Salzburg, the Home of the Sound of Music (and Mozart)

OK, it was a week ago so I have taken a bit of time to catch up but here goes...

I didn't think I could visit Austria and not go to Salzburg so last Wednesday I drove up there and had a little look round. It is a beautiful city. The old winding streets that are now jammed with tourists and designer shops such as Louis Vuitton and the like. Oh and a McDonalds, of course.

But they have made them all tow the line and the shop signs are much more tasteful that most other places. See these signs for McD's and Zara.










Salzburg is most famous as the birthplace of Mozart and you can visit the house where he was born, the house where he lived, the house where his wife lived with his children, you get the picture. But having said all that most of it is not as tacky as you might imagine.

They have a statue of him in one of the little squares but as befits our modern society they were in the process of erecting some modern sculpture right next to it so that it intrudes into any photos you are trying to take. Except mine.

The city is overlooked by the castle, an imposing building, which is I suppose the purpose of castles.

But all in all Salzburg gets the thumbs up. Especially as no one here has heard of the Sound of Music. You would expect gift shops everywhere trying to sell you clothes made out of old curtains, but no, although you can do a guided tour of the sights from the film. That is all well and good but when they expect you to walk to Switzerland it is all a bit much. (On a historical note the family actually got on a train to Italy to escape the Nazis, but that probably wouldn't have made such a good ending. Julie Andrews wandering through a train singing 'The Pullman's Alive with the Sound of Music'.)

Now only just over two weeks to go until I get back to the UK, which will be really nice, although the weather here is gorgeous. Bright sunshine and warm, but that is not so good for skiing. The resort is starting to wind down from this weekend, the ski school goes down to just five instructors and one of the Apres bars is closing.

Roll on the 9th. Of April not Beethoven's, but that would be Roll Over... seeing as we started on a musical theme we can surely end on one.

No Norway Now

The Norway thing is all off.

Apparently they have found someone who is already in Norway to cover the spot. This is alright with me as it means I will get back a little earlier than I thought I would, but it does mean that I won't get to ski Norway.

It has snowed here, but only on top of heavy warm snow which means that it will not last, unless the temperature drops and we get more snow.

Next posting will show some shots of Salzburg where I went the other day. How lucky are you?

Goodbye Austria

Well,  it appears that they need my skills elsewhere.

They have not told me exactly when but I am off to Norway! I think it will be in a couple of weeks but they need a competent skier to go to Norway and finish the season there. So I have been chosen.

It means I will miss the last 2 weeks of the season here but gain 2 weeks of the season, or at least avoid being shunted round Austria.

There is snow in Norway and it is still cold, so bang goes the spring tan and as the snow is rapidly thawing here it may not be a bad move. Although as a preference I would have liked to come back to the UK and tried to get some teaching in over the Easter period.

I just hope I will be back in time for the wedding!

Will and Kate's, of course.

Fasching

Well it's Mardis Gra here in Austria or Fasching as they call it here.

This is the time everyone goes bonkers before the period of abstinence called Lent. All around the place people are in fancy dress. The hotel is no exception.

The reception staff are fairies, the bar staff are wizards, the girls in the spa are witches and so it goes on.

One of the staff has to dress up as Falky the hotel mascot, a falcon. This was easier said than done as he needed his tail feathers sown back on and adjustments to his head and the costume needed a lot of work too.

Very low numbers this week and next so a chance to relax and enjoy the skiing. Although we have not had any snow and it is getting warmer.

Apparently I was told yesterday that they needed to send someone to Norway for the last 4 weeks of the season and they asked if I wanted to go. I said yes, so we'll wait and see.

Never been there before so it will be something new if I do go.

Shelley's Visit

Shelley visited the hotel last week with her niece. It was good to have them here and I got permission to stay at the hotel and eat with them.

Shelley's niece Louise was very keen to get ski lessons and found one or two instructors to give her private tuition.

We also had a bit of snow which made things a bit better. And we sampled some of the bars becoming very well known in Schlossel.

Shelley managed to get a bad stomach which grounded her for a couple of days.

But I was grateful for the company for the week.