Lovely Austria captures my heart

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Moving north into a cleaner, more Westernized country was a bit of a relief. I adored Salzburg (Sound of Music tour, visits to Mozart landmarks) and was impressed with Vienna (Schonnbrun Palace, Vienna Boys' Choir, a carnival). The mountain views didn't hurt, either!

Thursday, April 12
Travel by train for 5 hours into Salzburg, Austria, only to spend the night in a crowded, noisy and smelly hostel room.

My jaw literally dropped soon after we crossed the border, thanks to the amazing views of the Alps. I snapped a few pictures, but couldn't do justice to the absolute majesty and splendor. It's times like these that I'm truly in awe of God's almighty power! I got glimpses of villages nestled into the mountain valley, each with a traditional church steeple as its focal point, with the snow-capped mountains rising nonchalantly behind, before I was swept into one of the endless tunnels through the very mountains I gazed at. The fact that it was a misty, golden sunset made it even more picturesque. I already feel more "at home" here than I did Greece or Italy, simply because of the buildings, which are more Western.

We arrive in Salzburg while it was still light outside and caught a bus to the stop nearest our hostel. There was some initial confusion as to which bus line to take, but we discovered that the easiest way to find out was to ask the bus drivers. It was just a few blocks to the Youth and Family Hostel, where we navigated around construction in the dark -- on a gravel path that is impossible to navigate smoothly with rolling suitcases -- into the bright, crowded, welcoming lobby.

We got keys to our upstairs room that we shared with six other girls in narrow bunks. The room had absolutely no floor space -- especially after the slobby, rather obnoxious other girls took it all over -- and smelled like feet. My locker was in the lobby and Mary's in the room; I'm not sure which was worse. Considering that mine was inconvenient and hers hard-to-get-at with junk in the way, both. The bathroom was just as smelly, but reasonably clean. We showered under faucets that shot a single, piercing stream... but at least it washed away the day's travels.

I needed my iPod to fall asleep, especially with the light rudely going on and off. And the other girls all snored like steam engines! At least it's only one night...

Friday, April 13
Such a beautiful city! I am in love with little Salzburg. It's really not "little," but the laid-back, country feel and clean streets totally charmed me.

We began our day a little roughly, with Mary complaining that I was taking too long to get ready and me being overly defensive. We worked things out by breakfast, thankfully. We ate rolls with meat, cheese and veggies, and one with jelly, with watered-down juice, at the hostel's attempt for (free) breakfast.

We stashed our luggage for no charge and bought €30 tickets to the "Most Original Sound of Music Tour," which picked us up at 8:45 a.m. in a van. The tour guide was a charming, middle-aged Austrian woman named Christina, who dressed in traditional Austrian clothing: a green, patterned dress and apron that was so adorable. We also saw that kind of clothing sold everywhere. We milled around Mirabelle gardens first, which are very beautiful and well kept-up, and also the setting for the Sound of Music scene where the children sing "Do, Re, Me." The large coach for the 9-person tour group (Mary and I, a 30-something couple, four American girls our age and a random guy in a suit who was the only one to speak German) boarded with the addition of a bus driver and our tour guide, and the tour began at 9:30 a.m. Apparantly, this bus company was the one the real Maria von Trapp used at one time.

The four-hour tour was more than I expected and really interesting. We began in Salzburg, stopping at landmarks like the house used for the back of the von Trapp home in the movie and the gazebo that Hollywood built for the film and gave to Salzburg afterward. We also saw some things from the true-life story of the von Trapps, not just the movie, which I found fascinating because I didn't even know it was a true story. We saw Maria's actual convent, where a few movie scenes were shot, and it's also the place where the real von Trapps were married. It's still a home for very cloistered nuns. We also saw the house used for the front of the home in the movie. Christina said it would've been impossible for the newlywed von Trapps to have seen a Nazi flag draped here in the movie, because they were married years before the war -- she, 22, and he, 47. We saw the REAL von Trapp family home and the path that Maria ran down in the movie. Christina peppered us with interesting stories and facts about both the movie and the real-life von Trapps throughout the tour. For instance, the guy playing the captain doesn't actually since in the movie. Also, the REAL Maria von Trapp appears in the background of the scene where Julie Andrews is singing "I have confidence in me!" The real von Trapps didn't really have to escape, as shown in the movie, since they were planning on leaving after the concert and weren't forced out by oppression. Plus, the mountain escape scene is shot near Salzburg, which isn't even close to Switzerland, which is where they were supposedly going, and leads to Germany, instead. The family left by train, not by car, and made their way through many countries and finally ended up in the United States, where they had a contract to sing. After all this, I'm interested to learn more about the real-life von Trapps; they lead a fascinating life. The youngest of the three children the von Trapps had together is still running the family's guesthouse in the U.S.

