Austria

 Okay, I should write things but having power to my device is tricky, so I am going to photo dump a bit instead.

Saturday July 5 at Patrick's house:

Since his apartment building is pretty much smack-dab on the street, it is so surprising and refreshing to look out and see his beautiful back year. He is on the third floor, and he says that up close, the garden is not super well tended, and the chairs are falling apart, but from high up it is a beautiful surprise.

The other view was from the living room window; this one is from the kitehen, trying to see further to the side.

Sunday July 6

Patrick is not well. He has a mysterious illness that is under investigation. He has been to the doctor a lot. This makes me so sad.

He is not allowed to work until the doctor releases him, but instead of resting, he is going to doctor appointments to try to discover the cause of the illness, instead of just treating the symptoms.

Meanwhile, in Salzburg, Janice and Steve and I visited a church while waiting to attend the opening of our conference.

Here are pictures from inside:

There were a bunch of dioramas of various scripture stories, but I only took a picture of this one of the birth of Jesus. (Taken through the glass, with my shadow on it.) 

After the church, we went out to eat, because we had time to do so. We went to this place that was run by Spanish speaking people. Janice and Steve got tacos and tostados, but I got this weird thing that tempted me. It was cold, with mashed potatoes and avocadoes, I can't remember what else. It came in two little piles, one at each end of the long skinny plate. I went to cut one, and lobbed off about half of it onto the floor. Nice one. I should have taken a picture BEFORE I cleaned it up. This picture is AFTER.

Oops. I am sorry you have smashed mashed potatoes ground into your carpet!

We also walked through the flower garden and avenue of trees that were used in filming The Sound of Music. The king's garden, or something?

Janice and I then went to our conference's opening, while Steve went back to the hotel. The opening was at the Mozarteum University. Our entertainers for the night was a family. Their dad is a professor of folk music at the university. They were so good!!

Monday July 7

Started my day with the hotel breakfast:

I did not spill, but at the table next to me, their little boy did massively spill his orange juice!! So glad it wasn't my spill this time!

Super close to our hotel, the Jufa, is the University Nonntel at which most of our events are. It is called Unipark for short for whatever reason, unknown to me. 

I have seen three universities here, and they are all small compared to what I am used to. Here is the front door of Unipark. Turning around from these doors, and walking to the edge, you have a great view of the castle on the hill. So close, and yet so far (so many steps!)

All of the lecture halls that we are using have very trappy-feeling places to sit. (By which I mean they make me feel trapped.) So I sit near an end, but not on the end, because then people have to climb over which is unpleasant for everyone.

I found Unipark's library, which is downstairs a bit.

And a picture through a window into the library:

There was a session on the music of the Salzburg state, which has 119 towns/cities, and 143 wind ensembles, not to mention all the other types of musical ensembles.

Maria von Trapp and two of the Baron's children, Martina and Werner (names changed in the movie) attended the Mozarteum back in the day. Here are some of their reports from it:

A folk music archives guy was asked to examine all of the music used in The Sound of Music to see if there was anything Austrian about any of it, and the verdict: none. Not a note. Not any use of typical style. In Austria, they did not initially love the movie (or even watch it) and they disagreed with the plot. And with the music. But they have had to embrace it, because of its long staying power. One of the presenters actually watched the movie for the first time after she was hired to be a Sound of Music tour guide!

Tonight for dinner, Janice and Steve and their cousin Paula and friend Airwyn and I took a bus somewhere and walked somewhere and ate outside. I got the lentil soup, and it was just the right size, and I didn't spill anything, and it was good. Here are some photos from tonight:

The place we ate:

It looks inside like an old church turned into a restaurant?

I think you might have to have reservations to eat inside, because though we walked in this entrance, they led us to another entrance, and outside to their al fresco eating area.

Where we randomly saw three people dressed like this, though I only captured two of them on film:

And here are a couple of pictures as we walked along:

I thought it was funny, the modern FOOT LOCKER on that very old building. 

There is Janice, and her cousin Paula in front.  

Janice and Steve went to the Monday night concert (I gave him my ticket) and the three of us walked home to the hotel, which took about twenty minutes.