Salzburg: Heavy Skies, Light Spirits

Deep down I had always pictured Salzburg with flowing green hills, snow capped Alps and clear blue skies. That’s probably how most people would view it, the home of The Sound of Music couldn’t disappoint us, could it? As the train pulled onto the Salzburg main station, these illusions were shattered by dark and gloomy weather. Once we walked out of the station there was the shocking wind and slight rain that did just enough to irritate us. No matter, I thought, we were young and we will just walk through it.

We took a quick bus right smack to the center of the old town, right to Mozartplatz. We were immediately introduced to the town center with baroque style buildings and a Mozart statue right in the middle of the square. Mozart was born and lived in Salzburg and it is one of the few things Salzburg is famous for.

The statue of Mozart in the middle of Mozartplatz.

We started off by exploring Dom, the main church in Salzburg, which was in all probability the largest church we had visited thus far. It had grand paintings splashed on the walls and there was a brochure documenting its restoration after it was severely damaged during World War II. The plaza that was outside the church was grand as well, with the former royal residence, or the Salzburg Residenz on one side of the square.

Salzburg Dom.

We walked over to Kapitelplatz where we cheered ourselves up in the gloomy weather by arranging jumbled chess pieces on a giant chessboard conjured from paved stone. There was a busker nearby playing classic hits like Fields of Gold and Beautiful Tonight, as tourists just walked around holding umbrellas. A statue of Poseidon overlooked this square, and local vendors sold sweets and souvenirs all around. Even in the rain, the town had its own way of reaching out to you.

Gloomy day, but we were undeterred. Kapitelplatz had so much to offer!

We took a short hike up a steep hill to one of Salzburg’s main attractions: the Hohensalzburg Fortress. This was a fortress steeped in history, with construction beginning in the 11^th Century. Through the years it was expanded and redesigned by various kings and emperors up to the 17^th century, where it remains until today. In this fortress today, there are cafes, restaurants, panoramic views of the old town, museums and even art exhibitions. We could find everything there except the actual exhibit for the castle itself. We kept asking around and getting hopelessly lost before a kind man helped us find the entrance hidden in a nondescript corner.

The side of the magnificent Hohensalzburg fortress.

We learned a lot via the audio guide, but what really stuck with me was the torture devices that were on display, showing the medieval methods of torture that were used to draw out confessions from the accused. It made no sense, because the accused was either tortured to death, or tortured until he confessed to his crime, which would probably mean more torture or death anyway. To see the evidence of such injustice gave me the chills, and made me realize that living in a civilized society and studying our lives away isn’t bad after all.

One of the ancient relics, intricately designed and well preserved for all to see.

We walked down the hills (carefully) and got to Getreidigasse, the street where Mozart was born. If you are a fan of Mozart’s work then you wouldn’t be proud of us, because upon walking past the Mozart Geburtshaus (the museum of his birthplace), we just took a picture outside and walked on. We just felt that coming to a famous person’s birthplace shouldn’t equate to your sudden liking of that person. It’s a bit like how you shouldn’t blindly like someone your friend introduces to you. It’s the same logic I guess.

Mozart’s birthplace!

We had a simple seafood lunch, and somehow missed out on all the quaint cafes nearby that supposedly sold excellent cakes. Then again, cakes weren’t our favourite either. Admittedly, the main shopping street was proving too commercialized for us. So we walked. Up and down busy streets, quiet streets, into churches and across a scenic bridge. It led us to Mirabell Gardens, a palace and garden built in 1606 by a member of the royal family to house one of his mistresses. New instalments were added through the years and as of today it remains as a well maintained baroque style garden.

The well maintained Mirabell Gardens.

To end off our time here, we did the not so sensible thing of climbing yet another hill. Monk’s Hill held historical significance where the ruins of the ancient fortress walls were still standing. We were tired and breathless by the top, but in my opinion this was where the best views of Salzburg could be found, facing the entire old town with Hohensalzburg Fortress in the background looking over everything. We spent some quiet time at the hillside church, Kapuziner Kirche, before heading to the nearest Starbucks to rest.

The best view of Salzburg! With Hohensalzburg Fortress in the background. 

Coming to Salzburg made me realize that we weren’t especially fussy travellers, or very cultured ones. We didn’t appreciate Mozart like most tourists should; neither did we like cakes and fancy foodstuffs. What we did like to do was to see things, breathe in some fresh air and cover new ground. Salzburg, with its small size and endless alleyways and vacant doors, was the perfect place for us to do that. We simply tried opening doors to quiet churches and walking down empty streets, finding great views and seeing different types of people wherever we walked. It was an experience to remember, a day where the wet weather couldn’t dampen our spirit for adventure.

Next up we are heading to Vienna! Stay tuned!

Munich, Part II: Nazi rule, Swans and Ted Bundy

There are three pivotal attractions in and around Munich that are well worth a visit. They are Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial, Nymphenburg Palace and Schloß Neuschwanstein (Neuschwanstein Castle). We had the privilege of visiting these three places in the span of two tiring days.

Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial

When we arrived at Dachau Station it was already raining, and the sky was dark and cloudy. The fact that we had a concentration camp to visit added to the sepulchre.

The clean and organised entrance was hardly the sight that greeted prisoners more than 70 years ago.

We waited for the tour guide at the ticket office before embarking on our cold, wet and windy journey through the camp site. The rain got heavier and heavier as the tour guide brought us around and even the hardy Americans were starting to huddle together for warmth. In the cold, we learned of the various methods in which Hitler had managed to deal with political dissidents, criminals, homosexuals, asocials, and most prominently, the Jews.

This was before World War II, and the Weimar Republic had collapsed onto Nazi ideology. One of its ideologies was for a ‘clean’ Germany, devoid of the above mentioned categories of people who would ‘dirty’ the social fabric that Hitler was trying to craft.

These camps were made known to the public, but the horrors that occurred inside were kept within its walls. There were only rumours of brutality and mistreatment, but the German public couldn’t have known more than that.

Once you stepped through the gates, you were greeted by a huge parade square, and it reminded me very much of my army camp back in Singapore. I know it’s a silly comparison, because, to be realistic, whatever we faced in army was nothing compared to the suffering of the prisoners. This square was used for roll calls, and they would stand for hours on end in neat rows as a form of punishment in any season from summer to winter. Just standing there on a chilly spring day wearing thick jackets made me shiver and fidget uncontrollably. You could only imagine the suffering they had gone through without any proper food or winter wear.

The camp “parade square” where torturous roll calls and public executions were carried out.

We were introduced to the registration process, where they shaved their heads and removed all their possessions and gave each of them a number to be identified by. Basically, they took away their identity. Again, I couldn’t help but feel that same feeling on my enlistment day. I know it’s silly to make comparisons, but the same discomfort I felt about losing everything that made me unique must have been magnified indefinitely for these prisoners.

Bone-chilling artwork of a survivor, one that portrays one of the infamous death marches.

There were various torture methods. The basic punishment was 25 whiplashes on the back and buttocks. The prisoner was forced to count every lash, and if he lost count or murmured, the count would start from scratch. That was just one of the many inhumane punishments that were explained to us.

Illustration of one of the various torture methods; this one so painful it could dislocate the prisoner’s shoulder in minutes.

There was an electric fence around the camp, and at times, some prisoners would run to the fence in a desperate bid to either escape or kill himself. Those that made it to the fence would be electrocuted by it, those that didn’t would have been shot down by SS (Security Squad) guards strategically placed on watchtowers. They would make sure they only shot the prisoner in the legs so that he wouldn’t be fatally wounded. The guards would then proceed to drag the prisoner to the main building where he would be slowly and methodically tortured to death. Even the choice to die wasn’t granted to them so easily.

The walk of remembrance, past where the prisoners’ barracks used to stand.

Such was the cruelty of the SS that your mind fails to comprehend how such suffering could be rationally inflicted on these individuals. They were once ordinary men and women with ordinary lives. There are a few memorial plaques and statues commemorating the suffering that had taken place. One stated “To remember the dead, and to warn the living.” while another one warned us, or just humanity in general: “Never again.”

These monuments were put up by survivors and their words meant so much to me. However I guess that deep down they must have known, that no amount of words could ever help them find the people they once were. Having us appreciate their loss was just an attempt to make sense of a moment when humanity perished. It is an attempt to find themselves again.

“To remember the dead, and warn the living.”

Nymphenburg Palace

This palace is also known as “Castle of the Nymph”, a Baroque Palace that was the primary summer residence of the past rulers of the Bavarian Kingdom. They were all from the House of Wittelsbach. If you don’t know what all that means, don’t worry, for I have no clue either. All I know is, the interior of the palace was generously decorated and the swans at the entrance pond were huge.

The impressive facade of Nymphenburg Palace surrounded by a huge pond.

Construction for this palace started in 1664, a cool 340 years ago. It was designed by an Italian architect and was systematically expanded by various kings and emperors in 1701, 1716, 1795 and 1826. The façade of the palace stretches for 700 meters, while the garden around it spans about 200 hectares, which I take to mean really huge because the park seemed to stretch on forever, flowing away from the main palace.

Just some of the ducks that call the surrounding park home.

Enough of the fun facts, and into the palace! Once inside we were greeted by the majestic central pavilion, which had insanely detailed wall paintings and ceiling murals depicting various war scenes featuring Roman Gods. Walking deeper into the compound, there were lavish bedrooms with furniture and accessories like mirrors and lamps that were centuries old. Every room had huge paintings hanging on the walls, and every room had mirrors so you could take a mid-tour mirror shot as and when you liked.

The central pavilion of the palace, lavishly decorated with every detail put into consideration.

