Article

2005-12-27 Europe

Archived material is restricted to Rantburg regulars and members. If you need access email fred.pruitt=at=gmail.com with your nick to be added to the members list. There is no charge to join Rantburg as a member.

Posted by Anonymoose 2005-12-27 10:03|| || Front Page|| [5 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 interrupted the poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge, right when he was composing his masterful poem "Kubla Kahn", just to chatter about something inane and stupid.

Ima call Persecute!

Posted by Leon Clavin 2005-12-27 14:47|| 2005-12-27 14:47|| Front Page Top

#2 Austria
GDP: $255.9 billion (2004 est.)
Population: 8,184,691 (July 2005 est.)
Area: 83,870 sq km (land and water)

California
GSP: $1.4 trillion
Population: 35,893,799
Area: 163,707 sq mi

Posted by Glailing Ulusing4418 2005-12-27 17:48|| 2005-12-27 17:48|| Front Page Top

#3 Y'know, some of my paternal ancestors came from Austria (more precisely, from the Austro-Hungarian Empire).

I've been to Austria a number of times (though not since 1990) - beautiful country, nice people. Old Town Salzburg is heartbreakingly beautiful (though the more "modern" part was grey and drab); the Neuseidlersee (Lake Neusiedl) area is breathtaking beyond description - and yes, given the chance, I'd go back there in a heartbeat. Same for Salzburg.

Never made it down to Graz. Apparently I didn't miss anything. Never will now, even if/when I do go back. I can't see wasting even one dime in a town that celebrates mass murderers.

Pfui.

Posted by Barbara Skolaut">Barbara Skolaut 2005-12-27 19:29|| http://ariellestjohndesigns.com/page/15bk1/Home_Page.html]">[http://ariellestjohndesigns.com/page/15bk1/Home_Page.html] 2005-12-27 19:29|| Front Page Top

#4 I lived in Austria for slightly less than a year, c.1981. Never met more friendlier people.

I assume you made that steep climb to see the castle in Salzburg? At least that's what I remember, 'twas one hell of a climb. No stairs, just a steep slope of cobble stones.

Posted by Rafael 2005-12-27 20:41|| 2005-12-27 20:41|| Front Page Top

#5 Rafael - there's another way up for us ~~wusses~~ lazy people. ;-p

I have some wonderful memories of Salzburg, like the cold, rainy December day a bunch of us from the youth hostel spent in a keller in the Altstadt just off (IIRC) Kapitalplatz, drinking cocoa or coffee and passing around a love letter one of the Engish-speaking girls was trying to write to a German guy she had met in Germany a couple of weeks before. (None of us was very fluent in German; can't remember at this point if she was British, Canadian, Aussie, or American.) Each of us who knew some German would make corrections (we hoped) and pass it on to the next person for more help. I've always wondered if he was ever able to decipher it. :-D

There was an old cemetary in front of the Catacombs (St. Peter's? it's a long time ago) that always moved me to tears each time I passed through. It actually was a good shortcut, if you knew about it. Ancient tombstones - some so old their inscriptions were worn off - still lovingly tended, in most cases by the family. I'll never forget the gravesite of an American Army major who was assigned to Salzburg in the occupation following WWII and came to love the place so much that he requested to be buried there when he died. (IIRC, that information was on his tombstone.) I used to know his name. I can think of worse places to spend eternity.

A lovely city - I hope I can go again someday.

Posted by Barbara Skolaut">Barbara Skolaut 2005-12-27 22:04|| http://ariellestjohndesigns.com/page/15bk1/Home_Page.html]">[http://ariellestjohndesigns.com/page/15bk1/Home_Page.html] 2005-12-27 22:04|| Front Page Top

23:55 gromgoru
23:46 CaziFarkus
23:45 Rafael
23:37 Frank G
23:33 Frank G
23:30 Frank G
23:27 Rafael
23:07 Silentbrick
23:06 Glaviting Thineth6488
22:56 Londo Mollari
22:51 Barbara Skolaut
22:50 Barbara Skolaut
22:42 Captain America
22:26 Gluger Clemble8113
22:23 twobyfour
22:17 JosephMendiola
22:11 Zhang Fei
22:05 Zhang Fei
22:04 Barbara Skolaut
22:04 Bomb-a-rama
21:55 Mahou Sensei Negi-bozu
21:47 Mahou Sensei Negi-bozu
21:43 Frank G
21:36 Rafael