We arrived in Salzburg and settled into our hotel – Hotel am Mirabellplatz.  Pete accidentally left his phone on bus- but luckily was able to quickly run the bus down and get it back.  

The hotel was built in the mid-17th century by Prince Archbishop Paris Lodron as the City Palace.  Guests have been coming since the year 1816.

An evening stroll across the bridge into Salzburg passing by fancy stores selling expensive handmade dirndls and lederhosen off to our restaurant for dinner.   We ate at the Restaurant Herzl – Heart – great salad, wiener schnitzel with potatoes and a wonderful sacher torte – chocolate cake invented by Franz Sacher in 1832.

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May 11 Wednesday

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Early in the morning Pete and I walked the streets of Salzburg listening to the church bells in Residenzplatz and wandering thru the Mirabell gardens just like Maria and the Von Trapp Children. The flowers and fountains were amazing. 

At 0900 we departed for our Salzburg historic walking tour with our local guide Sabine. 

Mozart and his chocolates were everywhere, but the real chocolates and the best ones are in wrapped in silver paper with blue print. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – Lived Here.

Leopold Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus’ father, wrote to his wife in Venice in 1771 after traveling all over Europe: “I think that we cannot live at home.  We have slept like soldiers together and cannot go on like this, as Wolfgang is no longer seven years old.  I believe it will be best I take an apartment in the ‘Lochl” (now Zum Eulenspiegel Restaurant), then it is not far to go to Hagenauerhaus,” Mozart’s Birthplace.  The Mozart family settled into Salzburg, until Wolfgang revolted and left for Vienna at age 25.

The Salzburg Cathedral important dates:  774 – The Abbot and Bishop Virgil who came from Ireland, consecrated the first cathedral, 1628 – Demolished after a fire, Archbishop Paris Londron consecrated the new church in this year.  1959 – A bomb destroyed the cathedral dome in 1944 and the new cathedral reopened this year.  This is also the year Pete was born. The Cathedral doors represent love faith and hope.  Inside one can see the Baptismal font of the city’s famous son, Mozart.

Always on the look out for churches named after Pete, Peterskirche, a beautiful baroque church built in 1733.  Some of our group attended the Mozart concert there this evening.

After exploring the sites of Salzburg city, we ended at the Edelweiss cooking school for our hands on apple strudel demo with lunch included and schnapps tasting.  After hearing that in 1492 the Stiegl Brewery started in Salzburg, Pete and Tim had wandered off for beer tasting instead. 

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EDELWEISS Cooking School

From my favorite things…

Austrian Recipes

Apfelstrudel  - Apple Strudel

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Ingredients

Dough

210 g flour (little less than 1 cup)

1/8 l water (125 g) (1/2 cup)

1 T oil

Salt

Filling

60 g bread crumbs (1/4 cup)

45 g Butter (about 3 T)

5-6 apples

50-100 g sugar (1/4 to ½ cups)

Cinnamon, Rum, Raisins

Method

For the dough put flour, water, oil, and salt in a bowl and knead all ingredients together to create smooth, silky dough.  Cover and let rest for about two hours.

Heat butter in pan, add dry bread crumbs from white bread fry until golden brown, and chill.  Cut apples into slices and mix with sugar, cinnamon, rum, and raisins.

Dust a tea towel with flour, place the dough on it and sprinkle the dough with flour.  Using a rolling pin, roll out the dough until the size of a pizza.  Using the floured backs of both of your hands, carefully reach under the dough and stretch it to make a paper-thin rectangle.  Then, cut off any protruding edges. 

Sprinkle buttered bread crumbs over the top, and start rolling the dough by lifting the edge of the cloth.  Roll the strudel up tightly and close the ends.  Place strudel on a buttered baking tray, again brush generously with melted butter and bake in a preheated oven at 200 degrees Celsius (390 degrees Fahrenheit) for about 40 minutes.  Sprinkle with icing sugar and serve warm or cold.

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While our strudels baked we had a bowl of Goulash for lunch, tasted Schnapps, and listened to our hosts at the cooking school sing opera – the aria from Mozart’s Magic Flute. Her voice took our breaths away – Bravo!

The Salzburg Art Project 2007: Sphaera and Woman in the Rock.

