Sachertorte

 I took this picture somewhere in Salzburg last year, I can't remember where. It is the classic Sachertorte, a chocolate sponge cake with apricot jam in the middle, If I have this right. We ate all sorts of indulgent desserts during our holidays in Austria,and of course we had to try the Sachertorte. I think I never ate desserts as delicious as in Austria, even in the most ordinary places. Classic ones of course, but also plenty of new inventions and variations on classics. The Sachertorte wasn't even my favourite, but it was still up there among the best.

Tyrolean Hats

I took this picture in Salzburg last year, in one of the many souvenir shops. They are not all tacky in Austria, some have decent stuff. So we saw these Tyrolean hats (at least I think they are Tyrolean hats, correct me if I'm wrong). We didn't buy any, although I was very tempted. The thing with hats is, well, I seldom wear any, even when it's hot, and this is not the kind of hat you would wear in hot weather. It looks good like this, old fashioned and typical, but I can't imagine me wearing it at any time. And it could easily be damaged on our journey home. Still, they look cool.

Salzbourg vu de haut

 Photo prise il y a un an dans le téléphérique menant à la forteresse Hohensalzburg. Je partage rien que parce que. Et désolé pour le reflet de mon bras dans la vitre.

Premier Strudel

Lors de la première soirée de notre séjour à Salsbourg, nous avons participé à une visite guidée de la résidence des Von Trap dans La mélodie du bonheur, avec performances des airs de la comédie musicale. Nous avons aussi eu droit, en guise de repas, à notre premier strudel de notre séjour. Strudels aux pommes, bien entendu. C'était bon, bien que frugal.

L'architecture de Salzbourg

 J'ai pris cette photo lors de nos vacances en Autriche l'an passé, à Salzbourg. Vous voyez un commerce, en tout cas un édifice, qui date de quelques siècles, R.F. Azwanger. Ce que j'aime dans l'architecture de Salzbourg, c'est justement qu'elle a l'air figée dans le temps, comme je le disais dans ce billet. Même avec l'apparition des stands et des réclames plus modernes, comme on voit ici. Et avec les couleurs parfois pastel, parfois vives, on dirait souvent des maisons de poupées géantes. Il y a quelque chose de délicat dans cette ville.

Schnitzel

I took this picture in Salzburg, in a restaurant called Café Mozart (well, of course). Of course, I couldn't go to Austria without trying some of their national dishes. This is a schnitzel, as far as you can see underneath the sauce and over the pasta. Mentioned in the song of a famous musical. It may look bland, but it was surprisingly good. I could have had it for every meal and I would have been happy. But there is so much to try in Austria, I really don't think I made the best of my time there, food-wise. We need to go there again.

Anecdote à Salsbourg

Photo prise à Salsbourg lors de nos vacances d'été. Si l'édifice vous semble familier, c'est qu'il a été utilisé comme la résidence des Von Trap dans La mélodie du bonheur. Ma femme a insité pour que l'on aille à une visite-spectacle du lieu lors de notre première soirée là-bas. J'ai mes pèlerinages, elle a les siens. Alors donc, nous avons eu droit à quelques performances des airs de la comédie musicale, ainsi que des informations sur le tournage et sur l'histoire vraie qui a inspiré la fiction édulcorée. Et nous avons mangé notre premier strudel, offert avec le tour. Mais ce dont je voulais parler, c'est d'une spectatrice. Lors de la pause collation, alors que l'on allait s'asseoir à une table dans la cour intérieure, nous avons demandé à la dame âgée qui était là toute seule si ça ne lui dérangeait pas que l'on partage la même table. Elle a répondu dans un anglais très hésitant. Puis, elle m'a entendu parler à petit loup en français. Il s'est avéré qu'elle parlait très bien le français elle-même. Si je me rappelle bien, sa fille est mariée à un Français et elle a donc des petits-enfants francophones. La conversation s'est donc faite dans la langue de Molière. Alors voilà, dans une certaine partie de l'Europe, les gens d'un certain âge ont parfois une langue seconde autre que l'anglais.

