Munich, Salzburg and Buying a House

It has been a month since I lasted posted anything on my blog, and a very intense month it has been too.

I have been away for two weeks in Bavaria and Austria to attend a conference and a Mystery School, and during this time contracts were due to be exchanged for the house purchase, with completion happening today.

So tomorrow I'm off for the weekend to pick up the keys to my new home, and will have to camp there for a few days until I can finish packing my belongings here and leave London for the final time on Aug 4th. I feel relieved and optimistic but exhausted. I'm so glad now that I'm only re-locating to a place a few hours away rather to a different country, which had been the original plan.

I'm excited about having more space to spread myself and my few belongings out, a guest room for people to stay over the weekend, and a small room that I may turn into an art/craft studio. Not to mention having a garden at long last, country walks on my doorstep, and views from my windows. I'm sure I'll have more to say about my new location in later posts, but for now I just wanted to put up some photos from my recent trip in Europe. I had bought a new camera only a couple of days before travelling and was quite dismayed that I didn't know how to use it. By the end of my trip I was feeling more confident with the menu and various dials, but there are still loads of camera settings I haven't used yet, so can't exactly get as creative as I want to with all the manual overrides.

The trip coincided with the heatwave that much of Europe was experiencing, so it was hot even for me, and unusally for me I sought out the shade, apart from one afternoon when I sat down by the river in Salzburg and got rather toasted. Most of the time I was indoors, yet as I don't have the words to describe either event (wouldn't know where to start) I'll just put up some of the photos I took on my free days as a tourist before, after and in between.

The main square in central Munich, where I did most of my shopping. Had to buy more clothes as couldn't wear anything with long sleeves even though made of cotton. It felt too hot to even have my hair loose, and I consumed rather a lot of iced coffees during my stay.

Nymphenburg Palace is a 20 minute tram ride from central Munich (there is no station there). It was the perfect place to spend a hot summer afternoon rather than in the centre of town. It is a Baroque palace which was the main summer residence of the rulers of Bavaria. The central pavilion was completed in 1675.

The palace is set in a 490 acre park, which has a lake on either side of the canal which runs down the centre.

There are various pavilions in the park and lots of paths through wooded areas. While millions of tourists flock to Munich each year, few find their way to the tranquil Nymphenburg gardens.

The palace and its park were some of the main filming locations of the 1961 movie 'Last Year in Marienbad'.

Then on to Salzburg in Austria for the Mystery School. This is a view from the top of the castle in town.

On the other side of the river from the castle there is a wooded hill, which I climbed and found it much cooler up there, with some good views of the town below.

Mirabell Gardens (above and below) is a lovely green space that I always walked through as a short cut when walking to the old part of town across the river.

One of my no.1 favourite subjects to photograph are the back streets and alleyways of Europe - away from the usual tourist roads and landmarks. (My other favourite subjects apart from nature seem to be shop windows and interesting interiors of restaurants or bars).

I really liked the colours of this street scene (above) with its muted pinks and yellows.

I just had to photograph this sleeping cherub/angel figure outside of a shop.

I went to the Marionette Theatre one night before the Mystery School was due to start. Being the birthplace of Mozart, Salzburg has a lot of Mozart related things to do and see. So I went to the opera of the Barber of Seville, performed by marionettes like the one above which was displayed in the foyer. The stage sets were a visual treat and after a while the marionettes seemed very life-like. It is well worth seeing one performance, although maybe best to wait for your favourite opera if there is time, as the shows change daily.