Hallo from Wein! Thanks to a new initiative to upload photos daily after spending a week continuously behind in photo uploads, I have fallen behind in blog updating (then again, it's only been another 10 days since the last blog, so am I really that behind?).
I got to Venice on March 15 to a light, steady rainfall that over the next day developed into even steadier, heavier rain. As such, the first day I bought groceries, walked around the island my hostel was on, and uploaded photos and my last blog post. The second day in Venice I spent the majority of the day in Saint Mark's Square to avoid having to go out into the rain, which turned out to work well as I could access two different museums and only have to dash out into the rain once (the hostel morning cook tried to convince me not to bring my umbrella out, as it was also windy; it's a good thing I'm sensible and stubborn). After a lifetime spent going to Epcot and several years of art history, my first real stop was the Doge's Palace (by the way, the vaporetto ride over to St. Mark's looks exactly like approaching the Italian pavilion at Epcot, and I spent three days expecting to end up at Disney, not Venice). While I had studied the facade of the palace in high school and at UF, none of my teachers had ever mentioned the grandeur of the interior or just how massive the palace actually is. It served as both the home of the doges and as the main center of government in Venice, and it is home to one of the largest rooms in all of Europe. Oh, and it also has the old prisons of Venice, which once held Casanova, and is connected to the palace by the Bridge of Sighs (supposedly the sighs are due to the prisoners' sighs as they caught their last glimpse of the canal before imprisonment). After a few hours spent wandering the palace, I grabbed a quick hot sandwich and headed over to the Correr Museum. Given that I wasn't expecting much and had chosen it due to its proximity and the fact that it was included on my civic museums ticket, I found that it was okay. While it had some works by famous Venetian artists, Classical pieces, and maritime artifacts, it was relatively small after the Doge's palace.
The next day was clear, warm, sunny, and relatively dry, as well as St. Patrick's Day and the 150th anniversary of Italy's unification. While there were official and local bands over much of Venice, none of them had bagpipes and I was slightly homesick for the St. Patty's parade in Boston. I had gone over to St. Mark's Square to catch the ferry to Murano, but I was distracted by a band playing somewhere in the middle of the crowd in the square and by people in various military and police uniforms walking by (most had swords, because Italy's awesome like that). The procession ended with the band marching/galloping/walking by, at which point the crowd dispersed, and I hopped aboard Vaporetto 1, which goes down the length of the Grand Canal from St. Mark's Square to the train station, where I boarded another vaporetto that went to Murano. The Murano glass museum was pretty neat; it started with glass from ancient Roman times, and I was honestly surprised at how complex the glasswork from that time already was. There were fragile little bottles, as well as striped glass, similar to what is still produced today. I was, however, unsurprised that much of the modern glass looked somehwhat similar to the glass my dad's cousin and her husband make. There was also a giant "centerpiece" for a table (provided said table was at least 6 feet wide and 10 feet long) that was a replica of a Venetian pleasure garden made entirely out of glass. I was a little put off by the fact that the museum didn't have any artists actively making glass, yet there was a whole display devoted to the process of making glass and each different variation of glass. After the museum I indulged in a little bit of souvenir shopping before catching the vaporetto back to the hostel.
On my third full day in Venice, I attempted to go to both the Natural History museum and the Academie museum, but the Natural History museum is only open on Wednesdays and the Academie wasn't actually included on my museum ticket, and I wanted to save my money to buy postcards and gifts for my nephews. As such, I spent a surprising amount of time in the Rialto area (after buying my ticket to Austria in the train station). I not only managed to find gifts for the nephews, but also a pre-made pizza with three of my favorite toppings already together (tomato, spinach, ricotta) and there may have been anchovies on it as well? Either way, delicious and warm after several days of Nutella sandwiches for lunch and bread and cheese for dinner. Afterwards I took another trip out to Murano to track down a glassblowing factory, only to be directed immediately off the vaporetto to a studio seconds away that did just that. After the five minute demonstration, in which at least seven pieces were made, the presenter (who had been outside the vaporetto exit) herded everyone into the giftshop, at which point I made for the exit and the next vaporetto back to the main island. The remainder of the afternoon was spent buying groceries, failing to track down a reusable shopping bag to bring home to my mom, and packing.
I'm going to pause here to note the passing of a friend of mine, Stacie Lavender, who died in a freak motorcycle accident while I was in Italy. She was only months away from graduation, and she was very much someone I looked up to and occasionally aspired to be like. We met my junior year at UF in Murphree, where she was living in my old room, had my old bed, and even had the same orange and pink curtain I bought the year before from Target for that same room. She was a well-recognized member of the Gainesville Krishna community, and according to The Alligator it seemed as though most of Gainesville was in the hospital for her from the time she was admitted until the time she died. I have no doubt in my mind that she will be greatly rewarded in her next reincarnation, but until then, and perhaps forever more, she will be greatly missed. Her parents will be receiving her diploma in May.
