The Events of Friday, July 8, 2011

                In terms of location, this house is perfect, nestled high in the Austrian Alps. But in terms of space inside our house, this might possibly be our worst set-up. All four of us kids inhabit a very small surface area; in addition, the already very limited space accommodates a double bed, a bunk bed, and our suitcases. This might not be so bad if the room didn't have sharp corners right at my shin level, scarring me every time I got close to them. As this was the case, I was extra careful climbing out of bed this morning. I tried to avoid one of these treacherous corners, but was unsuccessful. A searing pain ripped through my shin. Carefully examining my injury, I found that I had scraped a bruise that had developed because of all the other times I had bumped my shin. At least we only have one more night here. 

                Because of these tight circumstances, it is quite clear to see why we would want to get out of our house and into the Austrian countryside and then to Salzburg. Rolling our windows down, we sped down the curvy road away from our house, relishing the fresh air on our faces. Soon we were in Salzburg. We parked and walked to Mozartplatz, where we started a walking tour.

                Mozartplatz houses a statue of Mozart, dominating the square. Walking around the corner from the square, we came head-to-head with the palace of the Prince-Archbishop Wolf Dietrich, who set out to create a "Rome of the North". The square is lined by the Italian cathedral and palace he built, with a grand centerpiece fountain. The fountain, representing Triton and his sea-horses, attempts to imitate the Trevi Fountain in Rome by Bernini. Turning another corner, we arrived at yet another square, known as the Cathedral Square. But before we headed inside the Baroque Cathedral, we went back to the last square, called Residenz Platz, to hear the famous carillon housed in the Glockenspiel.

                The Glockenspiel is a bell-tower that houses a carillon of thirty-five seventeenth-century bells. These bells still play tunes periodically throughout the day, and so we waited for the concert at 11:00. Soon the bells rang out, echoing across the square. After the mini concert, we walked back to the Cathedral Square and headed inside the cathedral.

                Built in only fourteen years (1614 - 1628), this magnificent church is a feast for the eyes and, probably, for the ears too. Four organs surround the dome, and, combine those with the large organ at the back and a choir, a concert here would be a treat. Mozart was the organist here for two years, and he was also baptized and christened "Amadeus" (meaning beloved by God) in the marble baptismal font at the back of the church. This font was covered, but had a little door in the top. Caitlin joked that was where "the baby gets thrown in!" Still amazed at all the Baroque decorations and architecture, we exited and walked to a pond. The pond used to be a horse bath, a sort of 18th century car wash according to Rick Steves. Heading through an archway, we came to a small square with a rushing stream turning a waterwheel that provides power for the nearby monastery's bakery. We dropped into the bakery that smelled so good we were all suddenly very hungry. 

                Walking through another archway, we came to St. Peter's cemetery. The gravestones were rather ordinary, but the flowers adorning the graves were exquisite. Sweet roses and geraniums grew all around the iron cross and marble headstones. We learned that, in those days, iron was cheaper than stone, so the graves with iron crosses, although beautiful, were actually the graves of not-so-rich people. We also learned that this graveyard was the inspiration for the graveyard scene in the Sound of Music movie, although the one used in the movie was recreated in Hollywood. 

                Passing through the cemetery, we came to the Cathedral of St. Peter. Inside was a painting of St. Rupert, patron saint of salt miners, standing over the city of Salzburg and watching angels carry barrels of salt up to heaven. Salzburg was once a major salt mining town, so St. Rupert was a big deal here. Also in the church were beautiful ceiling paintings and the grave of Michael Haydn, with stone tablets commemorating his compositions. 

                Our next stop was the festival hall, where the Von Trapp Family singers performed for the music concert at the end of the movie. The real life Von Trapps had actually performed here and won the highest honor in Austria.

                At last, it was time for lunch, and we headed to a restaurant called "Triangel". We ordered some Austrian specialties, such as veal goulash with bread dumpling, cold-cut sausages marinated in oil and vinegar, calf offal with bread dumplings, and fish soup. It was all so delicious, we were sad to leave.

                When we did leave, we walked through Universitact Square. In this square, in the Sound of Music movie, Gretl almost cries when she drops a tomato. Through the market, we came to a pedestrian crammed street that was lined with store fronts, advertising themselves with fancy, old-fashioned iron grill-work signs. There was even a sign for MacDonald's that blended right in with the rest. We stopped for some inexpensive, yummy ice cream and then headed to the birthplace of Mozart. 

                Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart was born on January 27, 1756 in Salzburg to Leopold and Anna Maria Mozart. He was named for the saint on his date of birth, Johannes Chrysostomus. Wolgang was the name of his grandfather and the name he is known by, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, comes from his grandfather, Wolfgang, and the name he was christened, Amadeus, meaning "beloved by God". He was a child prodigy, and stunned many royal courts. Popular legend says that, as a baby, when Mozart cried, his mother placed him under the piano when his dad was playing and... voila! You have a musical genius on your hands!

