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So, today I tell you everything. Maybe.
It was cold in Salzburg the entire time, but there was no rain, which is very lucky, as Salzburg is known for it.
Friday was rather fun. We got on a bus early in the morning, and off we went to Salzburg. This was a three hour trip, I slept and read most of the way, having a row to yourself is a great thing. The countryside is quite beatiful here, I really should go hiking.
Half of the way there we stopped at a tourist place/restaurant. I bought an English cookbook with Austrian recipes, and a mug (eine Tasse) that has a picture of a standing cartoon cat holding a rose in its mouth with more strewn about at its feet and says "Elisabeth" on the top and "Die Einzigartige" on the bottom. My professors told me it means "the one and only". I thought it was appropriate.
We stopped on the outskirts of Salzburg at the Maria Klein (?) church, which is where Mozart composed his coronation mass for a picture. The church was in the boonies, the trees and fresh air was great. The steep ascent that we had to walk was not. Inside the church were many, many paintings decorating the ceiling and walls; the most famous being the biggest one in the middle. There were also two saints' skeletons in glass coffins to either side of the altar. A lot of people thought that was gross; I just don't understand. Are saints so special that simply looking at their bones will give you luck? Or is this just a way to show off, Catholic style. "We art holier than thou, for we dost have two saints, see?"
Into Salzburg proper, we checked into our hostel and ate lunch there, it was chicken for the meat eaters, and a cheese dumpling for the vegetarians/kosher people (we have three jewish people in our group of twenty). It was very good. Then we unpacked and headed into town for touring. We went to some gardens where parts of the Sound of Music was filmed, and to another church where Mozart's dad and sister are supposedly buried. The cemetaries have yet to cease to amuse me. They have a completely different feel to them than the cemetaries at home. Why? Well, the grave markers aren't the only thing above ground, there are raised rectangles above the bodies that are full of flowers. And the rectangles are short (like 5'4", maybe). The official explanation is that people were shorter five hundred years ago and that is when the official length of the things were decided.
After that, we had dinner. Our teachers bought the first round of (non-alcoholic) drinks. I had fried chicken with french fries. Do you know how much I had missed french fries? It was amazing, the food and the craving. Then we (my new roommates and I) went to a famous konditorei (bakery) and Kaffeehaus (you are on your own) for dessert. I had Mozart torte, mmmh, strawberry and nougat cake.
Exploring, stumbling on a private party in an aparrently open store, buying clothing (I didn't get anything), and getting slightly lost before finding our way back to the hostel occupied us until late evening. I read some more, listened to the others talk (five beds in one room) and went to sleep.
Saturday:
In the morning we had breakfast, which was kind of backwards. All cold food, all hot drinks, even the milk was hot (I think it was for coffee). No proper cereal, either, just muesli and yogurt.
We toured another church, this was the massive one. Just unbelievably huge. I estimated that it had at least 50 feet tall walls. It also had a large amout of paintings, and gold plated decorations. This is a church that has stood since the 700's, in one form or another. All the awe-inspiring decorations at first just made me think, "What is this for? This is a paltry attempt to show God's glory." In that light, it was almost pathetic. But then I couldn't help but be amazed that others have gone so far to inspire awe.
Then we went to the Festburg fortress. Sounds cool, huh? It was freaking huge. This is in the background of a few shots in The Sound of Music, and goodness, it lived up to the hype. We took an elevator of sorts up the cliff (did I mention its at the top of a cliff?), and the view was just wonderful, my camera had run out of battery (again!) at this point, so no pics from me. The tour lasted an hour, and we didn't get to see everything. I went to sit down for a moment, because fortresses began in the 1600's do not have elevators, and rearranged my bag.
Then I went to see the museum of an old Austrian regiment housed inside the fortress. They take pictures at the beginning of this so they can charge you four euro for a postcard later. I finally got to that part, reached in my bag, and, where the heck was my wallet? Crap. At that very moment, a man came and said "Elizabeth? We found your wallet." I went with him, and I got it back from the very nice and honest person who had found it. Talk about God protecting the innocent.
Not long after buying my overly expensive postcard, and a few much cheaper ones outside the fortress, we went back to the bus to go to Hellbrunn. Hellbrunn is a palace outside of Salzburg by a few miles. It is famous for several things, its water gardens, its museums, and the gazebo (relocated there) from The Sound of Music, nope, you can't escape it. We ate lunch first at the Gasthaus (which means guest house) on the premises. I had already eaten my tuna sandwich I brought with me, and so only had strawberry juice to drink. Yep, strawberry juice, they have all kinds here, apple and orange is a common sight on menus.
