Highlights of My Visits to Salzburg, Austria

and to Bratislava, Slovakia

Salzburg, Austria . . .

Salzburg is the home of Mozart, the home of the largest fortress in Europe . . . it is also where the Sound of Music was filmed. Old Town Salzburg is very beautiful with many very old buildings and old stone streets.

I took the Sound of Music tour and saw the places where different scenes were filmed all the while hearing the beautiful music on the bus. That scenery is so incredible! The tour is only in English!

In the afternoon I visited the largest fortress in Europe. It is on the top of a mountain and you must take a cable car to get there. The Austrian government pays artists to live there and some concerts and lectures are given there. I learned that fortresses, with an austere look and plenty of guns and cannons slowly evolved into castles -- buildings of sometimes incredible beauty after the Renaissance.

Bratislava, Slovakia

On a three-hour train ride from Martin, Slovakia to the Capitol of Slovakia, Bratislava, I met Pavol, a systems administrator for the national disaster service of Slovakia. He took a day off from work to be my translator and guide -- just so he could practice English! We went to the TV tower where there was a revolving restaurant and another tower on the Danube River where we had incredible views of Slovakia. We went to the castle where Maria Teresa spent her summers. We also saw the president's house (about twice as large as the White House) and the new parliament building.

Pavol is 35 years old and he told me about his life under Communism. It was very sheltered. They couldn't travel in any Western countries. Pavel didn't know Stalin's daughter, Khrushchev's son and Fidel Castro's daughter and granddaughter all defected to the United States.

I also saw an interesting museum full of accomplishments by Slovak people during the Middle Ages. There was beautiful wood furniture, golden threads on fabric, very colorful and detailed ceramic dishes. This museum also had a special section on Medieval Torture, which included the devices for torture and drawings of people being tortured -- including women. Some torture was for crimes, some for political leanings, and much for believing in the wrong religion. It seemed so ridiculous to me especially because life was already difficult in those days. Maria Teresa ended torture, returned land to the peasants, and was much loved by her subjects. She had 15 children along with her royal duties.