Salzburg

On Sunday morning, Joanne and I met to catch a train to Salzburg. The transit system is extremely friendly; we caught the regular UBahn and only had to take two escalators to be in a train hub for destinations across Austria and central Europe.  As if this convenience was insufficient, I realized the trip is less than three hours, which is the time it takes for the journey I have taken most often in my life: Edmonton and Calgary. (Which I have also done by connecting planes, but they use puddle jumpers, meaning Red Arrow or Devon’s minivan are far superior.) A refreshing nap and some quaint scenery later, arrival! Note in this first picture, sunshine.

Salzburg is a city very conscious of its ability to draw tourists. (For those unaware, the two main sources are The Sound of Music and Mozart.) They’ve done a great job maintaining the area, and have some smart ways to capitalize on all of the money flowing in. First, they sell ‘Salzburg cards’, which grant use of all transit and free admission to all major tourist sites. I read about this online in advance and was quickly able to calculate that it was a great deal for the price if you went to but two museums in the day. What I did not factor into my considerations initially, was that our arrival on a Sunday might mean we could bump into couples from Victoria experiencing empty nest syndrome with cards for the first day to pass along. Thanks again! Note in this second picture, not sunshine.

Our hostel was amazing (for all that we passed on the daily showing of The Sound of Music). We dropped off our things and got directions from the front desk, Salzburg cards in hand, and caught the bus to Hellbrunn. The palace was built by an Archbishop with a particularly impish sense of humour, and inspired by the architecture he loved in Italy. The grounds are filled with fountains, hidden and in plain sight, which can catch the unwary. The tour guide would actually stand where the Archbishop always did, safely by the controls, and target the slow or absent minded (pretty fabulous). There is even a carved outdoor dining set, where all of the seats save the head have a fountain installed in the bottom. It started to drizzle at the beginning of our tour, and by the end was a full on downpour, which meant getting splashed by the jets was fun. Oh, the famous gazebo from that movie that you occasionally hear mentioned in any conversation about Austria was there too.

 This 'theatre' was run entirely by the mechanical energy of the springs. Quite the show considering!

On the way back to the hostel, we slipped into a café for dinner. Surprise! We bumbled into perhaps the only ‘hipster’ restaurant in town, the Heart of Joy, and had an amazing meal in addition to reading cheesy and awkwardly translated quotes about inner peace. Food may seem boring, but as someone who is struggling with adapting to an ‘Austrian diet’, being able to eat gluten free chocolate cake after a curried lentil supper, this was amazing to me. I think it ranks as the best meal I have had this trip.

Monday, our only full day in Salzburg, a day for adventure! Rain. Rain. And rain. Brrr. In a twisted way, I think the weather made the trip far more educational than it would have been otherwise, as we stayed indoors instead of lazing in sunny gardens. Unlike the rest of this very Christian country, closing everything on Sundays is a no go (tourism). Fun fact, everything shuts down on Monday! Half of the places we had written down were closed, but we still took the cable car up to the fortress known as Hohensalzburg Castle. 

No history resharing on this one, but I will say the place is massive. The first museum probably took us two hours, going quickly, and was only a fraction of the grounds. The Marionette museum was definitely my favourite! (Aside, the toy museum being closed broke my heart. My favourite site in Istanbul was a cute little toy museum away from tourist land.) The view from the top of the mountain is spectacular, even when foggy and gross.

After returning to the old town, we wandered into a massive cathedral and the Residenz Palace (where the Archbishops actually lived). The nice part about many of the museums I have been to is that they automatically include an audio guide or actual tour guide. It is nice to be able to look at tapestries and listen to an explanation, rather than stare at a block of text, then quickly glance at the objects before rushing out of the way of the signage.

Everything in the core was gorgeous, so we did enjoy getting lost and seeing the district. However, it was cold enough that we always popped in and out of locations to keep warm. For lunch, we went into the ‘Afro café’ which was hilariously wonderful. The menu was African inspired, and the décor was half American ‘gansta’ and half more traditional roots. (Aside, I suspect I enjoy finding an amazing restaurant than a palace, regardless of the city. My brain has evolved to appreciate survival more than opulence.)

As the continuous rain had transformed the city from 30s end of summer bliss to single digit freezing, we decided on an easy night back at the hostel. Stopping twice on the walk back, once for sturm at a local wine store (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federweisser), and then for groceries and a DIY dinner at the hostel. Not only did the hostel have a restaurant and the ability to serve a couple dishes 24/7, it also provided a separate kitchen facilities for the more frugal guests! Joanne and I split a bottle of wine, and wandered into one of the dining areas. When the English movie found to play turned out to be Harry Potter, we ended up playing cards for 3 hours with Australians on their way into Vienna from Oktoberfest in Munich. As outsiders to the continent, we modified all positions in the game so that we could mock European countries and their economics to give it a local flavour. Win.