On a small tangent, my dad asked me recently if I had eaten any weird foods. Well, I have had topfenstrudel, which is cream cheese pastry, elderberry juice (my kids get to do the monty python thing, now), blood sausage (didn't know what it was at the time), kebab (a very good sandwich thing), and hot dog style sausage. Hot dog style here means they hollow out a roll and stick ketchup, mustard, and the sausage in. It is quite messy at the end. Kaiserkrainers here are our hot dog style.
The water gardens were great fun, the fountains had a few tricks to them, and our guide had no compunctions about springing them on us, in a joking way. I got a little wet, but the kids in the tour (and Andrew) got really wet on purpose. I remember having so much fun in the sprinklers as a kid.
After that we were free to do as we liked, so a group of us headed over to the gazebo, lots of pictures taken. I have to get mine from Ehjen. Then, after petting some bunnies on leashes (an uncommon and uncommonly cute sight anywhere) I headed over to a museum. I followed the signs, and literally had to hike up a wooded hill to get there. The museum itself was a bit odd. The first level was dedicated to some guy who I didn't and do not know, because all the explanations were in German. He seemed very religious, though. The second floor was about capturing flowers in art or dress, and why we do so; really pretty stuff mixed with two very random exhibitions. One was a mannequin diving into a flower with circus music playing. The third floor was about odd clothing. There was all sorts of stuff, crazy hats that went up to the ceiling, masks, other stuff, and a great view out the window. I came down and followed the path I did not take the first time because it just looked inviting, and lo. There was a panoramic view of the countryside stretching out before me, the Alps in the background. I get relaxed and happy just thinking about it.
Went down the hill, and headed towards the bus. One of ours, Katie, had a migraine. That was not fun, but she got through it after a few hours.
We headed back to Vienna, but made one last stop about an hour or so from the end. Mondsee is a small camping ground on a lake beneath the Alps. It was freezing, but some people really love Mahler. This is where Mahler wrote a good few of his symphonies. I really am uneducated about this stuff, but I am working on it. According to Anna-Grace (another home-schooler), Mahler took romantic symphonies to the same heights Wagner took opera. This means, basically, he wrote what is now used as a "typical boring symphony/opera" example. If I sound unenthused, it is just because it was cold and I haven't learned anything much else about him yet.
We got back to Vienna about 9pm, and I took the U-bahn reunited with my current flatmates. They were playing a very obscure game. I tried to figure it out, and read.
I am tired now, that much writing and reliving can take it out of you.
Talk to ya tomorrow,
Greeny
It was cold in Salzburg the entire time, but there was no rain, which is very lucky, as Salzburg is known for it.
Friday was rather fun. We got on a bus early in the morning, and off we went to Salzburg. This was a three hour trip, I slept and read most of the way, having a row to yourself is a great thing. The countryside is quite beatiful here, I really should go hiking.
Half of the way there we stopped at a tourist place/restaurant. I bought an English cookbook with Austrian recipes, and a mug (eine Tasse) that has a picture of a standing cartoon cat holding a rose in its mouth with more strewn about at its feet and says "Elisabeth" on the top and "Die Einzigartige" on the bottom. My professors told me it means "the one and only". I thought it was appropriate.
We stopped on the outskirts of Salzburg at the Maria Klein (?) church, which is where Mozart composed his coronation mass for a picture. The church was in the boonies, the trees and fresh air was great. The steep ascent that we had to walk was not. Inside the church were many, many paintings decorating the ceiling and walls; the most famous being the biggest one in the middle. There were also two saints' skeletons in glass coffins to either side of the altar. A lot of people thought that was gross; I just don't understand. Are saints so special that simply looking at their bones will give you luck? Or is this just a way to show off, Catholic style. "We art holier than thou, for we dost have two saints, see?"
Into Salzburg proper, we checked into our hostel and ate lunch there, it was chicken for the meat eaters, and a cheese dumpling for the vegetarians/kosher people (we have three jewish people in our group of twenty). It was very good. Then we unpacked and headed into town for touring. We went to some gardens where parts of the Sound of Music was filmed, and to another church where Mozart's dad and sister are supposedly buried. The cemetaries have yet to cease to amuse me. They have a completely different feel to them than the cemetaries at home. Why? Well, the grave markers aren't the only thing above ground, there are raised rectangles above the bodies that are full of flowers. And the rectangles are short (like 5'4", maybe). The official explanation is that people were shorter five hundred years ago and that is when the official length of the things were decided.
After that, we had dinner. Our teachers bought the first round of (non-alcoholic) drinks. I had fried chicken with french fries. Do you know how much I had missed french fries? It was amazing, the food and the craving. Then we (my new roommates and I) went to a famous konditorei (bakery) and Kaffeehaus (you are on your own) for dessert. I had Mozart torte, mmmh, strawberry and nougat cake.
