Salzburg is a splendid town, rolling in and out of the hills that dance about the Salzer River. In the town center sits a fortress topped with many castles. Below that hill Salzburg’s fairyland cathedral stretches its bulging roccoco arms this way and that to offer its praise to the Lord.

I lived in Salzburg a few weeks one summer, studying German at the University. I loved to walk through the town, its narrow streets leading me up secret alleys to hidden surprises. Up one street stood Mozart’s birthplace, down another a rosy-cheeked Austrian girl sold milk from a street cart. I was one of her most frequent and steady customers.

In the afternoons our professors guided us through the villages and palaces in the countryside. In the evening I learned German by walking all over the city with…