I won’t speak for everyone, but I’m beat! It’s been an exhausting (although excellent) day. We slept in as much as we could this morning, then boarded the train from Munich to Salzburg, Austria. Once we arrived, we did what I always do on this trip: explore! We headed to the Altstadt (old city) to poke around the market square, grab some authentic Austrian food, and tour the castle fortress.
Rail to Salzburg
We were not sad to leave Munich. It’s a city with some beautiful architecture and fun places to visit but it’s definitely in the grungy, dirty city category. For once since Valerie and Mom arrived, the train was on time! What a stunning ride. Although we only got an hour and a half to watch out the window, it was fascinating to see the dense forest slowly transition into golden fields with the rugged, snow-capped Alps in the background. Valerie slept through the whole thing though. Typical.
Exploring Altstadt
Our hotel in Salzburg is great. The woman at the reception was very kind and thorough, explaining to us each of the bus lines that go to our hotel, which tourist attractions to visit, and other general tips for the city. As always, the people here are so friendly.
Down at the Market Square, we found more storefronts that look like they’re from Harry Potter. The city of Salzburg reminds me a lot of Oxford, actually. We located a wiener stand and tried a couple of different dishes from there. I opted for the currywurst. Oh. My. It was so good. It was like Hillsboro sausage meeting a sweet and spicy sauce that doesn’t compare to anything in my memory. If you’ve ever heard that German food is bland, I can tell you firsthand that they’re probably just hoarding the good stuff.
We checked out a couple of typical touristy shops before the castle. While in the open squares, we got to watch people riding by in fancy horse carriages. The city really leans into its claim on Mozart, so there were lots of classy antiquated things like the carriages to enjoy.
The Fortress
The bulk of our time was spent looking through the museums in Hohensalzburg fortress. Right in the middle of the city, there’s a small mountain that is topped with the massive castle. There were a variety of museums, from marionette puppets to an infantry regiment, to the armory. The fortress is the largest fully preserved castle in Europe. Touring the walls, we could see how easy it would be to defend such a massive structure from all sides. The towers only served to elevate the already steep cliffs on each side, giving the defenders a massive advantage over their foes.
My favorite museum in the castle was for the Salzburg 59th Regiment, an infantry unit that dated from the mid 1600s to just after WWI. Going through the history of the regiment revealed a lot to me about how local communities have remained so close-knit across centuries. The regiment consisted of soldiers purely from the county of Salzburg. Their loyalties lie with the community or whoever the community fell under at a given time. Over the course of its lifetime, soldiers in the regiment fought for the French, the Germans, the Austrians, the Italians, and themselves. Once the region became a permanent subject of Austria, the regiment was absorbed into the overall Austrian army. They fought in the 30 Years War, the Napoleonic Wars, and WWI.
In our modern context where travel is so cheap, easy, and convenient, we’re quickly losing the memory of how communities have interacted for all of human history. Sure, some people got around. For the most part though, the several miles surrounding your city were probably all you would ever see, save for a couple of unique moments in life. These communal bubbles are what allowed dialects of every language to develop and helped each area to develop its own culture, identity, and traditions. The idea of serving in a regiment that was built by men of your city and that your family members had served in for generations was very intriguing. I see it as a form of duty and patriotism that goes beyond the ideals of the place you live to actually working to protect the livelihood of your home. In other words, we often thank our soldiers for going across the world to fight in some obscure war and “defend our freedom”; while that might be true in some sense, the men of the 59th Royal Regiment in Salzburg were actually and actively defending the freedom of the city. I guess all I’m saying is that it’s unfortunate that we’ve lost many of the communal ties like that. I’m grateful that the Mennonites in Kansas continue to carry on the local history and ties in a similar way today though.
Reflections
The longer I’m here, the less I’m blown away by the age of buildings and historical sites. It’s a bit sad to see how quickly I’ve taken those things for granted. Yet, I still find myself reconsidering the world that I live in back home — whether it be how we got to where we are, what we can do better, or what is most important. I came on this trip to see the history of WWII with my own eyes. While I continue to get that repeatedly, I’ve also been experiencing something else: perspective.
Anniversary!
Today was our 6th wedding anniversary! It definitely didn’t feel like it. We had the chance to celebrate by going to the laundromat and eating street food on someone’s apartment steps. It was still really special though. Hard to believe that we’ve been married so long already. I’m pleased to say that we’re either still in the honeymoon phase or we just really make a great couple. I love every moment I get to spend with Valerie and I’m super glad she’s here in Europe with me now. I’m really looking forward to our time together in Nuremberg — it’s my favorite city in Europe!
Coming soon
Over the next couple of days, we’ll be checking out the filming locations from The Sound of Music and going up in the mountains to see Hitler’s rural bunker. When we can find time, we’ll also try to check out other awesome features of Salzburg. Stay tuned!