Exploring, stumbling on a private party in an aparrently open store, buying clothing (I didn't get anything), and getting slightly lost before finding our way back to the hostel occupied us until late evening. I read some more, listened to the others talk (five beds in one room) and went to sleep.
Saturday:
In the morning we had breakfast, which was kind of backwards. All cold food, all hot drinks, even the milk was hot (I think it was for coffee). No proper cereal, either, just muesli and yogurt.
We toured another church, this was the massive one. Just unbelievably huge. I estimated that it had at least 50 feet tall walls. It also had a large amout of paintings, and gold plated decorations. This is a church that has stood since the 700's, in one form or another. All the awe-inspiring decorations at first just made me think, "What is this for? This is a paltry attempt to show God's glory." In that light, it was almost pathetic. But then I couldn't help but be amazed that others have gone so far to inspire awe.
Then we went to the Festburg fortress. Sounds cool, huh? It was freaking huge. This is in the background of a few shots in The Sound of Music, and goodness, it lived up to the hype. We took an elevator of sorts up the cliff (did I mention its at the top of a cliff?), and the view was just wonderful, my camera had run out of battery (again!) at this point, so no pics from me. The tour lasted an hour, and we didn't get to see everything. I went to sit down for a moment, because fortresses began in the 1600's do not have elevators, and rearranged my bag.
Then I went to see the museum of an old Austrian regiment housed inside the fortress. They take pictures at the beginning of this so they can charge you four euro for a postcard later. I finally got to that part, reached in my bag, and, where the heck was my wallet? Crap. At that very moment, a man came and said "Elizabeth? We found your wallet." I went with him, and I got it back from the very nice and honest person who had found it. Talk about God protecting the innocent.
Not long after buying my overly expensive postcard, and a few much cheaper ones outside the fortress, we went back to the bus to go to Hellbrunn. Hellbrunn is a palace outside of Salzburg by a few miles. It is famous for several things, its water gardens, its museums, and the gazebo (relocated there) from The Sound of Music, nope, you can't escape it. We ate lunch first at the Gasthaus (which means guest house) on the premises. I had already eaten my tuna sandwich I brought with me, and so only had strawberry juice to drink. Yep, strawberry juice, they have all kinds here, apple and orange is a common sight on menus.
On a small tangent, my dad asked me recently if I had eaten any weird foods. Well, I have had topfenstrudel, which is cream cheese pastry, elderberry juice (my kids get to do the monty python thing, now), blood sausage (didn't know what it was at the time), kebab (a very good sandwich thing), and hot dog style sausage. Hot dog style here means they hollow out a roll and stick ketchup, mustard, and the sausage in. It is quite messy at the end. Kaiserkrainers here are our hot dog style.
The water gardens were great fun, the fountains had a few tricks to them, and our guide had no compunctions about springing them on us, in a joking way. I got a little wet, but the kids in the tour (and Andrew) got really wet on purpose. I remember having so much fun in the sprinklers as a kid.
After that we were free to do as we liked, so a group of us headed over to the gazebo, lots of pictures taken. I have to get mine from Ehjen. Then, after petting some bunnies on leashes (an uncommon and uncommonly cute sight anywhere) I headed over to a museum. I followed the signs, and literally had to hike up a wooded hill to get there. The museum itself was a bit odd. The first level was dedicated to some guy who I didn't and do not know, because all the explanations were in German. He seemed very religious, though. The second floor was about capturing flowers in art or dress, and why we do so; really pretty stuff mixed with two very random exhibitions. One was a mannequin diving into a flower with circus music playing. The third floor was about odd clothing. There was all sorts of stuff, crazy hats that went up to the ceiling, masks, other stuff, and a great view out the window. I came down and followed the path I did not take the first time because it just looked inviting, and lo. There was a panoramic view of the countryside stretching out before me, the Alps in the background. I get relaxed and happy just thinking about it.
Went down the hill, and headed towards the bus. One of ours, Katie, had a migraine. That was not fun, but she got through it after a few hours.
We headed back to Vienna, but made one last stop about an hour or so from the end. Mondsee is a small camping ground on a lake beneath the Alps. It was freezing, but some people really love Mahler. This is where Mahler wrote a good few of his symphonies. I really am uneducated about this stuff, but I am working on it. According to Anna-Grace (another home-schooler), Mahler took romantic symphonies to the same heights Wagner took opera. This means, basically, he wrote what is now used as a "typical boring symphony/opera" example. If I sound unenthused, it is just because it was cold and I haven't learned anything much else about him yet.
We got back to Vienna about 9pm, and I took the U-bahn reunited with my current flatmates. They were playing a very obscure game. I tried to figure it out, and read.
I am tired now, that much writing and reliving can take it out of you.
Talk to ya tomorrow,
Greeny
