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Published: December 9th 2008
Poland
They stole my ipod after the 3rd hour of the train ride.Greetings all!
I am writing on the afternoon following my arrival from the beautiful, though small, Italian city of Salzburg. Now I know you're probably a little confused by this statement and thinking that Salzburg is in Austria nearly on the borders with Deutschland and Frankreich, and you'd be right in assuming so, but, I must tell you, it might as well be Italian. I don't think I've ever seen more Italians in my life, and I spent a week in Italy with Hillary. The entire city was flooded with Italians, and people would talk to us first in Italian and get offended if we responded in German. I had to step to the forefront on a few occassions as SuperDork and whip out my Italian capabilities and explain to the lovely yet frazzled ladies that yes, it really did cost that much, and no, I didn't know why and I'm sorry, but they can contact someone in Salzburg to complain about because I was a student from the other end of Austria and just as annoyed as they were. Anyways, more on that later.
Saturday morning came bright and early, when we woke up at 7:45 to be
Bored
Are we there yeeeeeeet? at the train station for 8:50. Libor and I were ready at 8:20 , and we had a very unpleasant Thomas barking at us that, "The train doesn't leave until 9:30" and we were "rushing him for no reason." We reminded me that we'd been yelled at by 4 different French people that we had to be there at 8:50 or we were late. We finally got him to leave the apartment and we arrived at 8:50 on the dot with a very unhappy Frenchman in tow. After waiting until 9:26 for a 9:30 train for all the Frenchies to get there since God forbid they ever be on time, we were underway! On the trip was : Matthew, USA; Libor, Czech Republic; Martyna, Poland; Agata, Poland; Diana, Italy; Thomas, France; Nicolas, France; Claire, France; Anouck, France; Justine, France; Mylène, France; Claire #2, France; Kitri, France; Mai, Belgium ; Markus, Germany; Markus #2, Germany. In other words, there were 15 people, 9 of whom were French, 10 of whom were Francophone. Needless to say, the Polands, the CR, and I were at our wit's
From the Train
We were excited for snow. end by last night. It's not that they're not nice, they're all nice enough, but it's frustrating because they can all speak German and don't. They come to group decisions with each other and don't tell us what's going on, so we end up following and having to ask and it gets a little old. Of course, it's natural to speak in your mothertongue with someone who has the same mothertongue, but then they would get a little offended when we'd ask them to speak in German with us. Needless to say, Libor, Martyna, Agata and I all had an unspoken agreement that we were having our own weekend.
We got into Salzburg at about 12:45, but we couldn't check into our hostel until 4. We then split up into groups, and said 3 and I headed out to explore the city a bit. We just wandered around, which didn't take too long since it's not exactly a huge city, and took it all in. We visited the cathedral of the city and wandered through the Christmas Markets. We stopped at one point to try to decided which direction we wanted to go in and how much time we
From the Train
Snow and some Alps. had until we had to all meet up to check in, and I just happened to look at the building we were standing next to. I started cracking up and told the others to look, too, at the bright yellow building proudly proclaiming MOZARTS GEBURTSHAUS. Mozart's Birth-House. We all got quite a kick out of that, and then went on our merry-way laughing that we were in the city of Mozart . We met back at the hostel at 4, which was actually somehow connected to a religious order or one of the churches in Salzburg , and settled into our rooms. The guys were in one room, and the ladies in another on the floor above us. At 5, we headed out into the Platz right next to our place, as it was December 6th and thus St. Nicholas' Day. In other words, the Krampusse returned! December 6th is the real day St. Nicholas rolls into town, and there were only a few of us in the Platz, so needless to say, we got quite harrassed and all dropped some fruit in our looms. These Krampusse were actually a bit more
Changing Trains
We had a few minute wait in Bischofshofen, and I snapped this picture. Can you find the mountain? violent than in Graz, as well, but that was probably because we were all a little bit older than the normal Krampusse-audience. In the midst of the chaos, Mai was chased, Agata and I were pinned to a wall, Libor took a blow to the stomach, and Martyna was thrown to the ground. It was pretty crazy, but a lot of fun! Nicholas of course made his appearance and saved the day, so that was good. From there, the Slavs and I set out on the quest for food! We were all starving, as we'd only eaten the food we'd brought on the train, and needed some good old fashioned food. We stumbled upon an Italian restaurant a few spots down from Mozarts Geburtshaus, and headed in. It was a bit chilly in the city of salt , and so it was nice to sit inside and eat something warm. After that, we tested our luck and climbed up to the Fortress of Salzburg. It's an absolutely massive
Alps!
