I have been to some beautiful cities and some very amazing
places, but I have to say that Salzburg Austria is one of the best. The hills are alive with the sound of music but
it is kinda hard to sum up in a few words that Salzburg really is a beautiful
and almost magical city. The city and
countryside with it’s castles, cathedrals and palaces, alleys and platzes,
rivers and lakes, and of course the Alps make it among my top maybe 5 favorites
places. The pictures speak for
themselves, but it wouldn’t be my blog without a few thoughts.
I spent last weekend in Regensburg, Germany about an hour
and a half from home, which sports a Roman gate and walls, and architecture
from all eras from about the year 1 AD.
It is always interesting though the role war plays in history. The Roman Bridge which spans the Danube River
has been partially destroyed so many times by armies invading or defending the
city that I don’t really know if any of the original work is there, although it
is still called the Roman Stone Bridge or ‘Steinerbrucke’. The city’s origins though go back to its
Celtic days about 1000 BC with discoveries in recent years indicating that
people have inhabited this area since
5000 BC. They say the city contains 1300
medieval buildings; I must have seen about 200 but I lost interest in counting
after 4. Regensburg was spared by the
Allies during WWII, so it is a very old town with all the new stuff springing
up in the space between old buildings and in the burbs. Alas there is no Starbucks in Regensburg, but
at least they have a McDonald’s.
Salzburg, which I learned is pronounced Salts-burg, was also
spared in the old city. The rest of town
was nailed by the Allies, but fortunately the Aldstadt is intact. Mozart music playing
around the Mozartplatz , a beer-fest behind the Cathedral, all the people in
lederhosen and dirndlen, was just perfect plus having excellent weather, the
whole city is 
one giant moving postcard.
I think I set a record by taking 411 pictures. Then I deleted about 250 when I got home and
realized that one mountain doesn’t require 6 photos, nor can one church façade
be any better explained by 12 photos than one good shot. Oh, and Salzburg doesn’t have a Starbucks
either, but there is a McDonald’s. I learned the correct way to pronounce
because although they laugh amusedly when I mispronounce something, the Germans
and Austrians quickly then say, “But you must say “SALTSBURG…TS…TS…TS! Say it
again!” It’s like language boot camp. I
was asked twice though if I am German or American, so I guess that is a good
sign I am not sticking out like a tourist even if I sound like one. This weekend it is supposed to be 82 and
sunny when I go to Nurnberg so I might have to go American tourist mode and
wear shorts and a T-shirt. Then I won’t
be able to blend but I will be comfortable.
Oh the choices we have to make. And one more thing: I
was in awe of The Sound of Music sites, but a little disappointed to learn that
a lot was contrived. For example the
Cemetery scene was all in Hollywood because a cemetery like that doesn’t exist
in Salzburg but it fit the storyline better.
Also the mountain they are scaling at the end when they escape to
Switzerland actually would have led them into Germany. I can’t believe Hollywood would change the
story to make it fit a screenplay. (big sigh)
Oh yeah and my speedometer and plaques identifying the
Jewish family who lived at this location when the Nazis took them, took their
property and separated them. They never
returned. Just take a look at their
plaques.
If I blogged more frequently, I probably would have such long posts. I don't know...
Back in Germany after 3 years, I find that nothing has
changed. It is still a beautiful place
with lots of laid back towns and castles around every corner. Here in Bavaria it is a little different from
the Rhineland. Not as mountainous where
I live “in der Oberpfalz” but I did get to see the Alps, which of course is a
lot more hilly. After Korea and Japan where I had good access to things like
the shopping, wi-fi, and coffee shops, it has been a little frustrating to be
in a one-horse town where groceries are small, wi-fi is either nowhere or at a
considerable charge, and the coffee shops close before I get off work. The town
is quaint however and it’s castle dates back about 1000 years. Nevertheless I
am enjoying it here. I spent the first
weekend with my friends Sherry and Shelley in 
Bamberg which was relatively
unscathed by WWII and has amazing old castles an awesome Cathedral and a great
Altstadt (Old City). It’s many breweries
make it hard to sample all the local beers but I did have a great time at a
Brauhaus with savory German food and Rauchbier, a smoky dark beer unique to the
area and consumed within a few days of brewing, otherwise it goes bad. At least that’s what they say. I think they just can’t brew it as fast as
they want to drink it and waiting for a beer is unacceptable. The next week we
went to Neuschwanstein (Noy-shvan-stine) and Hohenschwangau at the north side
of the Alps. These were castles of Kings
Maximillian and Ludwig II.
Neuschwanstein is the one that the Disney Castle was modeled after. After being rushed through the castle in a
fast 
guided tour and having a beer by the lake we found an elegant restaurant
out in the country when we decided to go off road and find some food. The next
morning in Stuttgart we wandered around and 
finally got on a train back to
home. This past weekend Shelley and I
went to Munich and got a great room in the Aldstadt, climbed the tower at St.
