Going off with a bang

Dynamiting the rock face which threatened traffic onthe road below

It seems as if everyone is holding their breath. We’ve enjoyed three months of cloudless skies broken only by two short bursts of snow. Now on the north-facing slopes where the sun no longer reaches, there is deep frost, the rime crunching underfoot, the crystals standing tall and packed together like a micro-Manhattan.

Now, though we are ready for the snow, there is no sign of its arrival: creeping up in the night, laying a sound-deadening blanket over the land or blasting down from the mountain and whipping with the wind into corners and crevices. The first Advent Sunday is just about here – the atmosphere is not the same without the snow when we hunker down cosily with candles and glühwein, coffee and biscuits.

One event went off with a bang this week. The Bogensperger Palfen, a rock face which showered tons of rock across the road between Lend and Embach in August and had not been fully cleared, was dynamited to send a further 1000m³ of shale down into the valley. Care had to be taken not to blast it on to the railway or into the river. Now this has to be cleared before we can drive directly to our sister village down below. The event was seen on TV and watched by many residents.

(For why this is called the Bogensperger Palfen - see Bogenspergers in the News - this blog and for what happens to the spoil, see Moving Mountains)

Meanwhile, the only other road out of Embach has suffered a rock slide which also means a long diversion. It is the same whichever direction we take from here at the moment.

Something else went off with a bang: Sunday was the annual Advent Market organised by the Katolische Frauenschaft (something like the Women’s Institute) with hand-made Christmas decorations, seasonal foods and an amazing number of huge creamy cakes for immediate consumption. A great deal of time, effort and creativity go into putting on such a display and it is enjoyed by whole families who crowd into the Gasthof where it is held .  To mark the 20^th of these markets, there was a free mug of glühwein for all visitors.



TV news reported on the dynamiting of the rock hanging over the road between Embach and Lend



Bean missin' you

Austria has a great tradition of coffee houses. Here among the clatter of china, the chatter of coffee lovers, Verlängertern, Großen Braunen, Espressos, Melange and more are served. Each cup and saucer placed on a small oval tray with a paper doily, sugar, cream, a glass of water and usually a small chocolate or a biscuit.

Then there are the cakes: big, sweet, creamy, gaudy, myocardially infarctful. Walk up to the glass counter and make your choice – it will be brought to the table with your coffee.

There is no rush. Newspapers are provided so that you can linger and browse, gather and gossip. A coffee can last an hour if you wish.

Each coffee house has its own style and many are steeped in tradition with panelled walls, tiny tables and waiting staff with huge wallets containing the takings in their trouser back pockets. Some coffee houses are listed monuments.

However, a coffee house needs more than this. It needs good coffee. There’s no beating the deep, ingrained, sensual aroma of well-ground, properly-brewed coffee, served, sipped and relished over many years.

Sadly, more and more coffee houses are serving half-a-cup of warm brown liquid that drips from an electronic machine at the press of a button – and charging far too much for it. At a time when so many varieties of beans are available from exotic corners of the world, why is there never a choice of coffee bean?

The days of skilled baristas grinding good quality beans, measuring the coffee into the basket, tamping with just right pressure and working the taps and knobs of a steamer machine as big as a church organ are fading fast. In Salzburg they are few and far between.

The coffee house is under threat – for how long will people pay over the odds for something which no longer lives up to the tradition to which it gave birth? Classy presentation without outstanding content is a hollow offering. Indulging in the atmosphere without the sustaining aromas and taste sensations of excellent coffees is an experience no more fulfilling a beautiful picture frame without the masterpiece it is intended to display.

Some Salzburg coffee houses where real coffee is made:

Primadonna – Platzl

220 Grad - Chiemseegasse

Laughs in translation

„Radio Salzburg wünscht Gute Fahrt“.You can hear it day in day out on the radio and see it at petrol stations…and for many an English-speaking visitor it produces a chuckle. But although this little language joke soon wears thin, there are plenty of others to raise a smile.

Gráinne, visiting from Ireland loved this shop name which is so nearly descriptive of the quality of clothing to be found inside.



No flash in the pan!



Sophie, An Australian visitor roared: “Spark Arse” when she saw our bank, the Sparkasse (Spar = save and Kasse = bank and together pronounced Spar-kasser). We’d never thought of that one and can’t take this sober institution quite so seriously any more.

Some place names attract visitors like the ones on this map. The places are disappointing – no t-shirts or postcards, it seems all the excitement takes place behind closed doors.

Then there is Schitter the nearby butcher and Dick the local electrician whose van has DICK in huge letters on the back. I don’t think his name is Richard.

However, in Gasteinertal, the next valley, the local blacksmith and electrician are classics:

What fun it would it be to drive one of these vans around London?