The Hills Are Alive

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As we close out our third week in Europe, while some travelers would be weary due to an extensive voyage we are still fresh, eager, and pensive. We apologize for our tardiness with the blog about our previous two-night stay in Salzburg, but tasting all that Venice offers is time consuming. Nevertheless we loved Salzburg, the gem of Austria, and as you know will tell you all about.

Also, a shameless plug for my father and Jonah's other blog site, which I don't subscribe to since I was left out of the "Perlin and Son Blog" (notice the lack of son being plural), but anyways no hard feelings and visit blogspot.perlinandson.com. Their you can find a long piece of Jonah's feelings on the EU and Fathers interesting thoughts about world finance.(Please don't let my bitterness hold you back from visiting, and no worries soon you can visit blogspot.sonofperlin.com that is all my thoughts about my perspective on various topics from scrabble to success).

So without further ado, picture the Austrian Alps, Julie Andrews, myself on a bicycle, and.....

Day 17, June 18, 2005-Munich, Germany and Salzburg, Austria
By Jonah Efrem Perlin

After having a relaxing Shabbat evening exploring the last bits of Munich that we wanted to see, we decided we needed to do something truly physical. Although we have been walking the equivalent of several miles a day from place to place, we felt the need to really put on our sneakers and break a sweat. Some of you who know us well, particularly me, Jonah, might be laughing, but what we decided to do was jog the Olympic Park of Munich. Although I don't really jog, Jacob took up the hobby while we were at home before the trip and so it seemed like an obvious choice for exercise seeming as our train for Salzburg was not leaving until midday.

After breakfast, we put on our running shorts (with Jacob, a true specimen of mankind, wearing a tight sleeveless undershirt) and asked our more than jolly hotel clerk the way to begin our jog. He pointed us toward the bridge and then instructed us to run along the water until we reached the Olympic stadium and its famous spire resembling the Seattle Stratosphere. A little over two miles (we think) later we arrived there and sat looking out over the gorgeous Olympic lake while having one of our (many) bonding talks of the trip covering topics such as the importance, fun, and difficulties of traveling, and the occasional feeling of "being lost in the world," before we decided it was time to jog our way back to our luggage so we could catch our train.

Upon returning to the hotel, packing up, and taking the local tram to the Hauptbahnhof (main station) we decided it was about noon and therefore time for lunch. After we grabbed some Chinese take out, which was pretty good for a Germanesque Eat in 5minute food court we found our almost empty train to Salzburg which we bored. The 2 hour ride was possibly the easiest of our trip as it was both quick and efficient. I read (as usual) and Jacob slept (also as usual) and it was about 2:30 when we arrived and we still had the whole afternoon to check into our hotel and check out Salzburg.

The Zum Hirshen Hotel, where we were staying was conveniently located about a 4 minutes walk from the train station, which we knew, so we exited the train station with our bags on a journey to find it. Walking out of the station we realized why our father, who likes to call himself our "adventure capitalist," fell in love with Salzburg so many years ago. The picturesque white capped mountain tops(even in the summer) and the vast Salt river it was truly a sight to see. Especially after spending about 99% of our time in large cities during our trip, it was a real relief to step out into a smaller village fell.

We found the hotel after several misturns and checked in. Now, we haven't described in great detail a hotel since our original stay at Hotel Carlos V in Madrid, Spain (which many of you know now simply as Charlie 5) but the Zum Hirshen deserves its own description. With its relatively small looking desk and lobby area it did not seem so different from the other Best Westerns we had stayed at (if you are coming to Europe the "Best Western Card" is the way to go...) But when we were given our room key for the fourth floor everything was a bit different, because inside the elevator a little green placard next to the number 4 read "Sauna," which we thought was nice and were excited for. Then, to our surprise our door, room 408 was directly next to the yellow door of the sauna (again we were thinking pretty sweet). Although we wanted to explore the sauna we opted instead to enter our bedroom which turned out would have been able to hold our whole family and, who knows, maybe the rest of the Von Trapp family. It had a small area which could have no other proper name besides the foyer leading to four dark wood doors. Door number 1 revealed a two bedded room with a TV and dresser and such, the kind of room that Jacob and I have shared most of the trip (with the beds next to each other which we are used to at this point). Door number 2 revealed the bath, which Jacob would promptly test, and the sink and this awkward little sink that resembled to us a foot bath, another unique invention we have found throughout Europe even in smaller rooms. Door number 3 across the foyer revealed another bathroom which housed the toilet and another sink, and Door number 4 didn't house a million Chocolate Mozarts as we had hoped but instead two more couches made up into beds, another TV and desk. Wow, pretty crazy. But after sleeping in closer quarters for the last 2 1/2 weeks we were excited by our spacious lodging. ( Unfortunelty upon further reflection the Sauna turned out to be a massive area that seemed to have never been used which we found a bit sketchy and never returned to after our initial visit.)

