Week Four: Switzerland and Lichtenstein
In Vaduz, Liechtenstein, the report: “terrible food—Wienerschnitzel without the wiener—and Mr. Malfatti complains to the German cook that the food is greasy and bland. What he actually said (in Italian)—in what was called the Great Italian Kitchen Debate—was that, roughly translated, ‘the Italians would not feed such slop to pigs.’ Cheers for Mr. M., until the next morning when we were served with a goulash so spicy that one waiter, besieged with requests for water, cried out, ‘I am not a fire pump.’”
There are no photographs of Lichtenstein in the 1972 tour album, nor are there any other accounts of the choirs' experiences in that country.
However, the concert in Salzburg was not the only one where the choirs were forced to improvise, as they had another bizarre church experience in Bellinzona, Switzerland. Thorkilsen's account is worth quoting in full:
“Another unusual concert situation here, this time because of a split between some townspeople and the church. About fifteen years back, a corrupt priest had made many people vow that they would never step inside the church again. Now there was a new priest but many of the people old enough to remember the corrupt one still refused to attend the church. So we had to give what was called the ‘Inside-Outside-Inside-Outside Concert’—alternately moving from the altar to the front steps to perform for the two different groups assembled.”
Unfortunately, there are no pictures of this concert in the album. The sole photograph taken in Switzerland, which was placed (likely in error) on a page with photographs taken in Innsbruck and Stams, Austria, is pictured below.
