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