The Hills are Alive

I would like to say that I am visiting the birthplace of Mozart or the birthplace of Doppler (the Doppler Effect). I would like to say I am visiting a beautiful baroque city in the Austrian Alps. I would like to say these things, but in my mind, I am visiting the setting of the Hollywood musical "The Sound of Music."

I spent my first day wandering around the city. The old town is backed by a steep ridge, which I climbed up at one end and walked above the city for an hour and a bit. I attempted to get a photo of myself with the city, but as you can see, it wasn't working out for me this time.







Here is the city without me...



A modern "sculpture" with neon lights shaped as number in the Fibonacci sequence.




Around the city:




The Birthplace of Mozart:



The Mirabel Gardens where a few scenes from the Sound of Music were shot:








The second day I headed out on the original Sound of Music tour.

“Salzburg. What a beautiful city!” exclaimed out tour guide. His voice projected a strange mix of passion and disinterest. His attitude and nasal tone made him sound like a cross between the Rocky and Bulwinkle narrator, a game-show announcer and an infomercial host. It would be an understatement to day that he made sure I was never board for a moment.

Our bus driver, Ted, took us to all the major sights. We saw the Abby where Maria was a nun and the back of the Von Trapp mansion from across a lake. The front of the Von Trapp mansion was a different building that we couldn’t stop at because there was no parking on the highway. We did, however, get to see the gazebo where a famous love scene was shot and we drove though he countryside to the church where the Baron and Maria were married. “Isn’t it wonderful, Ladies and Gentlemen?” remarked the guide. For a few intervals the guide stopped talking and played music from the musical. “The Hills are Alive” came on when we first left the city and “So Long, Farewell” was played as we neared the end of the tour. Everyone had fun, and I don’t think it would be the same without all the cheesy jokes and gray haired group members.






The only suggestion I left on the comment form was that they should stop at a look off point so people could take pictures of the lakes and mountains from above. I wasn’t so interested in shopping for souvenirs in a mountain town we stopped at for 30 minutes.

Frieburg (no comment) and Liechtenstein

Since leaving Kassel, I spent a day in Freiburg (still Germany), a day in Vaduz, Liechtenstein and I just finished my first day in Salzburg, Austria.

I would comment on and post pictures of Freiburg, but I think Brad is going there while he works at a lab in Basel, Switzerland. All I will say is that it is a nice place that you need to walk around and explore for a couple hours to really appreciate. There is a huge student community, and I could really imagine living there. That is to say, it's a livable city.

The train from Freiburg to Liechtenstein took me through half of Switzerland. The biggest event of the day happened early on. I hopped on a morning train on what happened to be the last stop before the Swiss-German border. Just a few minutes after sitting down, I was confronted by border guards who check my passport and then searched my backs and clothing pockets. They looked thorough every thing in my bag (on a moving train), and smelled my Tylenol for a few seconds. It was wrapped in Aluminum foil by my friend Morgan, who assured me the worst thing that could happen is someone could confiscate it. Fortunately, the best thing that could happen did. They gave it back. And actually, I was happy that they took an interest in me, I got another stamp in my passport!

The Swiss scenery was beautiful. Lakes, Mountains, fields and small houses and sheds-- that's what I saw, basically. I arrived at the only Lichtenstein hostel at about two in the afternoon, where I learned that check I didn't start till five. I was looking forward for a rest and so tie to drink water and rehydrate, but Instead, I had to chain and lock my luggage to a shelf in the laundry room and make use of the rest of the day.

Liechtenstein is a funny place. It is the fourth smallest country in the world and looks exactly like Switzerland. In fact it is situated on one side of a river in a valley, with Switzerland on the other side. The country extends over the mountain into a small valley, but almost everyone lives in plain view of Switzerland.

I walked to the centre of town down bike path that led through farmland and houses. I could feel a headache coming and eyes felt sensitive to the sunlight. I took deep long deep breaths as I walked slowly. I managed to release most of the tension in my neck, but I could tell that a nap would have been better than running around.

The main town, Vaduz, is a pretty faceless town. I was reading that the country makes money off banking just as the Swiss do; it seemed like a commercial town. I stocked up on fluids at the grocery store and headed to the tourist office where I got some great free maps and paid 2 bucks to get a Liechtenstein stamp in my passport. Other than the German stamp earlier in the day, the last stamp I got was entering Finland from Russia. I was feeling like I needed a bit more passport action.

I rehydrated and felt a little more energy. It was time to hike up the mountain side. Taking it slow, I made about a quarter of the way up, far enough to see the Prince's castle (he still lives there.) After a short rest, I hiked a quiet path across the face of the hill back toward my hostel, had dinner and went to bed at 8 or 9. The beauty of the mountains was astounding, but because I was on the hill IN Liechtenstein, all the mountains I was looking at were on the Swiss side. Very beautiful, but not in the country I came to see.

Kassel

First of all a CORRECTION; Dürrenzimmern is a wine growing town, not beer. Apparently the whole valley from Heidelberg to Stuttgart is wine growing. Beer is from everywhere else in the country.

