Salzburger Zeitung - 2013 Edition

Yes it looks like we'll be making it back to Salzburg for the 2013 edition of the Pfingstfestpiele.  Its been a bit touch and go the past few weeks - are we going or are we not?  I won't go into the sordid details except to say that the procedure at the Heart Institute last week determined that I do have a heart and that it is functioning, after a fashion, and should I follow a programme of exercise, diet and medication will for awhile yet. 

Now I'm not sure if the schnitzel at Triangl, Bazartost at Cafe Bazaar or Salzburger Nockerl at Hotel Bristol are on that diet but we shall have to see.  But I'm sure that a climb up the Kapuzinerberg and a stroll through Hellbrun Palace are considered exercises.  And the programme that Cecilia Bartoli has created for this year's festival is sure to be as soothing and healing as any medication a doctor could prescribe.  So I'll just look on this as following the doctor's orders.

Actually this trip was planned almost a year ago - the tickets for the Whitsun Festival go on sale a day or two after the current festival ends.  In a gesture of mad optimism - and let's be serious about this you have to be optimistic to book these things a year in advance at my age - I booked tickets for a rather full Whitsun weekend (more about that later).  As the months progressed the vacation plans became more elaborate with each passing week until we had a full two weeks of traveling in Germany as well as five days in Salzburg.

If things had been going according to plan this morning we would have gone to services at Dresden's Frauenkirche and about now we would be entering the Semperoper for a performance of Halévy's rarely performed La Juive - yes David I know another bloody French grand opera!  And tomorrow we would be boarding a paddle wheeler for lunch at the Meissen Factory.  However the "best planned lays of mice and men" often go up the tubes - to mix and mangle my metaphors.  As it stands now tomorrow evening (Monday) we will be heading to either Frankfurt than onward to Munich or London and onward to anywhere in Germany where we can catch a train to Munich.  Such are the vagaries of travel on airlines passes.

We'll be traveling with our little buddy Sidd and he's been given strict instructions to have me write a bit about our experiences at this year's Festival.  So hopefully at his urging I'll be posting another edition of Salzburger Zeitung.

May 12 - 1754:  Franz Anton Hoffmeister, German composer and publisher of the works of Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Clementi and Von Dittersdorf, was born.

The Best Planned Lays

As I've mentioned before none of our travel plans here ever quite come off as I've mapped them out. Since late January we've planned to head up to Salzburg for the Pfingsten weekend - that would be Whitsun to my Anglican friends, Pentecost to others . This is the second year of Riccardo Muti's Neapolitan-themed music festival and based on Opera Chic's report on last year's event it's worth the detour for fans of slightly obscure classical music. Also Laurent has never been to Salzburg and I haven't been since 1978 so it would be a chance to visit/revisit a fascinating city.

Plan A was to drive, but rather than the 9 hour direct drive we were going to take our time. Do it in stages, a stop in San Marino and Padova on the way up and Trieste and Modena on the way back. That was before Laurent was taken out by acute bronchial asthma during our trip last week to the Veneto. He's feeling much better after five days in bed and our doctor has cleared him to go away but the course of 5 pills twice a day has us a bit uneasy about him at the wheel of a car for long distances. So why don't you drive asks you? Well to be honest I don't feel that my reflexes are good enough to drive here in Rome or much of Italy for that matter. I just can't handle the constant gnat-like swarm of motos and even 5 years of Montreal driving hasn't prepared me for the aggressiveness of Italian drivers. So for the safety of all I restrict my driving to a turn around the parking lot!

So Friday I started working on Plan B and once again grappled with the dreaded TrenItalia website - I know I should just give up but I'll be damned if I'll let a website defeat me. Since we had two weeks we didn't want to just head up to Salzburg and back so again we planned a trip in stages but this time it took a bit more work. Though there are no border crossing here in the EU, there are invisible protection barriers - it is not possible to book a Innsbruck-Salzburg train on the TrenItalia website and this time it isn't TrenItalia's fault. For anything out of home-country you have to go to a travel agent or the train station. By the time we got all our hotels booked and itinerary figured out all the agencies were closed for the weekend, so we headed off to Termini and the International booking desk. The very pleasant man there was more than happy to make the reservations for us but.... but.... he couldn't book the Innsbruck-Salzburg portions, we'd have to do that in Austria! There was not point in asking why then the website instructions to go to the train station for International tickets - just smile, give him the credit card and take the tickets. There are 25 trains a day between the two so I'm sure we'll get there somehow.

