What's the best gift to a partner when celebrating an important event in your life? Though diamonds are said to be a girl's best friend, what about a trip to Austria? Is there a more romantic location than beautiful Salzburg to celebrate a wedding anniversary? Especially when it is also Mozart's 250th birthday, and Salzburg is full of music. Luckily my bride of many years agreed that Austria easily beat out diamonds. I'd been to Vienna several times to attend international medical conferences. I enjoyed its many amenities, the museums, and the beauty of this historic city and hopefully returned to Canada a wiser doctor. But just flying in and out of Vienna, I hadn't really seen Austria. This time I was saved—the meeting was in Salzburg.
Since my wife and I are addicted to trains, we circled the entire country on our way to what has to be the most beautiful city in the world. And there's no better way to see the wonders of this country than by taking its immaculate, efficient trains.
We stayed in an elegant, small inn in old town Vienna, the Romischer Kaiser. This superb location on a quiet side street provided time for people-watching, another of our obsessions. The Viennese, wandering the main streets on a cold winter night were a happy well-dressed lot. We strolled the ancient pathways in lamplight, joined them in one of the numerous cafes to warm up where we were welcomed with a hearty "Guten Abend."
One thing that daily stirred our emotions was the consistent beauty of Austria. The train trip from Vienna to Graz in southern Austria through mountains and valleys was an unexpected thrill from beginning to end. And Graz was quite a surprise.
My limited knowledge of this city was that Frank Stronach, our famous Canadian industrialist, was born in Graz, as was Governor Arnold Schwartzneggar. It's an undiscovered jewel. In 1999 the historic center of Graz was designated a Heritage site by UNESCO, and for good reason.
Hugging both shores of the river Mur, Graz displays a harmonious coexistence of buildings and alleys from the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, Baroque, Gothic and elements of the 19th and 20th centuries. It's hard to find another city that offers so much in such a compact and pedestrian-friendly space.
The Schlossberg is a massive fortress built on Dolomite rock overlooking Graz. It's location on the southern slope was chosen as a defense against the invasions of Hungarians and Turks. No one could conquer it, not even Napoleon in 1809. Now it provides parkland and a captivating view of the city rooftops.
In Graz there's futuristic architecture alongside narrow medieval walkways, ancient cobbled alleys and squares, with culinary and cultural enticements at every step. Graz, unlike so many cities, is a "walking city." We left it realizing that, although beautiful in the fresh snow of winter, we would miss all the summer festivities of flower and song in its many squares. It's one city to which we will return.
Better known Salzburg is located on the Salzach River at the northern boundary of the Alps. Surrounded by mountains, it was another winter paradise at the end of another spectacular train ride. It's largest mountain, rising 6470 feet, is only a few miles from the city. Fortunately, during the Second World War, much of the city was spared from destruction. As in Graz, you can dine in cozy bistros with three-foot walls that seem to have been there since the beginning of time.
In 1965, Julie Andrews became famous for filming "The Sound of Music" in Salzburg. The local inhabitants were invited to act as stand-ins and to sing their lovely song—"Edelweiss." The film director was surprised to hear that the Viennese had never heard of the song! Everyone had forgotten that the music so appropriate for the scene was composed by Rodgers and Hammerstein in the U.S.
I was attending the 5th World Congress on "The Aging Male," and how to put more tiger in the tank of aging males was an appropriate topic, considering my gray hairs. However, one day I skipped out of the medical meeting to visit the Bavarian Alps, in particular to see Hitler's Eagle's Nest.
En route to the town of Berchtesgaden, we passed the hills where Julie Andrews had filmed part of the movie. It's based on the true story of Maria von Trapp, the Salzburg nun, who joined an aristocratic family as a nanny and fled the German occupation by walking the children over the Alps.
Here the story must be stretched a bit, unless Maria von Trapp and the children could fly! Believing that anyone could traverse the jagged Alps that rise so high into the sky requires a vivid imagination.
If you are ever in Salzburg, don't miss this trip out of the city. The scenery of the Bavarian Alps is breathtaking. Equally amazing was the vision of colorful Austrian homes built in the foothills, skis stacked at doorways, and five feet of new fallen snow on the roofs.
During the war, Hitler took over the town of Berchtesgaden as well as Obersalzberg, where the Eagle's Nest is located. Here in all this beauty, Hitler, Gering and his Nazi ministers wined, dined, savored the crisp Alpine air and planned the barbarous acts of the Third Reich.
Hitler visited the Eagle's Nest 14 times. This was surprising after I learned that Hitler was afraid of heights, and the Eagle's Nest rises 6,000 feet above Berchtesgaden. Maybe he took some schnapps each time to steady his nerves! Nor did I know that Hitler was a vegetarian.
It was at the Eagle's Nest that Hitler, with his German shepherd dog Blondie at his heels, entertained Mussolini and other dignitaries. And to project himself as a loving, kind ruler, he and his mistress Eva Braun greeted children in lederhosen and dirndl dresses.
During winter, the Eagle's Nest is closed. But we were able to see the Gestapo headquarters near Berchtesgaden and had a view of the Eagle's Nest high atop the mountain. A new Inter-Continental hotel, built near the Eagle's Nest, had just been opened.
Yes, we did attend a Mozart concert, but the highlight was the beauty of the Austrian countryside. And the celebration of an anniversary within its welcoming borders was a gift we will both remember for years to come.
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