Salzberg and 7 Degrees of Separation

What an inspired idea to stop a day in Salzberg! We've had a great time.

If Salzberg was human, she'd be a beautiful aristocratic and well travelled woman. Classically beautiful, cultured and clever, but also possessing a warm charm. In understanding the importance of retaining its history, Salzberg has created an enduring income stream from tourism. Now, there's an idea?!

1/The incredibly beautiful Salzberg

2/ Interesting patterns in the snow!

We'd decided to take a walking tour of Salzberg and duly met up with our guide at the local tourism office. It was a freezing day but at least the snow had stopped and the sun was making an attempt to shine. Unfortunately, our guide had the personality of Attila the Hun. I can only suspect that he was annoyed at having to translate everything into English as we were the only non German speakers on the tour. He spoke so rapidly that we were often left pondering what he had just said. Questions were not encouraged and he scowled and scolded if anyone dared to speak while he was holding court. It was a shame, because I'm sure that if we had been less intimidated we could have learnt a lot more.

3/ A tour of Salzberg with the world's grumpiest guide!!

But as the tour wore on, we learned that the German speakers were also having a hard time understanding the guide! He was speaking in German (with a thick Austrian accent) just as rapidly as he spoke to us in English. In the rare moments of silence as we walked between the various sights, we struck up a conversation with a lovely young couple from northern Germany (Hans & Lina) and also a young Austrian teacher, Angelica who was taking her pupils to Salzberg in the coming week.

We were all relieved when the torturous tour ended and we could head to a warm cafe for a coffee and cake. Hans, Lina and Angelica joined us and we whiled away and hour or two getting to know each other. Would you believe it? Angelica had lived in Christchurch for 2 years and knew Wanaka well. She had also spent 3 months on Stewart Island and we knew many of the same people. Aaah..the rule about 7 degrees of separation must be true!

Angelica needed to head home, but we joined Hans and Lina for a walk to the Castle and around the town, talking and taking pictures along the way. Hans and Lina have a cropping farm in the north of Germany. They speak perfect English, shaming us with their ability to speak more than one language.

4/ Hans & Lina. May we meet again someday.

Hans & Lina gave us a fascinating insight into their way of life and the farming issues in Europe. We learnt a lot about growing sugar beet! But they are well travelled and interested to know more about NZ and Australia. A keen hunter, Hans was very interested to hear about the hunting opportunities in NZ.

Afternoon stretched into evening and we were enjoying each others company so much, we headed out to dinner together. We were still reluctant to finish our conversation when the restaurant dimmed its lights and began locking up for the night.

We have swapped email addresses and hope that we will meet again some day.