Dec 24 Christmas Eve,

I an writing this standing in line at the Dom in Salzburg. It is 10 pm..the gates open at 11 pm and already there is quire a long queue…

We spent the day taking it easy. Checking out a market on the other side of the river from the old town – much smaller but nice people and cheaper prices. Listened to a couple of more Austrian accapella groups, one good and one not worth hanging around to listen to.

Lyndell tried again to see the scene where the choir competition from The Sound of Music was filmed but no tour today. Lyndell was a little disappointed but not too much. We will try to get to a couple of other sites from the film on the 26th when we leave Salzburg….(I was not disappointed too much..I really only wanted to see the one building that was all….so now. I have a visual anyway and can look at the pictures in the musical and know that I have been ‘almost there’. I have a picture of some of the arches in the wall…!!!) I know when I revisit the movie…I know exactly where this place is.)

This afternoon we went to Vespers in St. Peter’s all sung in Latin as a Gregorian chant. Interesting to listen but not comprehensible at all. No wonder Martin Lutheran found such fertile soil preaching that religion should be available directly by the people without priests having to be the intermediates. We eyeballs felt disconnected and it was nothing about the people at all. Until Martin Luther the bible and sermons were delivered only in Latin, as meaningless to the people of the time as vespers was to us tonight. It felt extremely disconnected from the people….and the music was ritualistic and chanting…significant of the age and time of these Gregorian chants…..Interesting experience but do not feel a strong need to do again unless it is just for the musical experience.

Back to the hotel for a quick break before heading out to our Christmas Eve dinner at the Sheridan across the river. Thank God it was a bit of a distance from our hotel because it helped on our return walking trip home. The dinner was beautiful with a lovely accompanying brass band and then later, a piano. The food was lovely and available as a buffet so you could try as many dishes as you wished. The wine also was a lovely soft red that was easy to drink. That was the problem, not only was the red easy to drink, the food was easy to eat! After five courses we were stuffed! ( Up to now we have only been eating two small meals a day and one of those was soup…so our stomachs have shrunk a little…tonight I could not put my coat on without feeling so so so tight, I am sure I gained a few inches in one single sitting!!!) In the end we had to finish up, waddle outside and I mean waddle…with all our layers on as well…. for some cool air and a much needed walk back to the hotel for some also much needed anti-reflux medication for our over full stomachs prior to going to the cathedral for midnight mass. Too much!!
(I definitely waddled..intoxicated too with the wine flowing freely through my veins, the food paddling in my stomach ….gurgling and belching all the way back to the hotel….oh yes we waddled together along the road back to the hotel to get ready for the service at midnight. I felt so lightheaded and fat!!! )

While waiting to go out to mass, Lyndell just lay down on the bed to ‘rest her eyes’. She swears she just drifted off for a couple of minutes but in reality she was unconscious flat on her back breathing rhythmically with an occasional snore for a good 20-30minutes.( I knew I snored…I could feel it…..and hear it…it was the wine. I felt like I was slightly drunk heading out to mass….but the cold air has sobered me up a bit believe me!!!
Too much food a too much wine but a lovely night!!!!! )

Now we are waiting in a long line outside the cathedral waiting to go in. We arrived about 1 hour before opening time, luckily so since the line then was only 20-30 metre long. It is now much longer!!!!! At least it has given us a chance to text and/or ring family to wish them Happy Christmas since it is now Christmas morning on the East coast of Australia…and Christmas Eve here!!!!

December 25 : Happy Christmas to all.

It is Christmas morning now. The mass last night was long…did not finish till 1 am …and the monotonous chanting of the priest in German as he told his sermon did not help us switching off a little bit. The mood was lightened a little by either a drunk or a mentally disturbed person coming in, walking right down the centre aisle and having to be escorted outside as he was quite loud and abusive..talking to himself and to the many people there…. The service itself was very ritualistic and full of ceremony right down to taking the little redcap being taken off the bishop and putting his mitre on his head before he spoke..incense and bells tingling….quite a learning experience for me believe me, but the music was spectacular. I mean spectacular.Although we had lined up for an hour, the seats we had were quite a long way back from the front of the cathedral. However, I was on the edge of the pew and I had a good view of the ceremonial part of the Service performed by the bishop and his cardinals. I was interested by their antics and ceremonies having never been to a full cathedral mass. But it was the music which I was waiting for and it certainly did not disappoint me! As it turned out, out seats were perfect for the music being right on the central aisle and 1/2 way between the entrance and the central dome giving us the choir, orchestra and organ behind us in the choir loft and the raised walkways around the central pillars where the singers for Silent Night were.

The music consisted of a full orchestra, full choir complete with soloists – tenor, boss alto and soprano who sung the solo sections of the Mozart music. It was absolutely beautiful.
To begin with as we entered at 11pm when the three huge gates opened, the choir was at the front and they sang accapella..mostly in german, un-mic’ed …(and sang) for about 20 minutes and the acoustics in the huge cathedral were brilliant. Then a separate choir at the back and high up in the mezzanine section of the cathedral complete with full pipe organ playing commenced the whole service as the bishop’s party entered.
The music was sooooo good. Mostly the service was musically enhanced with this arrangement of choir and orchestra..and pipe organ….all un-mic’ed course with the natural acoustics beaming out from above.

