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Thursday, April 10, 2008
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#-Salzburg, Austria.
So Prom Praise in Royal Albert Hall was awesome stuff. Talk about a 600 strong orchestra/choir! The atmosphere was so grand, and even though strictly speaking the music was not fantastic, the huge hall, packed with people sitting and standing in the arena, appreciated the scale of such a concert. The soloists were great, and the audience really enjoyed themselves. I told Neil I should be able to play for the next Prom Praise in Portsmouth. It should be cool, plus I get to play in another big hall, which is always a welcomed experience.
I just got back from Salzburg, Austria last night. Spent 2 days, 1 night there with Michael Lui. Here's what went on.
Day 1We arrived at Salzburg airport at about 0900 on 08 Apr 08, and was greeted to the beautiful sights of ice-capped mountains in the distance, visible from the airport. I thought to myself, "this is going to be nice."
First place we visited was the famous fortress there, perched atop one of the many hills surrounding the city. We had to take a funicular up, but contrary to what the guide said about how grand it is, I felt that it was quite a let-down. It wasn't THAT big, nor majestic. Granted the view from there was awesome, but I was expecting a huge castle ala Edinburgh, but alas, was shown what seemed to be just like any other historical site. Well there were a couple of exhibits/museums inside the fortress itself, which included some war history. Michael quite enjoyed that.
Next was St Peter's Cathedral. That was a beauty. I always wonder how these buildings were constructed. The height, the detail, the paintings and the adornments were all gorgeous. In fact, we went to at least 3 cathedrals/churches there, and they were all just as beautiful. Imagine 2-storey portraits of some of the saints in various scenes, lining the walls of the church. The tabernacle always elaborate with gold and marble decorations, and a crucifix at the top. Jesus portrayed hung on the cross with golden rays radiating from his head. The sheer magnitude of the effort put into the art in the church was amazing.
We then went onto a cable car to get to one of the highest peaks in Salzburg. The view was amazing of course, being able to see the whole city framed with the numerous mountain ranges. The peak of the mountain we were on was ice-capped as well, so I got to play with a little snow, although, I wish I'd brought ski stuff to do some skiing, that would've been cool!
Now get this, on the way back from the cable car place to the city centre, we walked the wrong direction, and ended up in Germany!!! We didn't know until we asked a couple of policemen, who looked at us as if we were a bunch of idiots! Said that the city centre was 10km away, and that we weren't in Austria anymore. So we had to backtrack another 5km to get to the proper busstop. Cool huh! We got to cover 2 countries in 2 days, AND, I could stand on the border of 2 countries and say that I've been in 2 places at 1 time! hahah. That was quite some walk. By the time we got back to the city it was 1500-1600, so we only had time to visit 1 more place.
So on to Mozart's residence we went. Tired, but laughing nonetheless at how hilarious a situation we'd gotten ourselves into. Well, since Austria is the birthplace of Mozart, even though I'm not much of a fan, we had to visit at least something related to Mozart. The residence was quite a big place, with many rooms to fit all the family. I reckon the decor was refurbished, but at least the flooring was original (I think, as it was all creaky). Other than that, it was nothing really spectacular about the Mozart residence, and we decided not to even bother to go to his original birthplace.
We then went for dinner, and managed to try what is called a Salzburg Nockerl. This is a souffle done Salzburg style, with a very sweet, foamy interior, baked so that the outer layer is a soft crust. It was really good, but the portion was way too big and we ended up feeling really quite sick after that...
That would've ended a good day of sightseeing and travelling, but instead of retiring to the hotel, I picked up a brochure on the way and decided to check out a bar that does salsa on Tuesdays. At first we wanted to leave because it seemed there was noone actually doing it, but then the music came on, 30mins behind schedule, and then people finally started to dance. And man did I get my dance fix! Not only were the girls really hot, boy could they dance! Who would've thought Austrian girls were so beautiful, but too bad they spoke German so it was a little difficult for me to communicate with them. Also a pity that I didn't ask Michael to help me take some photos, coz apparently my style was so unique the people were all admiring me when I was dancing. Well, in the end I managed to get a couple of dances, and 1 of the ladies even asked me for a 2nd round, and she was a REALLY good dancer. We left the bar at about 11, when the floor started getting REALLY crowded, to head back to the hostel.
Day 2Woke up at 0715 for breakfast at 0730. Headed off to the Toy/Music Museum. The toy section was not bad, but not Michael's thing, so we didn't stay very long, but I gave him no choice at the music section. That was cool, nice exhibits of old instruments and the evolution of them. Found out the difference between a
Clavichord (the key causes a plate to strike the strings at a certain length, changing the pitch), a
Hammerklavier (most similar to a piano, in that the key causes a hammer to hit a string while the damper is raised to allow string to vibrate), and another I can't remember the name of (pressing a key stimulated a picking action similar to that of a guitar).
We then went to a Stiegl beer brewery, which featured the biggest beer museum in Europe. It was quite well done. Obviously not as good as the House of Terror in Budapest, but very nicely done, including the use of alot of real barley. It showed not only how beer was made in the past and present, but also the artworks and design that goes into the bottling and such. We had free beer tasting, which on one hand led me to conclude that unfiltered beer tastes the best, also gave me a throbbing headache for the rest of the day.
On the way back from the brewery, I asked Michael to stop by a Flea Market at St Pauls Church, and we were both glad I made that decision. I bought 2 jackets, a pair of boots, and ties, among others, and Michael bought 3 trousers, a coat, and a bag! And all those, for only 12Euro for me and 9Euro for him. We were satisfied. haha.
Returned to St Peter's after that to check out the catacombs, which were closed on Tuesday. St Peter's has the most beautiful cemetery I've seen (not that I've seen many), and the catacombs was quite close to it, carved into the mountain, and contained an altar in one of the chambers inside.
That concluded our trip proper, and we spent the rest of the afternoon shopping along the main street in the city. I got myself a few pieces of jewellery in the end, spending off the remaining Euros I had, since the clothes there was not at all cheap, especially since we came from a Flea Market!
Overall, I quite enjoyed myself, besides the headache. Now that I'm back, it's time to bury myself in books and notes again, and get back to studying. Ian is back, which is good so I don't have to be alone in the house, since Debra and Mae have gone to Word Alive conference.
Pictures should be up on Facebook soon.
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