Today, I want to show you the view I had from my hotel room in Salzburg, Austria, on Wednesday morning. Don't ask me the name of the mountain - Salzburg is surrounded by similarly dramatic and beautiful formations on all sides, but I am not very good at the geography of the place, I'm afraid.
Salzburg was a business trip; the biggest fair for the gastronomical and hotel industry was held there, and since I provide the point of sale hardware everyone who runs a hotel or restaurant, pub, coffee bar, night club etc. needs, and several of my customers were exhibiting at the fair, I took the train to Austria on Tuesday afternoon and spent Wednesday at the fair.
My hotel room was nice, surprisingly spacious, very clean and I liked the striped curtains (while I do not have any curtains anywhere in my home, I do like them in other people's places).
Something about the rug in my room struck me as odd, and then I realized what it was: among the usual camels, hyenas, llamas and other desert motifs, there was what can only represent a Rubik's cube - see for yourself! Do you remember them from the 1980s?
A cross on the wall is something you'll only find in Bavarian or Austrian hotel rooms (Italy and Spain, too, I guess); I don't think I have seen one anywhere else, and I have seen my fair share of hotel rooms in various parts of Germany.
As mentioned, the fair is all about what people in a restaurant or hotel could ever possibly need, from hair dryers to table cloths to huge industrial dishwashers to scents for the air condition to special pillows for people with back problems to the aprons waiters wear to china and cutlery to hotel room keys and security systems to napkins to lighting to steam cookers to furniture to cakes and meats and pasta and sauces and and and... the list is long, the halls were large and brimming with people and booths, and I had a good time. Anytime I felt a bit hungry, I simply went to one of the stalls where some cooking show or other was going on, patiently listened and watched through the presentation and then had a sample of what they had just made, from burgers to ice cream, it was all there. And of course there were the manufacturers of coffee machines and the companies who roast and sell coffee beans and other coffee products - so, no shortage of that all day, either!
How interesting! it's no doubt just as tempting for hotel and restaurant owners as we feel when ww go to an ideal home show. Now, I am posting the same comment here as you posted on my blog "I love trade fairs"! They represent a kind of ideal life. I wonder who they think will buy their huge stag!
ReplyDeleteWhat a stunning window view - it looks like a painting.
Why don't you have curtains at home? Actually we decided to only have Venetian blinds in one room and it looks to me rather incomplete - but then our house is Victorian and so the windows were designed for curtains. Maybe I will get used to it:)
Sounds like one of the better fairs to be involved in - from the yummy food point of view.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if the Rubik's cube inventor got the idea from an Egyptian motif or vice versa?
Librarian,
ReplyDeleteLucky you, to wake up to that magificent view!
Salzburg has a special place in my heart since that is where they filmed "The Sound Of Music"!
Hey, you might have stumbled upon exactly where the inventor got his idea.
I really like that big stag! I am always so grateful to see deer depicted as living, you see. (Huge deer hunting area here.)
Jenny, the stag was just one of many examples of Christmas and other lighting they showed, and I am sure they have plenty of customers; if you look at non-residential buildings here in Germany (and I am sure elsewhere, too), they get more elaborate each year with their decoration.
ReplyDeleteI have no curtains because I like wide open spaces and plain walls. Curtains tend to make a room smaller, sometimes even a bit stuffy - plus they need to be taken down, washed and taken up again periodically, and I am too lazy for that :-)
Scriptor, it was very interesting to see what the companies see as trendsetting for hotels and restaurants.
Kay, The Sound of Music is based on the real life story of the Trapp family, so, actually, nobody had to invent it - all they did was to embellish it when they adapted it for stage play :-)
Oh, how interesting! Salzburg is one of those place I have wanted to visit, but have never been. Were you able to do any sight seeing while you were there? I bet it was pretty cold already...
ReplyDeleteAnd the conference sounds very interesting. I would have loved all the food that was being offered... :-)
Hope you are doing well!! Hugs, Silke
Silke, funnily enough, it was a lot warmer there than in my area (near Stuttgart), almost spring-like with people walking about in just jumpers instead of heavy coats.
ReplyDeleteNo time for sightseeing, since I arrived late in the evening and then spent the next day working at the fair until it was time to get back to the station and on the train home.
Librarian,
ReplyDeleteOh, of course I know all about the Von Trapp Family! I meant the inventor of the Rubick's cube! (Yes, I know I left that out!)
I read a very good biograpy of Maria VonTrapp, she was truly an amazing woman, she and her family moved to America, and opened up a beautiful small hotel in Vermont.
Kay, thank you for explaining what I did not understand properly in your comment :-)
ReplyDeleteI love the mountain. But then I just love mountains. The stag is so proud in its stance. So much better than the one in Glasgow's Buchanan Street. I'll post a picture in Eagleton Notes.
ReplyDeleteThank you, GB, I have just found the Glasgow stag and left a comment.
ReplyDeleteYes, the view of that mountain in the morning sun was fantastic and simply had to be photographed.
Great sunrise...
ReplyDeletePierre
Hello Pierre, thank you for stopping at my blog and leaving this kind comment. I am going to have a log at your blog in a minute.
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