 We arrived in Salzburg
on a very misty morning and walked to our hostel hoping that we would get
to sleep right away. We had had to change trains at about 4:30 in the morning
in Innsbruck, and I had not really slept at all! On our way to the hostel,
we saw about 50 cows in the streets, equivalent to the moose that dot downtown
Toronto. Here is Rick with just one of the cows we saw - and it was not
nearly the most bizarre. |
 We did laundry and
then napped until dinner time, when we rose to eat and then attend a concert
at the Mozartium - the gorgeous concert hall you see here. The Mozart festival
was in full swing, and although we could not get tickets to any Mozart
events we heard some fabulous chamber music by Brahms and Dvorak. A famous
cellist named Isserlis from England was the concert organizer and star
performer. It had been a long time since we had heard any music at all
let alone this, and I was breathless. |
 The following day
we set off for Werfen, a very small village near Salzburg above which loom
gorgeous mountains. One of these mountains (the one you see us standing
on) houses the largest accessible ice caves in the world. In order to reach
the ice caves, one must take a train to Werfen from Salzburg (50 minutes),
walk to a minibus pickup area (10 min), take a minibus up the mountain
as far as it can drive (15 min), hike 15 minutes up the mountain, take
a gondola even further up the mountain (10 min), and finally hike 15 minutes
more. Even the rock outside the ice caves was cold to the touch, and the
caves themselves were fantastic. We took a tour that lasted over an hour,
and I wish we could tell you more about the caves except that the tours
were all in German. The place was beautiful, and the temperature inside
was about 0C. (We did bring sweaters.) |
 This is me on the
mountain with Werfen far below. I think we were about 1800 metres above
sea level. Breathtaking. The expression on my face is a fake smile - I
was bitching at Rick for taking too many pictures! Upon returning to Salzburg
we were able to go to Mozart's house and walk the very floors that the
great composer once walked himself. His piano was even there, and lots
of memorabilia including letters he wrote and original scores. |