Beethoven

There is a nice children's non-fiction series called Enchantment of the World.  Each book in the series covers a different country with lots of pictures, some history, some culture and some interesting stories such as this one. 

According to the book, Beethoven was quite a slob.  One night in Austria he was picked up by the police for generally being a disreputable looking vagrant.  When they asked his name he said, Van Beethoven.  That REALLY upset the police.  How dare this scoundrel say that he was the great Beethoven?  They threw him in jail and he was there for three days before his friends came to the rescue and established his identity.

Church Bells

Went to the temple today and the lady I went through for was from Austria!  Love little miracles like that.  Afterward, I climbed a real mountain. No particular destination, but several trail heads are near our house and I like to hop on and just hike for half an hour up or whatever and then back down.  One of the things I like best about living in Ogden is the beautiful mountains--there is a spot when I walk to work that looks just like a postcard from Austria. Anyway, somewhere in the city is a church with a bell carrillion.  It began to play as I was hiking.  This is something that happens in Europe ALL the time, but I don't hear it here very often.  I think bell music is magical and hiking in the mountains whether in Utah or Austria or anywhere else is magical too.

Yodeling

Today I climbed an imaginary mountain to hear the cowherds yodeling to one another.  They were great--and in my imagination they had even dragged those huge alpen horns up the mountain with them.  If you want to learn how to yodel, you can check out a surprising number of sites on the web. While you get those vocal chords warmed up, here's a very lame joke to entertain you--
Knock Knock
Who's there?
Little old Lady.
Little old lady who?
Hey, I didn't know you could yodel!

Hallstatt

    Today I'm in Hallstadt.  A tiny storybook town on a lake.  It has a population of 1,200 and looks like it came straight out of a Disney fairy tale.  Oddly, this little town was the salt-mining capital of the world about 3,000 years ago.  It was so important that a big chunk of Europe's history is called the Hallstadt period.  (This according to Rick Steve's Europe throughthe back Door)  I absolutely need to come here.  It sounds like it's easy to find a charming bed and breakfast and then you can spend  your days hiking or rowing on the lake and eating terrific food.  You can even tour the world's first salt mine--and you get to dress up in miner's clothes to do it. 
    By the way, the cake from Siegfried's was as fabulous as I had fantasized--a white cake with cream and raspberry filling in the middle and the whole thing smothered in marzipan.  I don't know where Catherine get's her self-control, but her piece is still in the fridge.  She's running a terrific risk by leaving it there.