Having seen that for about 10 minutes (probably our most detailed 10 minutes of blogging ever) we took the magnificent 15 minute walk from our hotel to the historic center of Salzburg. Upon our arrival to the city center, we passed by Mozart's birth house and the interesting looking building simply called "The Wax Museum Next To Mozart's Birthhouse." An interesting way to pay homage to one of the greatest composers of all time, we paid our respects to both the house and the wax museum with a simple nod. As we continued along on our exploration we found a large church with no marking, which we assumed was the famous Salzburg Dom which all the guidebooks had spoke of as a main attraction in a city of few attractions. After going inside, however, we learned it was a lovely church, but unfortunately it was the secondary church, called the University Church. The most interesting thing we found there was that the seats were set up "in the round" an interesting set up for a catholic mass we thought, but heck we're in Salzburg, anything can happen.

Leaving that church we moved into the Residenz Square where we finally found The Church, with a capital T which was also lovely, but nothing remarkable. Realizing we still had time, we trekked half way up a little mountain towards the fortress only to realize that it was closing and we would have to wait until tomorrow to really see it. We rushed down so that we would be in the square in time to hear the chime of the Glockenspiel, but before we could get to our place in the square we chanced upon a Venetian wine and cheese festival, which were fancied very much. Each having a large, overflowing glass of red wine for 2 Euros, a true steel, we tasted a small bit of what was to come in the coming week.

The Glockenspiel finally did chime, even if somewhat unimpressive and we walked around until we found a lovely little restaurant for dinner. After dinner we decided it would be a lovely night to sit and enjoy at a caf overlooking the square and the mountains. What we have learned in Europe, unlike in America, is that caf stay open until at least midnight, and while the coffee, tea, and drinks are often expensive, part of the price is the ability to sit around as long as one wants to and shoot the breeze. Salzburg is different. Upon getting served our drinks around 7:30, we began to talk until our waiter came up to us and in broken English, asked if we would pay our check. We complied and figured his shift was over, so we began to talk a bit more, until we noticed them closing the tables and chairs up for the night. But its still light outside we thought. To make a long story short, as beautiful as Salzburg is, its one downside is that it is a "night lifeless" town, and the cafes close promptly at 8pm in most places.

Having had a long day, we decided the early closings was a good opportunity for us to head back early and finish the blog of Munich and catch a little soccer on television. Overall, an incredibly enjoyable afternoon in a city with which we would fall in love.

Day 18, June 19, 2005-Salzburg, Austria
By CodPhish

Wake up, wake up, wake up t-minus 20 minutes till the Sound of Music Tour. Oh yeah we just finished breakfast served to us by waitresses in traditional Austrian garb and met the driver in the lobby who picked us up for the tour. A friendly fellow originally from Massachusetts he informed us of how he got to Salzburg by fate, while he drove to pick up the rest of the gang for the tour. He dropped us off where we boarded the bus and that's where the magic begins.

Grabbing a seat in the back, we were ready to get started. So I didn't make it clear from the get go, but Jonah and I have actually never seen the movie. (I think if they knew we would have been kicked off the tour). I known you are asking yourselves why then are we doing this tour at all, but let me tell you it's hard to find a better time then being surrounded by a bus of S of M fan's. The biggest fan of all I think was our tour guide for the trip Sue, a redheaded Mary Poppins, who spoke in half sentences. For example, "Welcome to the magnificent (breath) Sound of Music Experience. Salzburg this time of (breath) year is a wonderful city." She was pretty special, British, and throughout the tour took a liking to Jonah and I calling me Mr. Orangeman due to my Syracuse shirt. The driver was Herbert who reserved in speech still cruised through the hills with elegance and sold beer for a euro fifty in the front of the bus.