                After going through the museum and learning all of this information, we walked down to the river Salzach. We walked around for a little, looking for a certain bike rental place, but when we didn't find it, we walked across the river. There was an umbrella and about 50 bikes lined up. This turned out to be our bike rental place. We rented four bikes and a tandem (two bikes attached together) and biked along the river Salzach and along a nice tree-lined path to Hellbrunn Palace.

                There once was a Prince-Archbishop living in Hellbrunn Palace who liked having a bit of fun with his friends and guests. He had a magnificent water garden, designed with the highest technology he could get in the 1700's; basically he used mechanics and gravity. We took a tour of his water gardens and the first stop was the so-called "Prince's Table". When he had special guests over, he would take them to this outside table and get them a little drunk. He actually had hoses built into all of their seats, and he would turn them on low. Suddenly some of the drunken people would look down and it would look like... oh, no, they wet their pants! Even better than that, the prince could turn on the water full blast and his guests obviously could not stand while the Prince-Archbishop was sitting, and they would just have to endure the full jet of water shooting up from their seats. 

                We were all hot from our bike ride and eager to get wet, but Ben was the only one willing to get wet in that area, and, joined by a couple of other crazy Americans and some Poles, he enjoyed a thorough soaking. Soon we walked on and came to a little grotto known as the Neptune Grotto. We all entered very suspicious, because the floor was wet, but our guide made it seem like nothing would happen. But while we were admiring one of the side rooms, I felt a jet of cold water on my back. I let out a scream, and soon all of the spouts were turned on, inside the grotto, by the entrance, by the exit, shooting everywhere. Some people escaped without a brush while the guide turned down the water, only to catch the next group unexpected. It felt really good to get wet and cool. 

                Our next stop on our guided tour was a replica of a small village square, busy with mechanized miniature mannequins doing their various jobs around the town. All the power was supplied by water which was a wonder in the 1700's. Next we came to another grotto, the crown grotto. In the center of the entry was basically a cone with a crown on top. This was meant to show the rise and fall of power. Backing away from this, our guide turned on a powerful jet of water that went through the cone and directly in the middle of the crown. The crown rose all the way to the ceiling and then dropped and went up and down, effectively showing the rise and fall of power. Suddenly, I heard a scream behind me. Some elderly ladies, who had managed to avoid getting wet thus far, had been unexpectedly shot by a jet of water from the floor.

                Soon, chaos erupted. Our guide cautioned us to not run as we exited, so as to avoid slipping. As I exited, I found a nice long archway of jets of water. I walked quickly through, and then, on an impulse, jumped purposefully through some of the jets, getting nicely wet. Once the archway ended, the guide turned on some other jets shooting towards the tunnel of water, soaking the laughing on-lookers. One must understand that the guide was constantly turning off some jets and then turning them back on when least expected. When everyone was through, us kids went back in the tunnel of water just to get wetter. Suddenly the tunnel was lowered, slowly growing smaller around us, as we shrieked and tried to escape. I ran out of the tunnel and turned around to watch how the rest of them fared, when suddenly, I felt a jet of freezing water on my back. I shrieked and then laughed with the rest of the on-lookers. Unfortunately, this was our last water trick and we slowly went back to our bikes.

                On the way to the palace, my bike had developed a flat tire. Anyone who has biked with a flat tire knows that it is one of the most exhausting activities. So, to save my energy, Mom developed a contraption with our locks, linking my bike to hers and efficiently pulled me home. The tandem bike was not exactly a picnic either. The tires were partially flat, the chain kept falling off, and the riders only had two choices of gears - pathetic and more pathetic. I bet we made a pretty funny picture. Mom pulling me with our bike locks, and the tandem riders pedaling as fast as they could and barely moving. 

                We biked down the road that the children in the Sound of Music were hanging from the trees over and then saw the front of Captain Von Trapp's house used in the Sound of Music. Some of us danced by the wall, singing I Have Confidence, until we stopped because of the weird glances we were receiving from passersby. At last we reached our bike rental place, and returned our bikes.

                Next on the agenda was to return to Mozart's Wohnhaus, where we visited yesterday, to see the part the movie about his life that we missed. Our timing was excellent and we were able to see the beginning of the movie and watched until we reached the part we had already seen. Exiting the Wohnhaus we made our way back to Mirabell Gardens, where many scenes from the Sound of Music were filmed during the Do-Re-Mi song. The girls had fun re-enacting different parts of the movie and posing for photos. Ben begrudgingly went along and consented to be photographed as well. However, it must be noted by the viewer of the photos that he was NOT a willing participant. He doesn't want anyone to think he is an avid fan of the Sound of Music film. Finally the photos were finished. We had seen everything in Salzburg to do with the Sound of Music and thus had seen everything worth seeing. We headed back across the river on the long walk back to our car. At last we reached our car, drove home, had a late dinner, and went to bed.