From the train. Yea yea, you can see my hands and camera lens. castle complex first recorded at some point in the 1000s
and sits on top of a ginormous mountain in the heart of Salzburg. From the top, you can see the entire city and the surrounding valley, all walled in by none other than the Alps . We didn't know it then, but we were lucky because the gate was open, so we headed up and wandered around a little bit. We wandered through a Christmas market , and then discovered the look-out point for the medieval guards. From there, we overlooked the entire city, all lit up for night! It was awesome and once again filled us all , with that feeling of God-I-Love-Living-In-Europe . We hung out there for a while, just taking it all in, and then headed back down to the center of the city. There, in the Platz in front of the cathedral, we hung out at the Christmas market and drank a glass of Glühwein. We all already have our glasses from From the Train
I like the Alps. Graz, and now we've added Salzburg to that collection. Libor and I are also going to get one in Vienna when we head up there next week. We ran into some of the others there, and headed back to the hostel to regroup. We then ended up going to one of the city's bar for a Latin party under the notion that there was going to be a live band, which there unfortunately was not. It was a pretty small place, half with dance floor half with tables. We hung out there and danced and relaxed until...one of the workers came on the microphone and thanked everyone for celebrating St. Nicholas' Day with them and that in honor of the occassion, they had a surprise for everyone and we were all going to get a present for the day.
And then we heard the bells.
And then the Krampusse arrived.
After being terrorized for a bit by the Krampusse and receiving a piece of candy from St. Nick, we decided to call it quits and head back to the hostel for the night. Overall, not a bad start to the weekend in Salzburg.
Sunday morning we
From the Train
I was proud of this shot. woke up early and headed down to breakfast. By 9:30, the Slavs and I headed out. We had been planning to see as much as we could on Sunday since it was our only entire day in the city, and got a little sidetracked. The girls, being the good Poles they are, wanted to go to mass at the cathedral, so we dropped them off there and Libor and I found our way to the city's catacombs, thus wasting the time that the girls were gone and finding the way to the catacombs so that we could come back when we were all together again. We wound up in a small, very crowded cementary , with wild graves all over the place dating back from last year to hundreds of years. There was a church in the very middle from the 1400s. It was a really, really cool place to see, and actually pretty interesting to read the gravestones. Libor and I were both pretty surprised that they all listed the person's occupation, and gave a mini-description of what type of person they were/their attributes. They all used a
Americanizing
This was the first peanut butter and jelly sandwich he'd ever had...and he liked it! verb we'd both never seen before, ruhen, which I thought was pretty cool. "Ruhe!" is what you yell when you want people to quiet down, and "ruhig" means "quiet" or "peaceful." Thus, there's not really a good translation I can think of, but all the gravestones said, "Hier ruhet..." so sort of like "Here peacefully resposes..." I thought that was pretty cool. After that, we headed back to the cathedral to pick up the girls, and Nico had actually gone with them, so after waiting for 30 minutes more than we'd been promised, we were finally able to get underway. Wouldn't you know it that Nico had invited 3 more French friends studying in Germany down, and so we had to wait another 20 minutes for them which was fantastic in the rain/sleet/cold. Finally, with all the Frenchies now in tow , the Slavs and I headed back to the catacombs. We were all excited to experience it, but confused when we saw the stairs going up. Shouldn't catacombs be underground?, we asked each other. Yes, they should. Instead, we were brought into two stone chapels carved into the mountains that were a
And So It Begins
Walking to the hostel, I stumbled upon this cow. serious letdown, and Libor and I looked at each other at one point and said at the same time, "Aber...wo sind die Körper?" But...where're the bodies?
From there, we decided to head back up to the fortress to see the view of the city in the day. After picking up Anouck and Mylène and thus having an entourage of about 8 Frenchies, we hiked the near vertical path up to the fortress to find out that it cost 5euro to enter. The Slavs and I were all confused since we hadn't paid the night before, and decided that, since it was switching between raining and snowing, we'd wait until the next day with the hopes of better weather. The French agreed, and we headed in another direction on the mountain, to another old castle. From there, we had an absolutely amazing view of the ALPS. It was so cool because it was a perfectly flat plain without hills, without anything, and then out of nowhere rise these ridiculously massive mountains whose upper halves were hidden by the clouds due to the weather. It was at this point that "the hiiiiiiiiiills are aliiiiiiive" began playing on repeat in my head
A Church
First church I saw in Salzburg, had to take a picture. for the remainder of the weekend. We kept walking and found another guard tower turned look out point, and this time overlooked the entire city, which was fantastic. By this time, it was almost 1pm and it was very cold standing on a mountain in the Alps in December , so we found the lift back to the bottom, griping about having to pay the 2euro. Needless to say, we got to the bottom and there's a slight chance we may have not seen the place we were supposed to pay and took the ride for free, but there's only a slight chance of that...! From there, we met up with MORE French, because Nico's friends invited some of their friends and by that time, the Slavs' and my heads were ready to explode. They wanted to go to a really high end, really expensive restaurant, and the 4 of us laughed and said noooo, thanks. We took the opposite road, and had a nice lunch in McDonald's. One of Martyna's friends from Poland who's studying in Munich was also in Salzburg for the day, so she met us there and spent some time with us. We wandered around
Our Street
We stayed on this street, which is sort of the main street on our side of the river. the city and showed her the sights since it's so small and we all knew it already by heart, and then went to an Irish Pub to sit and wait until she had to meet up with her group and we had to head back to the hostel. As I've said, Sunday was absolutely freezing, and it was constantly changing between snow and rain. Well, at said Irish Pub, Libor and I went to the bar and, as manly as we could, ordered two hot chocolates. The Irish man working there had a laugh, as did Agata who was with us, and said the machine was broken. With what dignity we had left, we both ordered a beer and sheepishly fled to our table in the corner. Martyna's friend had to meet up with her group, so she left us there, and then we headed back to the hostel. The whole 15 or whatever of us sat there and drank a glass of wine with a toast to ourselves and to Salzburg, and then headed out for dinner. We had a reservation at a restaurant that's along the path to the fortress, and it looked like something out
A Building
I thought it was cool that it was painted. of Harry Potter with long tables and candles from the ceiling. It was very nice, and I had the best Wiener Schnitzel I've ever had! I was surrounded by Frenchies at the table, though I had Diana from Italy two seats down from me, so we countered the French by chatting in Italian. We stayed there and ate and enjoyed ourselves, then headed up to the fortress to see the city by night. Much to our dismay, the gate was locked which we couldn't believe, and so we had to head back down and just call it a night.