The second part of the tour consisted of seeing the Lake and Mountain District, which I wasn't expecting and totally loved. Towering moutains, some with snow, reflected in sparkling lakes and dotted with charming little Austrian houses -- what's not to love? We stopped for a few photo ops but were quickly herded back onto the bus; she sure is efficient. And the whole time we drove, we listed to the Sound of Music soundtrack, of course.

We also went tobogganing, of all things! These little tracks pulled us up backwards on the contraptions and then sent us hurtling around curves back down the mountain. It cost €4/each, but was worth the novelty. Mary and I shared a sled, which put me up front on the stick and her in back with her legs over mine... a total bonding experience!

The bus pulled into a little town called Moon City, I think is the translation, that has the church wree the von Trapp couple got married in the movie. I bought Edelweiss sees and postcards before we ate at the cafe Christina recommended. We both ordered apple strudel -- DELISH! I had this authentic Austrian dish with warm vanilla topping and Mary had hers with vanilla ice cream. Very filling for a €5.30 meal. We then walked down to the lake for a break-taking view of the mountains and high-tailed it back to the coach to head back to Salzburg.

My next priority was to visit the Mozart landmarks, which Mary didn't care to see but didn't mind shopping while I went into the museums. I saw Mozart's residence and house where he was born, paying €9.50 for a student ticket. The first one had Mozart music playing on the audioguide, which was nice, but the contents were a little boring inside, focusing on his dad and sister. The second was designed by the contemporary composer Robert Wilson and was very artsy and cool to walk through the rooms, like a birth room with blue florescent light... one with birds flying toward the window and music on the walls... another, totally black, with the last, unfinished painting down of Mozart... another, depicting an upside-down view of Salzburg to illustrate his quirky personality. One had chairs set up between portraits of his family members along the wall -- the explanation was to let visitors be "part of the family." The "artifacts" kept here were also unique: his violins, pianos, hair, etc., along with countless pictures of him and unique music playing in each room.

We found our way to the town square and checked out the churches and such, decided that views of the fortress from a distance were good enough -- you needed a reservation, anyway -- and called it a day. A full one, and I'm very glad we decided to go to Salzburg on our way to Vienna!

We used our 24-hour bus passes to get back to the hostel and collect our things. We also had a free cocktail through the tour we took, so we ordered the Edelweiss drink and found it to be absolutely disgusting. It had cherry flavoring mixed with vodka and beer. I stuck with water. We bussed it to the train station and had the Burger King supper Mary's been craving.

Our 3 1/2-hour train ride to Vienna left a little after 6 p.m. It was the nicest train we'd been on. Mary and I had bought two more Jodi Piccoult novels to last the rest of the trip, so I started one and got immediately addicted.

Once in Vienna, we followed the map to our hostel and got unasked-for help from some American girls our age (very nice, though). Our hostel was only in a semi-dodgy area, this time: only one homeless guy digging through garbage on the unlit street. Hostel Ruthensteiner is one of the nicest places yet, though. Downstairs, there is a piano and guitars for anyone to use, new furniture in the lounge, a bar, a cafeteria, and other modern amenities. Our room has six beds, mixed gender, but there's TONS of free space, even a table and chairs, and a private toilet room and a separate shower room that are impeccably neat and tidy. Floor-to-ceiling windows and drapes also grace the room, which has individualized lighting and spacious lockers. What a nice contrast to some other places!

Our four roommates (two guys, two girls) are from Canada but are studying in England. They're traveling in the opposite direction as us, heading to Prague, next. They were all very friendly and conversational. Mary and I showered away our travels (though I have to hit the on botton every 15 seconds to get water out) and were in bed by 10:30.

Saturday, April 14
We toured beautiful Schonnbrun Palace on a perfectly sunny day, then attempted to find a place to party in the evening, to no avail.

I woke to the sounds of our Canadian friends packing and decided to just stay awake and get ready, since I'd slept so well. Mary and I had a leisurely morning, leaving around 10:30 a.m. to explore the city. I had Pop-Tarts for breakfast (Caileen bought them for me) and had only one major tourist attraction in mind for this city: Schonnbrun Palace, a beautiful Habsburg palace that is the number one tourist attraction in Austria. Mary didn't mind what we did, so we walked the nice 20 minutes to the palace.

