OK, a slight delay in my journal to you as I think that last .5 litre at the Augustiner Brew Haus did me in last night. Day 2 of Salzbug dawned a little wet as we prepared to meet our man Manfred for a day long tour of the lake country. Grabbing sturdy hotel umbrellas we climbed into his little VW van to head into the hills shrouded in fog. Within minutes we were making our way through hills blanketed with snow. The hills are covered with some kind of tree that must have lots of spindly branches because when they are covered with snow they look almost like cotton candy- just beautiful.
We visited St. Wolfgang, where Renate had spent several weeks on holiday back when she was 19 or 20. It wasn't much different in the old town area, and we were able to see the lake that she used to swim across every morning. Now the lake is too cold for that obviously, but we did see some hardy souls who ventured into a hot tub built into a swimming deck on the lake. That looked pretty fun. There was a Christmas market in town here that we wandered through, grabbing a pretzel and digging into our Lebekuchen store to keep our energy up. We visited the local church which was incredible. Nearly all of the walls are covered in carved wood, and the plaster columns are all painted in faded greens and reds. Such a beautiful space. I was a little mystified as to why one of the saints carved into an alter was carrying a huge tree saw that was rusting, but I'm sure it all makes sense if I can speak the language.
Our next big stop was Hallstadt which is a small village snug up against a mountain, facing a lake. On the opposite shore is a small village as well, and they are connected via boat. Manfred dropped us off at the top of the village and then we made our way down a set of stairs to the Catholic Church and then into town. It started hail/snowing as he gave us the lay of the village, so the umbrellas came out. But I am pleased to say... still no rain on us. Only snow so far! The church itself was pretty, but it was the graveyard we were interested in. Again the graves were covered in ornate, delicate wrought iron crosses and designs, and planted with any number of hardy plants. What really drew our attention though was the crypt filled with bones. Due to space limitations, you only get that grave space for a while. Then when they need the room, they dig you up and your bones go into this room where there are bones stacked around the edges, and a platform on top of those which house the skulls. What is unique is that each of the skulls is painted with leaves or other motifs, and the name of the person is painted on the front of the skull. After our visit to the boneyard, we headed down to the more modest Protestant church, found right at the lake's edge, and then into town for lunch. Our lunch was delicious as we looked out over the lake watching fishermen and swans float by. Mark continues his weight gain quest with a hearty lunch of Schnitzl and bier of course. We drank Trumer, which many of you may know actually has a brewery in Berkeley. They were originally an Austrian bier though, and are still sold here.
We had a few more stops on our way for some views, and to see another Christmas market in front of Schloss Hellbrun (castle) which was really charming. All of the stands are set up inside the castle grounds. While there were tourists here, the vast majority of visitors were local tourists. We noted that this is a culture that likes dogs. We see them everywhere in public, including in some of the restaurants which is fun for us. We saw 2 goldens yesterday which made us happy :) Manfred also took us by what he called the Beverly Hillys of Salzburg which was near the castle. Here homes go for 30+ million euro. That starts adding up to a tidy sum in "real" money given our exchange rate. What was crazy is that the homes had virtually no yards, and they weren't really anything fantastic to look at. I think that Al and Jen's house is bigger than most of the ones we saw. Definitely cray cray!
After saying goodbye to Manfred, we enjoyed the "best" pizza in Salzburg (it really was good), explored the Mirabell Christmas market (not much) and then dropped Renate off before heading to the "beer hall to end all beer halls"- Augustiner. It really was an impressive place. You grab a mug- rinse it in a fountain and then pay for bier. Then you walk up to one of 2 giant barrels and someone pours your bier for you. Then go find a place to sit in any of the 8 or so cavernous rooms with long tables , and alcoves. If you are hungry there are dozens of stalls selling deli selections, or hot meals and bread. It definitely felt more local with people of all ages enjoying a bier with friends. There wasn't any singing or oom pa pa bands, but I'm guessing that may come later in the night. We were only there around 8 or so. We were fading fast though, so headed home to prep for our last day in Salzburg.
A couple of brief observations. While it seems charming to stay in a hotel next to a monastery, it's not as charming at 7am. The first 4 bells ring, and you think, well it's awfully dark, it must be 4am. So you roll over to go back to sleep. And then a larger, louder and more insistent bell chimes 7 times. Now you are confused. Is it 7? Could it possibly be 11? And then the even larger bell just starts ringing with no apparent rationale. After that there is a single bell at the quarter hours until 8 and then nothing. Except today, there were 8 rings. There weren't yesterday, I'm sure of it. I may never get to the bottom of this mystery.
Linda
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