A Little Stroll through Salzburg

As I've mentioned before, I had a visitor in February: my friend and roomie for life Yuna came to visit me for a couple of days. It was February, we were on holidays, and it was Fasching, aka Mardi Gras, season.

We had a couple of days to discover the whole city and spent one of those days in the countryside, visiting my parents. 

The rest of the time was spent wandering around Salzburg, enjoying the sun when it decided to delight us with its presence, and working our way through a number of cafes. 

Day 1, which happened to be Sunday, was spent strolling around the old town of Salzburg which was listed as a UNESCO world heritage site in 1997. Sightseeing takes a lot outta you so we quickly stopped for coffee and hot chocolate with rum and some cake.

Residenz

Residenz

Manner Cafe

Later that day, we discovered a, thus far unknown to me, cemetery! My love for cemeteries is no secret so I really enjoyed the stroll around the Sebastianskirche and Friedhof. The highlight of this discovery was the fantastic smell of incense everywhere.

After the cemetery, the weather started to get real nasty so we decided to head back home for some dinner. Also, we decided to head into town again in the evening to watch The Artist in Das Kino.

The next day, we discovered the rest of Salzburg: Mirabell, the cathedral, St. Peter cemetery, to name but a few. Right now there's a great installation in the "basement" of the cathedral:

On Fat Tuesday/Mardi Gras we headed to Hellbrunn. Smart person that I am, I left my camera at home and so could only take pictures with my phone, but that's going to be another blog post in the near future.

For now, just a quick glance on what we were up to at night:

The "Before" Picture

Even though I got to dress up for Halloween in Maine and I went to celebrate Mardi Gras in New Orleans, it was great to experience this tradition in Austria again. It was even greater to show and share this all with Yuna! Needless to say, the next day I was slightly under the weather ;) But I did enjoy yet another spectacular view of "my" mountain, the Untersberg.

Sunday Walk on the Kapuzinerberg

Last Sunday I decided to go for a walk/hike on the Kapuzinerberg. I was not hungover from St. Patrick's Day, it was a beautiful day in Salzburg, and I couldn't wait to get away from my laptop for a couple of hours.  Plus, I hadn't taken a longer walk on the Kapuzinerberg in ages.

Before heading out, I checked some routes to take online and more or less stuck to this one: http://www.auf-den-berg.de/wandern/salzburg/kapuzinerberg-salzburg-wandern-in-der-stadt/

I took loads of pictures while taking in the scenery and remembering that Salzburg is a damn awesome place.
As a point of departure I chose the Linzer Gasse.

The entrance.

"Street" art.

One of the six stations of the cross on the way up.

Since it was Sunday, it was not surprising that a lot of people were going for a walk. And (unfortunately), tourists have taken back Salzburg once again.

I took the route "Franziskischlössl über Basteiweg entlang Wehrmauer".

More "street" art.

You know it's spring when you find Bärlauch on the way :)

I also saw my first butterflies of the year. The first butterflies always make me particularly happy and remind me of my childhood.

The Franziskischlössl with the Nockstein in the background.

Yodel session.

It was surprisingly warm on Sunday and since I haven't been hiking in a while, I did get my sweat on which wasn't necessarily unwelcome ;)

One of the absolute HIGHLIGHTS of this hike was the group on the picture above. I was just on my way back down when I heard people yodelling! One of the guys had actually brought his accordion. Naturally, I stuck around for a bit and even though I would not call myself a yodel fan, I certainly enjoyed the songs since they fit in so perfectly with the whole day and the surroundings. These are the moments when I absolutely love being in Austria.

All in all, I walked for about 1.5 hours with plenty of stops to take pictures. The Kapuzinerberg is definitely worth a walk, especially on such a beautiful day. I'm looking forward to seeing the hill green in the next couple of weeks and I'll probably be back soon. Even if it's just to check out the restaurant in the Franziskischlössl...

Recap: Banff Mountain Film Festival 2012

Disclaimer: I am in no way affiliated with the Banff Mountain Film Festival and chose to attend it and write about it out of personal interest.

Last night was the night: the Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour 2012 came to Salzburg! Throughout the day I felt pretty exhausted but thinking back to last year's festival soon had me convinced to check it out again this year. And I was not disappointed.
The films were shown in Salzburg's Elmo Kino and it was packed! I hadn't seen a lot of ads for the festival beforehand so I was curious to see how many people would show up and I was definitely surprised.

In Austria, Germany, and Switzerland, the best films from the the Banff Mountain Film Festival in Canada are being shown:

*Blue Obsession
*Chasing Water
*Towers of Ennedi
*All. I. Can.
*23 Feet
*Origins: Obe & Ashima
*Treeverse

Some quick facts about the festival:

*It was first launched in 1976
*Banff is a small town in the Canadian province of Alberta
*The Banff National Park is a UNESCO World Heritage Site
*Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour audience: 280,000+ in 30 countries

I did enjoy all of the films shown. However, I particularly enjoyed the videography of Chasing Waters, a documentary by the photo journalist Pete McBride who followed the Colorado River from its well to its (estuary) mouth.

All. I. Can. was also a very impressive CO2-neutral skiing documentary. This documentary won the "Best Feature-Length Mountain Film" at the Banff Mountain Film Festival this year. 

Towers of Ennedi - © Jimmy Chin

To recap: The festival was great again this year and got me thinking. First, I can't wait to travel again. I was about to just pack my backpack and go wherever. Second, in the documentaries it became obvious that the world and the environment is changing. Therefore it is time to rethink our attitude towards nature and respond to the signs. The Banff Mountain Film Festival is an important contributor to raising awareness for our planet's beauty as well as its fragility. So if you ever get the chance to check it out, do it!