Speaking Deutsch

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.