Sony A99 – Page 12 – The Bald Heretic – Short, bald dude with a goofy beard

From Salzburg To Munich

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We caught the train from Salzburg to Munich today. For anyone who might be doing this in the winter, be aware that the Salzburg train station is pretty much an open air building with no heat and nowhere to sit. If you get there early you have to go to the coffee shop to get warm and you will pay through the nose for a coffee. Lesson learned.

The train took us through what I have always imagined the European countryside to look like in winter. Vast expanses of snow and forests full of snow covered evergreen trees and houses with snow on the roof and smoke rising from their chimneys.

We arrived in Munich and caught a cab to the hotel and checked in. I was able to purchase a SIM card for my iPhone 5 so I have data and a local # if I need it. Way cheaper than paying roaming charges, that’s for sure.

We walked around this evening just to get our bearings. We also found a grocery store to lay on some some supplies like water, cookies and that sort of thing. Items we like to have in the hotel room for easy snacking.

Cynthia quickly found a mobile chocolate shop

I hope to get some great night photos while we are here. This is just a sample of what it looks like in the Marienplatz

Last Day In Salzburg

This was our last day in Salzburg. Tomorrow we catch the train back to Munich. I think I have seen enough Krampus to last me a lifetime.

Today we woke up to snow. And it was snowing hard.

We headed out to Linzergasse which is north of the river from us. We had walked past an archway that looked interesting and thought we would explore it.

On the way across the bridge I wanted to take a photo that captured the conditions we were walking in. Note that this is a color photo. The snow blotted out all the color and left me with what appears to be a black and white image.

I continued to shoot some pictures of the area to try to capture this snow even the best I could. This is the result of shooting the same scene at three different exposures and merging them together.

As you can see I was able to coax a little color out by using this technique.

We reached Linzergasse and found the archway and entered. As it turnes out, there was a road and some steps leading up the side of the mountain.

It didn’t seem overly treacherous and the snow was not falling so hard so we climbed.

This photo was actually converted to black and white, though it didn’t have much color to begin with.

Like the day before, the climb took us up above the city for some spectacular views. But this time there was snow on the ground and snow on the city which made it look very pretty.

We continued along the trail, enjoying the views and the snow. We even stopped to make a snow-krampus

As we walked the trail was getting a little tougher. Steps leading up and down, covered with ice. We thought we would come to a point where we could go down and off the mountain. Then we can across this sign

I don’t read German and neither does Cynthia. But we took it as a sign (no pun intended) that we might want to check our map. As it turns out, we had found our way on to a hiking trail that looked to go all the way around the mountain. We decided to head back the way we came and get off the mountain. No sense breaking a leg on the side of frozen mountain in Austria with spotty cell service.

We found our way back and had some lunch and rested up a bit before doing some more wandering that included attending some kind of Krampus for Kids event in front of the cathedral. The event included several dozen school children all dressed in home made Krampus outfits.

Kris Kringle came out with a particularly large Krampus with a basket on his back and the children posed for pics with St. Nick while sitting in the Krampus basket. I wish I was a kid and could get my photo taken in a Krampus basket!

We knocked around for a bit more and found some dinner. Snow came and went. Mostly it was nice, but there were some icy patches and I tried to wipe out one time. But I was able to recover before falling on my butt. It was a close call.

Tomorrow we catch the train back to Munich.

Krampusnacht

Tonight was Krampusnacht. The word Krampus means “claw” so this literally translates to Night Of The Claw.

The Feast of St. Nicholas is celebrated in parts of Europe on December 6. In Alpine countries like Austria, Saint Nicholas has a devilish companion named Krampus. On the preceding evening, Krampus Night or Krampusnacht, the hairy devil appears on the streets. Sometimes accompanying St. Nicholas and sometimes on his own, Krampus visits homes and businesses. The Saint usually appears in the vestments of a bishop such as the mitre, and he carries a ceremonial staff. Unlike North American versions of Santa Claus, in these celebrations Saint Nicholas concerns himself only with the good children, while Krampus is responsible for the bad. Nicholas dispenses gifts, while Krampus supplies coal and the ruten bundles.

In Salzburg, it is a big deal. I counted at least 50-75 Krampus in the city center for tonight’s celebration. They all gathered at the front of the Salzburg Cathedral for what appeared to be some kind of Krampus award ceremony. Possibly for the best Krampus costume or something. I really couldn’t tell. I would hear some german words being spoken over the PA system and a fantastic Krampus from the Krampus horde would jump up and get on stage and do his Krampus thing.

I had to really work to get up to the area where all this was happening. It was very crowded, but it was a site to see!

You can see the rest of my photos by clicking here.

After watching all the Krampus mayhem we decided to get some dinner and get back to the hotel for some rest. But, as fate would have it, Krampus was not done with us.

St. Nick and a handful of angels and Krampuses invaded the restaurant.

A Krampus even took my seat and tormented Cynthia

It was a perfect ending to a pretty perfect day.

Salzburg – Day 5

We woke up this morning with no real agenda. We thought it might be nice to visit the Augustiner Bräu in the afternoon, but the morning was wide open.

Since the Augustiner Bräu was in an area of Salzburg we had not yet visited we decided to just head that way and see what we might see. That way we would have something new to look at and also know how to find our way to the venue when we were ready.

As we walked we found ourselves gradually going uphill. And as we climbed higher and higher the views became more and more interesting and beautiful.

We noticed that we were heading in the general direction of the Museum of Modern Art. We were not all that interested in the museum, but one of the signs said there was a James Turrell Skyspace installation and since I was familiar with his work I was compelled to keep going.