A man standing on a gold sphere and a woman in a rock face – the man sculpture prominent without being overdramatic, while the woman sculpture exuding great tranquility yet equally compelling  The artist leaves it open for a great range of interpretation.  A larger-than-life man on a sphere and a smaller than life woman in a rock face.  Are the two lost and looking for each other?

At St. Peter’s Cemetery – movie scene of the Von Trapp Family hiding from the Nazis in the Sound of Music - based there but not filmed there.  Most famous resident in the Cemetery is Nannerl – Mozart’s sister. 

Mozart lived his first 25 years in Salzburg. There is both the Geburtshaus (birthplace) and the Wohnhaus.  We checked out the later – Mozart Residence – a reconstruction of his second home.  The family moved into this nicer house when Mozart was 17. There on display was Mozart’s piano and violin. A video presentation on his lost musical piece that was recently discovered and revealed to the world was intriguing.  The best way to appreciate Mozart is to listen to his music – there are many concerts in the city, but we decided to choose the one with the best view.

That evening we took the funicular up the Festungsberg mountain to the Hohensalzburg Fortress. It is a large medieval fortress built in 1077 by the Prince-Archbishops.  We had a reservation for Dinner and the Mozart Concert by the Salzburg Chamber Ensemble of two violins, one viola, a cello, and a piano. Short ribs with truffle potatoes and trout tasted marvelous, but the dessert was the highlight.  I finally tasted a Salzburg Nockerl.

 

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Salzburger Nockerl  - Is the special dessert consisting of 3 mounds of golden meringue that represents the three mountains surrounding the city – the Monchsberg, the Kapuzinerberg, and the Rainberg.  “Sweet as love, soft as a kiss.”

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Ingredients

7 egg whites

3 T sugar

3 egg yolks

1 t corn starch

1 t flour

Vanilla flavor

Butter and cranberries for greasing the pan

Icing sugar to garnish

Method

Using a mixer, beat egg whites until creamy and add sugar.  Keep going on beating for approximately one minute

Stir in the egg yolks and then fold in flour with a whisk.

Grease a baking pan with melted butter and cranberries.

Using a spatula, drop a large dollop of the souffle mixture into the baking pan.

Bake in a pre-heated oven at 200 degrees C (about 400 degrees F) for about 12 minutes until golden brown.  The Nockerl should still be creamy inside.  Sprinkle with icing sugar and serve it directly. 

 

 

Especially enjoyed Mozart’s Eine Kleine Nachtmusikt the 1787 composition that means “a little night music” followed by the beautiful sunset over the city viewed thru the windows of the fort.  The Salzburg Mozart Ensemble started with Mozart’s Salzburger Civertimento and ended with some Schubert and Strauss.

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Day 5 Thursday May 12

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An early morning stroll in the Mirabell Garden to see the Zwerglgarten - Dwarf Garden from 1715 was followed by the delicious hotel breakfast. 

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Onto the village of Hallstatt, our Bus left at 0820 with a stop at  Kaiservilla, the country house of the Habsberg Family, who never renounced the emperor’s throne. The surrounding Salzkammergut lake district is known for its health resorts and salt baths.   The Imperial Villa in Bad Ischl was a wedding present from the Archduchess Sophie to her son the Austrian Emperor Franz Joseph and the love of his life Empress Elisabeth – Sisi.  It was their refuge, and Franz Joseph referred to it as Heaven on Earth.  It resembled Sisi’s childhood home Possenhofen in Bavaria.  When Sisi was here she wrote poems, painted, and climbed the surrounding alpine hills.  For the emperor he hunted daily wearing his woolen jacket and leather breeches.  The desk in his study was where he signed the declaration of war in 1914.  The villa was inherited by their youngest daughter Marie Valerie, and her descendant Marcus Habsburg remains in residence.   

The last emperor Franz Joseph reigned for 68 years dying at age 86.  Empress Sisi known for her long hair, exercise, and obsession with weight, she was never photographed after age 30. Plagued by sorrow (her only son committed suicide) Sisi wrote in her diary for her wish for her soul to escape to heaven through a tiny hole in her heart.  The next day in Geneva Switzerland the Empress was killed by an assassin who punctured her heart with a long needle file. Christof, our tour guide thru Bad Ischl pointed out the animal trophies and their horns mounted on all of the walls – chamois deer. Sisi would spend 2-3 weeks on vacation in the summer, while Franz Joseph stayed 2-3 months at his beloved Bad Ischl.