Peter’s Church and watched the Rathaus Glockenspiel do it’s dance at high noon
in the drizzling rain. We spent the rest of the afternoon at Dachau
Concentration Camp Memorial. The
experience was kind of different than I expected. There are a few big memorials built on the
site to commemorate certain groups of people who were murdered and martyred
there. Much of it seemed almost like a
big empty park, but what do you do with a place like this? It couldn’t be left as it was 67 years ago,
it couldn’t be beautified. Parts were
very chilling. First was the entrance where the railroad stopped and people were marched
through the gate that reads “Arbeit Macht Frei” (Work Brings
Freedom) into the courtyard. The second was the gas chamber, clearly marked
“Brausebad” (Shower) next to the crematorium, both fully intact. The small rooms at either end of the
crematorium were morgues where bodies were stacked by the hundreds. Some were
even stacked outside against the walls because the morgues were full. The barracks had been reconstructed and only
two are there, although 32 existed at war’s end each having been crammed with
up to 2000 people although they were built to house 200. The memorial is not a
pleasant place to visit, but seems to have been watered down or minimized 
somewhat. They advertise it as the Third Reich Tour,
failing to address the holocaust that happened here. 31,000 people died at
Dachau, most from disease and starvation and many from execution by shooting,
hanging or gassing but it is not called an extermination camp. Maybe semantics sometimes seem tedious, but
sometimes calling it what it is seems more appropriate. After that we
definitely need something to lighten us up a little and found a Starbucks WITH
free wi-fi and had dinner and weissbier at the Ratskeller under the Rathaus
(Old City Hall). I love speaking German, if what I do can actually be called
speaking German. And to top it all off it snowed about an inch and continued 
to
flurry til we had to get back on the train to ride home again. Whew!
It has been a busy 3 weeks. Work
is going well and traveling is going well, I have lost a few pounds, and I am
running every day. Alles ist gut. Next weekend we plan to spend in Prague. I am fairly sure that will be a great time. The pictures in order from R-L and Top to Bottom are: Bamberg Cathedral, Streets of Bamberg, Me and the Alps, Neuschwanstein, Dachau entrance, the gate at Dachau, The Rathaus and Glockenspiel at Munich, Alstadt entrance in Munich, and a view of the altstadt in Munich, Me & Weissbier.
I have been to some beautiful cities and some very amazing
places, but I have to say that Salzburg Austria is one of the best. The hills are alive with the sound of music but
it is kinda hard to sum up in a few words that Salzburg really is a beautiful
and almost magical city. The city and
countryside with it’s castles, cathedrals and palaces, alleys and platzes,
rivers and lakes, and of course the Alps make it among my top maybe 5 favorites
places. The pictures speak for
themselves, but it wouldn’t be my blog without a few thoughts.
I spent last weekend in Regensburg, Germany about an hour
and a half from home, which sports a Roman gate and walls, and architecture
from all eras from about the year 1 AD.
It is always interesting though the role war plays in history. The Roman Bridge which spans the Danube River
has been partially destroyed so many times by armies invading or defending the
city that I don’t really know if any of the original work is there, although it
is still called the Roman Stone Bridge or ‘Steinerbrucke’. The city’s origins though go back to its
Celtic days about 1000 BC with discoveries in recent years indicating that
people have inhabited this area since
5000 BC. They say the city contains 1300
medieval buildings; I must have seen about 200 but I lost interest in counting
after 4. Regensburg was spared by the
Allies during WWII, so it is a very old town with all the new stuff springing
up in the space between old buildings and in the burbs. Alas there is no Starbucks in Regensburg, but
at least they have a McDonald’s.
Salzburg, which I learned is pronounced Salts-burg, was also
spared in the old city. The rest of town
was nailed by the Allies, but fortunately the Aldstadt is intact. Mozart music playing
around the Mozartplatz , a beer-fest behind the Cathedral, all the people in
lederhosen and dirndlen, was just perfect plus having excellent weather, the
whole city is 
one giant moving postcard.
I think I set a record by taking 411 pictures. Then I deleted about 250 when I got home and
realized that one mountain doesn’t require 6 photos, nor can one church façade
be any better explained by 12 photos than one good shot. Oh, and Salzburg doesn’t have a Starbucks
either, but there is a McDonald’s. I learned the correct way to pronounce
because although they laugh amusedly when I mispronounce something, the Germans
and Austrians quickly then say, “But you must say “SALTSBURG…TS…TS…TS! Say it
again!” It’s like language boot camp. I
was asked twice though if I am German or American, so I guess that is a good
sign I am not sticking out like a tourist even if I sound like one. This weekend it is supposed to be 82 and
sunny when I go to Nurnberg so I might have to go American tourist mode and
wear shorts and a T-shirt. Then I won’t
be able to blend but I will be comfortable.
Oh the choices we have to make. And one more thing: I
was in awe of The Sound of Music sites, but a little disappointed to learn that
a lot was contrived. For example the
Cemetery scene was all in Hollywood because a cemetery like that doesn’t exist
in Salzburg but it fit the storyline better.
Also the mountain they are scaling at the end when they escape to
Switzerland actually would have led them into Germany. I can’t believe Hollywood would change the
story to make it fit a screenplay. (big sigh)
