Mari and I took the long, but rather romantic, train ride from Copenhagen to Austria overnight. Trains are wonderful things. There is something about moving at the right pace, plus a large enough window to see the world through. Salzburg is gorgeous little city nestled among the mountains. It actually reminded me a lot of Prague, except in minature. Very touristy, of course, but not enough to be crass and tasteless.
The trip was memorable to Mari because she was able (and indeed forced me) to go on the Sound of Music Tour. Embarrassingly, I was one of two (men) who hadn't seen the film at all. So we visited all the places in the musical and the guide was patient while everybody took photos. Mari was thrilled. I'm not a musical fan.
It was memorable for me because of the city itself, but also because of our hotel. It was probably the best I've ever stayed in. It was small, but the rooms comfortable, and featured the best breakfast buffets I've seen, including a wide selection of fresh fruit and vitamin juices. As mentioned, the hotel was also the site of my Glenn Gould Story.
This a shot of me trying to look suave in one of the lovely pedestrian streets. We went in March, thus explaining the scarf. It is also in these streets where you can find Mozart's home (or one of them) which is now a museum. There is also a small castle on the hill over looking the city, where we enjoyed a concert one charming evening.
Of course, we went to visit our good friends Paul and Aline who also studied in Copenhagen but for half a year. They lived a very nice flat though on the fifth floor of a building with no elevators. The stairs were unforgiving. The flat, however, had constant problems with water leakage. Especially fine were Paul's desk and chairs (leather).
They did their best to show us around the monumental city, but we had the most fun cooking and eating and making origami. Paul was also kind enough to take me playing indoor tennis, a sport I was dying to play at the time. Mari and Aline stayed home and watched "African Queen".
Vienna I did not like as much as Salzburg, but this photo (right) is of one of the museums we visited. This one had some wonderful paintings by Gustav Klimt (but not the kiss) and Egon Schiele, two dazzling turn of century artists.