On the morning of March 19, I left Italy via the Alps into Austria, in the process going through the most beautiful scenery I've seen since leaving the South Island of New Zealand. While waiting for the bus to Austria I met a dad from South Africa who had been traveling around Italy with his father before going to Austria so they could go skiing and snowboarding. It turned out that we were also on the same train, on which I sat with them and receiving an invitation to come to South Africa and stay at the older father's B&B and go surfing (I was told the presence of great white sharks in the water only makes you a more motivated swimmer). Despite the surprising amount of snow still on the ground in some places and the brief minute of snowfall (or not so surprising, given that it is the Alps), the father and son got off at their stop to very little snow. Naturally I was a bit relieved, as I had no inclination to wander around Salzburg in the snow, and I was very glad an hour later to get off the train to snow-free, gorgeous, wonderful Salzburg. Thanks to a very light drizzle, very cold temperatures, and the necessity of messaging my bank, I spent the remainder of the afternoon in the Yoho International Youth Hostel (which is the best hostel of the entire trip so far: cheerful rooms, massive pillows, and massive fluffy comforters, great showers, and great location).
My first full day in Salzburg I set off to do the recommended walking tour mapped out on the map the hostel provided. After crossing the river into the Altstadt ("Old Town"), the walk wended around the main shopping street, past the Dom (cathedral), past Mozartplatz (Mozart Square), and up the many steps of the Monnberg hill/mountain to the iconic fortress, where there was still frost and a tiny pile of frosty snow at the top of the steps. For just over €5, you get entrance into the fort, as well as the included audio guide tour, marionette museum, the old apartments, a military history museum, and countless vantage points for spectacular views. The audio guide tour led to the top of the fortress and the best views of Salzburg and the Alps, and I was almost reluctant to ever come down again. After exploring the rest of the fortress and the included museums (they have Sound of Music marionettes of Maria and the Captain, but not the actual marionettes from the movie), I followed the suggested trail along the top of the Monnberg back back down again, leading all the way towards one of the oldest beer halls in Salzburg. I regretfully didn't have any beer or snacks, as I had just had lunch and it was a bit cold outside, plus I didn't want to drink alone and be that tourist. The path led back towards the river from the beer hall, before cutting back in to the other end of the main shopping street, going past Mozart's birthplace before crossing the river again and heading into perhaps the most iconic garden in all of Austria: the Mirabell Gardens. These are the gardens featured prominently in The Sound of Music in "Do Re Mi," and I can now say gladly that I walked past both fountains (neither of which were going as it still went below freezing at night), past the mostly empty flower beds, and walked up and down the "Do Re Mi" stairs. And felt like a happy little nerd the entire time! At that point the tour path returned me to the hostel, where I did a photo dump onto the laptop and headed out to a local chain cafe for dinner (ramen noodles with pesto and vegetables).
The following day (Monday) was the most fateful/nerdy/greatest day of my trip since I did my second Lord of the Rings tour in New Zealand to see Edoras (oh, and seeing GV people and the wombat at Wilson's Prom, but those are personally fulfilling). I did the Sound of Music tour! Well, first I wandered around the Altstadt for a couple of hours and got lunch (and a free Coke glass) at McDonald's. When I signed up for the tour, I was told to be at the hostel at 1:30 to get picked up for the tour. Well, 1:30 came and went, as did 1:40, at which point I was approached by a Japanese girl who asked if I was also waiting for the tour van. After establishing that we were going with the same company on different tours, the hostel receptionist called the tour company and confirmed that the driver would be a bit late, which led to the Australian guy sitting in the courtyard to ask if we were doing the Sound of Music tour as well. After a brief "yes" from me and "no" from the Japanese girl, Kristin the shuttle van driver/tour guide strode up, asked if we were doing the tours ("yes"), and immediately inquired if the Australian guy was doing the tour for my sake. At that point we looked at each other, laughed, and told her we'd met seconds earlier and didn't even know the other person's name. Apparently she assumed we were together because we were "both blonde." It turns out that (and speaking a common language) was the best ice breaker ever. It turns out his name is Shaun and he's from a suburb of Melbourne (which I believe makes him Victorian number six or seven, if I don't count anyone I already knew/met in Victoria). We ended up sitting together on the tour bus, and we were the youngest people on it with the exception of two girls traveling with their parents. Kristin the guide seemed excited that we sat together and didn't give us too much grief when we chatted through all of the musical breaks instead of singing along. To be fair, he is also the first person I've found who flew out of the Melbourne airport for Europe and was traveling alone as well, so it was nice to have a common ground with someone beyond simply being North American or English-speaking. Oh, and his camera is partially broken too. But back to the tour... as most of the streets of Salzburg were built centuries before cars and buses were ever invented, many of the first sites were pointed out as we drove past, including the fortress and Nonnberg Abbey (where Maria and the nuns were, and where in the actual convent the nuns took vows of silence). Our first real stop was lake/swamp overlooking the backyard of the von Trapp house from the movie, which is also where the gazebo still stood until too many tourists scaled the wall between a boys' dormitory and the yard of the house that it had to be moved to Schloss Hellbrunn. From there we filed back in the bus, drove past the Abbey again, and Shaun and I discussed uni (he studies science and wants to specialize in genetics and cures using genetics; I've still only heard back from USC and have begun to look at apartments online when bored). After going back through Salzburg we stopped at Schloss Hellbrunn to see the gazebo. While it used to be open to the public, an elderly woman was pretending to be Liesel and broke her hip, at which point the city of Salzburg locked the doors. Somehow I was expecting it to be taller and a little bigger, but I still got that little thrill of excitement on being so near to a structure so famous. After snapping a few photos of the gazebo, it was time to head out to the town of Mondsee ("Moon Lake"), where the church the Captain and Maria marry in is. The drive from Salzburg to Mondsee