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Salzburg

Posted by Mark Sullivan on September 26, 2022
Posted in: Austria. Leave a Comment

I got a little lost just wandering through the town and climbed up a hill and got this lovely view

Three years ago our friends Mary Beth and Sven took some other mutual friends to Oktoberfest in Munich. Everyone had a blast, and the pictures and stories made us want to go someday ourselves. It helps a lot that Sven is a native Bavarian, and his brother Ralph lives in Munich, so they know how to make arrangements and do it all right.

Oktoberfest was canceled the past two years because of COVID. So earlier this year, when it looked like the festivities were back on, we decided to make the pilgrimage, along with Mary Beth and Sven and a couple other mutual friends. Jim and I decided to turn the adventure into a 2-1/2 week tour of Bavaria.

We caught a flight from New York to Frankfurt, and then a connection to Salzburg, Austria, a good starting point for our journey across Bavaria, since the town where Sven grew up is pretty much a suburb of Salzburg, just over the German border.

Jim had never been to Salzburg, and it had been 38 years for me. I have the fondest memories of hiking here with friends back then and obsessively singing songs from the “Sound of Music,” which was set and filmed in and around this beautiful town.

The town is just as lovely as ever. As an added bonus we got a little sneak preview of Oktoberfest because Salzburg’s own Oktoberfest started the day after we arrived. Based on everything we know, this was a very tame version of the big event in Munich. But it was fun to watch the crowds gather in their lederhosen (the guys) and dirndls (the girls), fill up the tents, and get down to the serious business of drinking beer and celebrating German culture.

We arrived in Salzburg the day their mini-Oktoberfest was starting. We’re going way off-diet in Munich for the big one so we demurred here.

Morning on the street right in front of our hotel

The city is surrounded by hills and mountains, all alive with the sound of music…

This fabulous trail ran for miles along the Salzach River southeast of Salzburg. Jim walked or ran on it every day.

Salzburg and the Salzach River from the castle

Mark at Sotille’s Bar and Café, our favorite pre-dinner stop

Stockholm

Posted by Mark Sullivan on August 24, 2022
Posted in: Europe, Sweden. Leave a Comment

Always a lovely vista of architecture and the sea

I’m not sure what exactly these guys were up to, but they were pretty serious about it

Great food in Stockholm

The last stop on our eight-week summer escape was in Stockholm, where we spent three days before catching our flight back home. I think Stockholm is one of the most beautiful cities in Europe. It’s a city of islands and waterways chock full of great architecture, public art, and museums galore.

We did a pretty good job of playing tourist here. We visited important churches and a couple museums. I even took a tour of City Hall. And of course we found ample time to sit in parks and read and people watch.

We also reveled in our ability to find great food here. Stockholm lived up to our general experience in Scandinavia — that the food is exceptional, especially in the capitals. With one exception: Norway. Looking back, we had little of the stunning fare in Norway that we find in Stockholm or Copenhagen or Helsinki. There were no food pics on our blog post from Oslo.

So that wraps up a great summer adventure for us. Now we get a month at home in New York before we take off again for Germany, where we will experience Oktoberfest and spend a couple weeks traveling around Bavaria. See you there!

A stunning architectural detail

Cool public art

Jim checks out the cool public art

Shideh recommended this amazing tapas place. Diet starts tomorrow!

At the Moderna Museet I saw a placard on the wall for a painting of a Greek entablature by Roy Lichtenstein. But there was no painting. I couldn’t figure out what was going on until I looked way up because, of course, it’s where it would belong on a Greek temple.

This is almost a stereotype, but Jim was pretty thrilled with his beautiful plate of Swedish meatballs and lingonberries

Even the coffee is beautiful

Trondheim

Posted by Mark Sullivan on August 18, 2022
Posted in: Europe, Norway. Leave a Comment

Colorful wooden buildings line the Nidelva river

The amazing gothic cathedral

Detail of the cathedral facade

From Tromsø we caught another flight back down to Trondheim in Central Norway. We’d spent a couple hours in Trondheim earlier in our boat journey north, and we we were really looking forward to spending more time there. And after a couple weeks of cold, rainy weather, Trondheim welcomed us with warmth and sun.

I might be biased by the weather we had, but this was definitely my favorite stop in Norway. The country’s third largest city (after Oslo and Bergen), Trondheim is the spiritual heart of Norway.

King Olaf was martyred in battle near here in 1030 and later canonized. His grave became a pilgrimage site, and then home to the spectacular gothic Nidaros Cathedral. Trondheim served as the capital of Norway until 1217. And kings have come here since for their coronations and benedictions.

We really loved the city’s colorful buildings, elegant parks, and vibrant cafe scene. What a wonderful place to hang out for a couple days. Or was it maybe just the sunshine?

I loved to sit in the square in front of the cathedral and read and people watch

My other favorite reading spot was Stiftsgårdsparken, a lovely park just a block from our hotel. Here we are looking at the back of Stiftsgården, Scandivania’s largest wooden palace, and home to King Herald when he is in Trondheim.

Jim took this picture in Stiftsgårdenparken before he realized I was actually sitting here in the park. If you zoom in really close I happen to be in the very center of this photo.

Another view along the Nidelva

Jim walked along the river out of town

More from Jim’s walk out of town

Taking in the glorious river scene