Saturday, February 26, 2011

Cheapest Resturant In Salzburg: Just Listen to the Street Music

So many cakes!
I had time to kill before class started . I had just left a tiny café where I sampled five different pastries in AIFS’s pastry seminar. Two types of Guglhupf (like pound cake), Apfelstrudel, Sachertorte (chocolate cake with fruit sauce hidden in the pores), a tall creamy Rigojanschi with layers of chocolate and, my favorite and the sweetest of the pastries, a Esterhazytorte, layers of cake and creamy frosting. And of course all accompanied by a handmade Mozartkugel.
            And believe it or not, I was still hungry, so I found a bench in the sun, pulled out my mozzarella and salami sandwich, and watched two Austrians play each other at giant chess. The giant chessboard is laid out in Salzburg’s Kapitelplatz, which also houses an abstract art piece (a golden sphere with a man standing atop), my favorite pretzelstand  (Where, every time, before I say anything but “hallo” the woman behind the counter asks me if I speak French or English or just starts with English without even asking. Do I really look that American…or French?) and the street performer with the guitar (I actually found a picture of him in my Salzburg guidebook. Apparently, he’s been around for a while). To the right rises the Dom cathedral where I’ve attended two lovely by freezing—marble really locks in the winter cold—Catholic masses. To the left towers the Festung Hohensalzburg, which defines Salzburg’s skyline.
Giant chess in Kapitelplatz.
            The two men playing chess looked intent on their game. Surrounding them, locals played smaller chess games and tourists snapped photos. My favorite moment was when an old man, sitting squarely in the middle of the bench opposite me, was bombarded by a troop of little boys, who didn’t hesitate to cuddle right up to him while they pointed and shouted exclamations at the giant chess pieces.
            And while all this was enfolding, the street performer was playing my favorite song—Pachelbel’s Kanon. The best lunches in Salzburg, it seems, cost almost nothing.

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