Tourists

Everyone that’s come to visit or spoken to me about Salzburg from afar has asked the same question: how do you cope with the tourists? The truth is, I lived in Venice for two months in 2013 where it is near impossible to cross a bridge for tourists taking pictures of each other (and there are a lot of bridges in Venice) – so navigating Salzburg during Festspiele is a cinch in comparison. It’s actually really fun to people watch, and I never fail to be surprised at something I see or overhear as I walk from my apartment to the Summer Academy and back again. I made a list of impressions in my iPhone notes of the things I saw in one journey, and I leave it here now as a – still incomplete – poem of sorts.

A man playing classical guitar

A horse-drawn carriage

A bike tour

A man with aviators and dreadlocks beneath his helmet leading a Segway tour

Scharfe Lange, Scharfe Lange, Scharfe Lange

An uncountable number of shops selling Mozart eggs

Two impeccably dressed priests

Europe’s biggest Amber store

A small crowd watching two toddlers and a baby playing in a water fountain

How many Knödel is too many Knödel?

A priest on a scooter

A t-shirt that says “I – then a picture of a pretzel – Philly”

Three horse-drawn carriages

A sign outside a church which says “Sext in the City” (do they know what sexting is?)

Metal boxes full of pre-sliced cake