Family Diary Continued

Day Three: Salzburg

Only table big enough for seven of us was outside, which was good due to sunshine, and bad due to wasps. It’s a good breakfast, with lots of choice (and S chooses nearly everything. This is good, because Austria is not great for vegetarians, and even menus marked as ‘vegetarian’ sometimes contain fish.)

Drove to Salzburg and parked in a car park dug into the rock. Car parks here are well signed, with each one telling you exactly how many spaces are left.

Walked around historical part of Salzburg. Saw where Mozart was born (building now a Spar supermarket, which seems wrong). All the shops sold lots of Mozart souvenirs. Especially small round chocolates. Did Mozart eat small round chocolates? J assured me this was not covered by music A level (which seems a shame).

Saw a lot of traditional Austrian dress – the boob enhancing white blouse under pinafore dress for women, and lederhosen for men. I understand why people in tourist shops/restaurants would wear this, but not really why so many other people do. Especially lederhosen. These are leather shorts, and I’m guessing there’s not much ‘give’ in them – I saw a lot of men attempting to walk without moving their legs, they had a sort of shuffle. Not a good look. Also not sure if you can wash them…

Went to Residenzplatz -saw horses and fountain and cathedral. All very pretty, though the cathedral feels more like an art gallery than a church – was interesting and grand, but did not inspire me to prayer. It also had some very spooky cherub faces in the ceiling.

Saw a bridge and steps that I recognised from The Sound of Music. Suggested family could reenact some of the scenes, but they were unkeen. Went to Mirabell Garden (“Do! Doe, a deer..”) and saw some excellent gnomes. I think they represent the children of the owner – I might copy this idea.

Walked across a bridge covered in padlocks put there by people in love. Sweet idea, but what happens if you fall out of love? Do you sneak back with a metal cutter and remove your padlock?

R and S went off to buy trainers. We received lots of texts from R saying she was hot/thirsty/tired/dying, so we knew she was okay (silence would’ve been a worry). We walked to a viewpoint near castle, and the convent Maria Von Trapp left. The chapel was open, so I went inside. That church DID feel like it had been prayed in, I preferred it to the cathedral.

Walked back past the cathedral. Saw a sculpture outside, which was an empty person ( I later learned it was a copy of The Cloak of Conscience by Anna Chromy and is called Pietà, or Coat of Peace). Next to it was a begger – another unseen person, which felt significant given her position – an invisible person next to a sculpture of an invisible person. Perhaps that’s why she chose that spot to sit in. I gave her some money, which I don’t usually do, and held her hand – I wanted her to know she was ‘seen’. We all need someone to see us.

Followed J a long way – a very long way in hot sun – to Lindhofstraße 7, to a beer garden the boys had discovered last summer when inter railing. It was brilliant. There were shelves of pottery beer tankards, which you could dip into a dodgy looking fountain, to increase the head on the beer. You paid a man, took your ticket and tankard to a man with a barrel, and he filled it with beer. You then sat in the garden, under the trees, next to the brewery. You could also buy olives, pretzels, sausages, but most people were just drinking. Great fun.

Thank you for reading.

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Take care,

Anne

xxx