Maestra in Salzburg (Marie)

     I can't lie, by the time I arrived in Salzburg I was exhausted. I got sick around my second day there, so walking about 30 minutes to the good food spots felt like absolute hell. My personal gems for restaurants were Triangel, though it was expensive, Zum Zirkelwirt, which was a bit less expensive but still about 20-30 euros per person, and the tiramisu at Cafe Tomaselli, which is the cafe where Mozart repeatedly sat down for drinks even though he reported hating everything about the little place.

    Visiting the historical sites, such as Mozart's birth house and the fortress atop the hill, was definitely a highlight of my stay in Salzburg. If my favorite aspect of the birth house was not that I got to see his violin, it would have to be seeing many examples of all the ways that history attempts to cover up the fact that Mozart was short and average looking. My favorites had to be his obviously sharpened jawline on the famous Mozart candies sold both in the museum gift shop and all over Salzburg, and the very strange addition of a well-kept beard to his portrait on a postcard, which I've included as one of the photos below.

    Staying in Salzburg during Mozart week was definitely an experience in itself. I would not consider myself a Mozart lover, but seeing the reverence in the way each ensemble performed his music was a great experience. I often thanked the stars that historians recently decided that Mozart loved drama in his music; each interpretation was far more lively than any I've heard before. To think that not long ago, historians insisted that he enjoyed subtlety over all else gives me a feeling of nervous relief akin to what one might experience after having dodged a bullet when I think about how I experienced Mozart's music during Mozart week. Luckily I was able to enjoy the dramatic interpretation his music deserves. My general feelings about Mozart aside, though, Salzburg was an experience I won't forget soon.

Unfortunately, being sick meant I didn't have much energy for snapping photos in front of the exaggeratedly handsome Mozart statue. I think the Mozart-with-a-beard photo makes up for it, though.

My baton at the Groβes Festspielhaus

Mozart with a beard. I should have bought it.

Inside the Salzburg cathedral.

One of the four smaller organs in the Salzburg cathedral.

Salzburg from the fortress.