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!
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!
Sorry about my recent absence from Blogland. When I embarked on the challenge of writing about German Christmas markets every day, my wise husband suggested that I avoid repetition. Otherwise I might lose my readers! So, the last few days have been relatively slow - Christmas-market-speaking. I feel like Bonn has been trapped in a wet darkness for a week, and going to the market has either been inconvenient, because I've been working on other things, or completely undesirable, as the rain and wind would make the walk unbearable!
Beethoven is getting sick of the rain and long nights too!
The darkness that blankets Europe in winter reminded me that I actually have it better than my neighbors to the north: Scandinavia! As I type this, I am watching a show about Norway (in the summer, so it actually looks amazing!). I also thought of another one of Rick Steves' Christmas clips! I know you all were wondering how one celebrates Christmas in Norway. Check it out!
Today was an important day during the German Christmas calendar: Saint Nicolas Day, or Nikolaustag! Traditionally, children leave their shoes out on the night of the 5th, and they wake up to sweets or gifts in their shoes! As a child, my mom treated my brother and I to this celebration a few times! (This was a definite nod to my mom's German-ish roots.) I decided to celebrate by surprising my roommate with some chocolates and a personalized greeting from St. Nikolaus himself.
Check it out! I still have mad drawing skills, even they are a bit rusty. It reads, "I wish you a nice St. Nicolas day!"
As I was getting some shopping done today, I spotted him! Live and in the flesh! I think he looks a lot like my drawing.
Today I also went to Koblenz, and as I headed further south, I saw snow! It had even coated the ground a bit, and you could really see it in the mountains around the town. Bonn did not have any snow on the ground this morning, keeping true to its reputation as a semi-temperate locale in winter.
This is a shot from my bus stop at the Uni, located near the Mosel River.
I am really hoping that this preview of snow will be in my near future...
We have a weather warning for snow tomorrow! All day! We could get 10 cm! I am very excited! To make things even better, I am going to be baking Christmas cookies with a friend tomorrow, and possibly visit a new Weihnachtsmarkt!
Stay tuned, world, things just got a lot more exciting in Blogland!
