Salzburg, Austria

The weather had finally become beautiful in May, and I was outside at a cookout in the field behind Weststadt. I was talking to two of my friends, Matt and Sherman, who I met here in Braunschweig, and who are both from Canada. Between beer, bratwurst, and football, they were telling me all about their upcoming excursion to Austria and Greece, which sounded like a lot of fun. (BTW….What a small world! I met another kid who had just moved into Weststadt 2 days earlier at the cookout. From where? Right outside of Worcester. How weird!). Anyways, after telling me all about the trip they were planning, Matt and Sherman invited me along with them. It was certainly tempting, but I knew that it would be tough to miss more work, especially since I would be going home for Rachel’s graduation. So, I took about two minutes to think about it, before I realized that, hey, I’m not getting paid for work, I’ll do whatever the hell I want. With that, I signed myself up for the 10 day trip that would begin the following week.

On May 10, me and Sherman caught the 6:20 pm train to Hannover, where we met up with Matt, who was returning from a soccer game. The station was absolutely packed with people from the game. It doesn’t take long to realize that people here in Europe practically worship soccer, and a lot of the fans can get pretty crazy. At least we had some entertainment, with all of the big, drunk, German guys singing soccer cheers together while sucking down the last of their mini-kegs.

After a brief stop in Hannover and some quick dinner, we jumped on the 7:41 train to Salzburg, Austria. The train ride was pretty long, but we were at least able to get a couple of hours of sleep. Thank God for my fully charge iPod! We finally arrived in Salzburg around 5:15 the following morning, and stowed our luggage in the train station lockers, as we were only in the city for the day. We had a quick breakfast, and were off and about.

The moment we stepped out of the train station, I knew that I would love Salzburg. Right on the Salzach River, Salzburg is a relatively small city, or more like a town, surrounded by mountains on all sides. Two small mountains, the Mönchsberg and the Kapuzinerberg, are directly within the city, while alpine peaks begin only kilometers away with the 1972 m Untersberg. This landscape was quite a contrast to the busy cities we usually visit, and an outdoorsman’s paradise.

We began the day by crossing the Salzach River, and heading into the beautiful Old Town, which has been named a World Heritage Site. We passed Wolfgang Mozart’s birth-house, and continued to make our way along the famous Getreidegasse, from where we could see the incredible Fortress Hohensalzburg high above the city, resting upon a hill.

The morning was absolutely beautiful, and with the incredible scenery, it was easy to see why Salzburg was chosen as the location where the filming of The Sound of Music took place. The mountains were just as amazing as the film made them out to be. With plenty of time to explore, we began a hike up the Mönchsberg towards the fortress. Along the way, we enjoyed plenty of once-in-a-lifetime views of the surrounding Alps. Finally, we reached to fortress gate, and the trees opened up to the city below, offering another incredible, birds-eye view, of all of Salzburg.

After spending hours wandering the mountain, we descended back into the city for lunch. We passed the Salzburg Cathedral and Nonnberg Abbey, as well as numerous churches along the way. After a quick bit to eat, we stopped at a couple of Biergartens for a few pints of the local Austrian beers, before we had to head back to the train station. Even with Vienna coming up, I knew Salzburg was one city that I would be sad to leave.