...) to Liquor:
to concerts (with string quartets or chamber ensembles in period dress) EVERYWHERE (No, we didn't go to one. We did see a concert however... of Kodaly, Martinu and Dvorak):
to t-shirts (serious and less so), plates, mugs and even a university...
And these particularly intriguing things called "Mozart Balls" (Mozart Kugeln):
We found these "Mozart Balls" everywhere - even in our bed!!!
Yes - one could a few things other than Mozart in this lovely medieval town - "Der Dom" for instance:
And waiting patiently outside, a harbinger of things yet to come...
So sitting around one afternoon - Kim thought, "Hey - wouldn't it be fun to go up there?!" (see below). We're not exactly sure what we were thinking when we decided to ascend to the top of the Untersberg - the highest peak in the immediate Salzburgian Alps. Perhaps is was the desire to see snow, so absent from our winter in England. Perhaps is was Kim's long-repressed desire to ski. Who knows, but in the end we decided that we needed to get on top of that mountain:
Our chariot of doom descended upon us:
Definitely having one of those "what the hell were we thinking" moments, we hyperventilated for most of the ride to the top of the Untersberg - where we were greeted with some fantastic views, despite the spotty cloud cover (If you're interested, you can check out the view from the top using Der Untersberg Webcam!):
Kim was DYING to ski down (you can take the cable car up and then ski down to another village), but alas, we had to board the cable car once again (a lot calmer this time - thanks to the beers we downed at one of the mountain lodges!)
Leaving the quaint streets and the terrifying heights of the Alps behind, we moved on to Vienna (Wien), and suddenly found ourselves in a grand imperial city -- once the seat of the Hapsburgs and the "capital" of the Holy Roman Empire, not to be confused with the actual Roman Empire. Anyway, you can certainly see this reflected in the amazing architecture and the abundance of Roman-themed statues.
From the Rathaus (town hall) to the wide boulevards - Wien could be sister cities with Paris...
... complete with plenty of gorgeous European churches and gardens (although as one small child put it, "Aww mom - another church??"):
As to be expected, music was everywhere - even in the middle of the busy pedestrian shopping districts!
We did manage to see some more professional concerts (NO MOZART!) whilst in Austria, as well as art exhibits and all sorts of other cultural-type-things. One highlight was visiting the only Austrian synagogue (Stadttempel) to remain standing after WWII. Looking at the location of the synagogue, below, you might begin to understand why it wasn't demolished:
Pretty unsuspecting, huh? A long and complicated history led to the construction of this synagogue in the middle of a block of residential flats. (You can check out more information here if you're interested). But crossing into the interior of the building revealed as spectacular sight:
Coincidentally, the interior was designed by a German (goy) and he modeled it after an opera by -- you guessed it -- Mozart (The Magic Flute).All and all - a fantastic trip... and this was only the 1st 1/2! More to come soon!
And here it is - your Austrian Moment of Zen:
1 comment:
Ha! Mozart Balls! I work with a woman from Austria, and she brought a tin of them back with her after a visit home. They are delish...despite the cringe-inducing name!
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