On to Salzburg, city of salt! The birth city and home of none other than Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, the greatest composer who ever lived. The city where classical musicians can still, in this day and age, be rock stars.

My Salzburg notes are sparse because we didn’t ultimately do that much of interest; we wandered around taking pictures and generally being tourists. My strongest impression of the city was that it appears to be an even mix between German influences (being so close to the border) and Italian. You can’t walk more than two blocks without stumbling across a gelato place:

E’s parents with some ice cream.

Nor can you get very far without tripping over something Mozart related:

As an aside, Louise told me a funny story of some anarchists in Salzburg when she went a few years back. She’d visited during the midst of the Mozart Festival, when the city was even more obsessed with Mozart. The anarchists, fed up with the festivities, blocked off a square of pavement with some crime scene tape and declared the spot a “Mozart-frei” zone, scowling at anyone who violated the area with anything classical.

There is even a Mozart-themed confection, called Mozartkugel, which is a chocolate-covered marzipan ball. Using the power of Internet research, I discovered the shop where the Mozartkugel originated - Café Furst, just off the main cathedral square. The Mozartkugel I had there was quite delicious; otherwise, it’s really just a dessert marketed to tourists. I certainly wouldn’t recommend buying any from the market square, as they are essentially horribly overpriced, gummy chocolate balls.

In the afternoon, we went to Schloss Mirabelle, a palace with beautiful tulips and roses:

And even some mythical creatures:

He looks so happy…and maybe a little crazy.

And…what’s this?

Apparently one of the Austrian princes who dwelt in Mirabelle Schloss kept a contingent of dwarves, who were then commemorated in a series of statues. Some of the dwarves must have been interesting characters:

After the gardens, we decided to leave Salzburg…but not before making a stop at Augustiner Brewery, an old monastery / beer-hall with a huge outdoor area that seats a thousand people. The set up was kind of like a food court - you buy a mug, hand it to the beer man and he fills it up for you; you pay by the refill. You get whatever food you care to at the surrounding booths - fish, brats, cheese and meats, all solid German-Austrian fare. We all split a roast mackerel and chicken; both were very delicious.

Full of food and beer, we pushed on towards what turned out to be my favorite part of the trip, to Hallstatt - which, coincidentally, is also a “city of salt” (its name derives from Greek etymology, apparently). I guess the allegations that I have a salt tooth, as opposed to a sweet one, might be somewhat accurate.

The first thing I noticed about Germany, peering out the window as the plane descended towards Frankfurt, were the myriad of red rooftops and the vast fields of yellow flowers. I would later find out that these are rapp (sp?) plants, cultivated for oil; rapeseed, perhaps? In a strange way, the landscape was kind of like rural Kansas, or rather, one’s idea of what rural Kansas should look like - more quaint and charming, with the gentle glow of the sunlight warming the brilliant yellow and verdant green acres. These shots of the landscape would work really nicely for our “Beef: It’s What’s for Dinner” commercials, with strains of Aaron Copland in the background.

At first go we speculated this was chamomile, and that Germans just really like their sleepy tea. Ahh, fields of drowsy flowers.

E picked me up from the airport - he had been there for a week before I came, visiting his grandmother. I’d come in the morning, determined to stubbornly ignore any symptoms of jet lag. Knocking myself out with Dramamine on the overseas flight seemed to do the trick, and I was well rested enough for us to immediately set off for Marburg.

The town sits upon a hill, with the requisite castle on top. For maximum gemütlich, the buildings nestle cozily next to each other. The modern part of Marburg is towards the bottom of the hill, where stores like H&M and the German equivalent of Best Buy are located. You can take an elevator to the older, higher area; before we got on, E told me that we were going on “a magical journey to an older time.” (He’s quite silly.)

Not exactly a time warp, but it’ll do.

Ye Olde Shopping in Marburg.

View from the top of the hill, outside the castle. The med students at Marburg have their dorm here. (I wonder where the lowly art students dwell!)

The University at Marburg has a campus legend (similar to that regarding KU’s bronze jayhawk statue) that if a virgin graduates, this tower will straighten itself. I guess campus virgin legends are universal.

Another view from the top.

E explained that the graffiti here is the remains of a grand project to “artify” the area by…spraypainting the names of diseases on the steps? Maybe not quite so gemütlich.

Church in Marburg.

This is a town crazy who stands in front of the church every day. Her job is to yell incoherently at passers-by. She takes her job very seriously.

I forget what this is exactly - remainders of Roman ruins, perhaps?

We walked around for a bit, getting pleasantly lost in the many twisty alleyways, and had lunch at Cafe 1900 (now just 1900, I think). Now E had been craving this particular dish served in Marburg called “auflauf,” which consists of a fondue-like pot of cheese (burnt on the top, this is a key element), with other ingredients mixed in (I had spinach, feta cheese and potatoes; he had turkey, mushrooms and pasta). Simple and tasty, and waaaay too much food for one person to handle - I had suggested sharing one, but E was greedy and wanted his own. I also had my first taste of German beer, which, by default, comes in 0.5L glasses! We had some Hefeweizen, a light wheat beer, mixed with a shot of banana juice. I’m not entirely sure, but this first impression might have affected the way I taste Hefeweizen from then on; to me it always tastes of bananas, with the juice or no.

Stuffed to the gills, we headed off to the car, where we found the work of Marburg anarchists:

Punk-rock Volkswagen.

We got into our decidedly not-punk car and set off for Limburg, another nearby town. E wasn’t as familiar with Limburg, so we just wandered around aimlessly. The great thing about these towns is that they are so utterly charming in and of themselves, there’s no pressure to go see specific things; one can just roam about at a leisurely pace and have a lovely time.

By the river in Limburg.

I hope these people didn’t think I was stalking them. Hello! I am tourist!

Gemütlich German houses.

The buildings here looked like they were lifted from an amusement park or a Dr. Seuss novel.

Limburg Church, also adorably Seussical in appearance.

Seems like a typical Limburg street at first, but then…

…hey, it’s German Sesame Street! (or rather, Sesame Strasse, auf Deutsch)

We were still absurdly full from the auflauf, but got some gelato anyway, as that is what you do in Europe. Then, tired from overeating, we waddled back to the car and stayed the night at E’s oma’s house in Hohr-Grenzhausen. That wrapped up the first day of my trip! Next up, we’re heading southeast to Austria and the sunny Alps! Tschüss!