Doe, a Deer....

Today we went to Salzburg, Austria. As previously mentioned, this town is famous for being the scene for The Sound of Music and the birthplace of Mozart. Since I am not a big fan of either and most things to do in the town revolve around one or the other, I was a little unsure of how I was going to spend my time.

The train ride is about 2 hours. I was a little surprised/disappointed to learn that even though you’re going to a different country they don’t stamp your passport- Salzburg is a popular day trip from Munich and they must have some deal worked out. We were equally entertained on the ride by our sleepy classmates Bobblehead Brian’s and Dan’s growing love for each other:

As we were by the absolutely beautiful views- these are some of my favorites and they were both taken out the window while the train was moving!

When we got to Salzburg, we walked to the city center and had lunch at a café. It was right in the middle of the city and the food was great, probably the best food I’ve had on the trip. Kaydee, you would have loved it. Mark got a Greek Salad complete with sheep cheese and I got spaghetti noodles with parmesan and olive oil. We also got what they call “pizza bread” to share- it was fresh, hot bread that was sort of like pita bread, but flavored with garlic. It was scrumptious and was welcome after a week of sausage and fast food.

We learned on the train ride that Salzburg has been protected by a fortress for many years, and that because of that they were largely untouched by war until WWII.

Here’s what it looks like from the town- we were pretty close when this was taken.

The fortress was amazing. It was so cool to run your hands over walls that had been there before our great-great-great-great grandmothers were thoughts- the building of it began in 1077 and continued for centuries. And the views were breathtaking. You could see the whole city, as well as the Alps behind it. I took more pictures today than any other day of the trip. We took the tour and got to climb up in one of the towers- that offered the best views of all.

Here's one from a window in the fortress:

And one from the main part of the fortress:

And from the tower- a storm was brewing in the Alps!

And me pretending to fire a cannon on the enemy:

And Mark riding a bull- I don’t remember specific details, but Salzburg was once in a battle and they were hurting badly- everyone was starving. The whole town had one ox. The leaders of town paraded the ox in front of the enemy. The next day, they painted the ox black and paraded him again in front of the enemy. The enemy thought they underestimated Salzburg and surrendered!

After the fortress Mark and I wondered around on our own for awhile. He needed a hoodie because he didn’t pack very many warm things, and besides the first two days when it was unbelievably hot, it has been pretty chilly. We found him one, got a gelato, and walked to meet our class at Augensteiner, another beer garden. Augensteiner was a bit of our walk and it started POURING on us. We finally got there, but I was cold and could only think about the sauna at our hotel, so I left before too long to go back to Munich with some classmates. Mark stayed. One thing that is unique about this place is that rather than having the waiter bring your drinks, you can grab a glass, rinse it out, and take it to the counter for a beer. Then when you’re finished, you just rinse it out again and ask for a refill. It’s a cool thing to do, plus it's about $1.40 cheaper!

Tonight marks the end of the formal study abroad part of our trip. The next three days are an optional “post trip” that us and 8 other classmates will be sticking around for. Then on Monday night Mark and I will be leaving on our own. I must say that I am looking forward to that. We like the people we are traveling with, but traveling with a big group can be challenging and, at times, downright annoying! Up to this point, we have been at the same hotel, but starting tomorrow we will be changing hotels frequently, so I am not sure when we will have internet access. Hopefully everywhere, but there’s a possibility we could not. In any case, I’m going to keep writing in Word and posting whenever I get a chance. Thanks for reading! Miss you guys (but not work :) )