It was way more splendid than my limited research or imagination expected; I loved everthing about it. It was a short line to the extremely well-organized ticked booth, where our options were thoughtfully explained in a pamphlet. We got the Classic Pass, 15 euro for students, which entitled us to a guided tour of everything in the palace, plus the Privy Gardens, the maze, the Gloriette and even an apple strudel demonstration. While waiting for our time to be admitted to the palace, we wandered up and down the manicured gardens out back -- very pretty and peaceful this time of day.

We then grabbed some over-priced sustenance from the tiny snack bar and proceeded to the palace rooms with our provided audio guides. I found the tour tfascinating and the rooms very well-marked and extremely well-kept-up. I learned more than I ever wanted to know about the Habsburgs (but it was all very interesting) by going through the State and private rooms of the palace. One of the featured rulers -- who I've learned about in history class in England -- was Maria Theresa and her 11 daughters that she spent her life marrying off. The youngest, of course, is Marie Antoinette who was the queen of France and beheaded in the French Revolution. Even some of the most recent rulers were commemorated, since the monarchs stopped ruling just before WWI. These rulers' voices were on the audioguide -- very interesting. There was also a so-called "beautiful" more contemporary queen who I didn't really like because she seemed really vain and not all that pretty: Sesi, short for Elizabeth. I guess there's all sorts of movies about her and tourists love her. But anyway, it was neat to see all this well-ordered history. My favorite of the beautifully decorated rooms was the Grand Ball Room. I didn't have to worry about taking pictures and listening to the audio guide at the same time, since pictures weren't allowed, so I just concentrated on absorbing everything.

After exhausting the use of our audio guides, we set out to explore the rest of our tickets' uses. The apple strudel show was entertaining but short: a grinning chef demonstrated how to make the strudel, including special hints and a recipe for each guest, in alternating German and English. A private guide for another group translated into French, yet the tri-language transitions were seamless. We also got a free sample, which turned out to be a tiny bite that only whetted our appitites for more... which we didn't buy. The private little tables in the downstairs kitchen were cute and cozy, and we had front-row seats.

The Gloriette (building facing the palace over the gardens) was a hike to get up to, but the views were unparalleled and the day hot but beautiful. I loved the fountain, too, and it kind of reminded me of the Trevi in Rome. We got some nice pictures of the palace and a view of the city, then wandered down and through the traditional garden maze -- which was actually pretty frustrating -- ending up on an elevated platform in the middle so we could watch others navigate the rat-like maze.

We were starving by this point, and Mary was craving Chinese, so we tried several places on our walk back but none were serving at 4 p.m. At the train station, the Chinese was unrecognizable, so we settled for cheap, huge slices of pizza and ate on dirty steps outside the station for lack of seating. Tell me, why do big train stations NEVER have places to sit? Not even that the seats are taken: there just aren't any

Back at the hostel, it was time to just chill out and read our novels, shower, and basically recuperate. Some music students were staying in the hostel and we enjoyed listening to the beautiful, professional-sounding piano music floating upstairs. We looked into some places to go out and dressed up once it got dark. We hit the streets of downtown Vienna, looking into a few places on our map, but none looked promising. So we ended up walking up and down the main, well-lit street and finding one little Irish pub with a comfortable atmosphere. I had a Malibu and Coke, which was great, but we didn't see much opportunity for meeting people there and ended up wandering the main street some more before turning back. I was craving McDonald's, so we stopped for a snack.

Despite the disappointing results of our attempt at going out, I was glad to have a reasonably early night for tomorrow's goal: to see the Vienna Boys' Choir!

Sunday, April 15
I heard the angelic Vienna Boys' Choir, then joined Mary for a relaxing day at a carnival.

I was up by 7 a.m., didn't shower, hit the subway with a 24-hour pass and navigated my way to the town center by 8 a.m., with the help of a nice, non-English-speaking guy in the underground. He told me one stop too far, but it was worth the breath-taking view of steeples as I emerged from the underground to discover a cathedral right in front of me. I knew it wasn't the place where the choir would perform, but I stepped in with the still beauty of hte mostly empty sanctuary. A service was being conducted, and as the organ went into an interlude, I recognized it from somewhere and suddenly couldn't help tearing up with emotion and homesickness for my own church and familiar worship patterns.

I left with tears on my cheeks and hurried in the general direction of the Hofburg Palace, where the choir performs. I got the impression that it was a complex of buildings, possibly connected, with museums attatched. It was nice to walk through the streets alone in the early morning light, without crowds. I saw a line through an archway while I wandered, and joined it, but was told that I wouldn't get in without a ticket by a fellow tourist. I left, confused, to walk around, but then went back determined to find out if standing room really WAS free.

