Maria Alm's church, with the tallest spire in Salzburgerland, dominates the skyline and almost every aspect of village life. The bells chime every quarter hour all through the day until 11.00pm and then generously let us lie in until 6.00am when we are woken daily by a vigorous peal. The church is obviously concerned about the spiritual well-being of local catering staff who are busy serving breakfast on a Sunday morning and dinner at evening mass. But there's no excuse and no escape when all the chefs, bartenders, waiters and waitresses are rounded up, still in uniform, and marched off to church at 10.45pm to celebrate the feast day of St Lawrence, their patron saint. He was martyred, in 258, by being slowly burned on a grid iron; apparently he told his torturers "Turn me over for I am cooked on this side".