The plan - as always subject to last minute changes - is now Rome to Salzburg with a two day stop in Trento in the Dolomites, staying at Agritur Maso Wallenburg for a few days then on to Salzburg for the Festival. While in Salzburg the cast and crew of Hobbs-Beaulieu productions will be staying at the lovely Hotel Stein . It was where I stayed on my first trip to Salzburg in 1969. Back then the Stein had the look of a slightly past-it matron who still tried to get tarted up for Festival time. I had a small single room with a washbasin, bath down the hall (5 Shillings extra - now how did that stick in my mind?) and the WC next door. But there was an incredible view across the river to Hohensalzburg Fortress and the Altstadt. I remember one night sitting at the window watching a wild thunderstorm in the mountains behind the Fortress - it was worthy of a James Whale .

The Stein has been turned into a "boutique" hotel - baths are en-suite and, if the website is to be believed - rooms are spacious. But just in case I've made sure that we booked a room with a view!

On the way back the train schedule pretty much forces us to stop over in Innsbruck for a day on our way to Verona. A few days in Verona, of course we'll take a look at the spurious Juliet balcony, should help us adjust to being back in Italy after the cool Austrian Alps. Then back home to Roma and that's the last trip for a while.

The above picture of Salzburg Altstadt was taken by Thomas Pinatric and published on Wikipedia. I think it is a truly remarkable photo. Looking at it brought that thunderstorm in 1969 to mind.

04 maggio - Ascensione di Nostro Signor

Farnese Folly

In his artless way my good friend Parsi was asking if I was rehearsing "Vissi d'arte" at the Palazzo Farnese this past Saturday; no, Parsi I was just trying to get into one of Rome's great architectural treasures. Every spring the Fondo per L'Ambiente Italiano celebrates spring by opening some of the gardens, parks and historical buildings which it maintains. It's a chance to see many of the incredible venues that are normally closed to the public: as an example the Palazzo Farnese is now the French Embassy and as such can only be visited on official business.

We headed out for Via Giula - which was the centre of attractions in Rome - a little later than we should have and by the time we reached Campo di Fiori it was 2 pm. The market at the Campo was still in full swing - flowers, fruit, vegetables, bric-a-brac, dishes, kitchen ware, name the item it was probably there.

That's Giordano Bruno, the Italian philosopher, hovering over the marque tops. He was burned at the stake in the Campo in 1600; this statue was commissioned by supporters of the reunification of Italy and erected in 1889 on the site of his death. Several Popes tried, unsuccessfully to have it removed.

At the end of the market day - around 4 pm - the clean-up job is an enormous task.

We joined the line up in the Piazza Farnese at around 2:10; at that point it circled around the Piazza, down the side of the Palazzo and around to the garden entrance. It seemed to be moving fairly quickly and given the chance to see the incredible frescoed rooms we decided to wait. An hour and a half later we had made it as far as the side of the building and where then told by an FAI volunteer that there was no guarantee we would get in. A wonderful, typically Italian, scene then broke out: the volunteer chastised the guards for not cutting the line off sooner, the guards fought back, people in line started either grumbling at her and the guards or attempting to wheedle their way further up in the line. At that point I needed a coffee so we, reluctantly, gave up. However we did stroll around the area, enjoying the sunshine, a double scoop gelato and espresso.

Around the Piazza....

... down the south side of the Palazzo ...

... around the corner to the Garden entrance. Hmm... she was right we wouldn't have got in.

We decided to wander back to Piazza Venezia and on the way stopped into Chiesa del Gesu - the great Jesuit church in Rome. The Piazza in front is said to be the windiest place in Rome. In A Companion Guide to Rome - a treasure trove of anecdotes and history - Georgina Masson says: ... this fact is accounted for by a curious legend. The devil and the wind were once walking there and the devil asked to be excused for a minute to go into the church; he never emerged, and the wind has been waiting for him ever since. What may have defeated the devil was the baroque excesses of the interior - he probably got lost amongst the cupids, curlicues and decorations. Myself I find it just a bit over the top - but then to be honest I'm not the greatest fan of baroque architecture or decoration. Given that fact, Rome is not exactly the best place to be.

More to my taste is the Basiclica di San Marco at Piazza Venezia; I've never seen it open and despite its central location, when it is open it's not often frequented by tourists. A church has existed on the site since the 4th century and it is one of the ancient titular churches of the city. It's Venetian origins are apparent in the mosaics, the decoration and the layout. Fortunately the 17th and 18th century "improvements" haven't obscured the Renaissance ceiling and portico. It really is "worth the detour" and the Vivaldi playing in the background lent a nice touch.

The 9th century mosaics in the apse depict the risen Christ and various saints, including San Marco holding a model of the church, the lamb of God and twelve sheep representing the Apostles.

The Lion is the symbol of San Marco and Venice - the Basilica is the national church of Venice in Rome.

I was remarking to Laurent that often when we head out to do something here our plans go awry but there's no point in getting upset - there's always something else to do and see. My God I may be getting use to life here - for the moment.

08 aprile - San Antonio Pavoni