went through the Alps close to the German border, during which time Shaun and I bonded over our broken cameras, Melbourne, the Great Ocean Road, and Wilson's Prom, camping/hiking, and the South Island of New Zealand (seriously, the ONLY person I've met in two months who's been to the same places I have, even if his trip was through central Europe and only 25 days). About ten minutes outside of Mondsee we stopped to take a picture of a different town and lake, simply because it was pretty and alpine. While the gazebo looked a little smaller than expected, St. Michael's Church (the wedding church) was massive! And very very yellow. It's also one of the few churches in Austria not covered in scaffolding, which may be why it looked so large? With the addition of a few modern church touches (a couple of giant purple cloth banners hanging in the altar) the interior looks exactly like it did when the movie was filmed. I think it's also the only church aisle I've ever walked straight down (with the exception of taking photos all the while), and thanks to lingering near the back to take photos of the side chapels, I was pretty much walking the aisle along as the rest of the tour bus group was clumped in the front. I met back up with Shaun then, followed his not so sage advice to touch the freezing cold marble of the altar (no heaters even in a famous alpine church), then he and I headed back outside to take pictures of the lake. It was at this point that I walked on real grass for the first time since Melbourne (there was grass in Pompeii, but grass in ruins is nothing compared to an open field of grass). While taking pictures, a dog and a Frisbee popped out of nowhere while I wasn't paying attention, further proving that animals everywhere really like me. The dog didn't quite seem to accept my "Nein!" as an answer, even after the woman who owned it showed up with the same answer. Eventually it got distracted enough to leave, and I kind of began to miss my favorite stray from Pompeii. After twenty minutes of freezing by the lake taking pictures, we crossed the road back to the bus (Austrian drivers, by the way, are incredibly polite; if you even so much as look at a crosswalk while on the sidewalk, they'll stop for you). On the ride back to Salzburg, Kristin handed out panoramic maps of Salzburg with all of the movie locations that can only be accessed on foot. She also verbally mapped out how to act out "Do Re Mi" through all of the major locations and end up back where you started, including finding the gnome statue, going around the bigger fountain, going on the carriage ride, buying and dropping a tomato at the University Market (but not crying), running across the bridge, running down the arched walkway in the garden, going around the Pegasus fountain, and hopping up and down the stairs. And she did it all almost without a breath. Once we got back to the parking lot in Mirabell Platz, I got Kristin's contact information in high hopes of dragging my mom to Salzburg after Italy so she can do the SOM tour as well. At that point Kristin told Shaun and I to go out for beer together ("but not wine, because that's a date, okay?"), and he and I walked back to the hostel. We hung out a bit later that night between dinner and when he had to go meet up with a friend living in Salzburg, and I ended the night with another round of loading pictures onto Facebook and feeling guilty about not blogging.
On Tuesday morning I attempted to sleep in, as at night a Mexican girl across the room from me got three calls around 2 AM, all of which she answered without whispering, and the night before that the couple in the double room next to my wall decided to have sex around the exact same time I was trying to fall asleep. Giving up on sleeping in around 8 AM (I seriously can't wait to stay in guestrooms in Paris and Jersey and not wake up at 8 AM because everyone else woke up then too), I trudged downstairs for breakfast with my jar of Vegemite, where I got called out for being "such an Aussie" for taking that with me. Never did get the chance to explain to the random person that I was American, but no matter. At that point I'd been confused for a nineteen year-old (bus to Taupo), a study abroad student (Sydney), an Italian (Sorrento, Florence, Venice), a native Spanish speaker (Venice), a Canadian (my first night in Salzburg, by a girl from Minnesota and a girl from Melbourne), and someone's girlfriend (the day before), so if anything at that point I felt excited to add "Australian" onto my list of false identities (in Vienna, I was constantly being confused for a German/Austrian, even when speaking in English). After breakfast I set out to buy my ticket to Vienna, an alpine hat, and some chocolate for my nephews, and to find all of the Sound of Music locations left in Salzburg that I hadn't found/photographed yet: the gnome, the arched walkway, the horse fountain from "I Have Confidence," the Mozart Bridge, and the University Market. While buying chocolates and a small bottle of chocolate liqueur (to join my small bottle of limoncello), the woman at the register had to stop and ask if I was over eighteen (may as well add that to the list), but luckily believed me when I said I was actually twenty-three. After walking around and up and down the river some more, I went back to the hostel to try and get in a brief nap after the lack of sleep from the two nights before. Right when I was about to doze off, there was a knock at the door, and I opened it to see Shaun all fitted up with his backpack. After a hug and kiss on the cheek, we spent the next twenty to thirty minutes talking in the hallway with all manner of eavesdroppers from my room and the room next door. After I had resolved the day before to go back to Melbourne in the near future (probably there, the west coast of Oz, and NZ), especially after realizing I had skipped out on a lot of neat stuff that even the hostel never mentioned (such as Abbotsford Convent, a convent turned farmers market, etc), we said good-bye one last time. At that point I may have relapsed into the same funk I got after parting with Jayne and Carolyn for the first time, and so far it has outlasted seeing Blair (GV '06) in Vienna and knowing that I'll be seeing Meghan Brann in Munich. After Shaun left I went back into the room and started talking with Konni, a mother from Stuttgart who had been in my room for the past two nights and was that night headed to the opera. While she was getting ready we talked about family members who play accordion who are embarrassing, whereas other people who play accordion are cool, about trips around the US (I invited her to FL after hearing it's been her dream to go to the American South after doing a roadtrip from Chicago to CA), and about the perils of getting hooked on regional foods (her daughter fell in love with Dunkin Donuts in Berlin, my mom is hooked on food from Buffalo, I can no longer look at a burger without wishing it was from NZ). Konni headed out to the opera, leaving me to pack, send a message or two to Blair, plan out some of what I wanted to do in Vienna, and upload photos.