I was so glad that Dieter and Brigitte happened to be in Germany at the same time as me. For those of you who don't know, they are friends of my family whole lived near Greenfield for 14 years. They just moved back to Germany because of Dieter's heart problems and the hassle of becoming Canadian citizens (double taxation, etc.) I was lucky to meet up with them in their home town because they are only home about half the year. The spent a month or two in Morocco this winter, Two weeks in Köln for Easter and six weeks in Canada this summer.

I was going to visit them two weeks ago, but they were heading out of town. I said I was coming, but had no way to tell them when, because they are old fashioned, sticking to phone and snail mail, and they weren't home. So, I headed there when they said they would be back and walked to their front door from the train station. My timing was cutting it close, I was to the point of reliving myself in my pants, and they had only been home for 20 minutes. I would hate to imagine what would have happened if they hadn't been there.

Brigitte and Dieter live in a flat above a semi-retired couple named Waldi and Margrit. Waldi had prepared a special supper for the return of Brigitte and Dieter and since I showed up at the same time, I got invited too.



Waldi was prepared with a food Dieter loves, fresh raw sausage meat. Called "Gihates" in western Germany, we cut soft buns in half and scooped the Gihates on top and then sprinkled raw onions on top. I love raw stuff (except raw eggs, working on that one), so I loved it. You could appreciate the freshness of the meat. it wasn't fatty and had the texture of raw hamburger meat, though not so sticky. There was no grease, and not grittiness like why you fry something. I ate as much as I could, and had the full feeling at the end like after you've eaten as much sushi as you can. My mouth is watering thinking about it here as I type.

The four adults are all fanatical about Andrea berg, who is a famous pop singer who appeals to all ages (except the 16-39 range, I would guess). Dieter raves about it endlessly, and we all watched Waldi's tape of her concert. The 10 yeah old grandson didn't seem so into it. His passion seemed to be his Yu-Gi-Oh cards that he was hoarding. Dieter sensed that I might be able to play with him, so two days later I was downstairs playing the Yu-Gi-Oh card game in German. I won, but I think he may have let me win.







I spend a total of three nights in Kassel. I was supposed to get the spare room downstairs, but Waldi and Margirts grandson was down for a few days. Waldi and Deiter made a makeshift bed next to the dining room table.



Over the time I was there, I ate a lot of bread and meats. I had blutwurst (blood sausage) and a bunch of other kinds. In the evenings I did some Internet research and have my itinerary planned up for the next 15 to 20 days. I also caught up on my genealogical entries, which are much harder than other things with too many names places and dates to sift through. As an aside, a man left his wallet at computer number 2 on the second day with 1700€ in it! He bought me a coffee when he cane back 20 minutes later for not robbing him blind.

Brigitte was a little tired from staying at her son's in Köln, so Dieter took charge of showing me around the first two days. The first day he took me to the Internet place and the shortcut to the centre of town. He pointed out a diving board on top of a hotel. Apparently the owner went bankrupt years ago.



On second day, we went to the Hercules monument that was build around 1700 to entertain the local King or Duke of Hessen. The Idea was to try and bring order to the hillside by making it a formal garden/park. Dieter told me that the Hercules, which he pronounced hur-que-lehz, was supposed to scare of enemies of the local ruler.






Later on Dieter showed me around town. He almost described every building we passed. A highlight for me was a church that had been partially destroyed during the war and rebuild. There was a fragrant white bush beside it.







Another noteworthy point was by the river where he and Brigitte would kiss at the end of a date. He would walk her to her home near the town centre and then walk 6 km to his house. I also saw the hotel where they had their wedding.

We saw a funny European squirrel on the way back for supper which was bread and various meats. Actually, supper was always the smallest meal. Brigitte would cook hot lunches, which is a better time to have a big meal. I asked for Sauerkraut, which is apparently a winter dish, and it got included with the goulash and dumplings we had yesterday. The Sauerkraut she cooked was less sour than the Lancaster Sauerkraut from Lunenburg county, and there was no salt in it, unlike the briny Nova Scotia variety.







Yesterday, which was my third and last full day in Kassel, Brigitte joined in and the three of us drove along the river Fulda to a small town called Münden. Unlike Kassel, Münden was considered historical and spared from any WWII bombing. It is the typical midieaval German town, with half-timbered houses, remains of a town wall and a market square. The town is strategically located on the point of land between the Wera and Fulda rivers before they join to form the Weser.






We walked around town and stopped in the village square where we had HAL-METRE BRATWURSTS! On the hour, the town hall clock stated out and shot out some automated characters from two of the windows. Out came Doctor Eisenbart with a pair of pliers holding a bloody tooth over the head of a delerious guy being held by a bunch of locals. Dieter and Brigitte explained that he is a famous character (maybe a fairy tale) who hits his patients on the head when they are sleeping and then pulls out teeth without anaesthetic. We headed back to Kassel where I finished reading The Blind Assasin by Margaret Atwood. It has a really god ending. I thought about it for abotu 24 hours afterwards. Then it was off to internet and then back to the house where I stayed up too late incorperating a new Idea into this house I have been designing for the last month.



Deiter woke me up early this morning and we had breakfast shortly after 7:00. In the style of my father, Brigitte and Dieter made sure I was fed, packed up, out the door and at the staion on the correct platform 40 minutes before my train. Brigitte even packed me a huge lunch and a litre of Coke-a-Cola.