Throughout the service there were various types of music played and sung ..mostly from Mozart, being the birthplace of Mozart……but the highlight at 1 am was the dimming of the lights and the candelabra…and then 3 gentleman with one guitar high above us perched in the shadows of the cathedral sang Silent Night in German. The whole mood changed…after full orchestral music and singing, this was so reverent and quiet. The song was then passed on to two female singers and then to the full choir, but it ended with just the three men singing and the chords of the acoustic guitar – all in the dark cathedral lit by just a few candles. I recorded it on video. That is the music , I was so wrapped. It went for almost 8 minutes. I did not realise silent night has many verses when you sing it all the way through. (We looked at the sheet in front of us.)

The the service was over and we all headed outside…Marc and I along with the thousands of other people there and this was the encore….the huge cathedral bells began to chime. They were thunderous in nature and I mean loud and thunderous above us…and I was completely taken with them. I could have sat there and listened to their peals die away. So many bells and so big and so loud. It was so exciting, huge bells, and many of them all resounding at the same time to introduce the Christmas Day into Salzburg. An amazing experience. It went on for about 15 minutes. I have never heard anything like it before and I have certainly never been in a huge monstrous cathedral which was over flowing with people and standing room only….and probably never will again! The whole experience musically for me was brilliant.

We finally came to our little hotel room, skyped the kids merry christmas, but we were standing outside in the dark and the wind..as the hotel is old, built solely of stone, and resonates sounds very loudly. The only place we could be, still get internet and yet not disturb the other guests was to stand outside the hotel’s front door in the cold. Then at 2 am finally crashed into bed.

Wednesday 25 Christmas Day

Today we woke around 9 ….although we did not sleep fitfully for that long, headed down to breakfast for only fruit and coffee…after our enormous dinner last night…( got to lose those calories we got back last night!). Marc suggested we go for a drive to Altenmarkt which is about 50 minutes drive from here. Beautiful scenery of the Austrian alps and snow covered villages along the way. Here they have toboggan runs but when we arrived the snow was all slushy and wet and neither of us really did not feel like getting muddy and wet…so instead we went into a cafe..(where little English was spoken) and had a tofenstrudel (which is a strudel made of cottage cheese and pasty..)..yes…we shared it, plus two coffees. So much for our non eating today.!! But a much better idea.
Of course I had to find the toilet and this is the second time I have been caught out with no pictures on toilet doors…..Marc did think afterwards that he should have told me which was which…but… .twice now in two different venues,,one a plush venue and the other an average one , I have now entered the men’s room by mistake, saw what as happening there…realised that I was in the wrong place and left rather quickly. I have now decided that Pictures on doors do sincerely help…but when there are names only on the doors and arrows pointing in different directions….( arrows in Austria do not mean a thing) and they are all in a different language to what I am accustomed too,and you have to physically go into the room to personally find out which one to enter…which I did,. twice… and left hastily, just a little embarrassed !!
I must tell you about the Austrian toilets.
I know gross,..but it is intriguing all these different water closets we have found.
In Australia the bowl where the water fills and other debris is deposited is centred..ie you aim straight for it! In Austria the toilet is almost square in nature with a large flat section at the back of the toilet where you sit ‘ and deposit’ onto a surface above water level. This means that it stays there until it is swept away by the flush…and then swept into the water in the next channel underneath it…..is you defaecate onto a flat surface ….it is quite off putting believe me…particularly after you have eaten too much rich food and wine!!!

On our trip , we found some of the venues they filmed the musical with julie Andrew ….”sound of music “…such as the gazebo where two songs were performed….so Marc has of courses taken a photo of me …singing the song ” I am 16 going in 17″…in front of the gazebo used in the movie!!!
I have to tell you that All the way back to Salzburg I sang the songs from the musical,,,,.well , we are here….where the movie was made..so why not.

7pm Christmas night .
Time out tonight took us for a walk up to the castle.,,,,and along the way I found the sign for the Non berg abbey…which was the scene for where the nuns sang the song Maria ..( yes again from the sound of music)’… It was a discovery as we were just out walking in the twilight..and I saw the sign, Yes I have an obsession with it…I know,..but after all we are in the city where it all took place of course I have to!!!! It was dark but we found our way and peered I through the gates where the children were seeking Maria after she had run back to the abbey….it was so clear. ..and I could visualises exactly where we were from the movie. I shall now have to watch the movie ……obsessed aren’t i! I kept Marc amused anyway!!

Dinner took us to a restaurant just to have soup…and it was so hot. ,..not the soup, the heating. Today is definitely a heat wave and I cannot handle the heat….the restaurants are still overheated and I was dripping into my tomato soup…..it was that hot. I had to leave the trattoria and take in the fresh air. The next few days ahead of us are also bringing warmer weather so we are ditching the thermals as it is far too warm. We have seen and driven through snow and ice…and we have seen inclement weather conditions….so now we are having a mild winters day for Christmas in Salzburg. Make the holiday even more interesting, we will have to see what Vienna is like for New Year’s Eve.

I do have to add an important part about the weather. Yesterday it reached a maximum of about 6 degrees, today it reached 18 degrees….it is hot. We have shed our layers of thermals and just have a single layer of clothes on…no boots. Marc is actually wearing a short sleeved shirt..it is that warm …most unusual after the temperatures we have been having.!!!!

We have had a quiet Christmas Day reading our books, writing diaries and catching up and sorting our photos before we leave tomorrow…heading along the way to Vienna right now we are sharing some iced Christmas cake which Marc has carried for the last few weeks …in his bag, Margaret gave it to him with a card….for tonight, we are sharing some Australian Christmas cake on Christmas Eve in Austria ..what better way to remember 2013. Some special highly treasured memories made here !!!

Merry Christmas from Marc and I in Salzburg Austria….an amazing beautiful place