Shortly before I left, the adventure began when Deutsche Bahn announced a strike to last from Thursday to Monday. Woooooo!
Not Wooooo. I got real nervous until I did more research and realized that my trains were operated by the Austrian bahn company, which meant everything should run smoothly (if be a bit crowded).
So, with a heart attack checked off my to-do list, I set off to Munich. I slept at a hostel, one which I would recommend to people wanting to be social and make friends, buuuut I mostly I wanted to sleep, which was a bit hard. A very sleepy Sara(h) boarded a train early Friday morning, but on the upside the train was (weirdly) super empty and I had a whole compartment to myself!
The train ride was short, and I got into Salzburg around 10am. I was greeted by bahn employees handing out free gingerbread to everybody, so you know, off to a good start.After I figured out the luggage storage situation I found myself kind of just standing in the middle of the station, unsure what to do next. Or how to get to any of the places I had thought about going. Picking up a map seemed like a good idea, so I did that, then walked to Mirabell Gardens.
Given that when you google image search Mirabell Gardens most of the pictures that come up portray sunny days, frolicking children, and Julie Andrews, there was a huge difference between what I had in my head and what I saw in real life. However, the gardens were still beautiful.
The gardens were complete with someone dressed up as Mozart.
I think this freaked me out more than any silver person ever has (and those of you who know me know there are very few things I can't stand more than silver people). He just gave me the heebee jeebees! And, being Salzburg this was by far not the last "Mozart" I saw. Aye.
After this, I wandered my way to the old town, and found a place to eat Salzburger Nockerl.
So here's the thing. Before going to Austria I googled tasty Austrian foods to eat while I was in Austria. I came across Nockerl, and then looked into restaurants that served it. The fact that more than a few menus added in the food's description that is was for two or more people should have warned me.
Buuutttt, the place I picked out didn't have that in the description (one reason I picked it), and it was less expensive than the places with this note (another reason). So I thought I was in the clear, until this arrived at my table:
I should also add that as I first came in, I was the only one in the restaurant. As I waited for the small planet to arrive to my table (it's a 25 minute wait), more people filtered in. All of the English speaking customers happened to sit in my section, and we started chatting. More so even when the Nockerl arrived, and no one could hold back looks and comments of shock and awe.
Now I love sweet things. And raspberries. And I hate wasting food. But as soon as I saw this thing I knew I would not in a million years be able to finish it. I even wondered if the employees in the back were taking bets on how much I would be able to get through.Seriously this thing was just so big. I thought I would be able to get through two mountains, and was satisfied with this settlement. Afterall, how filling can egg whites be?
Very filling, it turns out. I finished half the dish (1 1/2 mountains). Which, I still think is pretty impressive.
At this point I was friends with everybody in the restaurant. I perpetuated the stereotype of loud American as I talked to an american couple from Ohio two tables away (to be fair they started the conversation, normally I wouldn't do this!). And I was invited to a drinking festival by the couple sitting at a table behind me (which I had to decline due to a late afternoon train to Vienna).
Luigi in tow, I left the restaurant to wander the Getreidgasse-a cobblestone shopping street in Salzburg where all the shops have iron signs hanging out front, even McDonald's and little souvenir shops looks fancy.
I had an embarrassing moment when I tried to buy stamps to send my friends and host family postcards. I asked the woman for a stamp for "Ausland" and one for "Deutschland", to which she reminded me that Deutschland is ausland. So, awkward. I also found out that postage costs almost twice as much in Austria as in Germany. So those of you waiting for a Viennese postcard, they are coming! I waited to come back to send them. And those of you that got postcards from Salzburg, count yourself among the lucky few, or side effects of Sara(h)'s naivete.
While I was walking around all day, I kept seeing this large castle on a hill in the distance. Finally, I decided that I was going to walk up to it and see what the deal was. I couldn't figure out where it was on my map, because nothing in the direction it was was labeled a castle of sorts.
Turns out, it was a fortress (The Festung Hohensalzburg). Thus why I couldn't locate it on the map as a castle. Anyway, I decided to take a look inside, and wandered through the catapult gate, around the vulture tower, and through the cannon gallery.
Then, I saw it.
A sign to go into the torture chamber.
Not that I am a crazy person. Or sadistic. Or masochistic. Or that I experience more schadenfreude than the normal human. But I was real curious about this and wanted to see a torture chamber.I had high expectations, yo!
I waited excitedly to get a little headset to walk around this section of the fortress. Finally, we were let in.
I
Was
So
SO
Disappointed.
Why was I disappointed, you ask? What could possibly go wrong with a torture chamber?
It was called a torture chamber because they used to store the tools for torturing there.
What.
Even.
I was so excited over a storage closet.
-_-
I did my best to recover from this disappointment by drowning my self in some nice views. For the most part, this did the trick.
After this, I rushed down the hill to make my way back to the station to catch my train to Vienna :)
