Unfortunately for Julie, I mean Somchai, we didn't do much with the Sound of Music connection. At left is the Mirabell gardens, the Archbishop's pleasure gardens that were used in some of the film. But they were mostly closed for renovation. There's a hugely popular Sound of Music tour, which goes to the sights outside the city like the convent and the Von Trapp house, including the glass house where that delivery boy jumps around from bench to bench. That's closed now, though, because some 80 year old woman died when trying to recreate the scene and jumped through the glass. And they play the sound track during the bus tour and some visitors even dress up in overalls made of curtains, what fun! Anyway, I think I made too much fun of the movie and Somchai was a bit shy so I couldn't get him to take the tour. Maybe next time, but for now, So long, farewell, auf wiederschauen, goodbye!

Of course we went up to the great fort, called the Hohensalzburg. Salzburg was ruled by its archbishop until Napoleon's time, when it was formally merged with Austria in 1814. The archbishops fought constantly with Austria, Bavaria and their own people. They got very rich from the nearby gold mines that were the biggest in the world at the time, and used the cash to build the biggest fortress in central Europe. They also built an enormous organ that bombarded the town with a supposedly terrifying tune three times a day to make sure they didn't forget who the boss was. There's not much left of the interior splendor, but lots of rooms and passageways to explore, and of course fantastic views. We also went to a small concert here one night. On a separate note, I read recently that David Beckham's wife never smiles for photos because she doesn't like the way she looks when smiling. I think I do that too, which is why both of us always look so miserable. Who would have thought Posh and I have so much in common?

Here are the two main squares in Salzburg, Residenzplatz, where the bishop's palace is, and Domplatz in front of the church. The one at left with the horses and carriages is my favorite from the trip; I think it looks like a Christmas card.

Here are some nice panoramic photos of Salzburg. There's a really nice hotel in the center of the old town, made up of five old houses strung together and converted into a hotel, exactly the kind of place we usually stay in. But this was a last minute trip, and Christmas, so we got stuck with some pretty awful choices. We stayed at the Sheraton, which is outside of town, thankfully, because it's corporate office park look would have clashed violently with the rest of the place. I have no memory of the place other than utter blandness, and the fact that we were forced to have a "compulsory gala Christmas Dinner" in their function room. If you can picture hundreds of package tourists trapped in a big room being compelled to have a "gala", you can imagine how festive my Christmas was. I also remember some sort of health club across the street we had access to, and we went in the sauna, which, to our surprise, was full of naked people of both sexes chatting away. A good example of the different views on nudity held by Americans and Europeans, and why, once in a blue moon, the American prudishness might not be such a bad thing.

This is the cathedral, or Dom, at various angles. It's a massive building, and I think fairly unattractive on the outside, reminds me of a hospital, although there's a very nice baroque facade at the front that disguises the otherwise plain exterior. Confusingly, there are three other huge churches and the bishop's residence (for when he was in town and not up in the castle fighting and torturing), so the whole complex looks like a Germanic version of the Vatican. On Christmas Eve, it was snowing so we went for a walk at night, and we ended up at a Christmas Eve mass inside the cathedral, which was very nice. Of course our going inside had nothing to do with spiritual urges, but since I promised not to complain about the cold I can't tell you the real reason we went inside was to regain some feeling in our frostbitten extremities.

I'll get the Mozart connection out of the way, since it's not much. Despite 90% of the tourist kitsch in town being Mozart-related, the only real sight is this yellow house at left, where he was born. But the house is at the heart of the old town, essentially two long streets running parallel and connected by a plaza. The buildings are actually pretty austere, and tightly packed so as to create the most arctic wind blasts possible. But the warmth of wall to wall people walking up and down these two streets helps boost the survival rate. OK, so you get the idea, it was freakin' cold, and I won't mention that theme for the rest of the Austria trip. (and I know the picture doesn't look crowded, which it's not in winter because most people have frozen to death, but I've been in summer and it's like the running of the bulls in Pamplona, without the bulls) And I know I just mentioned the cold again. Last time, I promise.

15. Salzburg

We then took a longish (well, long for Austria anyway) train trip to our next stop, Salzburg. Salzburg is of course famous as the birthplace of Mozart, and the town drips with Mozart memorabilia. It's also center stage for the Sound of Music, Somchai's favorite movie of all time at the time (since relegated to #2 by Brokeback Mountain). Besides the musical connections, it's also a very pleasant town, again dominated by a bishop's palace/castle. (Austria's bishops appear to be particularly warlike). The picture of Salzburg in the distance was taken from the train, hence the glare, but gives a good idea of its position on the river, with the castle completely dominating the town. Also we were there at Christmas, and the streets of Salzburg, like all Austrian towns, were lined with Christmas markets selling ornaments, gifts and of course holiday drinks.