Last week Jason and I spent a few days in Salzburg, Austria before catching a train from Munich to Florence. Salzburg is a city of absolute sheer beauty that seems to have been taken straight from a fairy tale. The city is dotted with cathedrals and palaces in a stunning Austrian baroque style, and topped off by an enormous fortress on a hill called Hohensalzburg. It is also the birthplace of Mozart, which makes it a haven for classical music, opera and theater fans.
We spent our first day strolling through the streets of Old Town and walking up the steep stairs to Hohensalzburg Fortress. That night we attended a recital by world-renowned female pianist from Budapest. She performed works by Mozart, Chopin and Schubert. The setting in a baroque palace was absolutely striking and somewhat surreal.
Because of the rain the next day, we spent most of our time at the Museum of Modern Art, which is perched on a hilltop with spectacular views of the city. What an amazing museum! The highlights were definitely the exhibits by Hiroshi Sugimoto. That guy is on a whole other level than the average human being! The thought process that goes into his work is absolutely startling.
We then made our way into the Old Town to visit Mozart’s birthplace and family home. The home has been turned into a museum and is truly fascinating to walk through. We learned that Mozart wrote his first opera at the age of 8, and by the age of 11 he wrote two more! Now I don’t want to make too many comparisons between myself and Mozart, but by that age I had successfully written a book report on Superfudge and gotten a B-.
Later at our hotel we met Jossi, a businessman from Tel Aviv. We got to talking and after awhile he invited us to join him and his wife at a “unique” performance given by theater students at a local playhouse. Were we in for a treat……or so we thought. When we arrived at the theater that evening, we realized that the performance was a kind of final exam for the students and that we were the only people in the audience who weren’t family members or close friends. What unfolded before us was a singing recital of almost 30 American, German and French songs set to follow some sort of “Robert Johnson’s Devil at the Crossroads” theme – quite puzzling and very, very long. Let me just say that John Mayer, Tom Waits, U2 and Sting songs just aren’t quite the same when sung by amateur actors in an Austrian-German accent. Sting’s Moon Over Bourbon Street was especially interesting! All in all, still a very fun and unique evening. Definitely something we would have never experienced in Laguna Beach.
We really wish we had planned more than a few days in Salzburg, as there was much we didn’t have time to see. We’d love to go back again and spend at least a week….possibly in the summer when the Salzburg Festival takes place. Anyone who has the opportunity to visit Salzburg will certainly find it a stunningly beautiful and welcoming city.
We’re currently in Florence and, as soon as I can find time between wine, food, churches and museums, I’ll be sure to write another post and download some photos!
Ciao for now!
Posted in Uncategorized
