Salzburg Christmas Market

Amazing!  What a great way to spend Thanksgiving while abroad. I'm so glad I stayed for it. The vendors had better stuff than Vienna and, at least while I was there, it was much less of a hangout for young, smoky drunks. Of course, I was there for the "opening ceremonies" so it was more of a family time than I'm sure it became later at night. So I started out browsing and shopping (for small affordable things that might survive the trip home). Then I tried the gluhwein which was a bit sweet for me but much, much better than the punsch I had in Vienna (yuck!). An impulse buy at the gluhwein stand: a thing I thought was a little cinnamon donut.  I asked for one and got one order which was 4 in a little tray with a little wooden tong-type thing so my fingers wouldn't get sticky. Lovely!  Well, it wasn't exactly a donut - I think it was a deep fryed apple slice covered with cinnamon. What I know for sure is that it was one of the best things that ever happened to me. Unbelievably delicious!!!  Not long after enjoying this treat, the ceremony began in front of the cathedral. There was an adorable band and even more adorable folk dancers. They played and danced for quite a while. Then they got in marching formation, followed by maybe 40 dudes with rifles in traditional uniforms and they all marched around the entire marketplace and stopped in the next plaza in front of the unlit Christmas tree. There were a bunch of speeches that were even more boring than at US events because I didn't know what they were saying, but they all seemed to speak well extemporaneously and the crowd seemed engaged. Much to my delight, they repeatedly said "burgermeister" causing me to giggle and think of Burgermeister Meisterburger every time. Meanwhile, the two girls who led the band, who I thought were each carrying an old ceremonial thing and a handful of bells, busted open the things and filled the little "bells" with shots of schnapps for the band members. Why didn't we have that in marching band?!  Then all the dudes fired their rifles and a cannon was fired (both twice).  Luckily, some folks started covering their ears just before each barrage so I was able to follow suit. Since I didn't understand what was being said on stage and wasn't looking at the soldier guys, it could have been a very unpleasant surprise!  The cannon was super loud. Finally, the tree was lit!  I had really been hoping the crowd and band would then belt out "O Tannenbaum" but it didn't happen.  No Christmas songs at all as far as I could tell.  There was a few more songs, folk dances, and schnapps shots for the ceremony participants and that was that. All in all a lot of fun...despite the light rain throughout the event. These people are totally unfazed by rain and cold - they just keep doing things outdoors no matter what. I dig that about them.

No turkey for dinner, so I had pizza.  It seemed as American as I was gonna get. They really like Italian food over here. It seems like 2/3 of all restaurants are Italian. Unexpected, but I nice break from sausage and other pig-based meats from time to time.

This morning, I enjoyed a breakfast buffet and furthered what's likely developing into an unfortunate espresso addiction, bought some mittens and a bottle of Diet Coke, and hit the road. I'm now in Regensburg after a rather slow drive. I don't think Bill sent me the quickest way as I had requested. Bill is my name for the GPS guy. We were never formally introduced and he hasn't mentioned his name but after about three days together, I got the distinct impression that he goes by Bill. He seems to answer to it so I may be right. Tomorrow, I think Bamberg but I still need to figure that out...