Wednesday morning I woke up, said good-bye to Konni and hopped aboard the train to Vienna. After a ride marked only by my first ever successful attempt to lift my pack above my head, I got to Vienna and spent several anxious minutes waiting for Blair to show up (she got delayed due to several unforeseen issues with public transport). She arrived, we may have screamed/wooted loudly, and we set off for her house in the suburbs. On the ride out she warned me that I'd probably want to get a hostel in the city, a warning which proved to be all too true as we switched from subway to tram to tram. We finally got to her house (three story house with a broken elevator for only three Americans studying abroad), set down my stuff, switched from sneakers to Converse, and shed my jacket before heading out to Schloss Schoenbrunn Schoenbrunn was gorgeous, and it was the first day that Blair had been there that the fountains were running. In addition to the running fountains, we both saw our first Austrian squirrels as we were walking around, just minutes after talking about how I hadn't seen a single squirrel since I left home, and she hadn't seen one since her trip to Germany. After the palace we headed into the center of Vienna, which apart from its historic buildings and churches has been largely overrun by international labels. (Wolford, that place at International Mall that only sells black, white ,and red shirts and dresses and fancy pantyhose, is an international brand it turns out.). Blair took me to her favorite bakery for sachertorte (chocolate cake with apricot jam...and I just realized I still owe her money!). We walked towards St. Stephen's Cathedral as we ate our cake; unfortunately much of the cathedral is hidden by scaffolding as Vienna is currently attempting to clean it, but its ornately decorated roof was fully visible. After St. Stephen's we took the U-Bahn over to the Rathaus (Government Hall) area for dinner at Einstein's. All afternoon Blair had been talking about Radler, a beer mixed with lemonade, so the first thing we did was order two small Radlers. However, we failed to pay attention to just how small the glasses were that we ordered, and as such we were more than a little surprised when our waiter brought out glasses less than four inches tall "full" of beer. To go with our tiny beers I got cheese sausages wrapped in bacon (and served with fries) and Blair got schnitzel Cordon Bleu (also with fries). Much of the meal was spent laughing over the insanity of our small drinks and the likelihood of my meal being excessively bad enough for you to cause a heart attack while still remaining quintessentially Austrian/German. And by the way, it was delicious, as was the Radler. We went back to her house after dinner, and I showed her pictures from NZ, during which time my mom kept trying to talk to me on Facebook and I had received a friend request from Shaun (which excited Blair quite a bit).
The next morning Blair had to meet her grandparents at the airport at 7:30, so I had the house to myself all day. I woke up, booked a hostel by the main train station, did some laundry, booked more hostels for Germany (only need to book one more in Cologne and then I'm hostel free until I get to England), and packed up to go to the hostel closer to town. After many confused moments of trying to figure out which U-Bahn went were, and then wandering up and down one street for 20 minutes because I skipped one part of the directions to the hostel, I finally found Ruthensteiner Hostel (much thanks to the staff at Wombats Lounge for directing me around two corners). I headed out to the supermarket to buy groceries for the next several days before heading back out to St. Stephen's, the Hofburg, and the Museum District, where I saw my first sunset in several days.
Which gets me to what has become yesterday since I started writing this blog, my last full day in Vienna. I spent much of the day in the Art History Museum (roughly 4 1/2-5 hours), which is home to several famous works, including Brugel's "Hunters in the Snow (Winter)," Raphael's "Madonna of the Meadow," and Parmigano's self-portrait painted off of his reflection in a concave mirror that he sent to the pope to gain admittance into the Academy. After the museum I picnicked in the middle of the museum district before heading back over to Schloss Schoenbrunn to take some more pictures and generally just wander around. I attempted to have another nap before packing, both of which attempts failed due to a girl moving into the bunk above mine and going to sleep at 6 PM. I cut my losses by making dinner and putting up more photos and waited for Blair to come by following her daytrip to Salzburg with her grandparents. We hung out in the hostel lounge for a while talking about Vienna, Salzburg, and Atlanta, before it was time for us to part ways so she wouldn't get home too horribly late and I could go to bed and wake up early to pack.
Today has been relatively uneventful, other than possibly having another Victorian in my room last night, buying more postcards, watching two nuns spill half a bottle of soda water on the train, and observing a man reading Playboy in the seat directly in front of the nuns while his girlfriend takes a nap. Which brings me to being 14 minutes outside of Munich! Tchuss!
