| AUSTRIAThe world's best music festivals. The | | | | slew their hero, Siegfried and threw their |
| world's biggest and most famous music | | | | treasure into the river. A huge statue of |
| festival is the Salzburg Festival. Other | | | | Hagen commemorates the story. The town was |
| important Austrian melomaniac delights | | | | destroyed in A.D. 436 by Attila the Hun. In |
| include the Haydn Festival in Vienna and the | | | | the center of the town's old section is the |
| International Chamber Music Festival. | | | | tall, spired Cathedral of Saints Peter and |
| Tickets to the festivals are cheapest if you | | | | Paul, built in the 11th and 12th centuries. |
| buy them in Austria. "Tickets for Events in | | | | Worms has a huge statue of Martin Luther; the |
| Austria" is an information sheet which is | | | | oldest synagogue in Germany, built in the |
| available from Austrian National Tourist | | | | 11th century and restored in 1961; and the |
| Office, tel. (212)944-6880; website: | | | | oldest and largest Jewish cemetery in Europe. |
| world's best horsemanship. The 400-year-old | | | | Tombstones date from the 11th |
| Spanish Riding School, located in the | | | | century.Hitler's favorite hideout. The |
| Hofburg, trains the noble white stallions | | | | Kehlsteinhouse (also known as Eagle's Nest), |
| that descend from the Spanish horses imported | | | | perched on a rocky crag above the town of |
| to Austria by Emperor Maximilian II in the | | | | Berchtesgaden, was Hitler's favorite hideout. |
| 16th century. The horses dance to Viennese | | | | No wonder-the view from the |
| music, guided by expert riders wearing the | | | | hideaway-turned-restaurant is exhilarating. |
| traditional gold-buttoned brown uniform and | | | | Anyone could develop delusions of grandeur |
| gold-braided black hat. Performances are | | | | here. Alpine peaks rise above cottony clouds |
| held at the school most Sunday mornings at | | | | at this level. The snow at their summits |
| 10:45 a.m. and occasional Wednesday nights | | | | glistens in the sun. Below, a thick carpet |
| at 7 p.m. from March to June and September | | | | of dark green pines stretches toward the |
| to December. It's difficult to get tickets; | | | | valley. The road to Eagle's Nest is so steep |
| write six months in advance to the Spanische | | | | and dangerous that cars are not allowed to |
| Reitschule, Hofburg, A-1010 Vienna, Austria; | | | | use it; you must take a special bus from the |
| tel. (43)1-533-9031.The most romantic hotel. | | | | Obersalzberg-Hintereck parking lot. You can |
| Less than an hour from Vienna, the Schloss | | | | dine in the restaurant from mid-May through |
| Durnstein, tel. (43)2-711-212, presides over | | | | mid-October.The world's best passion play. |
| a wide curve of the Danube River. Located | | | | Every 10 years, the world's most moving |
| deep in the wine district of Wachsu, this | | | | passion play is performed in the shadows of |
| magnificent castle is surrounded by | | | | the Alps in the little artisan town of |
| distinctive vine-clad hills, age-old ruins | | | | Oberammergau. From May through September in |
| and timeless picturesque villages with | | | | years ending in zero, local amateur actors |
| one-lane streets. According to the legend, | | | | put aside their daily professions and devote |
| it was here that the imprisoned King Richard | | | | themselves entirely to the play. Written in |
| the Lionhearted was reunited with his | | | | the 17th century, it enacts Christ's |
| faithful minstrel, who had sung his way | | | | suffering between the Last Supper and his |
| across Europe searching for his master. Also | | | | death. Villagers have performed the play |
| intriguing is the wine cellar (which can | | | | every 10 years since the 17th century, when |
| accommodate 8,000 "buckets" of wine), the | | | | they vowed they would perform the passion if |
| arch-crossed cobbled courtyard and the 33 | | | | the black plague ceased. It did and they |
| rooms all with chandeliers fronting the | | | | have. The picturesque Passionsspielhaus |
| Danube.GERMANYHeidelberg, the most romantic | | | | (Passion play Theater) can be visited any |
| town. Heidelberg is the hub of German | | | | time of the year. The immense open-air stage |
| Romanticism. Schumann began his career as a | | | | holds 700 actors and the theater's wooden |
| Romantic composer in this pretty town and | | | | benches hold 5,200 people. You can see the |
| Goethe fell in love here. Heidelberg is also | | | | elaborate costumes used during the passion |
| the oldest university town in Germany and the | | | | play when you visit. Performances begin at |
| site of scenes from the movie and opera The | | | | 8:30 a.m. and finish at 6 p.m., with a |
| Student Prince. The best place to ramble in | | | | two-hour break for lunch. The best hotel |
| Heidelberg is the Haupstrasse, which is lined | | | | Oberammergau is the Alois Lang. This quiet |
| with coffeehouses and little shops. Have a | | | | place has rooms with private bathrooms and |
| drink in one of the cafes beneath the | | | | three good dining rooms.The world's best |
| rathaus. Or meander along Philosopher's | | | | asparagus. Every spring, Germans go |
| Walk, where Goethe and Hegel wandered. From | | | | stalk-raving mad, gorging themselves on the |
| the path you'll have a bird's-eye view of the | | | | country's Weisser Spargel, or white |
| city and Heidelberg Castle. Don't leave town | | | | asparagus. The German asparagus, introduced |
| without visiting the Electoral Palatinate | | | | 2,000 years ago by the Romans, is plump and |
| Museum, where the 500,000-year-old jawbone of | | | | ivory white with delicate purple tips. It is |
| Heidelberg Man is kept.Germany's best fish | | | | prized among epicures, who come from around |
| market. The best fish market in Germany is | | | | the world every April, May and June to the |
| held on Sunday mornings in Hamburg. This | | | | world's asparagus mecca. Asparagus is |
| raucous but fun affair is located by the | | | | especially big business in Finthen, near |
| docks in Altona and begins at 5 a.m.Worms: | | | | Mainz, where all 5,000 inhabitants are |
| the strangest history. The city of Worms has | | | | engaged in the cultivation of the white |
| a strange name and an even stranger history. | | | | vegetable; in Lampertheim, between Worms and |
| It was named for a legendary giant worm with | | | | Mannheim, where every housewife grows the |
| fangs and webbed feet that lived in the Rhine | | | | prized vegetable in her back yard; in |
| and demanded human sacrifices. Worms was the | | | | Schrobenhausen, the center of the only area |
| fifth-century capital of the legendary | | | | in southern Bavaria where asparagus is grown; |
| Nibelungs. The tribe left the area, | | | | and in Tettnang and Schwetzingen, known |
| according to legend, after the wicked Hagen | | | | together as the asparagus capital of Germany. |