20Sep / 2014

The Worst Thing on This Trip … and Then the Best (day 13 1/2)

 
 
I apologize for the relative lack of pictures today. The internet here in Salzburg is VERY BAD and I’ve cut some to get this to upload.

Isn’t that beautiful? A really stunning piece of Swarovski art. It’s exactly the sort of thing you’d expect to find at Swarovski Crystal Worlds, right?

You and me both.

This lovely piece can be found not in Swarovski Crystal Worlds, but in the attached gift shop. (Yours for €14,000.) But I’m getting ahead of myself, aren’t I? When last I left you, we were in Munich, getting ready to head to Austria and my long-awaited trip to Swarovski.

The best laid plans of even someone as logistically inclined as me need only a little shove to be thrown out of whack, and the day got off to a bad start. We arrived at the Hauptbahnhof in Munich to get our rental car (a lovely half block walk from our hotel) only to discover the car rental was made downtown – a 20-30 minute cab ride away, and not the location from which we had printed offline directions.

Fortunately, I did something right, apparently I booked us a car with a SatNav (GPS) so that helped us get out of Munich and on the road to Austria.

I was really looking forward to going to Swarovski. I use the crystals in my work all the time, and I couldn’t wait for this, I was hoping to get some inspiration, see really magical creations or perhaps some insight into how the crystals are made.

Yeah, no. That’s not what happened. What we got was an avant grade art show which had very little to do with crystals. In fact think of some very out there art that you’ve seen in your life. Picture it in your head, the most contemporary, cutting edge, or just plain conceptual art you have ever seen. Now add a crystal to it somewhere — just one.

Now call Swarovski because they are expanding the joint and probably need new displays. To call me disappointed would be an understatement. It was, simply, the worst experience on the trip.

We left there upset and headed to a small town nearby called Hall in Tyrol (the Tyrol is the region of Austria south of the Alps between Innsbruck and the German border.) And there we were introduced to Sonja and her beautiful guest house Gasthof Badl.

That was the view from our private balcony. The river Inn and the Alps not far beyond. Sonja was amazing, arranging for us to see a Tyrolean folk evening in Innsbruck, and talking to us about her little town. We were going to see Hall, but the room was so nice and the view so wonderful, we instead planted ourselves right there and took some well deserved naps.

The Gasthof had a restaurant attached (a big draw for locals) and we had dinner there.

Which was awesome.

We found out at desert, when Sonja returned that our choices (pork roast for me with a large stuffing like dumpling, and pork medallions with bacon in cream sauce for Jim) were very traditional Tyrolean fare, and recipes her mother made for her. Dessert was an Apfelstrudel (the greatest I’ve ever had) with apples from her mother’s trees, baked fresh.

It was a lovely moment, eating local food and talking with someone passionate about where they live, who wants to show off their home.

After dinner and a cuddle with Morris, the most affectionate cat in the history of cats, we headed to our Tyrolean Folk Abend.

Yep, that’s slap dancing, Gang.

 

So the Folk Abend (evening) was an interesting affair. Tour busses disgorged their contents by the half dozen and the place became very full with (mostly American) tourists who were almost entirely over the age of fifty five. The audience was a boorish display of ugly Americanism at its worst and I was glad I spoke enough German to not have to speak English. But once it started, the show was good, cheesy fun.

 

We asked Sonja about the show when we got back to the Gasthof, and she assured us that the dancing is largely based in authenticity. The saw-dancing began as a way for men to show how strong they were, and the music and dance was very much based in Tyrolean folk history, and though it was shined up a bit for the tourists, when she gets together with people from town, or at the various fairs, that is essentially what goes on.

This morning, Jim and I reluctantly checked out of the Gasthof, loaded up the car, and walked into Hall, a picture postcard town that used to house the Hapsburg royal mint, and grew prosperous on the salt trade (Hall was a German word for salt in the years of the Hapsburgs.)

We wandered the streets until we found a Farmers Market complete with band playing music similar to what we heard at the Folk Abend. The town is extremely small and after we saw most everything there was to see, we took the English audio tour of the mint museum (Munze Haus) and climbed all the stairs to the top of the Munze Haus tower (above). At the end of the tour, I got to strike my own coin on a screwpress as a keepsake.

 

Hall, and the whole Tyrolean region was just magical to us, and we are sorry we didn’t spend more time there. (That’s becoming a theme.). But we will, definitely be back at the Gasthof Badl and in Hall. The place and the people are all just too special to never return.

I’ll leave Salzburg for its own post (yep another twofer, Gang!) so keep reading for the rest of today’s fun!

 

 

 

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20Sep / 2014

Mozart, Mozart, Mozart, Spam, and Mozart (day 13 2/2)

And we are all out of spam.

Make no mistake about it, Salzburg is all about Wolfgang. (And if you’re not here for old Wolfie than you’re probably trying to solve a problem like Maria – the sound of music is big business here.) We haven’t been here but a few hours and that is abundantly clear. The biggest tourist activities here are touring the Mozart birthplace, touring the Mozart house, or taking a Sound of Music tour.

It will come as a surprise to nobody when I tell you Jim and I are doing absolutely none of that.

We arrived in Salzburg around 3 this afternoon after our Adventures in Tyrol (see post 1 of 2) and immediately decided that the hotel is … well …. I’ll call it adequate (and I just had a very nice hot chocolate and half an Apfelstrudel at a sidewalk cafe so I am being generous) and that considering the only reason we came this way was so that I could see the Swarovski (not any) Crystal World (see post 1 for that fun too) that perhaps Salzburg was a … miscalculation in our plans.

Then we took a walk.

Salzburg, at least the south end of the old city nearest the river (where we are staying) and the old town on the far side, is stunning. Even, dare I say it, prettier than the Apfel of my eye, Munich. The streets are narrower, the town is less crowded (though that’s not Munich’s fault) and in some ways more authentic. Yes, Mozart is the draw, but I don’t feel like anything else is for show. Not like the Hofbrauhaus or the very in your face drinking culture is in Munich, that feels like a thing there for tourists – not that the Bavarians don’t love their beer, but the intensity of the culture there feels a bit forced.

That’s the entire Oktoberfest parade in Salzburg. A couple of soldiers, a cannon, a few ladies with bouquets made of hops and a march up to the church and back. Not like the very crazy mess that is Munich right now.

 

We have the car for another day, so even though the weather is supposed to be awful, Jim and I are going out to the Salzkammergut region (the Austrian Lake District) to take a scenic ferry and Austria’s steepest cog railway to the top of a scenic mountain. All of which we may not be able to see because of the lousy weather. But hey, it’s better than cramming into the Mozart Wohnhaus with the rest of the tourists. (All of whom seem to be American.)

So expect more from Salzburg in the following days, assuming the internet holds. (Please don’t assume the internet will hold. It seems to get worse everywhere we go.)

Tschüss!

 

 

 

 

 

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