I got to Venice on March 15 to a light, steady rainfall that over the next day developed into even steadier, heavier rain. As such, the first day I bought groceries, walked around the island my hostel was on, and uploaded photos and my last blog post. The second day in Venice I spent the majority of the day in Saint Mark's Square to avoid having to go out into the rain, which turned out to work well as I could access two different museums and only have to dash out into the rain once (the hostel morning cook tried to convince me not to bring my umbrella out, as it was also windy; it's a good thing I'm sensible and stubborn). After a lifetime spent going to Epcot and several years of art history, my first real stop was the Doge's Palace (by the way, the vaporetto ride over to St. Mark's looks exactly like approaching the Italian pavilion at Epcot, and I spent three days expecting to end up at Disney, not Venice). While I had studied the facade of the palace in high school and at UF, none of my teachers had ever mentioned the grandeur of the interior or just how massive the palace actually is. It served as both the home of the doges and as the main center of government in Venice, and it is home to one of the largest rooms in all of Europe. Oh, and it also has the old prisons of Venice, which once held Casanova, and is connected to the palace by the Bridge of Sighs (supposedly the sighs are due to the prisoners' sighs as they caught their last glimpse of the canal before imprisonment). After a few hours spent wandering the palace, I grabbed a quick hot sandwich and headed over to the Correr Museum. Given that I wasn't expecting much and had chosen it due to its proximity and the fact that it was included on my civic museums ticket, I found that it was okay. While it had some works by famous Venetian artists, Classical pieces, and maritime artifacts, it was relatively small after the Doge's palace.
The next day was clear, warm, sunny, and relatively dry, as well as St. Patrick's Day and the 150th anniversary of Italy's unification. While there were official and local bands over much of Venice, none of them had bagpipes and I was slightly homesick for the St. Patty's parade in Boston. I had gone over to St. Mark's Square to catch the ferry to Murano, but I was distracted by a band playing somewhere in the middle of the crowd in the square and by people in various military and police uniforms walking by (most had swords, because Italy's awesome like that). The procession ended with the band marching/galloping/walking by, at which point the crowd dispersed, and I hopped aboard Vaporetto 1, which goes down the length of the Grand Canal from St. Mark's Square to the train station, where I boarded another vaporetto that went to Murano. The Murano glass museum was pretty neat; it started with glass from ancient Roman times, and I was honestly surprised at how complex the glasswork from that time already was. There were fragile little bottles, as well as striped glass, similar to what is still produced today. I was, however, unsurprised that much of the modern glass looked somehwhat similar to the glass my dad's cousin and her husband make. There was also a giant "centerpiece" for a table (provided said table was at least 6 feet wide and 10 feet long) that was a replica of a Venetian pleasure garden made entirely out of glass. I was a little put off by the fact that the museum didn't have any artists actively making glass, yet there was a whole display devoted to the process of making glass and each different variation of glass. After the museum I indulged in a little bit of souvenir shopping before catching the vaporetto back to the hostel.
On my third full day in Venice, I attempted to go to both the Natural History museum and the Academie museum, but the Natural History museum is only open on Wednesdays and the Academie wasn't actually included on my museum ticket, and I wanted to save my money to buy postcards and gifts for my nephews. As such, I spent a surprising amount of time in the Rialto area (after buying my ticket to Austria in the train station). I not only managed to find gifts for the nephews, but also a pre-made pizza with three of my favorite toppings already together (tomato, spinach, ricotta) and there may have been anchovies on it as well? Either way, delicious and warm after several days of Nutella sandwiches for lunch and bread and cheese for dinner. Afterwards I took another trip out to Murano to track down a glassblowing factory, only to be directed immediately off the vaporetto to a studio seconds away that did just that. After the five minute demonstration, in which at least seven pieces were made, the presenter (who had been outside the vaporetto exit) herded everyone into the giftshop, at which point I made for the exit and the next vaporetto back to the main island. The remainder of the afternoon was spent buying groceries, failing to track down a reusable shopping bag to bring home to my mom, and packing.
I'm going to pause here to note the passing of a friend of mine, Stacie Lavender, who died in a freak motorcycle accident while I was in Italy. She was only months away from graduation, and she was very much someone I looked up to and occasionally aspired to be like. We met my junior year at UF in Murphree, where she was living in my old room, had my old bed, and even had the same orange and pink curtain I bought the year before from Target for that same room. She was a well-recognized member of the Gainesville Krishna community, and according to The Alligator it seemed as though most of Gainesville was in the hospital for her from the time she was admitted until the time she died. I have no doubt in my mind that she will be greatly rewarded in her next reincarnation, but until then, and perhaps forever more, she will be greatly missed. Her parents will be receiving her diploma in May.
