Salzburg has a Natural History museum which all the guidebooks recommended. When I saw the dinosaur wearing a big gold ribbon and holding a wrapped present on the ground floor hall, I knew I had come to a very special place. Not pictured: an entire blue neon lit wing dedicated to the discoveries of Christian Andreas Doppler.
Saturday, January 19, 2008
I wasn't quite finished with Salzburg
I...what...don't...animal heads on human bodies...in formal wear?
What in the menschengestalt?! I think it's an exhibit on folk creatures/monsters. Does it remind anyone of that 5 second scene in "The Shining?"
Sunday, January 13, 2008
I ain't 'fraid of no ghosts
The Hubs was convinced that this was the Ghost Busters' converted hearse. Alas, it's a Bulgarian ambulance.
100 km from Drama, though...it feels so much closer
On our way back from Bansko, we tried to find signs for the town of Drama, which we had seen on our foggy, night drive to Bansko. But in broad daylight, we couldn't find the signs. It's as if Drama had disappeared.
Ski Break in Bansko!
Victoria and Scott invited us on a little ski trip to Bansko this past weekend. Carolyn and Jay met us there, and we proceeded to have a grand old, painful time on the slopes. First off, Victoria had some sort of phase three pneumonia but still decided to snowboard because...I forgot her painkiller-inspired explanation. Second, Scott thought he could mind-over-matter his way through the 103 fever he was hosting and tried to snowboard until he had a 40 mph collision with a skier. The Hubs was fine until his collision on the last day, where he spun around and hit his head on an icy patch. Lucky for the hotel, the diplomatic part of his brain was still in tact, and he didn't lose it when they tried to charge us for an extra night even though we canceled way in advance. (By the way, the service sucks in Bansko.) Anyhow, Carolyn and Jay, who were unafraid of saying "Yeah, I ski blue," faired much better and were just plain sore.
Of course, I "skied", if you can call pizza-slicing my way down blue-levels "skiing", but I tried to remember all the advice I learned from Ces in 2001 (the last time I "skied"), when she gave me lots of useful tips like "look where you want to ski and not where you think you're going to fall off the face of the planet." And can you believe it? It works! Unfortunately, I had forgotten her advice about falling with my legs in front of me and ended up in all sorts of modern dance positions. The things I do for art.
Hardcore
The Hubs and Victoria head to the top in these German-engineered gondolas. There are tons of western Europeans (mostly Brits and Germans) who come here for the cheap skiing and who also pour a lot of investment into the area. Unfortunately, the place is already over-developed, with tons of construction sites and half-finished buildings. The mountains, though, are still beautiful and worth seeing.
Lunch break: Doner kebabs and people watching
The people watching was just so...80s. A lot of spandex and cigarettes. Lots of Russians, which is like the gold standard for people-watching.
Thursday, January 03, 2008
What does Salzburg have in common with every podunk mall in America?
You have to get your ears pierced somewhere.
Wednesday, January 02, 2008
Mozart: He's kind of a big deal here.
It was fun to visit Mozart's home, where I learned all about his life as a child star. Him and his dad had a relationship not unlike Michael Jackson and his father, where Mozart's father pushed him so hard on touring schedules that he almost died. His sister Nannerl, who was also a talented pianist, but not a prodigy like her lil' bro (one can only imagine the comparisons), was an interesting and sympathetic figure as well.
The baroque Salzburg Cathedral
Some say this is the most perfect example of Renaissance architecture in all the Germanic countries. It's famous for its 4000 pipe organ, which Mozart played when he served as the cathedral's organist. That would be cool if you could get him to play at your wedding.
The cemetery isn't a depressing place in Salzburg
St. Peter's cemetery has little garden plots around the tombs.
New Year's in Sofia: Cher will do
We started at Larry and Joslyn's apartment for their super-fun pizza-making party, then moved on to our place for ghetto karaoke and a Wii smackdown. Everyone needs a Mr. M at their party.
Tuesday, January 01, 2008
Resolutions: Keep breakin' em
I make it a tradition to break the same resolution every year: practice good posture. Gives me a sense of continuity with the past, since I've been breaking this resolution every year for the last twenty years.
This is towards the end of our New Year's party when I had sung all the songs I wanted to sing (hm, is that possible?). Instead I started listlessly flipping through a museum catalog, signaling that I could no longer be relied on to interact. By that point, Dezzy, Stanislav, and Mahboub had left. Larry was trying to sabotage everyone's golf swing on the Wii, and Anthony was on the couch slipping in and out of slumber, waking up to say "I have to get home," and then closing his eyes again. Joslyn was hiccuping, and Mladen was talking about Gwen Stefani's hair in the video for "4 in the morning." 2007 was over.
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