Salzburgers

I took the most roundabout way to get here. I flew from Amsterdam to London Heathrow, where I had a very nice pint of Cider, then from there to Zurich, and then from Zurich i flew on a 20-person little toy plane to Salzburg. I was one of only 3 women on the flight, the other two being a businesswoman and the flight attendant. The plane was a dual propeller plane

meaning we didn't fly very high, affording me an amazing view of Austria as the sun was setting.

Salzburg smells like horse shit. Really. It's everywhere, on every street, in front of every church and plaza. Despite that, it's one of the most beautiful cities I've ever been to. I was here once when I was 15 with the Harvard-Westlake Chamber Singers, and I remember having a great time, and it did not dissapoint. The city is overlooked by a giant castle built into a mountain, one of many that surrounds it.

I stayed at my voice teacher Sara Arneson's apartment with her goddaughter, as she and her husband George were on their annual teaching/concert tour of Japan. I was lent a bike (thank god, I could not have negotiated the crazy bus system) and let loose for the day, which was great. I went to the beautiful Mozarteum, the music conservatory here, and sat in on some lessons with Martha Sharp and her dog Hannah.Then, I went exploring on my bike to some of the places I remembered, like the Dom, the big church where we sang when I was here before. On my way there, I discovered another little church with a beautiful graveyard.Then I went exploring down the back roads into the countryside, which was the way that Sara's goddaughter had showed me to take home.
I found this door in the mountain
and this house on the river
and this pretty river that extended for most of my ride through the suburbs back to Sara's apartmentAnd the mountain! There's a lot of snow on it and apparently you can take a 20 euro tram to the top and have a coffee. Which seems extravagant, but ok.Then I went on a bike ride through the forest.
That night, Meredith (sara's goddaughter) took me a traditional Austrian restaurant for dinner where I had a strange salad with giant hunks of fried goat cheese and then a "Fiaker Goulash", or a farmer's style stew which came with giant hunks of beef in a rich sauce with something that looked EXACTLY like a matzo ball in the midle, covered by a sunny-side-up egg and a half of a hot dog cut to look like the legs of an octopus. Yummy, but gave me a really bad stomachache. And then, this morning, I got on the plane, and flew out on such a beautiful day. This is the view from the tarmac. Ill.