On the morning of March 19, I left Italy via the Alps into Austria, in the process going through the most beautiful scenery I've seen since leaving the South Island of New Zealand. While waiting for the bus to Austria I met a dad from South Africa who had been traveling around Italy with his father before going to Austria so they could go skiing and snowboarding. It turned out that we were also on the same train, on which I sat with them and receiving an invitation to come to South Africa and stay at the older father's B&B and go surfing (I was told the presence of great white sharks in the water only makes you a more motivated swimmer). Despite the surprising amount of snow still on the ground in some places and the brief minute of snowfall (or not so surprising, given that it is the Alps), the father and son got off at their stop to very little snow. Naturally I was a bit relieved, as I had no inclination to wander around Salzburg in the snow, and I was very glad an hour later to get off the train to snow-free, gorgeous, wonderful Salzburg. Thanks to a very light drizzle, very cold temperatures, and the necessity of messaging my bank, I spent the remainder of the afternoon in the Yoho International Youth Hostel (which is the best hostel of the entire trip so far: cheerful rooms, massive pillows, and massive fluffy comforters, great showers, and great location).
My first full day in Salzburg I set off to do the recommended walking tour mapped out on the map the hostel provided. After crossing the river into the Altstadt ("Old Town"), the walk wended around the main shopping street, past the Dom (cathedral), past Mozartplatz (Mozart Square), and up the many steps of the Monnberg hill/mountain to the iconic fortress, where there was still frost and a tiny pile of frosty snow at the top of the steps. For just over €5, you get entrance into the fort, as well as the included audio guide tour, marionette museum, the old apartments, a military history museum, and countless vantage points for spectacular views. The audio guide tour led to the top of the fortress and the best views of Salzburg and the Alps, and I was almost reluctant to ever come down again. After exploring the rest of the fortress and the included museums (they have Sound of Music marionettes of Maria and the Captain, but not the actual marionettes from the movie), I followed the suggested trail along the top of the Monnberg back back down again, leading all the way towards one of the oldest beer halls in Salzburg. I regretfully didn't have any beer or snacks, as I had just had lunch and it was a bit cold outside, plus I didn't want to drink alone and be that tourist. The path led back towards the river from the beer hall, before cutting back in to the other end of the main shopping street, going past Mozart's birthplace before crossing the river again and heading into perhaps the most iconic garden in all of Austria: the Mirabell Gardens. These are the gardens featured prominently in The Sound of Music in "Do Re Mi," and I can now say gladly that I walked past both fountains (neither of which were going as it still went below freezing at night), past the mostly empty flower beds, and walked up and down the "Do Re Mi" stairs. And felt like a happy little nerd the entire time! At that point the tour path returned me to the hostel, where I did a photo dump onto the laptop and headed out to a local chain cafe for dinner (ramen noodles with pesto and vegetables).
The following day (Monday) was the most fateful/nerdy/greatest day of my trip since I did my second Lord of the Rings tour in New Zealand to see Edoras (oh, and seeing GV people and the wombat at Wilson's Prom, but those are personally fulfilling). I did the Sound of Music tour! Well, first I wandered around the Altstadt for a couple of hours and got lunch (and a free Coke glass) at McDonald's. When I signed up for the tour, I was told to be at the hostel at 1:30 to get picked up for the tour. Well, 1:30 came and went, as did 1:40, at which point I was approached by a Japanese girl who asked if I was also waiting for the tour van. After establishing that we were going with the same company on different tours, the hostel receptionist called the tour company and confirmed that the driver would be a bit late, which led to the Australian guy sitting in the courtyard to ask if we were doing the Sound of Music tour as well. After a brief "yes" from me and "no" from the Japanese girl, Kristin the shuttle van driver/tour guide strode up, asked if we were doing the tours ("yes"), and immediately inquired if the Australian guy was doing the tour for my sake. At that point we looked at each other, laughed, and told her we'd met seconds earlier and didn't even know the other person's name. Apparently she assumed we were together because we were "both blonde." It turns out that (and speaking a common language) was the best ice breaker ever. It turns out his name is Shaun and he's from a suburb of Melbourne (which I believe makes him Victorian number six or seven, if I don't count anyone I already knew/met in Victoria). We ended up sitting together on the tour bus, and we were the youngest people on it with the exception of two girls traveling with their parents. Kristin the guide seemed excited that we sat together and didn't give us too much grief when we chatted through all of the musical breaks instead of singing along. To be fair, he is also the first person I've found who flew out of the Melbourne airport for Europe and was traveling alone as well, so it was nice to have a common ground with someone beyond simply being North American or English-speaking. Oh, and his camera is partially broken too. But back to the tour... as most of the streets of Salzburg were built centuries before cars and buses were ever invented, many of the first sites were pointed out as we drove past, including the fortress and Nonnberg Abbey (where Maria and the nuns were, and where in the actual convent the nuns took vows of silence). Our first real stop was lake/swamp overlooking the backyard of the von Trapp house from the movie, which is also where the gazebo still stood until too many tourists scaled the wall between a boys' dormitory and the yard of the house that it had to be moved to Schloss Hellbrunn. From there we filed back in the bus, drove past the Abbey again, and Shaun and I discussed uni (he studies science and wants to specialize in genetics and cures using genetics; I've still only heard back from USC and have begun to look at apartments online when bored). After going back through Salzburg we stopped at Schloss Hellbrunn to see the gazebo. While it used to be open to the public, an elderly woman was pretending to be Liesel and broke her hip, at which point the city of Salzburg locked the doors. Somehow I was expecting it to be taller and a little bigger, but I still got that little thrill of excitement on being so near to a structure so famous. After snapping a few photos of the gazebo, it was time to head out to the town of Mondsee ("Moon Lake"), where the church the Captain and Maria marry in is. The drive from Salzburg to Mondsee