Austria
AUSTRIA | Thursday, 17 April 2008 | Views [146]
Karima arranged to me to meet her friend on Thursday, so I had a couple of days to kill. I headed off to Salzburg. Home of The Sound of Music. Salzburg was beautiful! You're surrounded by so many snow covered mountain tops. The day I got in it was sooo very cold. Right off the bus I met four girls heading to the same hostel. We all found it together and settled in, we all ended up having the same room. The hostel was in a new bright orange building and seemed promising. I headed off to explore the town. usually when I get to a city I just head off in a directions that seems interesting and then use the map to find my way back or to certain attractions later on if I want to. I usually walk around for five hours or more on these days. It was so warm when I set out I walked along the river through the parks and found cool bars, but then on the way back the temp really dropped and I was freezing. I found my way back pretty easy and then had an easy evening. I caught up with Yuka, one of the girls I had met earlier and we watched the hostel screening of The Sound of Music. It was really neat seeing some of the places that were in the movie. The next morning Yuka and I went to see the gardens where they filmed the movie... they are in the palace yard. We then tried to go into the palace, but were stopped by security beacuse it was used for municipal offices.. oops. We went to see the home of Mozart and his birthplace and then roamed around the tourist shops. Yuka wanted to shop some more and I decided to stroll through the park that I was in the day before and read. When we got back to the hostel the were showing the movie again! No thanks! I sat down and three school groups pulled in. One kids 13-16, another religious first year college kids from the states and the third was a German High school... oh my goodness. I went to the room was going to pass out, but a girl came in and we started to chat and she asked if I wanted to grab a drink. Sara, from Canada, was soooo funny and so sweet. We talked for hours.. then called it a night. The next morning I headed up to the abbey I missed and the Fort at the top of the hill and I ran into a girl from the room, Camilla. She wasn't feeling well and didn't want to hike to the top. I told her I saw this cold man standing on a gold ball and wanted to go into town later to se what it was about. The highlight of the fortress was the torture cabinet with actual chastity belt.. scary. Back at the hostel we all met up and went for dinner.. I mentioned the man on the ball and the girls were hysterical, turns out it was a statue and not an actual man... oh. I had apple strudel, It was smoked, weird. When we headed back I got ready and said bye and waited outside, but fifteen minutes passed and I had a thought... did I have the right day? I ran in checked my email.. and nope... wrong day. The girls laughed some more. I checked back in.. same room same bed. They left early the next day and I had ages to kill. I took a bus to the Lake district, Lake Wolfgang, also where the movie was filmed and had a wonderful relaxing day. Heins was on time to pick me up at 8 pm. We had a three hour drive to Vienna aka Wien. We talked a lot on the ride about our travels and our reasons. Heins is in his early forties and took a sabbatical two years earlier to see the world. He wrote a book afterwards, even gave me a copy... but it's in German. He failed to mention Ypsilon, his dog...whom I'd be sleeping near. I was exhausted when we got in...and went straight to bed, that is after the dog stopped barking at me. Friday the house was up super early, around seven, as Ruven, Doris' ten year old son, had to go to school. I was up by 9 am and not sure what to do. Heins gave me a tour of the house and a key and introduced me to Doris. She didn't speak a word to me. I ate a quick bowl of cereal and then headed to town. Vienna is a beautiful city, pretty amazing. I walked through a park where there were kids playing drum and base and dancing.... it was so weird because it was near the parliament buildings and the horse and carriages. I sat down to take it all in and take some pics and an old lady sat down next to me and mumbled�� freaks. I couldn't�t hold my laughter in. We began to chat and she was from Vienna, but had traveled extensively. We took a couple of photos and she wished me well and continued her walk. That is one thing I've noticed in Europe. The elderly are far more active and independent. I cruised the entire city it seemed and stopped at the Opera house. I didn't understand the name since it was in German, but they had standing seats for only two euro, how could I refuse? I qued up and in line I saw Camilla! Cool! We found a place together in the center, it was quite nice. Before the Ballet started we cruised around the opera house and took pics. When it started and got to the main scene we both realized we were watching Swan Lake! How cool. It was a beautiful ballet. On the way back home I had to take the subway and then the S Bahn. the subway in the city was freaking scary. Full of drunk people. I made it to the S Bahn and the controller miss heard me and instead of Leising, I ended up in Seisling. Which was farther out of the city- I had to sit in the middle of nowhere for an hour 'til the next train would pass. I finally made it to the main station where I was supposed to catch a bus, but the had stopped running.. so I took a cab, damn. I made it to the house after ages and the damn dog wouldn't stop barking. He woke Doris up, yikes. She said his name and then he was quiet... I would have done that, but I couldn't remember his freaking name, Ypsie, ypsilon... I kept calling him gypsy and gypo... no wonder it didn't work! I felt like I was getting sick, so I stayed in and rested. In the evening Heins invited over two friends for dinner and their son. They were so lovely and he made a fantastic risotto. Doris spoke only in German so the others translated her stories and I only in English, so Vice versa. The evening ended with wine and Ice Cream, perfect. I was surprised how open they were with conversation... so unlike what I'm used to, but great. I fell asleep exhausted and wanted to wake up early the next morning to see the boy choir, but couldn't bring myself to it. They invited me to go for a hike or something with the fam, but I didn't�t want to intrude so I politely passed it up. I went into the small town they lived in and roamed around, all the little towns have so much character there. Then I went into the city center to checked out a cool fashion show and met some designers. I went to see an Egon Schiele exibit, I love his work. I made it home without getting lost and Ypsie didn't bark! Yoohoo. opted to take a later train the next day and left around noon. Heins gave me a lift to the metro. On the way he told me about him and Doris having some problems and sorry if she wasn't talkative, but she wasn't really mean or anything. I told him no worries and thanked him tons for the hospitality. Off to Budapest!
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