Wednesday, August 15, 2007

The Hills Are Alive
















Two days off in Salzburg has recharged me mentally, and entirely drained me physically. It's an amazing little place that claims Mozart and the guy who owns Red Bull as it's own. It's also where The Sound of Music was filmed, and that is exactly how it looks. Even the locals look like the damn Von Trapps. I spent yesterday hiking to a castle that, as far as castles go, was pretty unimpressive, but the view from the mountain (out the cannon hole) was incredible.















This building, like many others in town was constructed in 1408. I suppose it's something that they have survived two world wars as well as the influx of both H&M and Starbucks down the street. It's also worth noting that I come from a place that wasn't even 'discovered' until 1492.



















Today a few of us borrowed bicycles from the hotel and rode about six miles or so to the next town over along the Salzach River, which is a lot more appealing than it sounds, actually. I am still making friends with my new camera, so most of my pictures are of the back of someone's hand or dirt. It's a steep learning curve. This was a bridge that we rode over right into Germany. As our cab driver said the other night, everything in Salzburg is a ten minute walk away because if you walk for eleven minutes then you are in another country, presumably Germany . And the man was right.




























Tomorrow it's back to work, for real this time. We have 3 festivals in a row starting here in Austria, then one in Germany and another in Holland. Turnonegro is on before us one of the days, and the lighting tech I had from the last tour over here, Donald McDonald (seriously), is back, and great. All the same, this is how work makes me feel. Especially when it means being dragged away from my life of leisure in Austria.

On Top of the World