went through the Alps close to the German border, during which time Shaun and I bonded over our broken cameras, Melbourne, the Great Ocean Road, and Wilson's Prom, camping/hiking, and the South Island of New Zealand (seriously, the ONLY person I've met in two months who's been to the same places I have, even if his trip was through central Europe and only 25 days). About ten minutes outside of Mondsee we stopped to take a picture of a different town and lake, simply because it was pretty and alpine. While the gazebo looked a little smaller than expected, St. Michael's Church (the wedding church) was massive! And very very yellow. It's also one of the few churches in Austria not covered in scaffolding, which may be why it looked so large? With the addition of a few modern church touches (a couple of giant purple cloth banners hanging in the altar) the interior looks exactly like it did when the movie was filmed. I think it's also the only church aisle I've ever walked straight down (with the exception of taking photos all the while), and thanks to lingering near the back to take photos of the side chapels, I was pretty much walking the aisle along as the rest of the tour bus group was clumped in the front. I met back up with Shaun then, followed his not so sage advice to touch the freezing cold marble of the altar (no heaters even in a famous alpine church), then he and I headed back outside to take pictures of the lake. It was at this point that I walked on real grass for the first time since Melbourne (there was grass in Pompeii, but grass in ruins is nothing compared to an open field of grass). While taking pictures, a dog and a Frisbee popped out of nowhere while I wasn't paying attention, further proving that animals everywhere really like me. The dog didn't quite seem to accept my "Nein!" as an answer, even after the woman who owned it showed up with the same answer. Eventually it got distracted enough to leave, and I kind of began to miss my favorite stray from Pompeii. After twenty minutes of freezing by the lake taking pictures, we crossed the road back to the bus (Austrian drivers, by the way, are incredibly polite; if you even so much as look at a crosswalk while on the sidewalk, they'll stop for you). On the ride back to Salzburg, Kristin handed out panoramic maps of Salzburg with all of the movie locations that can only be accessed on foot. She also verbally mapped out how to act out "Do Re Mi" through all of the major locations and end up back where you started, including finding the gnome statue, going around the bigger fountain, going on the carriage ride, buying and dropping a tomato at the University Market (but not crying), running across the bridge, running down the arched walkway in the garden, going around the Pegasus fountain, and hopping up and down the stairs. And she did it all almost without a breath. Once we got back to the parking lot in Mirabell Platz, I got Kristin's contact information in high hopes of dragging my mom to Salzburg after Italy so she can do the SOM tour as well. At that point Kristin told Shaun and I to go out for beer together ("but not wine, because that's a date, okay?"), and he and I walked back to the hostel. We hung out a bit later that night between dinner and when he had to go meet up with a friend living in Salzburg, and I ended the night with another round of loading pictures onto Facebook and feeling guilty about not blogging.
On Tuesday morning I attempted to sleep in, as at night a Mexican girl across the room from me got three calls around 2 AM, all of which she answered without whispering, and the night before that the couple in the double room next to my wall decided to have sex around the exact same time I was trying to fall asleep. Giving up on sleeping in around 8 AM (I seriously can't wait to stay in guestrooms in Paris and Jersey and not wake up at 8 AM because everyone else woke up then too), I trudged downstairs for breakfast with my jar of Vegemite, where I got called out for being "such an Aussie" for taking that with me. Never did get the chance to explain to the random person that I was American, but no matter. At that point I'd been confused for a nineteen year-old (bus to Taupo), a study abroad student (Sydney), an Italian (Sorrento, Florence, Venice), a native Spanish speaker (Venice), a Canadian (my first night in Salzburg, by a girl from Minnesota and a girl from Melbourne), and someone's girlfriend (the day before), so if anything at that point I felt excited to add "Australian" onto my list of false identities (in Vienna, I was constantly being confused for a German/Austrian, even when speaking in English). After breakfast I set out to buy my ticket to Vienna, an alpine hat, and some chocolate for my nephews, and to find all of the Sound of Music locations left in Salzburg that I hadn't found/photographed yet: the gnome, the arched walkway, the horse fountain from "I Have Confidence," the Mozart Bridge, and the University Market. While buying chocolates and a small bottle of chocolate liqueur (to join my small bottle of limoncello), the woman at the register had to stop and ask if I was over eighteen (may as well add that to the list), but luckily believed me when I said I was actually twenty-three. After walking around and up and down the river some more, I went back to the hostel to try and get in a brief nap after the lack of sleep from the two nights before. Right when I was about to doze off, there was a knock at the door, and I opened it to see Shaun all fitted up with his backpack. After a hug and kiss on the cheek, we spent the next twenty to thirty minutes talking in the hallway with all manner of eavesdroppers from my room and the room next door. After I had resolved the day before to go back to Melbourne in the near future (probably there, the west coast of Oz, and NZ), especially after realizing I had skipped out on a lot of neat stuff that even the hostel never mentioned (such as Abbotsford Convent, a convent turned farmers market, etc), we said good-bye one last time. At that point I may have relapsed into the same funk I got after parting with Jayne and Carolyn for the first time, and so far it has outlasted seeing Blair (GV '06) in Vienna and knowing that I'll be seeing Meghan Brann in Munich. After Shaun left I went back into the room and started talking with Konni, a mother from Stuttgart who had been in my room for the past two nights and was that night headed to the opera. While she was getting ready we talked about family members who play accordion who are embarrassing, whereas other people who play accordion are cool, about trips around the US (I invited her to FL after hearing it's been her dream to go to the American South after doing a roadtrip from Chicago to CA), and about the perils of getting hooked on regional foods (her daughter fell in love with Dunkin Donuts in Berlin, my mom is hooked on food from Buffalo, I can no longer look at a burger without wishing it was from NZ). Konni headed out to the opera, leaving me to pack, send a message or two to Blair, plan out some of what I wanted to do in Vienna, and upload photos.
