Salzburg and back to Rome

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I got into Salzburg a bit before noon. I bought the Salzburg Card which gives you entrance to all the sites and public transportation. I found the bus number the hostel gave and jumped on.

A nice Austrian lady asked where I was going and then told me she'd let me know which stop to get off at. The hosel was a short walk from there.

The Youth and Family Guest Hostel is huge - I think it used to be a dorm. I paid and stored my luggage and went ahead and got a 6 euro lunch. Not bad for a chicken rice thing, fruit salad, noodle soup, and a green salad with tomatoes.

Then I headed out to find the ticket office for the Salzburg Jazz Herbst. They were sold out of the 7 o'clock concert with the guitarist that was close to the hostel, so I got one for a pianist and his group that they didn't tell me until afterward was somewhere off the main tourist map.

Getting there took me through part of the old part of town, which was beautiful. The main shopping street looked like it should be a snow-covered Christmas market and the cathedral was beautiful.

I wandered from there up to the lift to the fortress - the symbol of Salzburg. On the trip up this lady told me to stand on the corner seat for a better view and she'd hold me in to take pictures. With the pass I got up, in and an audio guide all about how it was built by the local Church powers to fortify the city and protect its valuable salt mines.

The top had a gorgeous view of the city and surrounding countryside.

Afterwards I tried to get out to the folk history museum, but the bus ran a weird schedule so I wandered some more and headed back to the hostel for dinner.

As I was getting my meal - same as lunch only a candy bar instead of fruit - a Canadian girl asked me how much it cost. I told her and sat down and as she was getting her tray I heard another Canadian go "hey! I didn't know you'd be here." I assumed they were friends from back home until they sat down and introduced themselves. Turned out they lived on opposite sides of Canada but had met a few weeks ago in Belgium at a hostel.

I ate and visited with them and then left good and early to find the concert. I had put the name together with an ad on the back of my map and realized it was being held at the Stiefel Brewery, which gave me a bus number to go by.

I made it out about an hour early which was good since it was self-seating. It was a small room in the brewery with a little bar room next to it and they had set up picnic-type tables with nice decorations and a small stage and you could go get food or drinks from the bar.

I actually chose a seat where you could see the bass and drummer since I like those instruments better anyway. The band was great. Jason Moran and the Bandwagon. They were missing their 4th member that night too, so I'd be curious to hear them all together.

The show finished about 1 am and I had one of the bartenders call a cab. He said it should be about 5 minutes so after 20 with no sign I came back in and had him call again and when I did I found a guy from this LA jazz-tap ensemble just putting on a tap show in the bar area for whoever was left. His group had performed the day before.

The cab dropped me off back at the hostel and I slipped into bed. Woke up the next morning to find out I was actually rooming with one of the Canadians.

Breakfast was big at the hostel - breads, toast, jam, butter, eggs, ham, salami, and miso soup. I ate a lot and made 2 sandwhiches to take for lunch. It was All-Saints Day so I knew a lot of restaurants would be closed.

I went back and wandered part of the old town by the giant chess game and cathedral with the 2 Canadian girls and a 3rd Canadian guy they had met at the hostel. We went to one of the museums of modern art and then they left to go to the fortress.

I headed off and went to the other museum of modern art which had an amazing exhibit of Phil Stern's photos of jazz legends.

The museum is up on a hill with another great view. Then I went to Mozart's birthplace and had a look at that little museum. Then I went back to the hostel and rented a bike.

It drizzled a little but not bad as I rode along the river and the old part of town over the river. There was a nice park over there and the Congress and Marionette Theater. I rode out until it started to turn industrial and headed back the other way. I stopped in the old part on the other bank and climbed up a little mountain that looked interesting. All along the path were little shelters with religious scenes and at the top was a monastery and next to it a big representation of Jesus and the two others on the cross. This hill offered another great view, only misty now.

I rode back, exhausted and hung out at the hostel for a few hours. Ate some of my snacks, watched CNN and checked e-mail. The Canadians returned and told me about their Sound of Music tour.

I headed out for the train station and got on my train easy enough. But for some reason it stopped for like an hour and I missed my connection in Villach. I spent the night there drinking juice and reading the only English magazines - Economist and National Geographic. I wandred the town a little in the daylight and finally got a train to Venice. I had about a 30 minute glimpse of Venice before my final train to Rome.

As soon as I got to Rome I wrote an article and then showered and Megan and I ran to meet Matteo, Alesandro, Chiara and Priscilla to see the Corpse Bride in Italian. It was really exciting how much I understood. At Italian theaters you are given a specific seat, which was interesting.

Friday we went with Emilio to see some beautiful villas in Caparola.

Saturday Megan and Cassie and I went to a church near Piazza Barberini where there is a crypt decorated with the bones of 4,000 dead Fryars and the bodies of two young relatives of a Pope. It was creepy but really cool looking and the last room had the sign "What you are we once were, what we are know you will be."

All the architects and Tricia (interior design) had mid-term reviews Monday so they were all holed up in studio working crazy hard. Tricia told us we should stop by and see Bill and Billy, she thought they'd be bored. Actually, her exact words were if we went by "they would probably just crap themselves." Yes, sweet little Tricia said that.

So we ran over in the ran to say hi and Bill offered to make us all spaghetti. Of course we would never turn down free food. I asked if there was a grocery store close because we had planned on going to Standa. He tried to give me directions to Punto but he had the Vatican in the wrong direction, so we'd get this far:
"Walk past St. Andrew of the Valley, towards the Vatican, take a right."
"Across the street? Turn across the street?"
"No, to the right."
"Walking towards the Vatican?"
"Yes."
"So, across the street?"
"No."
Repeat.

So finally he set out his one apple, little chunk of cheese and little Peroni bottle and then left Cassie, Megan and Billy in charge of spaghetti and walked me to the store. We get out side, he looks left, looks right, points at towards the Vatican.
"The Vatican is that way?" "Yes." "Ooops."

I can definately see why Tricia suggested getting him a leash before they left the states, he really doesn't have a sense of direction. Anyway, we go to the store and I got the cereal and stuff we needed and ice cream and Bill got salami, cheese, and drinks to take back, which was nice. I promised him we didn't come over to raid their kitchen.

Then we went out to a bar in Trastever near their place where we met some Italian students. We're going tonight to hear one of them play in a jazz group.

Sunday I ran into Cassie and Megan at Standa and they invited me to come make vegetable soup with them and study Italian. The soup came out amazing. Cassie and I also decided to go ahead and buy tickets and go with Megan to Ireland where she has some friends from the psych department working/studying. That should be awesome. We'll be there Nov. 17-20. I also got a really cheap flight from Barcelona to London - cheaper than the chunnel from Paris for the end of the semester.

This weekend is Venice. Another update after that.

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Photos

A horse square
With a statue and murals. This is right in front of where I got my jazz tickets.

Jazz herbst
Signs outside the University.

Church tower
Some church in Salzburg.

Dome
The Dome of the Cathedral in Salzburg.

Salzburg
A view of the city from the fortress.

The way up
This is the tram you take up to the top.

The countryside
A view from the other side of the fortress.

The bandwagon
This is the bass player for the jazz group.

The other wheel
The drummer.

The enclosed statue
Outside of the Cathedral.

The fortress
Symbol of Salzburg.

A cow
Of the royal variety, apparently.

Comments

[Lindsey]

So we totally learned about that church in Art History last year. Jealous, so jealous that you are going to be super far ahead in Italian. I can barely say anything. Ho paura d'italiano.