Day Two in Salzburg

Yesterday, I woke up around 7:00, took a shower, and got dressed in jeans, a sleeveless shirt, tennis shoes, and a raincoat. Yet another rainy day greeted us, but we’ve been told that that is typical Austrian weather, so I suppose we’re experiencing Salzburg as the locals do. After getting ready, Mary and I headed downstairs for our breakfast buffet. Although it cost 13 E, we got our fill of eggs, melted cheese on tomato slices, a variety of bakery breads and pastries, various hams and salami, as well as fruit and yogurt. There were several types of spreads to go with the bread and fruit, including Nutella (which was fantastic on pear slices and as a substitute for peanut butter on a piece of toast with orange marmalade). There was also champagne and juice, of which I didn’t partake this morning, but Dr. Veltze said that once she had poured what she thought was sparkling white grape juice, she couldn't let it go to waste! I had several small cups of coffee and thoroughly enjoyed the variety of cheeses as well. I would say that I certainly got my money’s worth on that breakfast!

After breakfast, we headed out to Mozart’s residence and birthplace, which were just a few blocks from the hotel. The first museum was quite well done, with an audio guide and several markers throughout each room explaining the items. We were not allowed to take photographs here, so I’ve included the link here for you to peruse.





http://www.mozarteum.at/02_Museen/02_Museen_WohnHaus.asp?SID=168244122101443. (You may need to switch it to English using the links at the top, or you can try your hand at deciphering the German if you'd prefer. There is more text here than pictures, but it does have some more detail about the Mozart and Hayden exhibit that was housed at the Residence.) It was rather interesting to learn that although Mozart had a rather successful career, all of the family’s furnishings, etc. were sold at an estate sale after his death. This museum housed many reproductions of instruments that Mozart would have played, and the audio guide had samples of some of his works being played on the instruments. The second museum, housed in a small apartment, was not as well done, but still interesting. There were items we wish had been explained more, such as the room that had a relief map of Salzburg on the ceiling and all of the pictures were hung upside down. There was another room with German and Italian words written around the room on the wall paper, but there was no explanation as to what was said or why this room was decorated in such a way. We did get to see the family kitchen, a family tree of the Mozart family, and some of Mozart’s personal effects that individuals had donated to the museum. Overall, this to these museums was worth the 8 euros that it cost, especially since we were given a student discount off the original 10 E price.

From there, we went to a few souvenir shops, where I picked up a tea towel to take home and the others picked up a few items. After that, we went to the craft fair held along the street by the river that we had seen the night before. Although I did not find any original drawings, prints, watercolors, etc., I did find some handmade jewelry that I purchased, and Mary picked up a few things for friends and relatives. At this point, we were all so completely soaked through (even with our umbrellas and raincoats), that we decided to come back to the hotel to dry off. So, we took a few hours to rest and dried our socks and pants with the hairdryer.

After hanging out and drying off, we got ready for our Mozart Dinner Concert. Most of the girls wore cute black dresses, I wore my brown flowered dress, and Mary had a very nice blue dress to wear. Lyme wore a blue button down shirt with some sparkly cuff links and nicely pressed black pants. We took a taxi to the dinner concert, which was held in St. Peters Abby at the restaurant called the Stiffskeller. The concert began promptly at 8:00, with the orchestra dressed in period costumes. After the opening piece, the opera singers came out a performed a few pieces from Don Giovanni. Then we had a lovely appetizer of a cream based soup with a dumpling in it, seasoned with sage and lemon. After the first course, we heard a few selections from Le nozze di Figaro, which were beautifully performed. The main course was served after these selections, and consisted of a roasted capon breast, steamed veggies, and a wonderful sauce seasoned with sage and truffles. A tad on the salty side, it was wonderfully filling. Die Zauberflote was the next piece performed. This popular opera from Mozart combines farce and drama into an exciting piece. Dessert was a fantastic finish to this unique experience, consisting of a honey flavored frozen dessert on a graham cracker-like crust, served with two fruit sauces. I’ve included a picture of the dessert here (so that you can adequately picture this luscious thing).

We left the concert a little after 11:00 and walked back to the hotel, enjoying the sights of Salzburg at night, with the lights along the river. I was very glad to have my new shoes, which kept my feet nice and dry on this walk and were comfortable enough to walk back to the hotel. When we finally arrived back at the hotel, I made myself a cup of hot peppermint tea in the lounge and then headed up to bed. It was after midnight when I finally fell into bed, after an enjoyable, but exhausting day.