When I returned, there were three lines to the side door: one for people with tickets, one for people hoping to buy tickets, and one for the crowds hoping to secure some standing room. I ended up near a nice American couple who told me I was in the right line, and we ended up talking for awhile, including a Chinese girl studying in London. The couple was from Texas and were in town for the man's business trip. We were at the VERY FRONT of the line when the church bells rang, and were consequently in the last group of people to be allowed inside!

The church where the choir sang... wasn't even a church, really. A tiny chapel with a generous, three-story dome with balconeys is more like it. I didn't get too much of a view of my surroundings, being toward the back of the crowd, but worked my way up. I was there to listen, not look, anyway.

The music was absolutely glorious! There was even an orchestra (probably not full, but plenty of strings) accompanying with the organ with the choir. The mass itself was rather tedious -- and probably pointless, since most people weren't there to actually worship -- but the music made up for the German priest's ramblings. When the boys came out for their own piece at the end (this time, minus the low voices), people got excited with their cameras, so I got a few overhead shots of the little singers. Too soon, they finished, and I was sucked back outside with the crowd. I had a few minutes to peruse the square and its churches and old buildings before hurrying back the the underground and the hostel to find Mary.

It was before noon, still, so I had some snacks and then we headed toward a place on the map that intrigued Mary: a Ferris wheel! I really didn't care what else we did in Vienna, since I saw Schonnbrun, the choir, and my churches, and wasn't in the mood for museums at all.

It turns out that there is a whole amusement park called Prater in Vienna. It's set up like a state fair or carnival back home, with all the expected rides, attractions and food. We were brave and bought these ridiculous foot-long hot dogs with a bun deep-fried around them... fried for way to long, I might add. The ketchup made it even messier, but it still tasted great. I washed it down with weird, carbonated orange juice. Mary accidently got bottled water "with gas," which means there's carbonation -- you have to ask for water without "gas" in German countries! Lesson learned...

I'm not good with carnival rides in general, especially those that spin, though roller coasters and Ferris wheels don't bother me. We walked around, soaking up the un-touristy, local, and relaxed Sunday afternoon atmosphere and chose two rides to spend our euros on. The safety regulations were a little questionable, from what we saw, but we braved them, anyway. First, we took an opn-air Ferris wheel (not the famous one you see in pictures) that was only bad when the carneys at the bottom thought it would be amusing to spin our car around. It offered incredible views of the city and park. Next, Mary talked me into a swing ride (I got sick the last time I did one at Six Flags) that turned out to be pretty fun and only created a little nausea.

We headed back after this relaxing afternoon in the sun, stopped at a grocery store for food for tomorrow, and freshened up for dinner. We treated ourselves to an authentic Austrian meal: schnitzel! (Not with noodles, though... get it? Sound of Music...) Mine was chicken schnitzel and not the traditional weiner, but it was great with the fries, salad, and white wine. Cheap, too, though the decor at the student-discounted Moxart Strubel left a lot to be desired. Then, to bed, to rest up for the long travel day that lay ahead.

Monday, April 16
Travel... all day... to Bern.

We had a lovely, 11-hour train ride today, with only one changeover in Zurich for the last half hour. There really isn't much to say about it, except noting the exceptional quality of German countries' trains over Italian ones... and, of course, the INCREDIBLE, BREATH-TAKING views of the Alps. These came expecially in the second half of our journey -- we read for most of it -- and I simply could not take my eyes off the natural beauty we rushed past. I attempted to take pictures, especially at sunset, but how can the Alps truly be captured with a camera behind train windows? They can't. You just need to enjoy them and thank God for their blessed existance.

Next stop: Switzerland!

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Photos

Close-up of the house
I had to wait for the swan to be in just the right spot... This was used as the vont Trapp family home in the movie.

Breathtaking view on the tour
The house used as the back of the von Trapp's home in the movie overlooks this lake.

Gazebo from the Sound of Music
Built by Hollywood, donated to Salzburg. And this is the only picture I got of our guide, Christina -- not very flattering, but she was a sweet lady.

Sound of Music house
Mary and I really enjoyed this tour.

Schonnbrun Palace
Yes, I was excited...

Schonnbrun Palace
View from the gardens

Schonnbrun Palace
Garden

Schonnbrun Palace
Strudel demonstration

Schonnbrun Palace
Detail

Schonnbrun Palace
That would be me in front of the really pretty Gloriette

Schonnbrun Palace
hahaha...

Schonnbrun Palace
SO PRETTY!

Schonnbrun Palace
Behind the fountain

Prater
Swing ride