Christmas/New Year's Vacation with my family in Salzburg and Sofia.
I met up with my mom, dad and sister in Salzburg a few days into Christmas vacation to stay through the holiday. I flew, took a train from Vienna to Salzburg, and after a 15 minute public bus, found myself walking around the squares and cobble stone streets as if I was alive several centuries ago. The "old city", we were staying near the Mozartplatz, was one of the more charming places I have been. The old stone streets, storefronts, plazas, and of course the castle always looming overhead on the mountaintop, looking over all the streets below, were something that had been torn out of an old vintage magazine. I loved it.
I checked into the hotel to try to see if I could locate my family. My phone was not working so I couldn't call my dad as we had planned on me doing to let them know I had arrived. I found my sister fast asleep in the room she and I were sharing, with a note on the floor written by mom saying they had gone out for a walk. I decided they probably had not gone too far, and so I also went out to try to look for them. I walked out through Mozartplatz, a plaza with a larger than life statue of Wolfgang himself, which had taken on the very spirit of the season with a large ice skating rink, the Christmas market (which went on for a couple plazas) and little huts serving syrupy alcoholic beverages, with high back benches, complete with blankets to warm those wanting to sit and sip.
After finding the family and catching up in person, we headed out for an evening on the town and had a delicious dinner together (I actually think it may have been Indian food). The storefronts all screamed Christmas and we walked around the streets, side alleys, enjoying the holiday cheer and each other. It was nice to be able to spend time with them over the holiday. I think Christmas is my favorite holiday.
After a "Mozart" dinner/performance, which was amazing, a hike and tour of the fortress over Salzburg, a walk into the other half of the city across the river, and plenty of time spent in the Christmas market, we certainly had a busy and yet relaxing vacation. Christmas Eve was a bit of a scramble to try to find a place to eat, as the holiday is spent with family. We did find an excellent family owned Italian restaurant that had some of the best anti-pasta and homemade pizza I have had in a really long time. Probably since the last time I visited Boston's Little Italy... Midnight mass we attended later on in the Dom (which is the main cathedral in the city) It was unbelievable. The service was entirely in German, but it was periodically interrupted with some of Mozart's best works. At the end of the service, all the lights in the giant, cold cathedral went out, save the candles and some of the ambient lights near the top of the cupola. There was a male and female soloist, a violinist, and a acoustic guitar player, and the four of them, up in the little side balconies along the center aisle, sand and played the most beautiful rendition of Silent Night I have ever heard. It truly made sitting through the very foreign mass worth it. Christmas was a very nice and lazy day which we spent walking and then finished with a grand Christmas dinner at the Sacher Hotel (apparently where the sacher torte was created).
It was a wonderful and delicious vacation, and after Christmas we made our way a little further east to Sofia, where I was able to show my parents around my city and some of the sights. I think we spent about an hour and a half in the ethnographic museum gift shop, which sells almost strictly handmade Bulgarian crafts.... pottery, weavings, silver jewelry and woodwork. Mom and Abby I think muddled over pottery for about 90% of the time, trying to decide how they were going to pack their things home, which clothes and shoes they would have to leave for me to ship back, and also which shade of light blue design did they like best :-) It was a very well spent afternoon of sightseeing and wallet shrinking...
We took a little day trip on the train out east to the city of Plovdiv, a place which is pretty well known for its "old town" section. We wandered around those cobbled streets, checking out the restored and preserved houses which are representative of the Nationalist revival period of Bulgarian history. I loved the mosque that they have in the center of the major pedestrian areas; it had beautiful fresco-like paintings all along the inside of the room. Stunning and very impressive. Plovdiv is also home to many Roman ruins dating back to the second and third centuries. The amphitheater had been completely sealed and forgotten about until the 1970's when a landslide in the city revealed the Roman remains. Pretty crazy that something like that could go on unremembered for so long...
New Year's Eve in Sofia was pretty tame for us, although I think it usually is a pretty low key holiday for me. We went to see Australia in the nearby theater, and we ended up being the only ones seeing the movie. My dad was pretty pumped about being allowed to consume beer in the movie theater! (or kino as we in the Bulgaria sector call the movies).
It was a great vacation, restful and fun. I was very happy to be able to spend time with my fam, and sad to see them go, but school was starting back up in a few days, and there was plenty for me to do between before then...
Here are some photos to document our time on break:
Up in the fortress!!!...
A creepy torture tool, which the tour recording said was one of the worst torture devises used in the fortress. The torture room we went in, never was used for these activities, according to the guide, however is just named that because it houses all of the tools used against enemies of the Salzburgian state... lovely.
Crazy little marionette museum room... with antique puppets.
Dad with the crazy marionette puppets...
Peterskellar...The extremely old monastery, which I believe inspired the setting for the scene in the Sound of Music where the VonTrapps are hiding in the graveyard from the Nazi's. Very cool, very old, and built right into the side of the mountain...
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