Sept 18, 2022

Hello From Salzburg:

Yesterday was a travel day. We didn't Do anything but fly and bus and eat. When we get home and assume regular eating habits, It will feel like we are starving ourselves to death.

Today, we had a walking tour of the city of Salzburg. Did you know that Salzburg was once an independent country? I didn’t. Up until 1803, Salzburg was a nation. In that year, Barvaria invaded the country, and with the re-organization of nation states after WW1, it became a part of Austria. So, Mozart, born in 1756, was from the country of Salzburg.

We went to the University Church, a beautiful Catholic Cathedral, and being Sunday, we held an short but moving prayer service. It’s a Sunday, and there was no worship service in the church. The priest has decided to hold his masses in the adjoining chapel, because numbers are small. Admittedly, the parish would look really small in that big Cathedral, but assuming the services are open to tourists, which there are many, I wonder if not having the service in the cathedral means that he misses out on one time visitors stopping by. By the way, in Salzburg, most of the shops are closed on Sunday. Our tour guide said, the ones that are open are not selling anything you need.

We visited a beautiful flower garden at Mirabellgarten. One of the scenes from The Sound of Music was shot here, wh3n the children run under the large overhang filled with flowers, singing the Do Re Mi song. Kim and Therese, big Sound of Music fans, both recognized the spot at once, started running under the overhang singing Do Re Mi. It was pretty special. By the way, if you are ever in Salzburg, don’t mention that you like the Sound of Music to the locals. They hate it, because very little of it actually resembles the story of the Von Trap Family. As for me, this is one movie where I don’t mind suspending belief.

We went to the house where Mozart was born. It's now a Museum and a pretty good one. The whole family loved to write letters, and frequently kept in touch with one another. They are rich with history, and not only tell us what Mozart and his family were doing, but they are also quite personnel. You get to read hoe this famous composer felt about his music, the people around hi:, the people in charge of his life, the love he had for his wife, and what became of their two children. It was a remarkable visit. I highly recommend it if you are ever in Salzburg.

As we were leaving, we walked by the court house. Our tour guide, who is a local, and a very good story teller, told us that once upon the time, the back end of the court house was the local jail. So if you were found guilty and sentenced, you didn’t have far to go to serve your time. Recently, this building*, constructed in 1900, underwent some renovations. The prison was relocated to the other side of town, and the cells were renovated into offices...for lawyers. In Salzburg, all the lawyers are in jail.

We actually had an evening event, the first on this trip. We had a dinner and a concert. A four coarse meal, with an orchestra and two opera singers performing selected pieces of Mozart’s-composition in between each course. It made for a long night, but It was so nice to be at a live concert once again. The sounds of strings playing and performers singing - even if it was opera - (sorry Katie) was simply heavenly to hear once more. Music touches the soul, and for me and my family, it makes our spirits whole.

Well, off to bed. Tomorrow we hop on the bus to Innsbrook for a walking tour, and later drive to Oberammergau. The passion play is just around the corner. It should be grand.

Take care and God bless.

Ed