Yesterday morning we had breakfast and packed, and then headed out by 9 o'clock. Libor had found a set of stairs right off of our road , and wanted to see where they led, so the Slavs and I headed there. We ended up at a monastery and had an amazing view of the city, and it was a bright sunny day and we could see the Alps rising over the fortress and the city. Needless to say, it was breathtaking! We then headed down another path through winding alleyways and all
Walking
Heading to the bridge to cross into the old city. concluded that Europe is awesome, and then we headed back to the other side of the river into the old city. It would be a pity if we spent a weekend in Salzburg and had hardly any contact with Mozart, so we headed to his birthhouse . We took a tour of the house and saw where he was born and where he lived, as well as his violin from adulthood and childhood. Even saw some of his hair! There were lots of letters written by his father to his mother recounting their travels and concerts and how their son was become so well-known throughout Europe. It was all very cool to see, and Dad would have most certainly loved it. Cameras weren't allowed, but I sneaked Steve a photo.
After that, we wandered through some Christmas markets and discovered another church in the city, and took a swing in there to check it out. Afterwards, we headed back up to the fortress, since it was such a beautiful day and we wanted to see the city in the day. After paying for the entry fee
Die Festung
The Fortress rising over the city! and explaining it to some Italian ladies who were less than happy, we continued our near vertical climb and ended up on the platform from Saturday evening, with the city opening beneath us. It was gorgeous, especially in the day! It was still so surprising how small a city Salzburg actually is, but that's part of it's charm, I think . We then wandered around the castle some more and goggled over the Alps and their shear size and impressiveness, and then Libor and I found something cool we could do. We made our way to one of the towers, and the four of us took a tour through the oldest part of the castle, tracing its history and the history of Salzburg, etc. We ended up on the highest tower and it was mind-boggling, the view we had, and made me fall even more in love with Österreich. From there, we headed back down and made our way to the princely estates, where we got a tour of where the princes of the castle had lived, which is now a museum pretty of the military history of Austria and Austria-Hungary
Salzach
The river running through Salzburg. and the first World War, but it was nonetheless pretty cool. After that, the girls wanted to go shopping, so we entertained them and followed them around as they popped into a few stores, and then we went back to the Italian restaurant from Saturday night and had a nice lunch before climbing on the train for 6 hours. After waiting for 15 minutes for all the Frenchies to show up, as they were of course late even though they had set the designated time to be back, we headed to the train station and bid so long to Salzburg. After crossing nearly the entire country, changing trains 3 times, and spending 6 hours on said trains, playing a Czech card game, Vůl, and then a Polish card game, Makau, we were finally back in Austria at about 11pm. From there, just came back, ate dinner finally, and collapsed into bed.
Overall, it was a pretty good weekend. Salzburg is definitely a fantastic place to visit, though unfortunately there are wayyyy too many tourists, most of whom have absolutely no interest in Austrians or speaking German which was pretty obnoxious. It was the first group trip for Libor, Martyna,
Alps
Alps with snow. Agata, and me, and we all concluded our last, but the 4 of us are pretty good travel companions, so it seems like there will be more trips of just us in the future. That's about it, though, for now. Classes end for Christmas on Friday, and then Libor and I head to the Czech Republic next Thursday. In that time, I'll just be doing a disgusting amount of work.
Enjoy my pictures!
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regina
non-member comment
omg! I would have dropped some "fruit in my looms" if I had been Martyna with that Krampusse(sp?). I think that's called sexual assault!