Silent Night and Gorgeous Countryside

December 23, 2011

Obendorf, Austria

   After getting up early and stowing our packed bags in a locker at the train station, Kalifa and I bought two round trip tickets to Obendorf, a little village 17 km north of Salzburg, where the song "Silent Night" was composed and first performed.

   We had a little trouble finding the little local train, but an English-speaking lady kindly helped us figure it out. It was a slow thing with a bunch of excited 12 year olds on board, but the view of the snowy fields was gorgeous. When we disembarked 45 minutes later in Obendorf, we barely walked three steps before the same sweet lady came running over and asked us where we were going. When we answered that we were going to the Silent Night chapel, she immediately declared that she would show us the way. She started telling us the history of the village and the famous hymn, and continued answering our questions for about 15 minutes until we arrived at the bakery she needed to stop at. She told us to go straight and turn left at a certain street, and bid us farewell.

   That was one thing I loved about Austria; everybody was so nice. They were reserved enough that they wouldn't usually interrupt us and offer help, but the instant we asked, they were extremely friendly and helpful.

   When we arrived, the same group of 12 year olds was running around and peeking in the chapel, so we opted to go to the museum first. After paying a few euros to the smiling lady in the gift shop, we climbed the creaky wooden chairs to the top level. It was a small little place with only German captions and displays, but we still got an idea of what we were looking at. "This must be Joseph Mohr's dining room table (the writer of the hymn).... And that must be Franz Gruber's piano (song composer)."
   There were also a few interesting contraptions we couldn't quite decipher.

This was one of the things I couldn't quite figure out, but from looking at the pictures and a few familiar words in the description, it was some kind of medical contraption...

Aren't you glad you don't have to lug this guy around on your family vacations?

There were a few Christmas market stalls in front of the museum,. In this woodwork stall, the owner had everything he used to make his crafts right in the tiny place with him!

Just look at those tiny little mushrooms!

Afterwards, we went to the chapel. It was tiny, with just about 6 or 7 pews, and had pictures and history plaques on the walls. It was a sweet little place, but we wished we could have understood more of what we were looking at.

Check out my new boots!

  It was still early, so we decided to go walk around. We climbed up to the dike behind the museum, and were rewarded with a lovely view of a river encircled part of the village. We walked along the dike, then ran into a tall staircase that went up the hill and ended at a shrine of the Crucifixion. We decided to climb up there too, and found ourselves up in the open fields above the cities, dotted with just a few houses.

   It was gorgeous up there! The fields were rolling and green and the woods in the distance were so picturesque. After about 10 minutes of walking, we could make out a church at the far end of the road, painted yellow with the bulbous green spires pointing skywards. When we finally got there, we walked around it, before I decided just to test the door handle. To our surprise, it was unlocked! We heaved the heavy wood door open and slipped inside. It was completely empty and much smaller than any churches we had seen, but still very ornate. I couldn't help but wonder at the fact that this church could even exist, close to only about 5 households that could easily go to church in the village.

   We returned back to the train station and made our way back to Linz by the evening. It was nice to be back in a slightly more familiar place!

    I have to say, that day in Obendorf was one of my favorite days in Europe. It doesn't seem like much, but finding gorgeous, unpublished places on accident is one of the funnest parts of traveling. We didn't follow a guidebook's list of the Top 10 Places to visit or book a tour; we just found ourselves in a gorgeous, remote, local place. This was one of the times when I couldn't help but stop and marvel at what I was getting to do.