Welcome to my new blog! Following many years of graduate study in musicology (see my bio if you don't know what musicology is), I am finally embarking on my fieldwork portion of my degree, spending one year in Germany. For all the latest updates on Music, Life, and Travel, read on, friends!
Back in August, I suggested to one of my BuKa friends that we should go to Salzburg in December. Sure, it would be cold, possibly snowy, and during a busy time of the year for us all, but I am so glad we went! I lived in Salzburg during Spring 2005, where I attended Salzburg College and lived with a host family. 2005 was the first time I had gone back to Europe after my first trip in 2000, when I was still in high school. I loved all things about my semester abroad, except for the expense. Still, I got to travel a lot during that semester, and highlights included learning how to ski in the Alps, taking voice lessons with a professor at the Mozarteum Conservatory, and improving my German. Clearly I caught the Europe bug after this trip, and as soon as I got home in June of that year, I was already trying to figure out how to get back.
I missed Christmas in Salzburg in 2005, but I did not miss the snow. We had tons of snow during the winter months, which made everything seem so much more magical and surreal. Our trip this week felt very similar. I was so excited that we arrived with snow already on the ground, and it continued to snow almost the entire time that we were there. Maybe that meant that we were a bit damp and cold at times, but I completely thought it was worth it!
Enjoy the photos, and the video from Rick Steves' Christmas Special: Austria edition!
First Salzburg drink: Radler (half beer, half grapefruit juice)! So tasty and refreshing!
S and E were lacking in winter outerwear. The umbrellas helped with blocking the snow.
Cold Beautiful stroll along the Salzach river. E and S were not as excited about it!
Awesome snow-covered tree!
It's my city! Salzburg! Sooooooo pretty! This is the view from Mirabell Gardens, facing south towards the Altstadt.
Much happier after a night's sleep, even though we still were lacking one travel buddy.
Mozart duckies! Have I mentioned that Mozart was born in Salzburg, and that he hated it here?
Fortress plus new sculpture art.
We walked up to the fortress, and we found these cool Christmas decorations. Each ball kind of looked like it had a Santa hat on.
E, S, and I, with the Dom in the background.
E taking a picture. We nearly slid down the path to the bottom of the mountain. Snow is pretty, and dangerous!
This is Bob's father.
Salzburg College Alum '05. We hung out here for a bit, getting a free coffee and using the free WIFI. Back in my day, there was no WIFI at Salzburg College. How things have changed!
Spinach dumplings with browned butter and Parmesan. This was sooooo yummy, even though I couldn't finish it.
Famous Salzburg dessert - whipped egg whites, sugar, and raspberries. Very delicious, very big!
:)
This photo is awful, but I had to post it, because the idea behind it is so marvelous!
Augustinerbraeu - my favorite hang-out in Salzburg. Monk-brewed beer, without preservatives, and a spirited atmosphere. The beer is great! L even finished hers, for the first time ever!
S and her four beers. Actually, we each had one; she didn't drink all four!
Saturday was a great, and tiring, day! I had my first choir concert in Germany. I sang with Vox Bona, the chamber choir of the Kreuzkirche in Bonn. This Christmas concert was a "thank-you" concert for those who donate to the music ministry at the church. I got to invite a lot of friends to the concert, and two of my friends from my fellowship program even made it! I really enjoyed having them there! Of course, E and I went to the market before the concert! Following our Bonn concert, everyone had to drive to Cologne for an encore performance. I met up with E and S in downtown Cologne, allowing me to add to my Christmas market count: +2 markets in Cologne!
E with her rum Gluehwein. This is right before she was introduced to Poffertjes, when her life changed forever, for the better!
Enjoy these videos that E took for me!
Here is Ola Gjeilo's "Serenity (O Magnum Mysterium)."
My favorite, and my director's favorite, "Ave Maria" by Morten Lauridsen.
Here's a shot from my concert! I am the second person from the right in the first row.
Cologne Christmas market No. 1. The main market is right by the Dom, near the main train station. The church in the background makes this one of the prettiest markets, but the cookie-cutter, mall-kiosk style stands make the market feel generic and sterile. The Gluehwein was okay. The walk around was a bit stinky; I think there is some sort of stinky cheese dish that you can buy at this market.
The tree and lights at the center of the market are stunning!
Cologne Christmas Market No. 2. I am not sure if this was the Neumarkt market, but it was less generic and the decorations were unique to each stand. We were trying to get to a restaurant I had eaten at this past summer, so this market was an accidental find.
The lighting was cool here too. I loved the purple!
S and I at Loewenbraeu, the only place that had space for us to eat! Generally I don't go to Munich-based restaurants in places other than Munich, but the food and Gluehwein were tasty!
Schnitzel "Hawaii" with Bratkartoffeln! I haven't eaten this much food in awhile!
Get excited about the next posts: all snow and Salzburg!
The last week has been a whirlwind. I have not posted anything for days, not because the weather was gray and nothing was happening, but because the weather was white, and I haven't stopped since Thursday! I have tons of things to share, but I am going to spread it all out over a couple of posts.
If you all remember, last Friday we were supposed to get snow in Bonn. Although I don't think we got the 10 centimeters we were supposed to, it did snow, and it was beautiful!
At times we even had big, fluffy snowflakes!
This is actually a photo from Saturday morning. Everything was so peaceful!