And, buried at the end of this ridiculously long post, the reason why I typed so much! Tonight my group is supposed to attend the Opera with our Orientation program. However, after an all too brief period of health, I have a caught a particularly nasty cold that has infected the majority of the students we know (my roommate is sniffling away next to me). The opera tickets were for standing room only, so a group of us have all agreed we are willing to splurge on being able to sit for 3 hours.  Hoping this bug wraps up in the next 24 hours! We head to Oktoberfest tomorrow.

Melk

  Our Orientation Program includes two full day trips. The first, to Melk, was a warm up for Graz (more on that later). On the way we stopped off at a castle not far from Vienna for a falcon demonstration… thing, before a ‘traditional Austrian lunch’ (surprise! Schnitzel was on the menu), and finally Melk. The city’s claim to tourist fame is a massive abbey on the mountain. If anything, the place is so overwhelmingly opulent it seems fake.

 Chris used to do parkour! He can climb anywhere, it is quite fun to travel with him.

 Can you spot the Mary? This castle isn't even that famous, which hurts my Canadian brain. They're just littered all over Europe, no big.

 This was an incredible show to have a front row view for. They deliberately placed meat near us so the birds would come close.

 Chris got smacked in the head by bird wings, as two trainers sent the birds back and forth overtop of us. The condor fortunately had the decency to take a longer route.

 Seeing this painting was the biggest WTF moment. Ninjas?

 There is a mummy in the abbey cathedral. I have no idea why, or who this is, but it is so out of place given the general splendour of the rest of the tour.

 We were serenaded by this tuba player as we walked in the main city. I may have killed myself laughing in enjoyment.

Schonbrunn

I am very happy to have signed up for the Orientation Program with WU, even if I have already skipped a day! The convenience of having tours and travels prearranged for you should not be undervalued. If anything, going to Salzburg halfway through reminded me that these people are working very hard to make this experience an awesome one.

Anyways! Schonbrunn.  We were each given audio guides to walk through the palace with, which is all kinds of brilliant given the diversity of the group. While everyone understands some English, expecting them to understand all the words in strange histories would be unrealistic. One of the gentlemen is even German, so him getting a choice to listen in the local language is great. (I also liked noting whose translation was longer based on walking times.)

As someone who was generally unaware of Austrian history before the World Wars, the tour was well timed. It mostly focused on the Hapsburgs, but provided earlier context and even extended a bit until the modern day. The palace is still in use, with functions beyond the museum (because it is so crazy massive). We are hoping to go back to visit the extensive zoo in the gardens. The estate is vast and meandering, so we saw only a fraction in the time we wandered. Unfortunately (or fortunately if you consider the preservation of the artwork), pictures were not allowed inside. As such:

Oh yeah, we totally went for Mafia pizza for dinner. Massive, massive things.

Crazy

What a whirlwind! I have three different adventures to catch up on (Schonbrunn, Melk, and Salzburg), but first my evening! We caught an afternoon train back to Vienna, so napped, snacked, and journalled. A roommate of Joanne had her birthday today, so I needed to get back to the apartment to drop things and shower. First piece of news: my roommate is leaving tomorrow morning! We were both scheduled to leave October 3rd for other residences through the student housing program (it is wacky, we have talked to many people switching around). However, her transfer would be far out of the city, and a friend in a private flat knew there was a free room for rent. Bye Julia! It was nice to share this space and get lost on transit together. After that shock, I ran out to make it to the restaurant on time (Italian, the girl in our group from Milan had the hardest time getting her order understood as she said things properly).

Upon arriving home, I wanted to catch up on the world beyond the limited ipod wifi I used at the hostel. Exchange Scholarship came through! I will not be totally broke upon my return to Canada. This is such a relief, as I was becoming concerned pricing out trips over how to budget myself here. The money will be deposited into my Canadian account, and I will only use what is in the Austrian. Or something. London is calling!


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Plague Carrier

Joanne noticed something funny. A tickle in her throat. A slight soreness associated with swallowing. I AM INFECTIOUS.

While I am very sorry she is also a tad sick (she took action sooner), in a twisted way I feel vindicated. For once, it is not just my immune system failing utterly. Rather than being a candidate for the next bubble child show, I am just a normal person who caught a cold other people get too.

Being the source of her tonsilitis, I took her to the nice family doctor who had treated me. (The doctor's joke being the office will be prepared for all the international boys who will come in reporting colds.) As a thank you for their being so sweet last time, I brought small maple candies for the doctor and receptionist who had to put up with me before, in addition to a new customer.

As a plus for us coming earlier in the day, the nearby Apotheke was actually open, so Joanne and I  were fairly quick. After wandering a famous outdoor market, and small bowls of pho/won ton soup, it was time to call it a day. Tomorrow we visit Melk, through the Orientation program! On Sunday, Salzburg!

