I thought that in Salzburg, one would be able to easily find a garden gnome. This was definitely not the case.

I guess I was a bit mixed up about my shopping expectations. I thought I would need to try on hundreds of dirndls to find the right one, and it took only one dress in one store. I also thought that I would be able to easily find a couple garden gnomes at the home improvement stores, and again, I was wrong.

I thought they would be easy finds because I had seen them in so many windows and yards during my year in Salzburg. I even found this wonderful postcard of gnomes in Berlin. These people have to buy them somewhere, but I am not sure where that is.

This quest began with one new garden gnome already in my possession, thanks to a wonderful surprise from Laura. Named Wilhelm, he’s white porcelain with a red hat.

Our first stop was the new Bauhaus near the mall. This was a major fail with no lawn ornaments to be found. Next, we went to bauMax, which had a selection of decorations, but again, no gnomes.

On our way to the mall, Laura spied a blue-hatted gnome at a flea market in the Altstadt. I didn’t think we needed to stop because I was so confident about finding a gnome, but since we were running out of stores, we headed there and found not one, but two gnomes for sale. I rushed up to the table to inspect them, and then I know a look of dejection crossed my face. These were the most hideous and dirty gnomes I had ever seen. I would have had to wash them and sanitize them before I could have packed them in my suitcase. Sadly, I did not buy them.

We continued our hunt, stopping at the floral stores in the tunnels underneath the apartments between Getreidegasse and Universitätsplatz, again to no avail.

I finally gave up. Laura gave up too. It was not that big of a deal because I knew when I returned to the states, I could buy more here. And Laura did find Wilhelm for me.

We started meandering through the Altstadt to walk up to Nonnberg Abbey. We were just about to start the incline up the hill when Laura called my name from behind me.

She found more gnomes.

There were brushed silver and red, foot-tall gnomes at one of the tourist stands. This wasn’t the gnome I had in mind, but Jacques, as I’ve decided to call him, is just perfect.

Although the search was long, in the end, it made a good story and I still came home with some Austrian gnomes, and that’s all I asked for.

And finally, a picture of my gnome friends:

Jacques, Wilhelm, Cedric and Karl