Wednesday morning I woke up, said good-bye to Konni and hopped aboard the train to Vienna. After a ride marked only by my first ever successful attempt to lift my pack above my head, I got to Vienna and spent several anxious minutes waiting for Blair to show up (she got delayed due to several unforeseen issues with public transport). She arrived, we may have screamed/wooted loudly, and we set off for her house in the suburbs. On the ride out she warned me that I'd probably want to get a hostel in the city, a warning which proved to be all too true as we switched from subway to tram to tram. We finally got to her house (three story house with a broken elevator for only three Americans studying abroad), set down my stuff, switched from sneakers to Converse, and shed my jacket before heading out to Schloss Schoenbrunn Schoenbrunn was gorgeous, and it was the first day that Blair had been there that the fountains were running. In addition to the running fountains, we both saw our first Austrian squirrels as we were walking around, just minutes after talking about how I hadn't seen a single squirrel since I left home, and she hadn't seen one since her trip to Germany. After the palace we headed into the center of Vienna, which apart from its historic buildings and churches has been largely overrun by international labels. (Wolford, that place at International Mall that only sells black, white ,and red shirts and dresses and fancy pantyhose, is an international brand it turns out.). Blair took me to her favorite bakery for sachertorte (chocolate cake with apricot jam...and I just realized I still owe her money!). We walked towards St. Stephen's Cathedral as we ate our cake; unfortunately much of the cathedral is hidden by scaffolding as Vienna is currently attempting to clean it, but its ornately decorated roof was fully visible. After St. Stephen's we took the U-Bahn over to the Rathaus (Government Hall) area for dinner at Einstein's. All afternoon Blair had been talking about Radler, a beer mixed with lemonade, so the first thing we did was order two small Radlers. However, we failed to pay attention to just how small the glasses were that we ordered, and as such we were more than a little surprised when our waiter brought out glasses less than four inches tall "full" of beer. To go with our tiny beers I got cheese sausages wrapped in bacon (and served with fries) and Blair got schnitzel Cordon Bleu (also with fries). Much of the meal was spent laughing over the insanity of our small drinks and the likelihood of my meal being excessively bad enough for you to cause a heart attack while still remaining quintessentially Austrian/German. And by the way, it was delicious, as was the Radler. We went back to her house after dinner, and I showed her pictures from NZ, during which time my mom kept trying to talk to me on Facebook and I had received a friend request from Shaun (which excited Blair quite a bit).
The next morning Blair had to meet her grandparents at the airport at 7:30, so I had the house to myself all day. I woke up, booked a hostel by the main train station, did some laundry, booked more hostels for Germany (only need to book one more in Cologne and then I'm hostel free until I get to England), and packed up to go to the hostel closer to town. After many confused moments of trying to figure out which U-Bahn went were, and then wandering up and down one street for 20 minutes because I skipped one part of the directions to the hostel, I finally found Ruthensteiner Hostel (much thanks to the staff at Wombats Lounge for directing me around two corners). I headed out to the supermarket to buy groceries for the next several days before heading back out to St. Stephen's, the Hofburg, and the Museum District, where I saw my first sunset in several days.
Which gets me to what has become yesterday since I started writing this blog, my last full day in Vienna. I spent much of the day in the Art History Museum (roughly 4 1/2-5 hours), which is home to several famous works, including Brugel's "Hunters in the Snow (Winter)," Raphael's "Madonna of the Meadow," and Parmigano's self-portrait painted off of his reflection in a concave mirror that he sent to the pope to gain admittance into the Academy. After the museum I picnicked in the middle of the museum district before heading back over to Schloss Schoenbrunn to take some more pictures and generally just wander around. I attempted to have another nap before packing, both of which attempts failed due to a girl moving into the bunk above mine and going to sleep at 6 PM. I cut my losses by making dinner and putting up more photos and waited for Blair to come by following her daytrip to Salzburg with her grandparents. We hung out in the hostel lounge for a while talking about Vienna, Salzburg, and Atlanta, before it was time for us to part ways so she wouldn't get home too horribly late and I could go to bed and wake up early to pack.
Today has been relatively uneventful, other than possibly having another Victorian in my room last night, buying more postcards, watching two nuns spill half a bottle of soda water on the train, and observing a man reading Playboy in the seat directly in front of the nuns while his girlfriend takes a nap. Which brings me to being 14 minutes outside of Munich! Tchuss!