After typing out the above, and deciding that at least one picture should be included, I realized how ridiculous this update is. A blog about European travels, and this is all about the mundane experience of being sick. We went to Schonbrunn Palace yesterday! I am posting pictures of that? Nope. Clearly, everyone back home wants to hear about the joys of prescription filling.

The One with Sickness

If you have heard of any of my other trips outside of Alberta, you have likely become familiar with my travel curse. If my flight is longer than a couple hours, then I am going to get sick. Not necessarily on the plane, though that has happened a couple times, but eventually on the trip I am enjoying, something is going to happen.

Now, with that in mind, I am extremely grateful for my Vienna bug (hopeful for the singular): a mild case of 'pharygitis'. I am not sure exactly what medications are being swallowed each day, but they are working, so no need to question it too closely. One of them is an antibiotic, so I am not feeling fully well, but am able to participate in the daily activities which is so wonderful.

Important to note to understand my tale is that I do not believe in using emergency services except when necessary. Having been in the system before, it is frustrating to see people who have only minor injuries or coughs clog up emergency departments instead of arranging for an alternative. Even as a confused foreigner, it did not feel right to abuse Austria's system just for my own convenience. (In retrospect, after feeling so sick and lost later on, that might have been silly.)

I appreciate my camera is smart enough to take pictures as I see things at the time. Now you know what it is like to be in Mary's head when she is feeling sick. -->

If anything, arranging for treatment has been worse than being sick (only one day of a liquids only diet this time, hurrah). On Monday: I googled for English speaking doctors in Vienna, and a couple of different websites had the same doctor recommended as their number one. Seeing how close he was to the U-Bahn, it was an easy decision. Confident, I copied down the address and directions and headed off for a diagnosis. Ha. Either the doctor is not there any more, or their office is totally hidden. I found an apothecary a block away who had never heard of them! Fortunately, the pharmacist was kind and had some free time to look up the location of another doctor. One friendly police man, one harrassed business man, and one bored looking office worker later, it was found!

It was a small, cute family doctor's office with only one lady on call. They were willing to take me on without an appointment, which was great given the receptionist had mediocre English (comparative to what most locals speak, which is impressive). One phone call to the insurance company and a short wait later, voila! The doctor laughed and then made motherly cooing noises when she touched my neck. Probably should have gone in earlier...

Businesses in Austria tend to have shorter business hours. Almost everything is closed on Sundays, and most stores have no evening hours. This meant when I found the next apothecary (the helpful one was far away from the doctor), they were already closed for the night. Meep. Prescriptions in hand, I did what any sick and exhausted person in my situation would do. I broke down for a few minutes. 

Vienna is an amazing city. In the core, everything is extremely easy to get to using their transit system. The density means that most all services will be a short walking distance from any random location you find yourself in. However, at this point, having gone through registration all afternoon at the university and been lost looking for offices, how lucky I was did not really come to mind. Here I am, sick and not speaking the local language, able to pay a doctor for their services because the cost of care is so cheap here, and after many people went out of their way to help me. It's just an overblown cold, not anything serious compared to what an exchange to Africa or Asia could entail. Cried anyways.

This time, a plucky young parking attendant took a break from writing tickets to help me locate a 24/7 Apotheke. Good times miming on the map! I still got turned around (it is hard to orient yourself with tall buildings always obscuring any views into the distance), and almost had to find another police officer, but it worked out. How classy is this? When I found my beautiful pharmacy, it was like discovering a hidden castle after being abadoned to hunger in the woods. Except instead of hunger, tonsilitis and an inability to consume much more than yogurt. Okay, maybe some hunger...

Tuesday was instantly incredible, as I woke up feeling much better and ate cereal (score!) along with the yoghurt. It was also the first day of our Orientation, which was a guided walking tour of the Vienna core. Many of the places I had passed by before, but learning the history made everything that much cooler. The statues built into buildings that impressed me so much? Yeah, that place was the swankiest brothel in Vienna. It was probably 30 degrees out, so tiring, but fortunately short enough that even the sicky of the group had no problem keeping up.

After the tour, Joanne and I slipped inside for some sushi. We have now had sushi twice now, and I have yet to try schnitzel. Rice is probably better than all of the sacred fried foods available here... After resting up and filling our bellies, we wandered into H&M for some cheap summer clothes, seeing as Vienna has NOT reached fall yet. The Euro has dropped a lot the past few years, but local prices do not reflect it. The strong Canadian dollar is such a treat!

Looking forward to the weekend, weekend...

Summer! I think I speak for all exchange students not hailing from tropical destinations when I say we have been thoroughly cooked over the past weekend. While the warm blooded creatures amongst us have suffered, we reptiles have enjoyed absorbing energy to keep us running later. Must save up for winter!

