There Are No Kangaroos in Austria


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Europe » Austria » Salzburg » Salzburg
September 29th 2011
Published: November 20th 2011
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You know, we didn't hear one iota of yodeling on the whole trip - my Vienna open shower singing not withstanding. To me the idea of yodeling evokes imagery of mountains, beautiful scenery, the sort of peaceful isolation that goes along with it, as well as men in suspenders and women in frocks. And maybe a mountain goat or two. The further West we drove across Austria, the closer to this imagery real life became. The Hills Are Alive may have passed through my lips more than once as we passed breathtaking scenes of rolling green hills, the peaks of the Alps towering above, with quaint little villages dotted throughout. The tune has more relevance than mere green hills too, as The Sound of Music was actually filmed in Austria! We got to see a few of the set locations in Salzburg, and though my memory of the film from my childhood is a little faded, it doesn't seem to have changed a bit!

But I'm getting ahead of myself. With James at the wheel, Hannah navigating, and me & Kristin in the back, we left Vienna for a day's journey to Salzburg, a city with the good fortune of being just a short train ride away from Munich & Oktoberfest. We had ambitious plans to take the entire country by storm with our newly acquired wheels, but failed before leaving our first little town stop, Krems an der Donau (Or "Krems by the Danube River" - a river we just can't seem to shake!). The town itself was quiet and quaint, and nestled in the hills by the river. Perhaps swayed by the lazy country breeze and laid back atmosphere, we ended up forgetting the tight schedule and spending hours just wandering the streets. Oops!

It was a long yodel-free drive from there, and on the way we passed many small villages, including a place called "Bad Aussee". (I had big plans to post a picture of the sign on Facebook when the Aussies lost their rugby world cup game, but totally forgot!) We didn't quite make it to Salzburg before nightfall, so for dinner we stopped at a beautiful and secluded little town next to a lake in-between the mountains. So much serenity. While there were people around, they seemed to be fairly well hidden most of the time. We sat in the brisk night air beside the lake, the girls cowering from the cold under thick blankets as we ate a traditional Austrian dinner of pancake soup and strogonoff.

I awoke in the back of the car, having arrived in Salzburg. And then the unthinkable happened. As we were walking from the rental car place to our hostel, James got us lost. This is more remarkable when you know James - he loves being organised, and has a freakishly good internal GPS. My brain still navigates by the stars in comparison (on a cloudy day at that!). We finally admitted defeat and caught a taxi to the hostel instead, but not before getting a glimpse of Salzburg at night. It seemed like quite a magical place.

Magical or not, I see Salzburg as a big town which somehow manages to retain the charm of a little village. There was hustle, and there was bustle, but it just didn't have the industrial type stress I generally associate with big cities. The scarcity of concrete and tarmac also helps, although it's entirely possible that this perception was just my holiday mode kicking in. FYI: Salzburg literally translates to "Salt Mountain", and it was salt that made it such a rich city in the past.

As far as tourists are concerned, Salzburg is all about Mozart and The Sound of Music. At least that's what our makeshift tourguide, Kristin, would have us believe! Having done a tour here previously, she showed us around a bit. We saw Mozart's birthplace and residence, as well as a big statue dedicated to him. Although he spent most of his life outside of Salzburg, it's quite cool to see where the master came from. For our Sound of Music fix, we went to Mirabellgarten, where a few of the scenes were filmed (and then re-enacted by Hanz & Kristin).

To get a glimpse at Salzburg's heyday we checked out Hohensalzburg Castle, which is actually a fortress, whatever the difference is. The fortress gave some great panoramic views, and meant we could tick off both climbing something high and getting a free walking tour this time! Success. It also included some weird torture devices, and an automated musical device that Mozart used to compose for back in the day.

If you ask the others about me at this point, they'll probably tell you that I was more excited about the opportunity of getting a germknödel than Oktoberfest. (In fact I wouldn't shut up about it!) It's a giant dumpling that I had when I was but a small child on holiday in Austria. Unfortunately I couldn't find the traditional one with butter sauce, jam, and poppy seeds, however the vanilla one we had was still amazing. Bugger Mozart, this is probably the best thing Austria's ever invented. (It certainly would have made a better export than Hitler anyway!)

The time had come. My desire for germknödel satisfied, there was only one thing left: Oktoberfest!!! Not to mention catching up with Leah, the only person from my NZ pact to actually make it to the fest. Our excitement was palpable as we caught the train with all the other punters. Destination: Munich.


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James & HanzJames & Hanz
James & Hanz

Roadtrip!
Fancy Roundabout #2Fancy Roundabout #2
Fancy Roundabout #2

Pretty much all the roundabouts were done up with some sort of theme. Quite impressive really!


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