Where?

Where have I been?

I've been in a magical city.

Many years ago, Tony and I went to Salzburg in December. We've always wanted to go back with our family, and finally, we did. For two nights previously I lay awake thinking of things that could go wrong, and deciding that they probably wouldn't. And they didn't. We all met at the airport as planned, and off we went, Cahooties, Sunshines, Hobbits and us, to the small city that holds to the rocks and dresses itself in thousands of little lights on dark winter evenings. At the storybook hotel, the staff wore traditional costume and the rooms were so cosy with the windows overlooking the city that it was almost a shame to go out. But we did go out, discovering the markets and the ice rink and sipping hot spiced drinks.

There's the Christmas museum and the beautiful display of cribs in the museum in the square, there's the cathedral and the little churches. Intricate, hand made Christmas decoration were on stall after stall. Lady Sunshine had made a point of watching The Sound of Music before we left, so we went to the Mirabell Gardens where Julie Andrews and the children do-re-mi'd their way up and down the steps. We visited the Hellbrun Palace and were there as the sun went down and the lights in the trees grew into life against the sky.

Austria isn't an easy place to be vegetarian, but when Tony and the kids discovered that bacon, ham and sausages are almost compulsory they were in seventh heaven. I compensated by eating my body weight in rye bread and butter, cheese, and apfel strudel. The night after we got back, I dreamed of drinking hot chocolate in the Mozartplatz. Since then, life has been very busy with all sorts of pre-Christmas things, but I still have a Salzburg star in my heart.