I’ve been a little drained, physically and emotionally, since Berlin. Traveling definitely takes a lot out of you, but, although I am feeling a bit under the weather now, I am feeling much more excited and rejuvenated after our first full day in Salzburg, Austria. We began the day with a mass at Salzburg Central Cathedral, which was where Mozart was baptized (262 years ago today!). Being raised Catholic, I had some idea of what to expect of this mass, unfortunately, I could not understand a word of it. However, I loved listening to the choir that sang up on the balcony behind us, in front of one of the largest organs I’ve ever seen. It honestly almost felt ethereal, the way their voices sounded in this gigantic cathedral, echoing on and on.
Following the mass, we met with our guide for a walking tour around Salzburg. Although she went off on some tangents at times, she was extremely sweet and provided us with really cool, entertaining information. One of the squares in old town Salzburg was actually used in the sound of music, for multiple scenes. The fountain in the middle of the square is one that Julie Andrews splashes in a one point in the movie (it’s been a while since I’ve seen it and I can’t remember exactly which scene it was). Unfortunately we were unable to see it in person today because about 3/4s of it is covered for the winter in order to protect it from the cold. We also found the home that Mozart was born in, and the coffee shop he would go to just about everyday (even though he constantly wrote about how much he disliked it).
Once the tour was over, a small group of us adventured up a long sent of stairs, and a some more stairs, up high enough that we could see out over Salzburg, and it was absolutely gorgeous, definitely the best part of my day today. Every few minutes I’d need to stop to take a picture, I couldn’t get enough of it. It was also super nice to be able to walk through trees and away from the city for a bit, be in fresh air, away from smoke and cars and noise (although I’ve noticed that each place we’ve been to in Europe so far has been much quieter than most places I've been in the states). After finishing what was essentially a long (although not completely arduous) hike, we went down to a little food stand that was selling pretzels. Rather than the type of bread-y, salty pretzels we'd expected, we found sweet pastries in the shape of pretzels - misleading, but still really great.
In the evening we went to a performance by the English Baroque Soloists, which was exciting for me because this is the group that I did my presentation on at the beginning of the term. So, I may be slightly biased, but it was really awesome to see the group, and their conductor, John Eliot Gardiner, in person, and listen to them play beautiful pieces composed by Mozart. Overall today has been really fun for me, a breath of fresh air, both literally and figuratively, during this trip. These are really the days I love, experiencing new things, being around people I can laugh with and being outdoors, appreciating beautiful scenery.
Covered fountain featured in the Sound of Music
One of the five organs in the Cathedral (there is another much larger one in the background)
Mozart's home
View of Salzburg during our hike
View of Salzburg during our hike
View from our hike (I'm not sure if this is still Salzburg or not)
Almond hazelnut pastry pretzel
EBS for Mozart Week (that is a Harpsichord sadly blocking my view)
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