Here we are, 6 years in Austria and still going strong! Life is somehow too busy to write about, it wants to be lived. But once in a while it is time for memories, like this one. This is about Salzburg, we’ve been there so many times and almost every single time it rained. Still, we love Salzburg and we’d move there in a jiffy if we could afford to. But we can’t and in the meantime we console ourselves with the perceived fact that it always rains in Salzburg.

Incidentally it was spring, a rather cool one, just as it is now. Salzburg is very unpredictable in terms of weather so there is really no way to plan around it. The best way is to just pick a weekend and go. Just because it’s summer, doesn’t mean it won’t rain. My first time there it rained the entire weekend, and I don’t mean the kind of drizzle rain we have in Seattle, no, this was down pouring, wet to the bone kind of rain, for 48 hours straight! But when the sun comes out, Salzburg shines like the crown jewels.

Salzburg is so much more than the Sound of Music. Actually, when you are in Salzburg there is nothing to remind you of the movie itself. Sure they realized there is money to be made from naive American tourists who look for the “Sound of Music Tour” (only 1 in 10 Austrians has heard about the movie), but it’s no different than making money off of Mozart’s birth place. As a matter of fact, Salzburg is all about Mozart: there are Mozart chocolates, Mozart concerts, Mozart fashion, there was even an entire year dedicated to Mozart with a variety of cultural activites throughout. Honestly, it is hard to even see Salzburg behind this commercial tourism. The locals have almost vanished from the city center, you may still spot one in a secluded cafe, off the beaten path or on a less known trail in the woods sorrounding the Hohensalzburg Castle that looks down upon the tourist ant trail with the same disdain I’m sure as it did in 1525 when a group of miners and farmers tried to oust the Archbishop of that time and failed.

Regardless of the tourist hype, Salzburg is definitely one of the top three places in Austria worth seeing. After all, all the great cities in the world are overcrowded with tourists. So what to do once you are there? First off, let me tell you that planning a weekend for it should be more than enough. Look for one of the bed & breakfasts in the historic center, the charm and service will be worth it. Besides, it’ll cost you just as much lodging further away in one of the chain hotels. Last time we stayed at Hotel Chiemsee right next to the Mozart Platz and without trying to sell it or anything, I would go back there anytime. Very comfy rooms and excellent breakfast. I could go on and tell you about all the things you should visit, but here is a list of the Top 10 sights and you can decide for yourself what you’d like to see. I personally loved the Mozart birth house, the Mirabell gardens and of course the Hohensalzburg Fortress. If you are lucky you can catch a medieval fair at the castle and buy products from local merchants and farmers.

The food can be the usual tourist grub, especially along the downtown banks of the Salzach. And it’s not too bad, if you are hungry with limited time you may not have a choice. We were lucky to find a nice restaurant just a block away from the Franciscan church. It was surprisingly good food and full of locals, you may need a reservation to get in. The service is what I like to call “friendly professional”. Salzburg needs tourism to survive and they pretty much know that. Even though the locals are known for being unfriendly to all foreigners who move there, including Austrians, they will put on a nice face for tourists, they know how to make your stay enjoyable.

Overall you are best advised to follow your tourist guide if you like to be on the safe side. But even venturing out will not present much risk, this is a very safe small city, with or without a map you can’t really get lost. If you have more time go check out the entire Salzburg Land. If you can rent a car, if not travelling by train and bus is also very comfortable. There is a very special place we like to visit often, and it is only about 30 miles away from Salzburg: Werfenweng. Take advantage of their soft mobility program which means you can leave your car home and they will take care of everything. This is a one of a kind program in Europe as far as I know. We have used it in winter, for skiing. The area is great in summer too. You can stay at one of the many B&B organic farms where the owners will treat you like family. Enjoy the local organic foods, the beautiful hikes, a fairy tale castle, and the largest ice cave system in the world. I promise you won’t be disappointed. If I were to pick my favorite region in Austria, then it would be Salzburg. Go see for yourself!

Cemetery visits are the most useful, they teach about tranquility and peace like nothing else. Nowhere else can a distracted head concentrate better. - Thomas Bernhard, Heldenplatz

Death has always been at home in Vienna. Most Viennese stories, legends and myths deal more or less directly with it. Whether dressed up as Pestilence (which visited Vienna several times) or in the famous folk song “Es wird a Wein sein…”, where the author laments about all the happy drinking days that will be gone once we’re dead, death is real and active in the daily life of Vienna. The Liebe Augustin (dear Augustin), the legendary Viennese gleeman, who once fell in a plague dump while drunk, but got out the next morning only with a huge hangover, became the ancestor of the genuine Viennese, who just doesn’t “go under”.

