Salzburg, Austria

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Our plans have changed a bit, travelling by train allows you that luxury amongst others. Originally we were supposed to stay in Salzburg for one night and then travel to Budapest but we have now decided to set up camp here for a bit. We will most likely leave Sunday or Monday and then head straight to Krakow in Poland.

We had a good couple of days in Innsbruck and caught the train here on Wednesday, it was only a short 2 hour journey. A while ago I commented about not being able to hear if the hills were alive with the sound of music while travelling through Austria, well thats when we were in Vienna but now we are in the absolute heart of The Sound Of Music world. Salzburg is the spectacular town in which this famous film is set. Everybody here always asks if you have seen the movie and I maintain that I have seen the first half about 19 times without having ever seen the end. Actually as a present to Kerstin for letting us stay I bought her the DVD because she didn't own it, so I watched a bit of it the other day but again not all. Fortunately our hostel screens it every day in the common room so I might get to see the end before I leave! Anyone who has seen the movie will know that the scenery surrounding Salzburg and the buildings within are just absolutely magnificent looking, its an incredibly beautiful place to be.

Salzburg is famous for a couple of other things too. Firstly it was the birthplace of the genius, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. They love him here more than they love him in Vienna. Funny thing is Mozart didn't like Salzburg much 😊 This year marks the 250th anniversary of his birth, so happy birthday to him. Mozart is a veritable worldwide phenomenon but Salzburg is also the birthplace of another worldwide phenomenon: Red Bull. Yep this is where its from and in some respets they seem just as proud of that as the Mozart thing. It seems you can get every drink here with Red Bull in it. But somehow it doesnt seem much cheaper.

Last night I had the incredible fortune of being able to see The Silver Mount Zion Memorial Orchestra and Tra-la-la Band which is the side project of some of the members from Montreal's almighty Godspeed! You Black Emperor. While we were walking to lunch I saw a billboard for the show so at 8.30 I set out by myself from the hostel and by the time I had listened to 3 songs on my iPod I had arrived at the venue, which was actually cut into the side of a mountain. I arrived just before they started so I grabbed a beer and then a few minutes later found myself in some kind of Post-Rock fantasy world. Godspeed is purely instrumental but this particular manifestation involved singing. For about 2 hours the sounds of 2 violinists, an Upright bassist, a celloist, 2 guitarists and a drummer filled the room as well at times all 7 of them singing at once. The second song was just a few guitar notes and all of them harmonising. It was fantastic. The rest of the songs were the usual Post-Rock affair alternating between Hopeful and Apocolyptic, Loud and Soft, Organised and Choatic. It was just unbelievable, I've never seen anything like it. John Young, I know you understand how incredible this was, it would have been so good for you to have been there.

Tomorrow, provided we get up in time we are off to tour the biggest ice caves in the world. Everybody that has already done the tour at the hostel reckons its one of the best things they have done on their trips so we are really looking forward to it.

Hope everyone is well.

John

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Comments

[dave brennan]

pudda!!!!
hey man, its dave from work. found your site from a link on yahoo. sonds like the trip is awesome and ur having a lot of fun. hows the accent working for ya???send us a [e-mail]