Salzburg: Amadeus 🇦🇹

When we told the kids we were heading to Salzburg to visit Mozart's Residence and Geburtshaus (birth house) and the kid's responded: "Is that where the chocolate Mozart balls are made?" We knew we had a parenting fail. On a previous trip to Austria we discovered Mozartkugel (Mozart balls), a yummy chocolate treat filled with nougat and a pistachio marizpan center. They were created in honor of Mozart about 100 years after his death by Paul Fust who unfortunately did not apply for a patent, leading to multiple legal disputes with other bakery shops as the treats increased in popularity. They are quite popular with us and we will withhold the number of bags of Mozart Balls we've consumed!

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, born in Salzburg, was a musical prodigy who composed more than 800 works in his short lifetime. If his sheets of music were laid out it would be almost 5 miles long. Mozart was taught music at an early age by his father (also a musician) and came to compose his first piece at the age of 5. He traveled during his early years playing for European royalty. During his travels in Rome, he was said to have transcribed an unauthorised copy of Allegri's Miserere, a highly guarded piece of the Vatican, just by ear.

Mozart was described to have a crude sense of humor and despite his prolific and popular works his eccentric and extravagant lifestyle often found him in debt. However he began to turn his life around in 1791 and composed some of his most famous pieces including The Magic Flute and his unfinished Requiem. Unfortunately he became unwell and died at the age of 35. While there is much speculation over the cause of his death, it remains unknown to date. Based on his symptoms some believe it could have been acute rheumatic fever, influenza, mercury poisoning, or liver/kidney ailment. Interestingly, his lifelong rival, Antonio Salieri claimed to have poisoned Mozart, but this was never verified and thought to have been false.