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Published: February 12th 2007
Salzburg is awesome. Salzburg is a very walkable town, and with our hotel being in the old section of town, it is very easy to navigate to the most interesting sites in the city.
The Christmas markets are just a few blocks away. The first hint we were near the action wasn't the aroma of sausages and gluhwein, but of the horses - that pull the carriages around town that base at Residence Platz. When we walk into Residenceplatz there were market stalls all around, with garland, lights and a huge decorated tree in the middle. In Austria I learn that the "specialty" Christmas trinket is a cluster of arranged cinnamon sticks, anise, cloves, ribbons of gold and other colors, bundled in small balls. Not only are they great to smell, but they make wonderful Christmas decorations.
In the stalls there was anything for sale from ornaments made of many different materials (glass, pewter, lace) to wood carved items (ornaments, nativity scenes, miniature village items and people, nutcrackers), socks, hats, gloves - you name it. By the way, the German word for nutcracker is "nussknacker" - many of these in different shapes, themes and sizes. This was the town
fair that put other town fairs to shame. The aroma of sausages cooking and warm spiced almonds made us take an immediate turn toward those stalls.
I also had my first Eierpunsch - which turned out being my favorite over gluhwein (although I really liked that also). Eier is "egg" in German, and the drink is similar to an egg nog, but with a lot of liquor - not sure what kind but a lot of whatever it was. They serve it hot, with a dollop of whipped creme and chocolate shavings. Follow that up with a sausage and and grab some spiced almonds, well, that's dinner....and some liebkuchen for dessert with a cup of coffee, who needs to find a restaurant. In the adjoining plaza, Mozart Platz, there was an ice skating rink set up - no I did not skate. I felt that I would be lucky to navigate my trip safely without tempting fate. But it was fun to watch the skaters - some very good, some not so steady, but everyone having a good time of it. Then to Dom Platz, where another ring of market stalls were awaiting us. We found Getreidegasse - the
old street in Salzburg that has shops too numerous to count, with little nooks and crannies to explore filled with more shops, sidewalk vendors and cafes. This street is very charming when it is not Christmas, with each merchant having their shop's name decoratively hung over the door supported by cast iron rods. With the Christmas lights strung everywhere, the atmosphere couldn't help but be anything but warm, friendly and magical.
Around another corner I turn and we are in front of Mozart's Birth House. This town is quite mad about Mozart - now anyway. Everywhere you look there is something themed with Mozart - especially candy. I guess they have figured they can make some money off of him, but from what I've read, Salzburg wasn't very kind to him in his youth, but Vienna loved him, so he ended up there as an adult.
That evening we opted to eat at the Italian restaurant next door to the hotel. This is funny - 2 Germans with limited English speaking skills, an American with limitation German, trying to figure out what was on the Italian menu. We ended up with 2 different orders of tortellini and an
Getreidegasse
This is an enchanting street in the old part of townorder of lasagna, and shared our portions. My friend Friedhelm and I had dessert - his Tiramisu and mine, Italian creme puffs with creme fresh. Charlotte declined, but after 2 bites, she grabbed her coffee spoon and announced "I'll help!", and begin digging in my cream puffs and then into Friedhelm's Tiramisu. We laughed hysterically at the time and chuckled about this over the next couple of days. Charlotte used her very limited command of the English language and her quick wit - what a great ending to a great day.
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