Any who we made our first stop at the back of the Von Trap family house. It was a sight too see, a four story lakeside mansion amidst the beautiful hills of Salzburg. We only stopped here for twenty minutes or so for we had many more stops on the itinerary. On our way to the next stop, the apparently famous pagoda where they sang sixteen going on seventeen, we passed a large statue of Abraham Lincoln. Why their was a large statue of Abe in Salzburg beats me, but if I saw a statue of Napoleon driving down 81 I would pause to scratch my head. We eventually made it to the pagoda, which I would have called a gazebo instead of a pagoda, and Sue filled us in on how it was a romantic spot from the movie. (For this reason all the couples took pictures here except for Jonah and I, because I thought people might question our brotherly relationship). She also told us the pagoda was closed because an 84 year-old woman broke her hip hoping from bench to bench singing 16 going on 17, or 84 going on 85 I guess.

Back on the bus Sue told us how back in the day if a man wanted to show a woman he loved her all he had to do was climb this ridiculously tall mountain and pick her an edelweiss flower. Times have changed and instead she handed out edelweiss seeds to everyone so we could plant this flower to show our love instead of climbing a mountain. Our next stop, not on the itinerary, was at a toboggan place in the hills near the next city we were visiting. (I haven't seen the movie, but I doubt the "toboggan played a prominent role in the Sound of Music) It was four euro to ride down the hill and Jonah and I had only five euro in our wallet. A good brother I let him take the money for the toboggan and said I would just take pictures. One guy and a couple we met on the bus asked why I wasn't doing it, and after I told them my situation, they very kindly contributed to the Jacob is a loser fund because he doesn't have the 4 stinking euro to do the ride and gave me the necessary money. Sue had already announced last call for toboggan riders, but helped me cut in front of everyone so I would get to do it. (I think it was cause she had a crush on me) It was really enjoyable and for us probably the highlight of the tour.

Back on the bus we journeyed to Wolfgangsee, a scenic town where something was filmed. A very beautiful town we followed Sue to the center where she pointed out that this is where Mozart's second house was. On the way to the town center we had a nice conversation with the one guy who spotted me the money, who we called Sarsaparilla Susie because he was a tough biker guy on the outside but still a Sound of Music fanatic. On route back to the bus we eyed two pair of suspenders that said "beer shaped this beautiful body," and bought them as well as some postcards with our Visa (being out of cash). I wore them around the rest of the day, which was sexy, and Jonah put his away saving them for a later occasion. This was our second to last stop next being the famous chapel where someone got married.

The chapel was nice, and was accompanied by a lovely town. Still Jonah and I were more fond of the toboggan stop. After we finished here we headed back to Salzburg, and bid so long farewell to Sue, Herbert, and our fellow passengers. At this point we were hungry so we walked into the center of Salzburg for lunch. Only one more thing on our checklist, we hiked up the biggest hill in Salzburg to the fortress, even though there was a funicular we decided to still walk. Luckily for us the fortress was having its annual Renessaince fair, if we were still four years old I think I would have been in euphoria, becuase the place was filled with medieval swords, garb, food, and music. We did the crossbow shooting station where Jonah hit closer too the center than I. This was nice, but our real reason for going up their was to catch the breathtaking views, which were just that. Finished with the fortress we began our descent down the hill. For those of you who don't know Salzburg's most famous food is the Salzburger Knuckle, so Jonah and I kept our eye out to make sure we had before we left. On our descent we stumbled upon a restaurant with a gorgeous view and Salzburger Knuckles. The only thing we knew about was that it was a dessert so when the waiter brought us the menu's we informed here we already knew what we wanted and asked for two Salzburger Knuckles. She clued us in, however, that the dessert was huge and also fifteen euro for one. Not stubborn we took her advice, and realized that she was definitely right for the Knuckle was a huge buttery souffl thing that was about the length of my arm and if we each had our own I think we would have to have to had been rolled down the hill. Anyways after our delicious mid afternoon dessert/dinner we went back to the Zum Hirschen for a bit of relaxing.

