Salzburg

A chronical phenomenon: only days and weeks after events do I find the time to write something about it...
I`ve been to Salzburg last week. Due to a scholarship I was able to attend a symposium about the material determination of human beings. I stayed in a catholic student dormitory with a nice view on a small cemetary from my bathroom window. Before the first presentation started I found time to stroll through the city, spying into dimly lit off road churches and to enjoy the local market close by the university, where the meeting took place. I also (re-) discovered the famous "Getreidegasse", with all the medieval little signs in front of the shops and galleries, giving the place a historic athmosphere and the souvenir shops selling "Mozartkugeln". Then I hurried towards university, slept through the first lesson about genetics and woke timely to join the discussion afterwards. The afternoon passed quickly, natural scientists fighting philosophers and me getting furious about the short sightedness from both of them. Then all of them forgot about their disputes to consume highly overpriced Salzburgian food in a local restaurant.

Afterwards I had the pleasure to visit a student party organized by the theology students council. Salzburg is a really small town and I guess that this was one of the few events going on that evening. The place was literally crowded. I did a few shots, talked a little with my research fellows and went to inspect the Gothic-Pub of Salzburg. I was disappointed. All I found was a shabby bar full of teenagers displaying all kinds of subcultural styles. Some of them asked me to join in their conversation. They seemed glad to meet a stranger and gave me a great deal of information about pubs being closed and the reasons to end up in this location. I left soon after to get some sleep. There was still the secret left, whom of my fellows would burst into the double room in the middle of the night, completely drunk, but unexpectedly I only woke by the loud snoring, that outlasted even the awful sound of the alarm bell in the morning.

I decided to pass the presentations of the day and to have a walk through the city. I had been to Salzburg in the past, but I wanted to do some nice photos. Fortunately there was some kind of celebratory procession through the city. Historically dressed soldiers with sabres and flags marched to the "Domplatz", where they arranged themselves in perfectly straight rows to await the speech of their commander. Then they entered the church accompanied by little hords of japanese tourists and me and my companion, whom I found when asking the nextstanding guy about what was going on. He - Sergey - incidentially left his train after oversleeping his original destination Munich. Forged together by the moving experience of watching soldiers listening to a Mass we spent the next two hours wandering lazily through Salzburg, sorting through the remnants of a parish car boot sale, freezing, drinking coffee and exchanging information about our native countries (Austria and Russia). I was shocked how little I knew and still know about Austria, feeling embarassed for my bad English. But it was a very nice experience to meet someone from so far away with the same lust for travelling and adventure as I have. I left the city by train a 2 pm heading for Wr. Neustadt to meet a friend...