(no subject)
Hello everyone and welcome to the new format for my adventures in salzburg! i have to say, i find this a tremendous bit easier than the actualy sending of massive, group-oriented emails, which stresses out my email server quite a bit. so this is much easier.
so i am here in salzburg, austria, just southeast of bavaria and munich in germany, almost directly on the german-austrian border, and this place is amazing. anybody who has never been here, i do encourage them to visit, as the natural beauty of this city is impressive. This city is absolutely incredible. It was built a hell of a long time ago, of course, and as a result there are three enormous, uninhabited mountains smack in the middle of the city (all of which I have found to be useful landmarks.) The actual city itself is extremely Baroque, with tons of neo-Grecian columns and architecture like that everywhere. It seems that Salzburg reached its pinnacle as a major Eurpoean city around the time of Mozart and Bach (like the early 1600s or something.) Actually, Mozart was born here, which I guess is somewhat interesting. Because of this, pretty much every little square, highway and neighborhood seems to have something in its name pertaining to Mozart. Then again, I suppose this isn't that unusual, considering the worship of Jimi Hendrix around Seattle. But then again, Mozart was no Hendrix (just kidding)(I think.) Mostly, though, it's really easy to tell in downtown Salzburg how old the city really is. The streets are extremely narrow and lined with a ton of really expensive stores (although I swear to God I saw a Claire's on one of these streets, which I thought was hilarious.) The only piece of shopping I had to do today was to attempt to rent a guitar. I went into the only music store around prepared to spend about 150-250 Euros in order to keep a guitar rented all summer, but I was shocked at the deal I got. The lady in the store was this really cute old German lady whose name was probably Helga or something like that, and it was easy to see that she got a big kick out of my silly American attempts at speaking German to her. She said they didn't rent guitars but that since I was such a nice boy she would make me a deal and "sell" me one for 99 Euros, so of course I took her up on that. I mean, it's just a cheap piece of shit, but it only has to last the summer. The main thing I noticed about Salzburg was the natural beauty, though. It seems like around every corner there's a river, or a mountain, a cathedral, or a French garden or something....just amazing. I took an entire roll of pictures today. In one part of the Red Light District, there's a deep gash in one of the walls. The story behind it is that in WW2, the streets in the RLD were way too narrow for tanks or even cars to pass through, and one overzealous tank commander was at one point so excited to get his men to the safety and "fun" of the RLD that he attempted to drive his tank into the District, where it promptly became stuck. Supposedly they had to wait until the end of the war to remove it, but they never fixed the giant gaping hole in this wall. Interesting stuff. This is just a way cool place, I can't BELIEVE that I get to be here for so long, even though there are certainly things (and people) that I do miss strongly.So tomorrow we're taking a train to this place (the name of which I forget, B----garten, something that starts with B,) where Hitler's winter headquarters ("The Eagle's Nest") is located, which should be interesting, as it is one of the few existing examples of a modern palace. Actually, the relationship of this country to the Nazis and Hitler is absolutely fascinating. It seems that recently there has been sort of dialogue with themselves and with Germany about the meaning of the war and the history that both countries are forced to live with. If you get a chance, see the movie "Downfall," which is a German movie about the end of the war from the German perspective. The actor who played Hitler was good to the point where I totally forgot he was an actor and not old Hitler himself. I will let everyone know all about that in my next entry, naturally. Keep reading, faithful readers, and you may all just learn a thing or two.
Hope all is well wherever you are!
Kevin
so i am here in salzburg, austria, just southeast of bavaria and munich in germany, almost directly on the german-austrian border, and this place is amazing. anybody who has never been here, i do encourage them to visit, as the natural beauty of this city is impressive. This city is absolutely incredible. It was built a hell of a long time ago, of course, and as a result there are three enormous, uninhabited mountains smack in the middle of the city (all of which I have found to be useful landmarks.) The actual city itself is extremely Baroque, with tons of neo-Grecian columns and architecture like that everywhere. It seems that Salzburg reached its pinnacle as a major Eurpoean city around the time of Mozart and Bach (like the early 1600s or something.) Actually, Mozart was born here, which I guess is somewhat interesting. Because of this, pretty much every little square, highway and neighborhood seems to have something in its name pertaining to Mozart. Then again, I suppose this isn't that unusual, considering the worship of Jimi Hendrix around Seattle. But then again, Mozart was no Hendrix (just kidding)(I think.) Mostly, though, it's really easy to tell in downtown Salzburg how old the city really is. The streets are extremely narrow and lined with a ton of really expensive stores (although I swear to God I saw a Claire's on one of these streets, which I thought was hilarious.) The only piece of shopping I had to do today was to attempt to rent a guitar. I went into the only music store around prepared to spend about 150-250 Euros in order to keep a guitar rented all summer, but I was shocked at the deal I got. The lady in the store was this really cute old German lady whose name was probably Helga or something like that, and it was easy to see that she got a big kick out of my silly American attempts at speaking German to her. She said they didn't rent guitars but that since I was such a nice boy she would make me a deal and "sell" me one for 99 Euros, so of course I took her up on that. I mean, it's just a cheap piece of shit, but it only has to last the summer. The main thing I noticed about Salzburg was the natural beauty, though. It seems like around every corner there's a river, or a mountain, a cathedral, or a French garden or something....just amazing. I took an entire roll of pictures today. In one part of the Red Light District, there's a deep gash in one of the walls. The story behind it is that in WW2, the streets in the RLD were way too narrow for tanks or even cars to pass through, and one overzealous tank commander was at one point so excited to get his men to the safety and "fun" of the RLD that he attempted to drive his tank into the District, where it promptly became stuck. Supposedly they had to wait until the end of the war to remove it, but they never fixed the giant gaping hole in this wall. Interesting stuff. This is just a way cool place, I can't BELIEVE that I get to be here for so long, even though there are certainly things (and people) that I do miss strongly.So tomorrow we're taking a train to this place (the name of which I forget, B----garten, something that starts with B,) where Hitler's winter headquarters ("The Eagle's Nest") is located, which should be interesting, as it is one of the few existing examples of a modern palace. Actually, the relationship of this country to the Nazis and Hitler is absolutely fascinating. It seems that recently there has been sort of dialogue with themselves and with Germany about the meaning of the war and the history that both countries are forced to live with. If you get a chance, see the movie "Downfall," which is a German movie about the end of the war from the German perspective. The actor who played Hitler was good to the point where I totally forgot he was an actor and not old Hitler himself. I will let everyone know all about that in my next entry, naturally. Keep reading, faithful readers, and you may all just learn a thing or two.
Hope all is well wherever you are!
Kevin