Pinch of Salzburg holiday spirit

“All the towns look like scenes from Christmas cards,” writes San Diego reader Joanne R. Gribble, who marveled at the crafts artisans, bakers and candy makers who filled Austrian holiday markets a year ago.

Near the cathedral in Salzburg, she took this photo of a street performer clowning around with children on a field trip.

The mime “had lured one of those schoolkids close enough for a double ear-pinch,” Gribble says. “It’s hard to tell if the boy’s face is showing pleasure or pain. I couldn’t tell either from the yelp he let out.”