My Kind of Town

Salzburg is my kind of town. Do you know they offer several varieties of cake for breakfast? In Berlin, the sweet breakfast choices included these tiny morsels, profiteroles. The varieties of breads for breakfast too are wonderful.

 I am loving the dense, dark breads, often with seeds. And the slices are not large. Does that mean I can try a second one?

Last night we found the restaurant Pasta and Vino. Loud happy Itaians bustled about. We asked for the menu. Nope. They had three choices of pasta. We chose the pasta with chicken and bacon. It came out on stylish white dishes, that had a beautiful form. Dessert was only two choices also. But the food was just delicious.

 I guess almost anything would have been welcomed to us foot weary tourists after wandering the hot streets of Salzburg lost earlier in the day. And the bill was only €32, with drinks. Got the weather forecast on line this morning, via a UK weather site, for the city of Salzburg. Gave the percentage possibility of precipitation BY THE HOUR. We are taking our rain jackets on the Sound of Music tour today.

We can't visit Salzburg and not do this tour. We are tourists, after all!!

Random Thoughts

We have noticed one significant difference between car traffic so far here and at home. PATIENCE! No car horns blasts. Cars weave around these "ungridded" streets and show courtesy to fellow motorists. In Vienna we have seen large strong clear plastic bags on certain lamp posts with small coin containers,with each containing one type of newspaper. It seems an honour system. Vienna has far few cobblestone streets than Prague. But easy to walk on. Crowds around street buskers here clap and are willing to drop in coins. Of course in Vienna buskers are talented. No guitar strummers. Might be violin, cello and double bass together. Lack of street rubbish and graffiti in Vienna noticeable. Street signs on sides of buildings, not signposts. In Vienna the number of district is there too. City centre has districts 1 to 9; outside 10 to 23. Pillows (on beds) are larger. Wait staff wear belts with a purse to dispense change straight away. Spot the Aussie is my new game. I think someone may be an English speaker, judged by their face, clothes, etc. then I hear them speak another language. My method is neither scientific or accurate, but it amuses me. The long thin rolls we can buy for lunch are ideal. You can get the whole end easily in your mouth with no spillage. Why can't we buy them at home? Still amazed by almost total lack of street litter. Railway stations and platforms, public parks ... so rubbish free.

Navigational Nomads

Is it the city maps we are given, or is it us? Arriving in Salzburg, we booked into the MozartHotel and set out, map in hand, to see some of this city.

The friendliest man on reception drew on the map a few areas of interest. Turn left, end of street, turn right. Even we didn't muck that up. It was a tourist trap, er, I mean, main narrow shopping street, one side set hard up against the soaring rock face. Seems eleven men work after winter end each year on dangly lines to check all the sheer rock surfaces for small chipped or weaken pieces, to remove them and prevent SERIOUS INJURY OR DEATH by falling rocks.

Lots of tiny arcades of shops and cafes dart off everywhere. Down one we enjoyed coffee and cake, which had a tangy plum centre to offset the sweet topping. A great balance of flavour. Walking on, we crossed the River Salzach via one of several bridges.

 This led to the old area of Salzburg which is mainly pedestrian areas. Again, lots of tourist shops. We found an outdoor market.

Have I mentioned the amazing variety of fruit here, especially berries and cherries. I bought cherries in both Berlin and Vienna for about €3.99 a kilo and they are plump and sweet. Rob would not try on lederhosen for me, though we saw several local men in them. This is SLzburg Festival time. We saw some very expensively attired people, no doubt heading off to festival events. Don't think our jeans and runners will make the dress code.

Anyway, with the map we tried to find a lovely treed park our Reception Man recommended. Two points. We never found it. We walked off the cake's calories trying to. We followed the path by the river a while. Its narrow banks had many out enjoying the sun. On the other side were impressive houses, several storeys tall, in separate gardens, that wealthy "burgers" probably built years go.

We saw the unusual enormous city fountain built by some rich man, maybe an archbiship? with sloping entrance either end, for the purpose of washing horses. I kid you not!! It is quite a wrm day today. Another perfect summer day as long as you re to trudging along in the heat lost. We eventually found our way back. Time for a refreshing shower, then an even more refreshing beverage, strictly for rehydration purposes.

Ho Hum, Another One!

Another day. Another art gallery. Albertina, a short walk from our hotel. But first we saw a supermarket near the hotel. Think the David Jones of supermarkets. Over three floors, but not a large area, everything was beautifully displayed. Not long aisles but rectangular shelving you could move right around. Wonderful preps led rolls, paninis, salads. Coffee to go. Stairs or a glass elevator in the middle of the store. Next we visited St. Stephen's that dates at least back to the 1400s. Wonderfully ornate, interesting interior without the opulence of some Italian churches. I asked Rob to take my picture, but he snapped some old lady by mistake. (He told me it was me, but, really ....) After coffee in Stephansplatz, outside under a covered area, where we watched the passing parade of tourists and locals, we wandered off to The Albertina. First we used the audio guide through MORE royal apartments. Seriously, how many chandeliers and gilt trims can one take? Then we explored their "Monet Bis Picasso" display. An overview of 130 years of art history concluded with around thirty works by Pablo himself, including several ceramic pieces. Then we were enthralled by US photographer Joel Sternfeld's retrospective, covering more than three decades and some 130 works. We basically bypassed four further exhibitions within the Albertina and finished with their Contempory Exhibition. Tired from all this Culture, we sought refuge on the lawn, under trees in the nearby Burrgarten. It is a perfect day here in Wein (Vienna). It is a cloudless sky and around 25 degrees. Strolling on we went past the Palace Gate, through Heldenplatz, looked at the Theseus Temple in Volksgarten and wandered our way through narrow streets, all bordered by an array of amazing buildings. One I loved was actually quite modern. Haas-Haus was built in the early nineties of glass and bluestone marble. It stands opposite St. Stephen's Cathedral and fits admirably into the cityscape. We had lunch down one alley too narrow for cars, where we again sat at an outside table. In a medium size open area called Gra-Ben I found the 'Plague Column', a towering statue to the local victims of the Great Plague. So we are at our hotel again, which overlooks Kartnet Straffe, the main pedestrian shopping mall. Music from street buskers and the murmer of crowds can be heard below. Tonight we will visit Konzert Haus for another musical performance. It's just another day, really.