Vienna is one of those places where people have an almost too cosy relationship with death. If you are skeptical, just visit the Vienna Zentralfriedhof (central cemetery) on Allerheiligen (the day of the dead, 1. November), when all of Vienna remembers their “dear dead”. There is an old joke that compares the Zentralfriedhof with Zurich: half as big but twice as jolly. It could be that death, as an “evening out” phenomenon, has always had fans among the common folk since monarchy times. The knocking ritual of the Habsburgs is certainly worth mentioning. The king’s casket would be brought before the Kapuzinerkirche, the traditional Habsburg gravesite. The ceremonial officiant would knock and proclaim all the noble titles of the deceased for minutes, and get an Ignosco (do not know) in return. Only at the third knocking, when the answer to the “who is there” question was “a poor sinner”, would the casket be admitted into the church.

There are about 46 cemeteries in Vienna for all the “poor sinners”. In the last 150 years new grave sites have moved from the city center to the surrounding districts, even into the hills of the Wienerwald. The central cemetery has about 3 million “inhabitants” and belongs to the largest cemeteries in Europe. Wolfgang Ambros, Austrian musician, has written a truely Viennese song about it, where he praises the Zentralfriedhof where you don’t need a ticket to get in, where it may be cold outside, but underground it’s nice and cosy. This cemetery also houses the remains of the imperial family, and it is good for a history walk in general. But the Zentralfriedhof is not the only cemetery worth visiting. There is also the St.Marx, an almost perfectly preserved Biedermeier cemetery, the only one left from the times of the Emperor Joseph II. A special category are the Jewish cemeteries in Vienna. They were badly damaged during the nazi times, and they are in desperate need of restauration up to this day. The irony is that, in a land where space is limited, most cemeteries house catholics, protestants, greek orthodox and Jews side by side, in somewhat separated sections. In death there is peace, and it is possible that a fierce anti-Jew grave lies right opposite a Jewish one. A Muslim cemetery has also been built, after two decades of negotiations with the islamic community, another victory of the ever increasing Muslim population in Austria.

Strange and certainly fitting with the whole morbid death cult is the story of Mozart’s burial. The Zentralfriedhof has a grave in his honor, presumingly empty. However, the real Mozart, or most of him, is buried in St.Marx. His head, after having been analyzed and measured, is well preserved in Salzburg, in the Mozarteum. But wheather you are Mozart, or the chancellor of Austria, or just dust in the wind, in Vienna you can be burried with all the pomp fitting an emperor or modestly in a cemetery corner, with prices starting at just 13 euro (for a wooden cross), because the business with the dead is also a business built on profits like any other. And, like in every industry, there are trends. The trend this year seems to be the “American way” of cremation, as it is “sanitary and eco-friendly”. However, a “schöne Leich” (literally: a beautiful corpse; meaning beautiful funeral), with a large group of mourners, can elicit rapturous descriptions by participants, and can overshadow any other society event.

Yes, Death must be Viennese, just as Love must be French, ’cause who else could get you to heaven’s gates on time but a Viennese, as Georg Kreisler once said:
Der Tod, das muß ein Wiener sein,
genau wie die Lieb’ a Französin.
Denn wer bringt dich pünktlich zur Himmelstür?
Ja da hat nur ein Wiener das G’spür dafür.

Bella gerant alii, tu felix Austria, nube! - Wars may be led by others - you, happy Austria, marry!

This is how the old Austrian got along with other nations: diplomacy. During the “golden” Monarchy years, the Austrian was the mediator between all the peoples in the Empire. The most prominent example of that was the Empress Elizabeth herself. The question is, what has the modern Austrian become? This is a subject that has fascinated me over the 5 years I have lived here. Is there a Homo Austriacus, and if so, how is he different from the other Homo Sapiens?

Turns out someone has been researching this, historian William M. Johnston. Here is just an excerpt from an interview with Der Standard:
The “boiling man” that essay writer Richard Schaukal talks about…These are people who are easily discomposed, who speak vehemently and want to enforce their point in every conversation. This type I have met in Austria, and only here. If such a type starts talking, then I must be quiet, because I have no chance, I am defenseless against the Wallungsmenschen (boiling man).

I think I must read this book, this man speaks after my heart. I have been saying things like these all this time, yet no one takes me seriously. Still, this mix of laissez faire, tolerance on one hand and just sheer stubbornness on the other, remains fascinating for me. Alas, the Austrian remains a charming and friendly creature in his habitat.