And the view just got better and better

When we did reach the top where the museum was located we were pretty hungry. We noticed that there was a restaurant there as part of the museum. The restaurant was called M32 and was named for the mountain address on which the restaurant sat which is Mönchsberg.

M32 is not a cheezy little tourist cafe, it is a very nice restaurant with white tablecloths and nicely dressed waitstaff.

The hostess lead us to our seat after taking our jackets and this is where we ended up.

A table by the window that looked out over the old town with Hohensalzburg Castle sitting on an adjacent peak. It was spectacular! We decided to splurge and ordered a very nice red Cuvée Austrian wine which was delicious as was the food.

We finished with a coffee and a desert and then found our way back down the mountain to our hotel room. By the time we were done it was mid-afternoon and we had a Krampus run to get to in a few hours.

What a spectacular day, and we hadn’t even gotten to the Krampusnacht celebration portion yet. I’ll tell you all about that in the next post.

Salzburg – Day 4

This morning we woke up and had our breakfast. The weather was a bit warmer so instead of snow we had some rain. It wasn’t raining hard, but it certainly wasn’t as nice as when it was snowing yesterday. Cynthia bought an umbrella from one of the tourist souvenir shops and that made things manageable.

We spent the morning touring the Salzburg Museum. The museum is worth a look and a good way to spend a rainy, cold morning.

After touring the museum we noticed a break in the clouds which afforded us an opportunity for a few photographs that were not completely dull and drab.

After walking around and enjoying the change in weather we headed back to the hotel to grab a Mr. Zippers feather for our traditional release. Mr. Zippers was Cynthia’s Quaker Parrot who passed away several years ago. Each time we travel we take one of his feathers and release it in the countries we visit. We have dopped Mr. Zippers feathers all over Europe.

We released this one and rather than gently falling in to the river it was caught by a breeze and wafted higher and higher in to the sky until it flew out of site. It was very special.

After releasing the feather we headed over to Hotel Sacher for lunch and a Sachertorte.

After lunch we took it easy and wandered around the markets before going back to the hotel once more to rest up and get some postcards ready to mail out.

Our plan for the afternoon/evening (the sun goes down around 5:00 pm) was to catch one of the many Krampus runs in town. We headed out, cameras in hand and found a place to watch and photograph the run. I was able to capture this video. The cries of “ouch ouch ouch” are mine as I am being lashed by a Krampus.

After watching the run we headed out to find some dinner. We ended up at Bar-Bistro-Restaurant Santorini Salzburg, a Greek restaurant where we had an interesting and lively conversation with our waiter who was from India. It was a global experience deluxe.

After dinner we wandered some more markets and I had a cup of Glühwein while Cynthia enjoyed a hot waffle.

It’s been a fun trip so far. We look forward to more Krampus experiences tomorrow as it is the eve before Advent and the arrival of Kris Kringle.

Now it is time to get some rest and regroup for tomorrows adventures.

Beware the Krampus!

Salzburg Cathedral – Shots From The Floor

My ongoing series of photos where I place the camera on the floor, set the timer and move away.

Salzburg – Day 3

Today was pretty casual. Got up, had some breakfast and walked down the river to Mirabell Palace and Gardens. Obviously, the gardens weren’t that terribly exciting in the winter, but it was nice to see none the less.

We also went in search of the Salzburg Marionette Theater. We were hoping to catch a show while we were here, but sadly, the theater is closed while the puppeteers tour France.

This made Cynthia very sad 🙁

We continued to walk around and then found some lunch. After lunch we headed back to the hotel room to recombobulate and then headed back out in to the cold to do some more exploring.

As night started to fall we prepared to go off in search of another Krampus run we read about. As we were walking around we encountered two pint-sized Krampuses which Cynthia was far less afraid of than the full size beasts.

After a short while we did encounter the full sized Krampus run. This one was the most intense of all so far.

We followed the procession for a while before cutting away to find our way back to the hotel so I could grab my tripod and get the two night shots I had been wanting to get while we are here. The first one being Hohensalzburg Castle as seen from the river.

And the second one was just a shot down the river bend

All in all, a good day. Tomorrow we plan to sleep in a bit. Then look for some music events to attend.

Krampus

One of the main reasons we wanted to come to Austria this time of year was to see some of the Krampus celebrations. Krampus is celebrated in the week leading up to Advent and there are numerous groups that put on performances all around Salzburg. To learn more about the origins of the Krampus folklore click this link.

We made our way up to the Hohensalzburg Castle as we got wind that there would be some Krampus activity at 3:00 in the market. As we found our way up there it was snowing in earnest. The mood was set when we got to the top of the mountain via the funicular and were greeted by a trio of alpine horn players.

We walked around the market for a bit and at 3:00 pm we heard the tell tale sounds of clanking bells and rattling chains. There looked to be about 20 or so Krampus coming up the side of the mountain.

All the masks are hand-made and carved from wood. They are quite spectacular to see. The actors who dress up as these creatures do tend to get a bit overheated, even if it is only 32 degrees outside. They also have a number of handlers who make sure everything is ok and that no one is getting hurt.

All in all, they spent 30 minutes or so whipping small children as well as the younger girls and even some of the men. Cynthia even found herself feeling the lash of the mighty Krampus. I tried to get her to pose for more pictures, but she was actually a bit afraid of them. They can be rather intimidating as they come clattering toward you growling loudly with their teeth bared.

I found them to be quite amusing and had the time of my life photographing them.

After running around with the Krampus clan at the Hohensalzburg Castle we headed back to the hotel to warm our weary bones. But we read there was another Krampus run coming right past our hotel around 5:30 pm so we went down to check it out.

IF you are interested in seeing the rest of my Krampus photos you can find them by clicking here.