Vienna (ad)Venture

I am sitting in our sixth floor room, with the window open to a late summer evening, overlooking the main street, listening to the strains of 'Somewhere Over the Rainbow' from below.

This is a music city. It seems a city that respects and celebrates music.  Outside the Opera House this morning were various people in costumes of Mozart's era. All were flogging concert tickets. We are tomorrow night to visit another very grand concert hall for another dose of classical music.

Many of the souvenirs are music themed. Mozart was piped into our tour bus today. So many famous composers have lived and worked here. Statues of composors are in the various parks.  I even devoured a slice of Mozart Torte this afternoon.

Our bus toured the city then drove to another palace. This one was modelled on Versailles and was once home to Emporess Marie Terese, mother of the unfortunate Marie Antoniette. Due to an unwritten rule that family members would not live I. Royal apartments once occupied by others, they kept adding wings until the complex had over one thousand rooms. We only toured a few that had been restored. I loved the three metre tall ornate ceramic ovens in the rooms, which heated their private rooms.. They were connected to the corridors, where fuel was added, so as not to disturb the Royal Personages. So thoughtful!

Views out windows showed the extensive, colourful, formal gardens. Outside later, we saw enormous marble statues everywhere. Groves and avenues of tress stretched into the distance. Paths curved through lawn areas. It was so magnificent. In the afternoon, we visited the Museum of Fine Arts. One criticism I have is not many public notices have English somewhere to guide poor, mono-linguistic tourists. I only observe this as in Germany and the Czech Republic this was not an issue. Anyway, Kunst Historisches Museum was what we wanted. We initially walked past thinking it was the a natural History Museum. The €3:50 for an audio guide was a good investment. Two huge wings, 38 rooms in all, displayed a staggering range of Dutch, Flemish, German, Italian, Spanish and French paintings. One room alone had eight by Rembrant. I lost count of those by Rubens. Caravzggio was there too. You just cant't possibly appreciate it all. The building itself is worth seeing. Commissioned especially as an art gallery, the architects were not hampered by money restraints and used costly materials to create an ornate, highly decorated and totally grand home for all these treasures. No photos today. I took plenty but I just could not manager the weird hotel keyboard. It took me ages to work out how to put in @ The @ was with the q. Z and Y were swapped around. All the words were in German. It just got too hard.

Czech Mate

It seemed a simple task. Check out of Prague Hotel, catch taxi to trai. Station, board train to Vienna.

Our train ticket did not list the main Prague station we arrived at. So we were dropped off in a side car park beside a single door of a rather scruffy looking building. We entered a corridor and emerged into a dark area. Not many people around. We found a poster with train times, but no platform information.

A young Czech woman asked if she could help. She approached a ticket window we had not seen in the gloom and spoke for us. Platform 3 we needed.

Naturally we were there well ahead of time. We had about an hour to kill. But train stations so far have been a buzz with shops, crowds, atmosphere. Not this one. Think Greensborough station with two more platforms.

Then later comes the announcement. Our train Is running 90 minutes late, due to "operational matters".

Time eventually passed. Our compartment for six had leather seats ith arm rests. The only other passengers were Jan and Garry, a retired couple from Denver, Colorado. They have travelled extensively and are the sort of US tourists who give Americans a GOOD NAME. Great company for the trip to Vienna.

I can now claim to have met someone who worked on the Obama election campaign.

Rob went down the stairs ahead of me and a young man with a backpack offered to help me. He carried my suit case all the down for me, placed it down, smiled and walked off with his friend. So nice!! An Egyptian taxi driver, who has lived here for 30 years, took us to our hotel, which is right in the city.

We visited a restaurant close by for dinner. And Rob enjoyed a traditional dish, which he claimed just melted in his mouth. Vienna Schnitzel, of course.

Dark Clouds

Despite the sunny morning, we set off on the KGB tour of Prague, when the country was under the Soviet and Communist control.

We learned that after the Second World War, elections held in 1948 saw Czech people elect the communists, who formed Government with 4 minor parties.  Our tour guide said the Soviets had liberated Prague from Nazi control, so there was some gratitude there.  But after a while, the population suspected they had made a mistake and when a group of Ministers resigned, they wanted fresh elections.  But of course the Communists just took full control and so began the crushing of any political opposition.

Below is the former Head Quarters of the Secret Police.  Down the side street there was a further building with cellars used to interrogate prisoners. Our guide said if anyone mentioned   BARTOLOMEJSKA   you knew it was serious, serious trouble from ....

a nasty sort of fellow like shown below, perhaps???  Part of the tour was to an underground bunker, sixteen metres below.  Many were built all over Prague, to be used as nuclear safe spots for several days in the event of nuclear attack during the Cold War.  The plan was then to evacuate citizens to the country-side.  

Despite dark periods like German occupation and Soviet terror, this stunning city remains a beautiful and fascinating place to visit.