The royal family had every little need satisfied, from miniature hand made furniture for the children to Egyptian and Chinese furniture and ornaments that were either gifts, or items procured from their travels. The common man had no place in such a residence.

One room had this strange installment called The Great Gallery of Beauties. Max Emanuel, one of the Bavarian heirs, probably got a little bored one day and decided that he needed to find the definition of beauty. He chose 36 women from various social backgrounds, from princesses to even a cobbler’s daughter. He had portraits of them painted and hung up on the walls of this gallery, 36 self-portraits of beautiful women of his time. His rationale for all this seemed to stem from the idea that beauty was the outward sign of moral perfection. I found this highly disturbing, and very untrue. But shoving all moral insinuations aside, one thing is for certain: this man had decent taste in women.

Introducing the 19th century definition of beauty.

Once we were done with the interior, the outside was no less spectacular. The ponds surrounding the palace were filled with swans, ducks and other strange birds. They would walk up to you for food and will even pose for a quick selfie if you’re lucky. You could see the palace from afar, a majestic sight springing out from the pond. The weather that day was cold and rainy, but as we stepped out of the palace the sun started peeking through the clouds. It was a good conclusion to our visit.

Getting the swan to look over was out of the question, so we settled with this shot.

Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau Castles

 On a fine sunny day, we visited Germany’s most popular tourist destination, at the village of Hohenschwangau, where two majestic castles overlooked the crisp wintry landscape. We arrived to a land covered in snow, from the trees to the roads. The entire village had just awoken, but it was swarming with tourists getting a ticket into the attractions.

The crisp wintry weather that greeted us, with fallen snow clinging on every leaf and branch.

We walked around waiting for our tours to start, and were greeted by a beautiful lakeside view. The waters were clear and ice clung to the trees that surrounded the lake, with the Bavarian Alps overlooking it all. This was just an introduction to the scenery that awaited.

The flowing lakes that surrounded the Bavarian hills.

We went first into Hohenschwangau Castle, the childhood residence of King Ludwig II, but was built by his father, Maximillian II of Bavaria. This was a majestic fortress, but the less scenic of the two castles, for it is situated at a lower altitude. Construction began in 1833, and most of it was built finish in 4 years, which was incredibly quick for its time. We were not allowed to take pictures in the castle, but it didn’t detract from the experience; it was bright and grand in the castle, with the same combination of wall paintings, handmade furniture, handmade gifts to the king and queen made from gold, silver, gems and ivory. If you knocked over and shattered any of the exhibits you were probably not going home anytime soon. Our tour guide was a young and unbelievably attractive German lady who spoke fluent English, and she explained to us the origins and purposes of each of the rooms and items, much to the delight of the crowd.

The yellow bricked Hohenschwangau Castle that was inhabited by King Maximillian II.

We had a quick lunch at the café before heading up to Neuschwanstein Castle. This was the main attraction here, the castle being propped up on the side of a rugged hill. There were two paths up to the castle, and being adventurous we chose the tougher one where snow had covered much of the road. We soon realized that our shoes were not exactly snow-worthy and so struggled up that crazy uphill path. My hardy Doc Martens fared slightly better than Jaspers smooth-soled Puma which saw him basically slipping all the way uphill and having to dodge every single bit of frozen ground. We struggled like this, all the way up through beautiful wintry landscape that had us enveloped in a world so different than what we could ever hope for back home.

Too young to care about the dangers during our alpine expedition. Ok fine, it was just a 20 minute walk.

The kind of path we had to walk through was something out of a Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale.

As we reached the castle, its impressive façade greeted us. Neuschwanstein castle was the inspiration for Disney’s Snow White’s Castle, after all, and it is no surprise. The walls of the compound were white and dreamy, the huge fortress almost melting into the Bavarian landscape. Once inside, we had a creepy looking male tour guide that reminded my of Ted Bundy, the notorious serial killer. It didn’t compromise our experience though, the interior of this castle was as grandiose as its exterior, if not more so. The rooms were dim and classy, with the usual combination of paintings, chandeliers and carpets. We entered the Throne hall, which was furnished in gold and had paintings of Saints on the walls and Jesus Christ on the ceiling with the largest chandelier I’ve ever seen in my life hanging above us. It had random gems and was supposed to resemble the crown of the Byzantine emperors. There was even a hall inside for events and a very fancy stage with sweeping views of the Alps and township below.

At the foot of Neuschwanstein Castle, with it’s dreamy white walls.

To conclude our adventure, we hiked about the Alps to find a good vantage point to view the castle. It wasn’t easy with all the snow but by mid-day most of the ice had already melted. Along with some other gung ho tourists, we climbed in very dangerous and cold conditions up to a neighbouring peak and took some of the most breathtaking and magnificent photos of the entire trip.

At one point we just sat there and stared at the castle, the lone human structure amongst the sprawling wilderness of the Alps. It made us feel so small, yet so complete all at the same time. There is a reason, after all, why this is Germany’s number one tourist attraction.