55. Claudia from Salzburg

Excerpts from a letter Claudia wrote to her family on Saturday, February 6, 1971, from Salzburg, Austria. It was her 20th birthday.

Liebe Mutti, Vatti, David und Gunther

Jetzt bin ich hier in Salzburg und ich kann es noch nicht glauben! Salzburg is really a beautiful city! I love it! We’re surrounded by mountains and we even have two castles! Right now there’s snow on the ground and it’s just like a fairy tale! (We had snow Wednesday afternoon and it kept right on snowing until Thursday morning so the snow is really hanging heavy on the trees—it’s so joyful!)

Classes start Monday and i’m really looking forward to them—I think they’re going to be awfully interesting and jolly!

Yesterday Brother Nestlinger took us on a tour of the city—he’s the cutest little old man. He met us at the train station too (he meets the BYU kids and all the new missionaries when they come) and he always wears the joyful little outfits you picture an Austrian man would wear—right down to the hats with the feathers and stuff in them! He took us all over and there’s so much to see here, so much history—buildings built anytime from about the 1890s on are considered new (any building that isn’t over 100 years old is young). We even saw Sound of Music places where it was filmed!!

Thursday evening we went to Relief Society and that was neat! I could understand quite a bit; but that didn’t matter even so because even if you couldn’t, you could have felt their spirit there. These are extraordinary women. It would really be a test to your testimony to live where there are so few of you and where you’re challenged all the time.

Salzburg is a beautiful place and I like it quite a bit better than Paris, although I really had a joyful time there! The German food is delicious!!

Oh, I haven’t told you about my room yet—it’s really cute and fun! It’s just little—two beds, a sink, and a wooden closet that’s for both of us. The neatest part of the whole room is the little part that juts out and is part of the gable (we’re on the third floor, the very top)—we have a little desk and chair there with a window that looks out onto Salzburg and the mountains—i’m writing from there now—it’s my favorite part of the room, but the whole thing is just the coziest, most joyful thing ever!!!