Our Last Day in Salzburg and a New Way of Looking at Things

Today is our final day in Salzburg!  We took a break from cleaning and packing to walk to our favorite Italian restaurant in town, Il Sole.  I mention the walking bit because it takes walking 5 miles for me to feel okay about eating one of their gigantic pizza entrees.

I had the Pizza Verdura, a vegetable medley on crisp dough.

  
This here is the Quattro Formaggi, Ben's choice. "The Gorgonzola," he kept telling me in one of those deep, labored Godfather voices.  

Somehow pizza felt like an appropriate last meal in Austria.  Who knows?  I'm not complaining.    

Now for a quote that has stayed with me as I prepare to leave:

 via

Although the majority of my thoughts have been about the benefits of coming home, I've tried to ignore the ugly idea of Reverse Culture Shock.  I know it's going to happen; I've become accustomed to living and thinking quite differently than I did in the States (like walking 5 miles to enjoy a pizza, for instance).  I already feel society's pressure to revert to that former version of myself, but I've changed, and I'm happy about it.  What worked for me before doesn't work for me now.  So, it will take some time for me to feel as happy as I do here, to settle in again, to take who I've become and meld it with who I want to be in the next chapter of my life.  It has been a long journey, difficult at times, but I would not trade my new way of looking at things, my perspective, for a bit of convenience.  Not any day.

When I post again, I will be back in my home country, however, I will continue to blog, as I still have so many stories, pictures, and thoughts about Austria.  Chronicling my reverse culture shock, and new insights on the US, Austria, and the ex-pat lifestyle should keep me writing.  

So, until I turn up again - Auf Wiedersehen.               

Maypole Rising in Salzburg, oder Maibaum Aufstellen Salzburgs

In Small Town USA, May Day passes by like any other day.  In other parts of the world, however, May Day is celebrated as International Workers' Day, and generally, a day to do something besides work.  This year, a peaceful protest in Seattle turned violent, and in Bangladesh, thousands of workers took the the streets to protest against factory owners who they believe are responsible for the deaths of 400 garment workers in a factory collapse last week.  In Hong Kong and other places in Asia, workers protested for safer working conditions, better wages, and access to breaks during the work day.  In some European countries, the protests centered on high unemployment rates and low living standards. 

While workers protested around the world, my May Day was completely different.  Austrians didn't have to work, yes, but the free time didn't seem to encourage them to participate in protests or parades about their rights as workers.  Instead, they celebrated May Day with the rising of maypoles, and music, dancing, food, and beer.  Again, as a perpetual resident of small towns in the United States, May Day was a foreign concept to me, and in the case of protesting, it remains so.  

But, let's recount the day the Austrian way, shall we?  

As we traversed the city to the fest in Maxglan, we stopped at Mirabell Gardens for some choice background.  An Italian tour group stopped us and took our pictures.  I heard "bellissima" whispered through the crowd, and it pretty much made my day.

The fest was held at the Gasthof Heimathaus Maxglan in Salzburg.  We enjoyed some delicious chicken barbeque, some local beverages, and some traditional music mixed in with Elvis and German-English hybrid songs.  After that,we walked around and saw the Maibaum for the first time.  A group of people were connecting pretzels to the tree as decorations. 

Finally, it was time for the lifting to begin!

This picture of the director, amidst the pretzels and carrying a tree umbrella, is my favorite of the day.   How could you not love this?

And it's up! The lead singer of the band said it was 100% 90 degrees in the air. 

All in all, it was a pretty wonderful May Day.  We even won some Manner chocolate that we had every intention of saving for our trip home, but... you know.

When it Rains on Vacation

When it rains on vacation, ______

- pose amidst wet Art, wet Vespas, and wet cobblestones.

- check out the bike lane and discuss the attributes of the bikes you'll buy when you're home. 

- speculate as to which century Education resembled the façade of the Bolzano School Museum.  

- dream about pink lemonade and sherbert.    

 - comment on how cute it is that Nemo and his dad are spending time together every time they get anywhere near each other at the Naturmuseum Südtirol.

-  realize that you now know what Homer Simpson's brain looks like. 

- contemplate your existence.  

- marvel at radial symmetry.

- stare Death in the face at the Municipal (Stadt) Museum.

 - play scary make believe.  

 

- try to win a Krampus photo contest. 

- warm up next to some fancy Kachelofen.  

- order "ein Stück Tiramisu, bitte," and then look unhappy?

- smile in front of the Mussolini-commissioned Fascist victory monument and a twisty tree.  Later, find the translation of the Latin inscription and shudder a little bit.  The values of research, I'll tell ya. 
 

 - bask in the beauty of perfectly brilliant yellow flowers. 

- remember that you still have obligations to a bridge in Salzburg.    

When We Said Buongiorno/Guten Tag to Bolzano/Bozen

Although I always hoped that I'd have the opportunity to travel, I never thought that it was more than just wishful thinking.  I grew up hearing stories about where my relatives came from in Europe and about the struggles they faced as immigrants in the United States.

On my maternal side, my grandfather's family came from Italy, and my grandmother's family came from (the former) Czechoslovakia and the Austro-Hungarian empire.  I still don't know if I'm more Austrian or Hungarian, although I saw a girl who looked mysteriously like me on the train to Budapest.  At any rate, Ben and I knew we wanted to visit Italy from the minute we decided to move to Austria; his last name ends in a vowel too.  Capisce?   

