Down Alpenstrasse, just outside of Salzburg in the town of Anif is a palace. It is surrounded by high walls and a tall serpentine hedge, and you can only glimpse at the palace tower in the winter when the leaves have fallen from the trees. Unlike many historical palaces, Schloß Anif is privately owned - someone actually lives there. Once a year, however, the Lions Club Anif hosts Turmblasen (literally meaning tower music, but in actuality seeming to mean music in the dark, especially at Christmas-type events) and the palace gate is opened up to the public. The castle is an incredible Gothic building set in the middle of a pond with only one bridge leading to it. A band was playing hymns from a candle-lit balcony in the palace, the music floating across the water to us mere mortals on the other side. The path around the pond was lit by flickering candles, and people lined it, drinking hot punch or Gluhwein and listening to the music. If you were there for some big sightseeing trip, there was little for you. But if you were able to just look and listen and absorb the candle light and the ancient palace with the moon shining brightly on the left side and the Untersberg towering in the background on the right, it was all pretty mystical and amazing.