On Saturday, a large group met for an afternoon on the Danube. Many cafes and bars line the river's edge, which meant gelato was easy to find after skin had been sufficiently reddened. 

One of the gentlemen in our group had lived in Vienna before (despite hailing from Guatemala), so served as our tour guide for the occasion. He took as to an area largely populated by locals; I do not think many other internationals were in the area. As such, we were treated to the elderly women sunbathing topless and the men in comical swim suits. It was mostly the Americans who went in for a swim, but we all cooled our feet in the water. (Given my last river swim was at Sheep River, which is glacial fed, the water seemed quite warm. Our Italian/Brazilian girl heartily affirmed that it was, in fact, freezing, even if I could still feel my toes.)

With our heads and bodies wrung out from so much sunshine, we decided to find a park to sit in and relax. Fortunately we were very close to my apartment, so I was able to give directions to the nearest Billa. The girls bought breads, spreads, fruits, juice, and wine to share in groups. The boys purchased crisps and beer for themselves. You can tell who is having the better lifestyle on this exchange! It was a lovely evening.

On Sunday, Joanne and I co-ordinated a large group together through Facebook to head to Prater (the big amusement park two minutes from my apartment). The group was actually too big! The Swedes split off together, and smaller groups formed on and off, which made co-ordination a lot easier.

I was amused, as clearly some students had come as it was likely one of the only events they had heard of for the day. The arrivals have probably all finished now, but depending on the residence and languages spoken, it will take longer yet for everyone to have a group of buddies to hang out with. How could I tell they had come to meet more people? They signed up for an amusement park, but never went on any rides! (In fairness, they were a tad expensive as you pay for each ride individually, rather than admission to the park.) 

The temperature was forecasted to have a high under 30, but it went over 35. Pavement, fair grounds with little cover, and constant walking around was a killer combo. Joanne and I went on the ferris wheel together, and found the larger group enjoying beers in the shade of a restaurant (better to admit defeat than strive in vain). However, I did not imbibe as I was already feeling rather funny from the day… more on that later.

Home in Vienna!

 Long flights are an excellent preparation for North Americans coming to Europe. We are used to so much space and room, more than is necessary, so being squeezed into a metal tin hurtling in the sky teaches you to appreciate being able to move around. Now that I am settled, it becomes apparent a larger area would be silly. More places to lose keys and glasses in! (Another pro-tip: 'sleep' your first night in a new place on hardwood floor. Your next rest on an actual bed will seem like heaven.)


Classes do not start until October! WU has an orientation program running in September, which fills up most afternoons and some evenings. However, we decided to get a head start on touring the city. My roommate Julia (from Sweden) and I decided to wander downtown to get a glimpse before the walk about with other students. However, I got us lost trying to find a new train station (we live in walking distance from 3 stations and 2 lines)! Apparently there is a nice church in our area (pictured), that no one thought was worth mentioning, because it is so small. This is important, as I would like to know if it is legal to marry their transit system.

The first district is quite incredible; it is hard not to be amazed at each turn. However, a dumbstruck Canadians can get in the way, so I will wait to tour properly with a larger group to keep me moving. (Yet today I was temporarily nominated tour guide for the group, bad call! Designate the tallest person; no one will get lost.)

Lucky for Julia, I had been given a brief tour of this area by Richard (a very thoughtful local who volunteered to help incoming internationals). If you ever need to register yourself with the city of Vienna, he is your man!



I am not as excited for shopping as many of the other students seem to be. Even if my urge to expand a certain leggings collection is low, I admit to being very entertained finding a swanky H&M. Who knew?




If you are bothering to read this, I am sure you are thinking, really Mary? More simple buildings? Where are the palaces? Shh. I am embarrassed to post photos of significant spots and not be able to explain their significance beyond 'Hapsburg?'.


This Albertan is very pleased by the artwork incorporated into the columns. There are many masterpieces here that blend into greater objects. In a way, combining the form and function is more impressive to me. In a continent where space efficiency counts, being able to exude a careless luxury without having small statues in the middle of the street breaking up traffic is smart.












I suspect this is the only public source of 'free' water. I forget how privileged we are in Canada to have an abundance of fresh and clean water!



 




Just your every day parking lot, no biggie. I am never driving in this city! The removal of the constant threat of being run over by a massive truck is a relief, to be sure... I am just aware that as a new driver, these roads would probably result in me hurting people or property. The main streets would be like a massive game of Frogger. (Reason to visit Germany: no speed limits.)

The above two buildings are identical, mirrors of each other. Joanne (whooo knowing another Canadian) and I were told that the only difference is the statues on the roofs, one set with clothing and the other without. Two museums are housed within now that no Emperors see fit to occupy their luxury. I think they will be visited during our Orientation tour, so it seemed silly to visit in advance and pay full admission. (We have yet to register properly as students.)