Salzburg

Dear bloggy,

It's been awhile since we last met. I haven't told you about my adventures in Salzburg and Prague. Upon arrival at Salzburg train station on the evening of 25 August 2010, we dragged our luggages to YoHo Hostel in the dark. It was quite a frightening experience because we were in a foreign place at night, and we had to cross damp and dark tunnels en route to the hostel. Thankfully, we arrived there safely, and it was a wonderful hostel.

The hostel was one of the most famous ones in Europe, with many international students checking in and out of it all the time. The whole place was buzzing with activity at the lounge when we arrived. What a warm welcome!

On the next day, we bought Salzburg cards before leaving the hostel for beautiful Salzburg. The card gave us free entry to many museums like Mozart's Residence, Mozart's Birthplace, and Salzburg's Dom. It also allowed us to take public transport at no additional charge.

Our first stop was the market outside Saint Andrew's Church. The girls had their breakfast there while I checked out the church. It was a relatively simply decorated church, but the stained glass windows were beautiful. There was even a panel in the church to explain the symbolism of the windows.

Our next pit stop was Mozart Wohnhaus or Mozart's Residence. You wouldn't find any photographs of that place on my facebook album because photography was disallowed in there. It featured original copies of Mozart's compositions, the very keyboards he used, and some other things which he used for daily living. Fans of Mozart would love that place.

Moving on, we crossed the river Salzach and entered the old-town of Salzburg. I loved the many 'tavern signs' in the old-town. With a unique sign for each shop, and an entire street filled with such signs, the old-town had a character of its own and was very pretty. The first station which we visited in the old-town was Mozart Geburtshaus or Mozart's Birthplace. Once again, no pictures of that place because photography was disallowed. The place was filled with information about Mozart's early life, about who his parents were, and how they shaped his life and musical career in the later parts of his life.

Coming down from Mozart's Birthplace, the three of us popped by the ice cream shop beside it and had a scoop of Mozart flavored ice-cream each. The ice-cream was supposed to taste like Mozart Balls, which are Mozart flavored chocolates. Well, I enjoyed the chocolate ice-cream, but I'm not sure if Mozart tasted so yummy.

Next, we visited the Salzburg Palace. Unfortunately, for the third time (all good things come in threes), photography was disallowed in the place because it has been converted into an art museum. I loved the paintings in the palace, especially those which depicted royalty and religion. We bought some postcards at the museum shop after the exhibition as mementos.

Next to the Salzburg Palace was the Salzburg Cathedral. It was aptly located there because Salzburg was ruled by Prince-Bishops. They had influence over both 'secular' and religious realms. The Cathedral, to say the least, was breathtaking. There were five organs built into the hind wall and four main pillars of the building. Every detail in the building was so elaborate and so scaled to make one feel small. It reminded me of my place before the Almighty God. I dare say that this cathedral rivals Saint Peter's in Rome, in terms of its beauty.

On our way to the Salzburg Fortress, we passed by St Peter's church (not the one in Rome!). It paled in comparison to the Cathedral we just visited, but the graveyard around it was very interesting. It was more beautiful than any garden Singapore can boast of. What a pretty place to rest in peace.

We took a cogwheel train up to the Fortress after visiting St Peter's. There wasn't much to see in the Salzburg Fortress, but the bird's eye view from it was good. I lost Qien and Kristen at the Fortress because it was too big. Not knowing what to do, I waited for them at the bottom of the hill, while they waited for me at the top. After waiting in vain for each other, we parted ways. I tried sending messages to them, but they arrived only one hour after I sent them. ARGH~ They visited the beer gardens after that, while I headed over to the Palace of Mirabell.

The flowers are Mirabell were pretty. If I'm not mistaken, the Sound of Music film was shot there. The day ended when we met up with each other again in the hostel after our dinners. We made new friends that evening. Match and Anson, Hong Kongers on a 38-day graduation trip, were our new roommates. They're nice people, but they spoke limited english, and we spoke limited chinese.

On the next day, we roamed around the old-town area again lazily. There wasn't much for us to do because we had more or less covered everything in Salzburg. Thankfully for us, it only rained on this day. We thank God for the sunny weather on the previous day. After saying our goodbyes to Salzburg, we took an afternoon train to Prague. Oh well, I'm tired. More next time.

Signing off,
Dennis
30/08/2010 10.20pm (+1 GMT and +1 DST, Utrecht time)
31/08/2010 4.20am (+8 GMT, Singapore time)