It’s been a while since I’ve updated this blog. For those who chose to live inside their self imposed exile inside their caves, a lot has happened. Especially in New York City. There was the New York Comic Con back in early October. Then right before Halloween, there was that bitch called Sandy. As in Hurricane Sandy. If that wasn’t enough, the US had to deal with its presidential elections. Yup. All that good stuff. Hopefully I’ll get to address each event of my blog, one by one. We’ll see.
In the meantime, I’m going to reminiscence a few months back to April 2012. Back when I won my scholarship to study in Austria for a week. When I traveled to the lovely town of Salzburg, I took my manual film camera. Now although digital is much easier to work with, there’s a certain beauty you can only get with film.
Here’s a few examples.
On the grounds of Schloss Leopoldskron in Salzburg, Austria. Taken by Michele Witchipoo, April 2012. Manual black and white film.
During the stay at Schloss Leopoldskron for the Salzburg Global Seminar, the students took a day trip to Munich, Germany. A visit to the Dachau concentration camp. Photo by Michele Witchipoo. April 2012. Manual black and white film.
Another photo from the Dachau concentration camp. April 2012. Manual black and white Kodak film. Photo by Michele Witchipoo.
Last day in Salzburg. The students were given a free day to explore the town. Salzburg is known for a few things. The architecture, for example. It ranges from Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque, Classical modernism and post-war modernism, as well as Contemporary. Mostly it’s where the story of “The Sound of Music” is based. Also the birthplace of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
Here’s a shot of people just walking through the square.
April 2012. Manual black and white Kodak film.
Photo by Michele Witchipoo.
Continuing where I left off with the last post. Also brought during my trip to Austria was these mini milk chocolate bars. I really brought them for the nostalgic novelty.
Austrian milk chocolate candy, complete with old fashioned graphics and retro artwork.Austrian milk chocolate candy with retro wrapping.
In my last post “Rock Me Amadeus” I showed these two photos. Thought I would show up close pics of the wrappings.
Up close of the Austrian mini milk chocolate bars.
Thanks to my In-Design professor, she taught me to pay more attention to graphic details. Actually I’ve always did, but in recent years I was trying to get away from anything mass consumption. She did point out how important it was to keep up with current magazines, design, and she does have a point. So I began to stick my head out of the self-imposed rabbit hole a little more often.
I’m a sucker of yesteryear images. Which is why I brought the chocolates posted above. As they say, ‘as above, so below’ and hence below is another close-up inspection.
Up-close scan of Heidel milk chocolate with retro design. Brought in Austria.
My personal favorite here is the puss in boots illustration.These are from the Heidel brand. Brought from a touristy confection store in the New Town of Salzburg. Heidel has a variety of designs.
Confiserie Heidel Schokoladen Mini Euro.
Similar to chocolates with US dollars images on the wrapper found in the American souvenir shops, there were mini bars displaying the Euro currency design. I didn’t purchase this item.
Since a Billa supermarket was close to where I was staying, I also brought Haribo gummy bears with the German packaging. Besides the German language, there’s a difference with where the gummies are being manufactured. If I can recall, in Austria Haribo bears are made in Germany, while in the US, the bears are made in Turkey. Not too sure on this, but since I threw out the wrapper, I’ll have to go by memory.
Anyway, a little bit of edible memorabilia here.
Oh yeah, now that I’ve finally blogged about Heidel candies, they can now be taken out of the fridge to be eaten. Yum.
Before going to Salzburg back in April, I was told that Austria had some of the best dairy products. That advice did not disappoint. One of the first things I ordered, after settling into my hotel room was a glass of milk. Immediately you could tell the difference between the local Austrian milk, vs. the American factory mas-produced product. For starters, you didn’t taste any sort of chemicals. If there was, I couldn’t tell.
So besides the yogurt and the cheese, I checked out some of the local candy. Chocolate in particular. True, this entry isn’t proving to be very vegan friendly, but hey, when in Austria, right? Although I did refrain from meat products.