My main activity on Friday was baking. My German tandem partner picked me up in the afternoon, and we bought the necessary baking ingredients for "Hausfreunden," macaroons, and molasses cookies.
My grandma's molasses cookies! These are my all-time favorite Christmas cookie! I make these for nearly all of my holiday gatherings, and they are loved everywhere I bring them. They taste like Christmas!
"Hausfreunden" are a layered cookie, with sugar cookies, two layers of apricot jam, and thin circles of marzipan. We dipped them in a mixture of milk and dark chocolate. These were a lot of work, but they were worth it! If you are wondering what "Hausfreunden" means, it is basically the lover of a married woman. So, I have been calling these pool boys.
I had never made macaroons before. These we also tasty, and probably the easiest to make, except for separating the egg whites from the yolks. My tandem partner requested that I do the separating.
All of the cookies are gone now, after I took some to Austria with me, as well as sharing them with BuKa friends and my Bible study friends last night.
Did you know that snow makes Weihnachtsmaerkte even more beautiful!
Friday night was Bonn's long night. The market was open until midnight, and a lot of shops near the market stayed open until 10:00 pm, which never happens in Germany. Germany is the land of conservative store hours. If you run out of anything food-wise on Sunday, you are out of luck. You will not be able to buy it until Monday morning. But Friday was all about celebrating and eating! I was accompanied by two friends, an American and a German, who I've met since living in Bonn. I was extremely happy that I had people with whom to experience the market. Both of them actually had not been to the Weihnachtsmarkt yet, so we got to spend a good time taking in all the stands.
I love these strands of lights! I don't think I've posted a nighttime shot of them yet. I saw this style of light first in Toulouse. This is the view from Marktplatz towards the Muensterplatz.
Now we are among the strands!
My friend J and I! Friday was the first night that temperatures dipped to 0 degrees Celsius. Perfect Gluehwein weather!
Friday I had two of the same type of Gluehwein. I liked this traditional version a lot better than the Gluehwein from the other night. My German friend said that the stand we went to allegedly has the best Gluehwein. The red version was also served with a slice of lemon.
J and her Dampfnudel. I still haven't tried this fan favorite. But it is on my list! It is smothered in vanilla sauce and hot cherries.
My new experience was Poffertjes, or Dutch mini pancakes. Now, I enjoy pancakes as much as the next girl, but I am not obsessed with them. These little guys, however, were amazing! I got eight mini cakes, with Eierlikoer and whipped cream on top. And, to make it even better, all was served in an edible waffle bowl! So tasty, so good! How am I going to survive life once the Weihnachtsmarkt is gone!
Poffertjes, aka Dutch mini pancakes. Yum!
We stopped by the department store window. Check out the child-like wonder in J and J's eyes! Gotta love the reflection in the window too!
I also got a sausage! Krakauer, to be exact. Sorry about the angle; I can't rotate images once they get to Blogger!
Saturday I took a quiet trip into town to run some errands, and I picked up another one of the bread-pizza things, but this time I got it with onions and cheese. Also good! Next time I need to try the bread, which is baked in a stone oven. So delicious!
Today I had waffles with one of my choir friends and his family. Also good times, even if there was no Christmas market visit today. In other news, it snowed in Bonn last night, and a bit this morning! I think winter is almost here!
As promised, here is the low-down on the Weihnachtsmarkt in Koblenz. Yesterday, after meeting with my host professor, I headed out a bit earlier to snap some shots of Koblenz's market. As many of you know, I travel to Koblenz once a week to work at my host university. Despite being there almost 10 times, I have not taken the time to see more of the city, besides the train station and the Uni, which is located nowhere near the center of town. So, these shots are not only Christmas shots, but first shots of the city I don't really know.
Koblenz does have some cute houses. The architecture in the city center is more traditional than Bonn's except for the city's new mall, the Forum, which is huge and has a green, fake leaf metal casing around it. (See below.)
There wasn't a lot going on at the market yesterday. Partly that was because the weather was awful, and I was there in the early afternoon. Still the Gluehwein pyramids were ready for patrons!
What, a statue on a market stand? Haven't seen that before!
This was the most popular stand I saw. Koblenz's market is spread out on several different markets. For someone who had never been there before, I just sort of wandered around and hoped I'd find one of the areas with the market.
Nothing says Christmas in Germany like a Bitburger beer stand in the shape of a Dutch windmill.
Here is another Koblenz building, with images from German fairy tales.
Inside the main Catholic church in Koblenz. It was very pretty!
Overall, I was not very impressed with the Koblenz market. To be fair, I probably need to experience it during the evening, but it still had fewer vendors, and it just wasn't as exciting looking as Bonn's! Bonn ist besser! (Bonn is better!)
When my roommate asked me yesterday if I wanted to go to our market, I thought about saying no, citing the rain and my cold as excuses, but then I decided, "I only live once!" I can always be sick on Friday (which I still am).
To aid in comparative testing, I tried regular Gluehwein. It was okay, but not as good as my homemade recipe. I guess I should stick to trying the more exotic types, the ones I don't know how to make myself!
My second dinner: Reibekuchen mit Apfelmus. Potato pancakes with applesauce. This was soooo delicious! I shouldn't have thought otherwise. When ever are deep-fried potato products NOT delicious?
Tonight I am going to the market again, so we will see how crowded it is with the extended hours. Have a great Friday, everyone!
