And here it is! The long awaited post about Salzburg. I too was worried it might never come!

Nearly all the other incomings have been to Salzburg already – most went over Easter break months ago. And so as time went on I became increasingly nervous that I would have to do Salzburg alone. And I really didn’t want to if I could help it. Travelling alone is NEVER as enjoyable as travelling with friends – I know from experience.

Me and my friend Andrzej were the only people I knew of that had not been yet, and so we made a deal to go together so we wouldn’t go alone. Then our friend Paulina also mentioned she hadn’t been either! On friday night (the night before we left for Salzburg) I was hanging out with my upstairs neighbours when Paola asked if she could also go with us because she had yet to go.

So saturday morning at the crack of dawn the 4 of us set off for Salzburg.

We decided to only go for the day – after taking a poll of all the students that went, I think every one of them said they wished they didn’t stay for the night because it wasn’t worth it.

We got into the city early because we managed to grab some express trains, meaning we got there faster than normal. So we started off at the Mirabell Palace and Gardens. Fun Fact: these gardens were featured a few times in “The Sound of Music”, especially when the Von Trapp children sang “Do Re Mi”.

Fun fact: “The Sound of Music” was filmed almost exclusively in Salzburg and surrounding area. So many of the places we visited will look a little familiar.

The whole time we walked through, all I could think was “Man my Grandma Nelson would love this!” haha maybe one day she’ll make it here 🙂

There was also a Gnome Garden as an offshoot, which is why you saw us posing with random statues haha.

Once again the place was filled with tons of Asian tourists. We were the minority that morning!

It was also at the end of the gardens where I found a man and an accordion playing music. I took a video and posted it on instagram (you should go watch it and follow meee).

 

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Once you leave the gardens you walk across the street and run into this:

This was the home of the famous Austrian composer, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Maybe you’ve heard of him?

This is the place he and his family lived for years while he traveled and worked. Now it is a museum about his life and works.

We decided to go in and do the audio tour. We also got a student discount, so that’s always good.

Pictures weren’t allowed, so obviously I have a few.

They have several instruments inside that did in fact belong to him – piano, violin, harpsichord, etc.

There’s also a scale model to show how tall Mozart was – he was a tiny dude!! And young too – he died at 35 jahre old. Definitely read up on his accomplishments, he’s very impressive.

After Mozart we journeyed across the river and began wandering through the old town.

Our first stop was this awesome bakery where we had to grab some snacks.

Here’s a truly wonderful thing about old town Salzburg: the city is alive with music.

And that’s not an exaggeration or a lame SOM reference, its 100% accurate.

In the square there was a boy playing a beautiful violin. Outside an old church was a quartet of girls playing the flute. There was a giant orchestra in a square playing classical music. In the platz of St. Peter’s abbey you could hear a chorus singing Edelweiss through a window. It seemed as though no matter where you walked you could always hear music. There were flutes and violins and accordions and cellos and keyboards and drums and guitars. It made you feel…. much lighter; brighter.

 

The Cathedral was very cool – every city seems to have a specific detail that they put into their Cathedral. This one was carvings.

 

We also stopped by Stift Sankt Peter and Cemetary. The cemetary is where the Von Trapp family hid from the Nazis, although the actual scene in the SOM movie was filmed in Hollywood.

 

After lunch it was fortress time!! You probably saw the fortress in a few pictures, ontop of the hill.

To get to the top you can either hike up or take the funicular. I think the answer as to what we decided is clear. 

We hiked.

Syke.

 

In the fortress we went through the museums and rooms, and got some really nice views.

 

The afternoon was mostly spent wandering around, eventually making our way back to the train station.

 

All in all, a pretty good day!

 

Here’s what was annoying.

In honor of the Euros Competition, OBB was having special ticket prices this month. Many tickets could be purchased for 11euros, even to places like Innsbruck, which costs almost 30euros. So to save some money, we decided to book 11euro tickets for the 20:12 train to Linz. However, by 5:30, we had run out of things to do. Being saturday, many things close early. There a couple abbey’s we could see, but that would involve hiking up the hills, and they would be closed by the time we got there.

There was a train to Linz at 18:12. It was the exact same train type, same route as the 20:12 train, just 2 hours earlier. We got to the train station and went into the OBB info office to ask if we could use our 20:12 tickets for the earlier trip. The lady there told us we couldn’t – because it was a special ticket it reserves us a specific seat on the train we buy the ticket for. So I asked if we could simply pay 6 more euros to get a regular ticket (the regular ticket is 17euro) and go on the earlier trip. She told us no again – the only way we were getting on the earlier train is if we bought new 17euro tickets.

My budget certainly didn’t allow for that, and neither did a few other group members.

So we got to sit at the station for over 2 hours waiting for our train connection. It wasn’t that bad, just mostly annoying.

The nice thing about having the compartment to yourself? You can spread out.

We pulled the seats out, and kinda all put our feet up and relaxed. I guess everyone was kinda tired 🙂

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We made it back pretty late, and I was starving. So I stopped at my favorite Kebap shop on the way home. I love the guy that owns the shop – he’s pretty great. I walked in and he asked me how I was, and why I was out so late. In my best german I told him about visiting Salzburg and that I just got back and was very hungry. He laughed and said a bunch of stuff I didn’t understand, and gave me a 50cent discount on my Kebap. Dreams really do come true!

Bucket list item: finally done.

I like Salzburg.

emma.k

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Oh, and family -> Where can you find Baren School? (Remember Baby Emma?)

In Barenland.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA wink wink, nudge nudge.

Classic Patterson inside jokes 😉