Hier kommt die Reiseportion...

Yup, now that I've arrived in Salzburg for the first month of my time abroad there are pictures (and some observations) to share. My first day and a half in Salzburg was spent recovering from the trip and moving from my university's house on the Monchsberg into my own apartment down in the Altsadt. Plus learning the way to and from those two locations. I have a pretty good sense of direction but scaling the Monschberg and traversing it can be... complicated.

Today was the first day I actually saw some of the city on my own and it's still as lovely as I remembered, although I am looking with different eyes this time. Where is there a good Apotheke? What seems to be the cheapest grocery store? Home goods? Most of this stuff is not in the Altstadt, so I walked over to the train station, observing the change in shops and price points. The best serendipitous discovery? The Asian market. Thank goodness.

Anyway, after running all the errands and acquiring my European cell phone, I decided to be a tourist for an hour. Oh, hello der Dom, I'm your new neighbor. No, really, I am less than 300 meters from it. Mein Gott, those bells are loud.

The best thing about waiting until twilight to visit was the eerie light in the typisch Baroque interior. The longer shadows accentuate all the carvings, the chiaroscuro of the paintings in each chapel melds into the encroaching darkness, and the candles seem to burn a bit brighter.

 And it makes the organ pipes shine in a charming way. You may also notice the Weihnachts decorations still up. I'm not sure why this is the case. Perhaps for the benefit of tourists? Or maybe they are traditionally left up through Fasching (Carnival)? Either way, it mean the nativity scene was still there...

The trees are real.

We two kings? At least it's somewhat historically accurate re: race.

The shepherds look like they walked right out of the Salzkammergut.

And after a really cold walk home, I made my first dinner in my new kitchen. Oh, how I have missed liptauer (the cheese spread pictured here) and gruener veltliner. You can get both in the U.S. but not without some trouble (and certainly not without paying a premium).

Now, to get to work.