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Published: January 5th 2007
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Magical Salzburg
With the Hohensalzburg Fortress on the hill. First built in 1077. The largest, fully-preserved fortress in central Europe. Our first Christmas away from home. No point sitting around feeling rejected, so we packed our bags and headed off to Austria.
The lovely city of Salzburg has two claims to fame:
1. ‘The Sound of Music’ was filmed there
2. It is the birthplace of Mozart
We decided to avoid both these things and see what else the region had to offer (okay - so we were too stingy to shell out the 36 euros for the ‘Sound of Music’ tour and the Mozart concerts were a tad pricey too)
We stayed in an excellent hostel called St Sebastian - I think it used to be a monastery. There were statues of Jesus everywhere (even a strategically placed cross above our door) and our double room had two single beds. No complaints though, the location was great and it was unbelievably clean.
These kiwis were certainly feeling the cold on Christmas day! The temperature hovered somewhere between 0 and -2! We explored the town for a few hours. Such a pretty town was made even more lovely as it was decorated to the nines with fairy lights. When we lost all feeling in our hands
we decided to head inside for some Christmas fare. Our festive lunch this year was eaten in front of a fire: soup, Snitzel, potato salad, apple strudel and profiteroles. Beautiful!
On Boxing Day we headed out to Mt Untersberg to catch the cable car up to the summit. The cable car is amazing and certainly a ‘must do’ if you visit. Words cannot describe the views on the way up. Luckily we caught the second cable car up the mountain and were able to take in the sights without any other people. The sun was shining and the snow was fresh as we scrambled along the trail until we reached the summit. There we were, hanging out on the summit, all alone, just us and a wild goat: hey isn’t there a song about that?
The next day we got the train out to Bad Durrenberg to see the reconstructed Celtic Village and the old salt mines. We donned our embarrassing white overalls and set off underground. The underground tour lasted an hour. During that time we rode a little train, walked through tunnels, crossed the border to Germany, took a boat trip across an underground lake and
Bad Durrenberg
Near the salt mines. slid down these fantastic long underground slides that the miners use to use. Very cool.
Back in town, we checked out Mozart’s birthplace, the Modern Art museum (we’re obviously not cultured enough to appreciate it - but really? What is that all about?!), and the Natural History museum (I wanted to see the section on ‘animal bastards’ as recommended in ‘The Rough Guide’ - never did find it, although there is a big selection of spiders and snakes on the upper floors)
Also paid a visit to the Hohensalzburg Fortress that is shown in the photo.
After four days of looking around Salzburg, we were looking for something a bit more energetic. We booked our seats on the ‘snow shuttle’ and headed out to ski area called Schladming.
We were quite excited about trying this whole snowboarding business. As a Northlander, snow is a quite a new concept to me. While Chris has wake-boarded, when it comes to the white stuff, he is also inexperienced.
As we dressed up in our new snow clothes, I was feeling quietly confident that this whole ‘learning to snowboard’ business was just a short but necessary blimp in our path
Untersberg
Near the bottom of the cable car lift. to becoming fully-fledged snowboarding legends. I had images of Chris and I on our trusty snowboards, carving our way through the Alps while sipping champagne - the complete picture of grace and sophistication.
How sadly mistaken I was.
All bravado disappeared as soon as I realized just how damn slippery snow becomes when a flat object (namely a snowboard) is placed on top of it. The feelings of hopelessness started as soon as I placed my binding onto the board and promptly found myself on the ground.
As the lesson progressed, two out of the five in the group decided that it was ‘all a bit much’ and retired to the comfort of the pub. As much as I wanted to follow them, I stuck with it and found myself spending slightly less time on the ground. Chris on the other hand, had found his balance and was typically progressing miles quicker than me.
By the end of the two-hour lesson, we were left to practice our new found skills at the ski school. Very, very slowly, I started to get a hang of the basics but one cannot forget the shame of lying in the
Christmas egg decorations
A few of the many thousands for sale in Salzburg. snow, unable to move, as some SMART a@#$%!d(MISSING) three year old glides past effortlessly, leaving you in his dust.
The next day, two very stiff and sore Kiwis limped down to breakfast. We decided to have a day off from the snow and went for a nice long walk instead. During our walk we ‘happened to find’ (well actually, I had read about it in a book and I’ll be damned if I was leaving town without finding it) a fantastic shop called B’eldorado. A fashion boutique for cats and dogs. If you have a few Euros that you want to spend on your beloved pet, then this is the place to come. How about a diamond flea collar, a playboy hoodie (pug sized) or a jewel embellished cat throne? We were lucky enough to meet Rumi, the smallest dog in Salzburg. While he was truly tiny, he has big ambitions: he wants to become more famous than Mozart! Check out his website:
www.littlespanker.com (honestly, it’s not rude!)
The following day we were back on the snow shuttle. Chris very excited and me suddenly conscience of the fact that we didn’t have medical cover on this
trip…
Leogang was beautiful. A huge resort with so many runs, I became determined to get good at snowboarding so I could one day explore beyond the ski school.
After a few embarrassing attempts at the beginners slopes, we asked very nicely if I could use the ski school slopes. The ski school was much better for me as it had a conveyor belt to take you up the slope, rather than the suicidal tow-rope on the beginners run. So while Chris spent the day cruising down the lovely 400 metre beginners slope - I hung out with the 4 year olds in ‘Leo Kinder Land’, a lovely gentle place with huge inflatable smiling lions and colourful padding around every conceivable hazard.
Ahh - just lovely. Under the ‘Leo the Lion’s’ encouraging gaze, I finally got my first taste of confidence as I learned to control my board and do important things like stopping and changing direction. In fact, by the end of the day, I couldn’t move the smile from my face … my ‘cruising down the Alps’ fantasy just might come true yet. Watch this space.
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