MY TRAVEL DIARY
How We Remember Places
The Nonnberg Abbey in Salzburg is famous. It is the oldest continuously existing nunnery in the German-speaking world since 714 AD. It is also the abbey in the film The Sound of Music.
I took my partner Ziko there when we visited Salzburg. Mainly because I love the movie. We spent an afternoon there, spellbound by its baroque interiors.
We met a cheerful nun at the gate when we were leaving. An older lady, making her way in a wheelchair. Ziko opened the gate for her and received the most joyful, kindest smile.
The other day I was trying to remind him of the Abbey. Nothing could trigger his memory.
“We met that nun there.”
“The smiling lady?”
Immediately, Ziko remembered the Nonnberg Abbey.
It’s not locations that make places special. It is the people.