With our evening we did what one ought to do in Salzburg and Jonah got us tickets for a classical music concert at the Mirabel Schloss (castle). In Mozart's hometown classical music is the thing to do, and the show began at 8 so it was the only thing to in Salzburg at that time on a Sunday night. While I was hesitant to go, with third row seats it turned out to be wonderful. Just a pianist and a local violinist they turned out to both be superb and put up quite a show. After the two hour concert featuring Vivaldi, Handel, Bach, and Mozart we grabbed some shakes at the one caf open in the whole city and headed back to our hotel to prepare for a morning train to Venice...or so we thought.

Day 19-June 20, 2005-Salzburg, Austria and (for a bit) Venice, Italy
By Jonah

We planned for a pretty easy day of travel. Our rail table said that there was an 11.13 train (the only one of the day) which could take us to Venice and arrive in time to spend the afternoon and evening seeing the city. However, the day would be slightly different than we had planned. We woke up relatively early, got dressed, ate breakfast, and checked out of our hotel. Our plan was to get to the train station early so as to figure out exactly the way to get to Venice. We arrived no later than 10 am, and were ready to find our track when we looked up at the board and saw no train to Venice, and in fact no train at 11.13 at all. Up until this point our travel had been practically perfect with no delays, bad transfers, ungodly lines or missteps of any sort. But as anyone who has traveled before realizes our luck was bound to run out and it did. After seeing that the train we were planning to take didn't exist, I walked up to the counter and in my less than perfect German tried to gauge the situation. The ticket man sort of chuckled at me and said that the train we wanted didn't run anymore, and the next train toward Venice was not until 3pm and it wouldn't arrive in Venice until 10:30 at night because there would be a two hour layover at our transfer point.

There are much worse things however than being stuck in beautiful Salzburg for 4 extra hours, so we took our travel "change" with a smile and stored our luggage back at the hotel and decided to spend the day having some individual time before a late lunch. With Jacob's time he chose to rent a bicycle as he had the day before. As I can't ride a bicycle (I know, what 20 year old can't ride a bike), I read the daily paper, finished my book and enjoyed the mountain views from a garden near the hotel for about 2 hours until Jacobs return. He came back sweating profusely but with the biggest smile I had seen on him in a very long time. It was as if the little plump Jacob I remember had just devoured a large Choclate Ice Cream. This time, however, it was because it biked for we think about 10 miles all the way out of Salzburg along the river and into the woods (to Grandmothers House we go...) He took several gorgeous pictures as well which he was quick to show me.

Together again, we decided it was time for lunch so we took one last walk into town and found a small outdoor restaurant that offered a quick lunch, in time for us to take a last look around for pins and gifts before collecting our luggage and returning to the train station, actually feeling excited by our extra time in Austria.

We found our train departing toward the small town of Villach (our transfer point) and as per our usual train protocal Jacob napped and I finally finished my book and looked out the window at the really spectacular views of the Austrian countryside as we traveled up, down, around, and through the mountainous terrain. The train ride was perhaps the most beautiful of the trip.

Upon arrival in Villach, a city which we still have no idea where it actually is, we had time to grab dinner. The only problem was that the only non-Wurst restaurant that was within walking distance was Italian food so we were forced to eat the foods of Italy even before we arrived in Venice. But it was a nice reasonable dinner in an almost empty terrace where we could even sample the local brew (called Villacher). We then went back to the station where Jacob was chastisted by the Austrian fuzz for using the public electricity to load our digital pictures onto our computer. However, we moved past that close scuffle with the law and hopped aboard an almost empty train from Villach to Venice where we met a nice young couple from Fairfax and we switched places while I napped and Jacob read until we arrived in Venice a few minutes late at 10:45.

Anyone who has ever traveled to Venice will know that getting there is only half the battle. This amazingly picturesque city of canals and water ways is both beautiful (which you will hear about in the next blog) but also relatively difficult to get around especially late at night. After consultation with several other English speakers (including some chill recent college grads from Canada) we finally got on a "bus" which is actually a boat about an hour later toward San Marco square where we were staying. Unfortunetly the boat-bus (contracted to be simply called 'the but(t)') broke down midway and we had to switch which delayed our arrival to San Marco until well passed 12:30 at night when we finally checked in and went right to sleep so that we could spend the next day exploring Venice.

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