Our journey took us to Bolzano/Bozen in northern Italy.  It's the capital city of Südtirol, or Alto Adige.  Why am I writing all the names in two languages, attentive reader?  Well, after World War I, the city left Austrian hands and became Italian.  Its history of Austrian and Italian possession is very evident in the city today.  Around town, Italian and German float off the tongues of the locals.  It seemed like almost everyone could speak Italian and German, and in many cases, English too.  All of the signs are in German and Italian.  Even though I knew we were in Italy, it was a little hard to believe because the two cultures and languages are so intertwined.

Our train went through the Brenner Pass on its way to Italy.  Doesn't really look like spring has hit the Alps yet, huh?  In the last two pictures, you can see what's called Lawinenschutz, or Alpine avalanche protection.

But once through the Brenner Pass, the scenery changed.  Say hello to the Dolomites and to a field of grapevines. 

  

After arriving, we quickly checked into our hostel and headed into town.

Apfelstrudel in Italy?  Yes, especially when ordered in German.  

For our first dinner, we went to Weißes Rössl/Cavallino Bianco/Little White Pony. Being a teacher, planning is a way of life, so, naturally, I spent some time reading reviews on Trip Advisor to come up with an eating itinerary.  Do you do this, or am I the only one?  Anyway, this restaurant had great reviews, and it did not disappoint.  I had pasta carbonara with speck, which is a cured ham and a specialty of Tyrol.  Ben had spinach spätzle with ham. Lecker/Delizioso. 

Illuminated magnolias in the main square reminded us of spring's arrival.  

This dog, who joined us for a digestif of grappa, received about 1,000 pets, sat on Ben's foot, and stole my heart.  When his owner came to collect him, she asked in German if we would like to take him home.  Ben said, "yes, no problem," and then she laughingly said, "one problem," as she kissed him and took him from our lives forever.  We need a dog.  We need a dog.  Repeat.

Also, we meet a cool Swiss gentleman who couldn't believe that Ben was American and spoke German so well.  That's always good to hear.  He told me that he met his wife in Milan and that she did "this" (*mimicked his hands being tied together*), and he still hasn't found the key.

The friendliness in Italy shocked me, as I've become accustomed to Salzburg and how people keep to themselves. Cultural differences, man.      

A presto!  

Gölles Schnapsbrennerei und Essigmanufaktur AKA When you Discover you Like Vinegar

As a continuation of Ben's birthday celebration, we toured the Gölles Schnapsbrennerei und Essigmanufaktur, or the Gölles Schnapps and Vinegar Distillery.  You know when you enter into an experience with one set of beliefs and afterward you emerge older, wiser, and feeling completely different?  Well, that's what happened!   Who knew I liked vinegar?

Here's Ben amongst the barrels of vinegar.  To start the tour, we came into this storage area, and when we walked through the door, the smell of vinegar reminded me of delicious German potato salad.  Needless to say, I was intrigued.  Ben and I are big fans of German potato salad.  Ben even made a huge batch of it for our wedding, however, our family and friends didn't love it so much, so we had plenty of leftovers for (a) week(s).  Take a guess.  So, in this storage area, we saw the barrels, and we watched a movie about the company and how they manufacture their vinegars.  Ben did a wonderful job of translating for me, and I left anticipating the tasting in the next building.     

The vinegars were separated into three categories: classic, fruit, and balsamic.  In the classic category, there were red and white wine vinegar.  For fruits, there were varieties of raspberry, peach, and tomato.  For the balsamics, there were white (the king of the day), wine, apple, and pear.  We didn't try them all, but the tour guide selected a few from each group, suggested which dishes the vinegars would best pair with, and away we tasted! 

An idea I liked was the spray bottles on the right.  As much as Austrians like vinegar, no, they don't use it as perfume.  It's for flavor-control.  When I have insalata caprese, I don't like the mozzarella drenched in balsamic, so having a little spray bottle of balsamic would alleviate the over-saturation problem.  Although I now know that vinegar is tasty, I still don't want it drenching my food.  Just an idea if you want to get into vinegar!  

The second half of the tour was dedicated to schnapps.  Just as with their vinegar,  Gölles does not use anything artificial to flavor their schnapps.  When they make tomato vinegar, they use tomatoes to produce it.  When they make raspberry schnapps, they use raspberries. There's no flavored syrup here.  This helps to explain why some schnapps is more affordable, while others are astronomically priced.   In another video we watched, we learned that it takes tens of kilos of fruit to make one bottle of schnapps.  The price difference between bulk apples and bulk raspberries, for example, causes the raspberry schnapps to be much more expensive.

So, with all this talk of fruit, you would think that the schnapps would taste like fruit.  Wrong.  A slight hint of fruit could be detected after your throat was set on fire.  I'm sure for schnapps connoisseurs, the Gölles schnapps is very fine, but I didn't care for the clear varieties very much.  The ruby-red raspberry and cherry, on the other hand...   

The schnapps tasting took place in the schnapps cellar, which had an Olde World ambiance that I liked.  Yes, the ambiance was so ancient that there was an extra "e."

 Prost!