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Salzburg, city of "The Sound of Music", Mozart...and St Johann public hospital. While most visitors to Salzburg enjoy the delights of the Mirabell gardens, eat copious amounts of strudel and sachertorte, buy Mozart chocolates, and take a horse and carriage ride alongside the river Salzach, my visit to Salzburg will be most memorable for the time spent at my father's hospital bedside.
Our visit to Salzburg got off to a pleasant enough start - beautiful weather, a walk through the old town up to the fortress, and lunch at the fortress outdoor cafe with views towards the mountains. The fortress dominates the skyline above Salzburg and houses a museum and concert hall. From the top of the Festung's formidable thick white walls, the views over the city are spectacular. What is especially noticeable is the number of churches. In the foreground sits the city's cathedral with its great green dome and twin bell towers, and radiating outwards are scattered numerous other church towers which burst into life each hour and put on a particularly energetic bell show at 7am, noon and at 6pm.
Making the most of the lovely weather, we walked along the river admiring the hotels and mansions along the riverfront as well as the colours of the changing Autumn leaves. Separating from my parents, Dale and I went into the enormous cathedral which seemed relatively solemn and austere after the extravagance of the decorative Italian Cathedrals we'd seen. Back outside the cathedral, we walked through the square where horse drawn carriages wait with their traditionally dressed Austrian handlers. Nearby stands the horsey fountain familiar to me from when Maria danced about it in the Sound of Music ("I have confidence in sunshine...!"). Dale didn't quite share my enthusiasm for this haloed Salzburg ground and so we carried on to the crowded main street, where every second shop sells a dirndl or Mozart chocolates! One of the stores that didn't sell chocolates or dirndl was Zara. We returned there with my mum and shopped up a storm. Or at least, Dale shopped up a storm. Mum and I watched, awestruck, as my husband - who normally goes shopping with a dash and grab approach, like a sprinter - completed a shopping marathon! Back and forth mum and I went between clothes racks and changing room, bringing him new sizes, styles, and colours, until exhausted we just slumped against the wall waiting for his verdict. He finally selected four pairs of trousers (he must have tried on at least 20), a shirt, and two jerseys - a good haul!
Due to a small mishap in the hotel room, Dale and I had to seek out an optometrist. The good news: the iPad was ok. The bad news: Dale's glasses (which the IPad landed on) were snapped in half. Without his glasses, Dale is virtually blind and squints like a mole emerging into sunlight for the first time. Fortunately the charming Austrian girl at the optometrists told us that they could provide Dale with a new set of prescription glasses within 24 hours (although she hadn't counted on how long it would take Dale to try on what seemed like every set of frames in the store!) With incredible patience, the shop assistant was able to help Dale narrow the search for frames to his 'top five'...then his top three...and finally, we got there! True to her word, the following afternoon the new specs were ready for collection.
For our second day in Salzburg, Dale and I caught the bus to Hellbrun, while mum and dad indulged in nostalgia by visiting the village of Mattsee - a favourite destination from their first visit to Austria. Schloss Hellbrun was the pleasure palace of the former rulers (Prince Archbishops) of Austria. It is now a tourist destination, not only because of its association with the Sound of Music (in particular, the gazebo of "I am 16, going on 17" fame is located here) but also because of the Wasserspiele ('water games'). The creator of the Wasserspiele had a sense of humour which my husband appreciated more than 300 years later! Lovely gardens with trick fountains designed to soak the guests!! The introduction to these trick fountains begins at the outdoor dining table in the 'Roman' theatre. The Prince Archbishop could entertain his guests outside in the sunshine and as the meal progressed he could set off the hidden fountains which drenched the guests from each side and shot water up through the seats beneath them! (While he himself remained dry at the head of the table.) From there we walked through the various grottos, many of them with mechanised figurines or music, all powered by water. Many of the grottos are fitted with more hidden fountains which our guide cunningly operated so as to surprise our group and get each of us splashed with water. Dale found it hilarious to watch his fellow tourists fleeing from sprays of water, only to run into the next burst in front of them. His gleeful chuckles were at times conspicuously loud! I took a spray of water to my legs as I stepped through a doorway which shot water from below, but was grateful I wasn't standing beneath the faux stag head when water sprayed from its mouth and each of its antlers!
After the excitement of the gardens, the visit to the Schloss itself was anticlimactic. No trick fountains inside, although some of the artwork was unexpected, for example, the 'fish room' which is covered with pictures of large river fish. Not particularly pretty, but realistically fishy! The artwork I appreciated most, however, was the frescoed walls of the dining and music rooms. Life sized figures and architectural designs which made the rooms themselves feel larger.
In the evening we had made a reservation at Europe's oldest restaurant, the Stiftskellar. Serving food since 803 to everyone from monks and crusaders, to Nazi's and now New Zealander's! Dad and Dale chose an Austrian classic - roast pork with dumpling and sauerkraut - mum went Mediterranean with lamb and a medley of summer vegetables - and I chose the evening special which was kind of like a beef stroganoff and served with truffled polenta. The meal was wonderful and made more special by the wines recommended to us by the lovely waitress (who appreciated our efforts at pidgin German!)
Next morning, disaster! Dad was really unwell, had been up half the night and needed a doctor. He was in a lot of pain, yet we had to walk 10 minutes to the doctor since a taxi would have taken longer on Salzburg's maze of one ways! The Austrian doctor was initially rather dismissive, ignoring my doubled up father and going to deal with another patient. The nurse, instructed to put a drip in, was unable to find a vein so also left. The lack of empathy was astonishing! Worried at the lack of action and frightened at the similarity between my father's symptoms and Dale's appendicitis, I went in search of the nurse and demanded that she either find the doctor or call an ambulance. This seemed to get things moving, and soon the doctor was back with my father providing pain relief, organising an ambulance, and charging us 66 euros for his services. Up at the hospital Dad underwent various tests, was given further pain relief, and was diagnosed with kidney stones. He was admitted to a dimly lit urology ward with three other men, no privacy curtains, and a busy railway line right outside. It was a far cry from the sleek, modern ward in Wellington hospital where Dale had his stay last year. Decrepit looking elderly folk wheeled about in wheelchairs that looked as old as the occupants, and dad's roommates shuffled about carrying bags of bloody urine and scowling at 'the foreigners'. It was pretty grim. What was also a shock to us was the hospital's insistence that we provide a hefty deposit for dad's stay. Of course he had travel insurance but the hospital expected us to pay up front between 5,000 and 10,000 euros depending on the anticipated length of stay. It was pretty stressful liaising with the insurance company, which was unable to confirm that the bills would be covered until they had conducted their investigation. It was a real wake up call to Dale and me, since we would not have been able to immediately access that amount of money had it been one of us in hospital. Coming from New Zealand we really do take for granted the availability of free, quality public healthcare. (At least the doctors at the hospital were fantastic).
Long story short, dad was released from hospital, then readmitted, had a small surgical procedure, and was then released again. Dale and I stayed on in Salzburg for an extra three days to provide support for mum and dad. Unfortunately this meant we missed out on our planned visit to stay with my good friend Harriet in Munich and to catch the end of Oktoberfest. The good news was that dad was comfortable enough by the third day that he and mum could continue on to St Wolfgang for a few days recuperation, while Dale and I resumed our itinerary in Vienna!
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