Mozart, music and chocolate

Yes, yes, Mozart's birthday was yesterday, I know it came and it's gone. However, as it is still Mozart Week, this household will spend it listening to Wolferl's music and we will stuff ourselves with Mozartkugeln. We made stocks during our time in Austria and we are still getting through them. I tookthis picture in Salzburg, where Mozart as born 270 years ago and one day. They sell the stuff everywhere, in all sorts of varieties. But more on that in another post. I thought it would be fitting to share a bit of Cosi fan tutte. One of my operatic obsessions. It's about love and, yes, sometimes it is also about chocolate.

Don Giovanni for Mozart Week

Because it is Mozart Week, I think it is proper to share more of Mozart's music. I took this picture in Salzburg, the city of his birth. As you can read beneath, it is a drawing of a stage design Don Giovanni, my favourite opera of Wolfgang. My favourite opera, period, in fact. I haven't shared an aria from DG for a long while, not since 2022, so it was about time. This is Mi tradi wuell alma ingrata, sung by Alexandra Lowe (a soprano I don't know all that much) and I hope you enjoy.

Cherubs and Cherubino

As you know if you are following this blog, we are during Mozart Week, a festival held in his native Salzburg to celebrate his birth and his life. As I am a big fan of Mozart, I'm celebrating it here too. I took this picture in Salzburg, during our last holiday in Austria. Which was, to me, a pilgrimage. It is a ridiculously allegorical portrait of Amadeus, but I thought it would be fitting for the aria I am sharing today. As there are cherubs visiting him from heaven (maybe to make sure he doesn't get naughty with the lady he is playing to?), I thought it would be fitting to put an aria from Le Nozze di Figaro. Sang of course by Cherubino, who here takes the voice and face of Israeli mezzosoprano Rinat Shaham. There are subtitles for your convenience.

Queens of the Night

Today is the start of Mozart Week, a music festival celebrating his work held in his native city of Salzburg. And I thought, what better way to show this blogger's love for Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart than to share a picture of our last holiday in Austria and sharing an aria for good measure. So yeah, I took this photo in his birthday house, now a museum. These are two mannequins dressed like the Queen of the Night, one of the many emblematic characters in Die Zauberflöte. I also share her most famous aria, sung by Diana Damrau. One of its most iconic interpretations. Side note: which costume do you prefer?

Papagena

January is the birthday month of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and it struck me that I haven't blogged about it yet this year. A shameful oversight, especially since I have so many great pictures from our holiday in Austria. I took this picture in a park in Salzburg. Because Mozart was born there, the whole city is very much haunted by Mozart's ghost, his loved ones, as well as the many characters of his operas. So yeah, there was a statue of Papagena from Die Zauberflöte. Of course, I had to accompany this post with the famous duet where she is featured, here sung by Elisabeth Boudreault (she is from Saguenay like me)and her fiancé Huw Montague Rendall. Aren't they cute together?

Grieving for Mozart

Sad anniversary which I commemorate every year: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart died on the fifth of December 1791. His Requiem is  played all around the world to commemorate, I am doing the same here on this blog. It's been centuries, but the grief is still fresh: Wolferl died young, he died with an unfinished masterpiece. And I also thought this is a good opportunity to share a picture from our last trip to Austria. His statue in Salzburg. Sadly we didn'y visit his grave, even though he does not rest in it. Be that as it may, Requiem Aeternam, Amadeus. Dead, but truly immortal.

The White Lady of Hohensalzburg Fortress

For today's countdown to Halloween post, a bit of a ghost story, in fact an account of true haunting, Salzburg. To be more specific, the Hohensalzburg Fortress.Of course a place like this needed to be haunted by a ghost or two. You can read more about the White Lady here. This is of course an image of her, as sadly we did not see her when we went there. Maybe because it was daytime? When I learned about the White Lady of Hohensalzburg Fortress, I knew I had one blog post for the countdown. White Ladies are a fairly common type of ghosts in old places, they are both elegant and eerie. Maybe you have one White Lady haunting a historical landmark near you?

