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.