Travel Talk

Isn't she the definition of refinement?

No, not the sleepy girl in the background. The elegant sixty-year-old woman with the hat. I know she's sixty because that's what I'm going to look like in a year or so when I celebrate my big birthday.

If I'm lucky, the party will be held at Cafe Thomaselli in Salzburg. If you're lucky, you can meet us there in 2009, and we'll buy you a pastry from the trolley. Put it on your calendar.

We can sit outside on the Alter Markt square watching horse-drawn carriages, or inside the high-ceilinged cafe, surrounded by oil paintings of rich and famous Salzburg folk from the 1700's.

Kurt will be our waiter. He'll let us sit and chat for hours, even if we just order a coke. When we pay, he'll pull out a giant wallet with niches for every kind of coin and bill. He's very classy, and won't just hand us our change. It will be placed on a tiny silver platter, and then Kurt will leave us alone to visit as long as we want. We might be watching people scurry around with umbrellas in the famous Salzburg rain, but we won't mind a bit.

When the sun comes out, we'll all leave to shop in the flower market outside. Opa will choose a newspaper from the rack, and sit for another hour or so to soak in the ambiance and eavesdrop on conversations in German.

Salzburg is blooming with flower shops. Straw wreaths decorated with ribbons and dried rosebuds are everywhere. We'll get some for souvenirs.

The Herzl Tavern was built in 1497. People were eating here while Columbus was still bragging about discovering India. We'll have dinner there, if we're lucky.

Wood carved chandeliers are hanging from the ceiling over each table. Notice the very typical little lamps on the walls. I love the traditional touches. You will, too.

This is a common sight in Salzburg. Decorated hearts made of straw, wood and pewter are also seen hanging in windows and as wall decor.

This little box might be on our table.

Our place settings will be inside.

My birthday cake will not be Sacher Torte. It was a huge disappointment. It may be the specialty at the Sacher Hotel in Vienna but the chocolate cake was dry. The filling was apricot jam (yuck!) and the whipped cream was not sweet. But the guys at the desk were.

This restaurant was called The White Chimney Sweep. It's in the former guildhall for Vienna's chimney sweeps. It's name comes from a drunken sweep who fell into a bakery and woke up the next morning covered in flour. It had long pine tables, with church pews for benches.

It's good luck to have your picture taken with a chimney sweep.
These little marzipan cows look happy about it.

Dee's had pretty good luck since his encounter 40 years ago!
I hope I am lucky, too.