Daunt Books Abroad

 You may remember that back in June, I blogged about the bookshop chain Daunt Books. Well, I saw someone carrying one of their bags again. Not in London, like last time, not in England in fact, but in Austria. In om Salzburg, to be precise. It was most likely a British tourist, but I thought it was nice to see it there. I know it was only a bag, nevertheless it's  nice that this small chain of indie bookshops is thriving, thriving enough to see their brand even when we are abroad. That's encouraging for literature and book lovers like myself.

From Salzburg to Vienna by the railway

You might have been wondering when I would blog about it. Well, here it is: the railway travel post, because I must blog about trains, from time to time. But I digress. So anyway, one of the many, many, many pleasures I had during our time in Austria was the train journey we had. Too short and I wished we had done more travel by train, but to me it was a long awaited rediscovery. So we went from Salzburg to Vienna by the railway. As I said, it was only one journey and a too short one at that, boy did I enjoy it. I love all train journeys, but I had forgotten how nice Austrian trains are. They're clean, they're spacious, they're comfy and, at least when we traveled, they're not overcrowded. Seriously, even the common, plebeian train we traveled on, in economy class (or whatever they call it), has way more to offer than most of what I experienced in this country. I think even the French trains are not that good. I could go back to Austria just for its trains.

Sausage and sauerkraut

Well, it had to come to this: I had to share here what I ate during our time in Salzburg. Because yes, it was maybe the most unhealthy food I ever ate during a trip, it was fatty, meaty, what have you, but it was delicious. Anyway, the first proper Austrian meal I had was in the restaurant of the Hohensalzburg Fortress. Authentic veal sausage, hash browns (the fried potato thingies) and sauerkraut. I regret nothing: it was delicious.

La Justice de Salzbourg

 J'ai pris cette photo à Salzbourg, une des nombreuses statues que l'on peut voir. Sans farce, j'ai rarement une aussi petite ville avec autant de statues, même ici en Europe. C'est bien entendu une représentation allégorique de la Justice. J'avais déjà blogué un peu sur cette allégorie en 2021. Mettons que la statue est pas mal plus belle. Mais enfin bref, si elle n'était pas couverte par une sorte de mince grillage, on se croirait à une autre époque. Parce que, comme je l'ai djà dit hier, on dirait que Salzbourg est une ville hors du temps.

Les enseignes de Salzbourg

 De retour de Salzbourg depuis deux jours, je me permets de mettre sur le blogue quelques photos de voyage. C'était la première fois en plus de trente ans où je mettais les pieds dans la ville. Elle n'a pas vraiment changé, enfin selon mes souvenirs. Sauf pour une chose, circonstantielle: c'était très pluvieux lors de ma première visite alors qu'il a fait une canicule cette fois-ci. Mais il y a une chose qui n'a pas changé: les enseignes des commerces dans la ville. On dirait que Salzbourg est un peu figé dans le temps.

Mozart Everywhere

"Oh my God, the dude's everywhere!" This is what my wife said on our first day in Salzburg. She was referring to two things: first, the iconic image of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, which was indeed everywhere, albeit mostly in a dignified form, tall, handsome, commanding. Not exactly how I imagined the hot kid from Salzburg to have been in real life. Second, the Mozartkugeln, which are sold everywhere, in every shop, in every form. With Mozart to promote them, of course. They use his image shamelessly. And, I must confess, we bought the chocolates shamelessly. But anyway, what my wife said deserves to be a new great unknown line and I will not end this blog without a bit of Mozart music. So here's the fourth movement of hos Jupiter Symphony, which I think I never shared until now. Enjoy.