In an earlier post (The Salzach River at Salzburg) I lamented that I had not taken any photos of the love locks on the railings of the pedestrian bridge across the River Salzach.
Well, maybe not – but I found something among the photos…
Here’s the river – new town on the north side to the left, old town on the south side to the right. But peer closely and there is the ‘love locks’ pedestrian bridge at the bottom left of the photo.
Beyond the big green bump of a hill in the middle ground is the Villa Trapp, where the Von Trapp family lived before they left for Italy to escape the nazis.
And nearer in the foreground on the northern bank is the house where Mozart lived for a number of years before moving to Vienna. You can visit it.
We did and it is wonderfully interesting, not least for the collection of pre-pianos (I think I just invented that word).
Tamara especially was in heaven, being a huge fan of Mozart. She bought some CDs of musicians playing the instruments of the period.
One CD we have been listening to – on ‘pre-piano’ and violin – is terrific. There is a strain in the music – is it slightly darker, with a minor sound – that is somehow missing from modern instruments. Well, not missing, but different.
The Old City on the South Bank Of the River
Here is a view from the north side, looking towards the old town on the south side, with the castle on the hill – actually the biggest fortress in Europe. Should you ever go there, note that the funicular takes you to the top of hill but not to the fortress.
To get to that you have to walk up a series of steep, steep paths. Enjoy!
On one of the main streets in the old town is the house where Mozart was born. We visited it and it was especially nice for Tamara (did I mention she is a big Mozart fan, already…) and for me.
We looked out of one of the upper windows at one point and imagined what it must have been like it those days.
We also visited Mozart’s house in Vienna, but that’s another story.
But the real interest for the purpose of this post is the bridge! The love locks bridge – getting a bit closer to being able to show a photo of it.
Closer To The Love Locks
And here is the nearest I can get to it, a crop from the photo above – and I think you can see that it is a brass/bronze colour – and that is the colour caused by the density of all those love locks.
Mission accomplished!
Will It Collapse?
With all those bits of hardened steel locked onto the bridge you can see why I wondered whether the locks might bring the bridge down, simply cause it to collapse under the weight.
The Sound Of Music Tour
If you want to visit the Villa Trapp, where the Von Trapp family lived before they left for Italy to escape the nazis, and see all the other things associated with The Sound Of Music, then perhaps the tour is just the thing. I cannot comment because we did not take the tour.
But we did take the all-day tour around the lakes and mountains in the Alps south of Salzburg. And because it was hop-on-hop-off, we were able to hop off at a couple of places and then catch the bus onward.
Here’s an iPhone photo of the clear waters of the Fuschl am See in the village of Sankt Gilgen. It felt positively privileged to the sitting there sipping coffee.
Photograph Works 
I had forgotten about Love locks! After some searching, I found my locks photos from Pecs in Hungary! Thanks for the reminder!
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Sweet overview, David, thanks for the lovely memories — with the indescribable Mozart included therein, but of course! Ahhh, yes, I was in heaven… A special thanks for mentioning my hero!! 🎵👏🏻
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But of course. And to you for the concerts and an opportunity to hear his music played right in front of us and to get deep into its complexity and rewards.
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Ah, yes, David how rewarding for moi that you now appreciate Mozart’s marvellous music all the more because of what we heard there.
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Wow, that’s a lot of locks! The photos are wonderful, even though the weather was apparently a bit cloudy. I wonder what’s the idea behind these love locks. Why locks? Well, okay, maybe to symbolise wedlock or what. But why bridges? Well, maybe it’s convenient, but still. Looks a bit like pestilence. Though I guess it’s slightly better than carving one’s initials in trees.
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Why locks? Good question. A bit like marriage vows.
I imagine Freud would see them as defiance in the face of obliteration. Jung would see them as the wonderful rise of something greater than death that symbolises the unquenchable human spirit, an engineer would see them as testament to mass-produced precision engineering, and the man selling locks at the end of the bridge would be on holiday somewhere where the sun was shining.
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I’m with Freud. When I’m in a good mood, which is almost never, I’m with Jung. And mostly, I’m with myself and don’t litter any locks anywhere…
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I loved Austria when I visited some time back, sadly we didn’t get around to visiting Salzburg, as we stayed at Mayrhofen the Ski resort. Must go back one of these days.
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Salzburg is living on in my memory, which is a good test for me of how much I like a place or how much of an impression it made on me.
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That’s nice to know and there are one or two places like that for me.
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How beautiful! Why did I think the bridge with locks on it was in Paris? Or is that a different one? I’m sure I read somewhere of a bridge that really was threatening to collapse under the weight of all that love.
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I don’t know for sure, but my guess is that there is a bridge of locks in Paris as well. I have seen them in Florence and London.
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In any case… It’s been a while since I checked in with you (or anyone). Your pictures just make me smile.
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Thank you – nice to hear. 😊
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