Anyway, on one of the last days of my Austrian adventure, I ventured inside this confection store. It more or less catered to the tourist crowd, as tales of Mozart and the Sound of Music danced in their heads. For myself I picked a few marzipan pieces in the shape of bunnies. Then I stumbled upon this:
Austrian milk chocolate candy, complete with old fashioned graphics and retro artwork.
Kinda cute, huh? Here’s another photo…
Austrian milk chocolate candy with retro wrapping.
Of course, the main selling point of Salzburg is having been the birthplace of Mozart. So everywhere you go, you’ll see images of the Amadeus everywhere. Salzburg even has an annual classical musical festival, which I guess probably brings a good amount of revenue into the town. Since the composer is one of the main selling points, you’ll spot Mozart chocolates being hawked all over the place.
Near where I stayed was a small local supermarket chain called Bila. Trying to beat the tourist mark-ups, I brought a whole bunch of these products:
Mirabell Mozart kugeln. As of this blog entry, this is the last one left, reserve for my friend.
Mirabell Mozart kugeln chocolates comes in a variety of shapes and sizes, mostly round chocolate shapes. The ones I brought had a pistachio and chocolate mix, which I was told much about during my trip. My only disappointment was when I turned over the bar package, and discovered that Kraft was the manufacture of these products. Not that I have any against Kraft, but while I was in Austria, I wanted purely Austrian products. I wasn’t looking for anything connected to American companies.
Top lid packaging Reber Mozart Kugel chocolates.
There’s a few brands of Mozart chocolates, and the one I recommend is Reber. Mozart Kugel gourmet chocolates was lovely. With some of the ingredients such as sugar, almonds, cocoa, cocoa butter, whole milk powder, hazelnuts, pistachios, glucose, invertase (natural softener), lecithin (emulsifier), natural and artificial flavors, etc. Oh, and the milk chocolate contains min. 20% milk solids. For the most part it’s natural. Usually I hate getting chocolates as gifts, but maybe for next Valentine’s Day, I might make an exception for this.
Straight from Austria. Reber Mozart chocolates. Highly recommended.
My only regret with these purchases is that I had brought more of the Mirabella Mozart chocolates than the Reber ones.
Just found out that you can order more of these online. So maybe when I become nostalgic for Salzburg, perhaps I’ll just get these.
Two days after my birthday, I left for my first ever trip to Europe. Austria to be exact and it was through a school scholarship. Although it’s been a month since the trip, I’m still processing my week in Austria. That’s probably due to the fact that finals are underway as this semester is winding down.
The purpose of the trip was to attend a seminar about Global Citizenship. I’ll probably make another blog post about what I learned during this trip, when school isn’t so busy. Before the trip though, my friend suggested doing a blog post about Austria when arriving back. In the meantime, here are a few photos from Easter Sunday, from the week of April 7 to April 14th 2012.
For the record I’m not a deeply religious person. Although I did explore a number of faiths, in the end I decided it was better to be spiritual than religious. Actually, no matter what you believe in, or even if you choose not to believe anything at all, in the end it’s better to be a good person. It’s best to live life on your own terms.
On the morning of the snowy Easter Sunday, the visiting students were given the morning off. We had the choice of either heading into the old town, attend Easter Mass, or do whatever. At first I followed most of the group into town. Somehow because I started taking photographs with my manual film camera, suddenly I found myself, by myself. Joining another student who had also been left behind, we walked into town deciding to explore for ourselves.
We found ourselves walking inside one of the oldest churches in the town, St. Peter’s Abbey. The lovely scent of myrrh and frankincense permeated the air as we walked around the church. Normally one doesn’t take photos during mass, out of respect. Yet I knew though I would probably never have an opportunity such as this ever again. So I switched my iPad to silent mode as not to disturb anyone, and snapped these photos.
Despite the snow falling, I didn’t find the weather to be too cold. If anything, it just added to the overall beauty of that day.
At this point, it was starting to feel as if an art history lesson had come to life.
The above is my favorite out of the entire series.
Below are two photos after leaving the church. We didn’t stay for the entire service. Soon it was time to head back to the Schloss Leopoldskron, where we had been staying.
I could’ve manipulated these pics in Photoshop. In the end I decided to let these untouched photographs speak for themselves.
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