Advent - December in Bad Hofgastein
The Emperors really love it but the Kaisers hide!
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| Christmas is coming |
Went to the Kursaal, the local hall, for an Advent concert on Saturday.
It combined some oompah, some choral singing and a little harpsichord and zither music.
We quite enjoyed it, mainly locals were there.
We were among the last to leave and there was a chap waiting at the door who I ushered to go ahead.
Nein, he said, we have a saying in Bad Hofgastein, the gaste sind Kaiser, 'the guests are king'!
We chatted to him and he revealed that actually there was a second part, die gaste sind Kaiser, aber die Einheimischen sind Emperors.
'The guests are kings but the locals are emperors'.
Not sure what that makes us, we are not really guests, and we'll never be locals, just lucky I suppose.
It set me thinking that even though its a tourist spot, it still has a very active community and the infrastructure the locals can take advantage of is fantastic for a small village.
Apart form the mountain based activities there is a superb swimming pool complex, free ice skating, indoor tennis courts etc.
You also get the impression that a lot of the social activities, like harvest festival parties and concerts are not put on for the tourists, they make sure they do it for their own enjoyment and, hey, if it brings in the Euros so much the better.
Krampus is a bit of a hoot, he is one of St. Nicholas helpers. He wears a fearsome mask and where St Nick is the good guy, on which on which our Santa Claus is based, Krampus doesn't give presents! His purpose seems to be to frighten the living daylights out of naughty children and a few adults as well!
So, if you are in Austria during the first week of December and you are chased down the road by a fearsome monster wielding a stick, it's not the wife, and you will most probably deserve it. It combined some oompah, some choral singing and a little harpsichord and zither music.
We quite enjoyed it, mainly locals were there.
We were among the last to leave and there was a chap waiting at the door who I ushered to go ahead.
Nein, he said, we have a saying in Bad Hofgastein, the gaste sind Kaiser, 'the guests are king'!
We chatted to him and he revealed that actually there was a second part, die gaste sind Kaiser, aber die Einheimischen sind Emperors.
'The guests are kings but the locals are emperors'.
Not sure what that makes us, we are not really guests, and we'll never be locals, just lucky I suppose.
It set me thinking that even though its a tourist spot, it still has a very active community and the infrastructure the locals can take advantage of is fantastic for a small village.
Apart form the mountain based activities there is a superb swimming pool complex, free ice skating, indoor tennis courts etc.
You also get the impression that a lot of the social activities, like harvest festival parties and concerts are not put on for the tourists, they make sure they do it for their own enjoyment and, hey, if it brings in the Euros so much the better.
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| Krampus |
The Emperors really love it but the Kaisers hide!
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