Sunshine flirted with the foliage along the hills and fields,
and the unreal mountain range appeared as we closed in on the train station. We
stepped off the train, a breeze blasting the platform and following the mass of
people (where we saw a woman carrying Dunkin’ Donuts bag! Apparently the
company’s made it there) to the local train. After deciphering our destination,
Kayla and I hopped onto our desired train and found our AirBnB with a brief
walk. The room we were staying in was so comfortable that it should have been
illegal. With a king sized bed made of clouds, cotton candy comforters, and a
splendid sunrise in the morning, I was entirely caught up in almost three days
of a dream.
A forty five minute walk along tree lined roads, scattered
with burnt orange leaves, carried us to the city center. We traversed the
characteristically narrow streets, window shopping and observing the world
transform under night’s ever present gaze. Salzburg, comprised of multiple
squares and palely colored buildings, was enveloped in an eternal peace. There
was no rush; I was too starry-eyed to worry about time. All that penetrated the
contentment was hunger, and we perused the menus displayed outside most all
places.
We decided on the restaurant built below Mozart’s birthplace,
and I satisfied my taste buds with pumpkin lasagna. It remains my favorite meal
from that entire trip, and makes the top three of my entire time abroad.
Our
hearty meals left us sleepy, so we trekked it back to our lodging to shower and
map out our plan for the next few days. We purchased the Salzburg Card, which
gave us free admission to almost every museum and attraction, as well as
provided tours and cable car rides. In the end, we saved over fifty euro!
The following two days were jam packed with beauty. On Sunday
morning, we passed the local Lidl (a major grocery store chain in Europe) to
find it closed. We should have known, as they list hours for everyday of the
week save Sunday. It was just shy of eight in the morning, and when we arrived
in the center of town—with the help of transportation this time—came to find
that everything was closed as well, except for a McDonald’s. With a quick bite
of some pocket sandwiches, we traipsed up a set of stairs to the Stiff
Nonnberg, the abbey where scenes for The
Sound of Music was filmed. I was doubly emotional: initially, at the sight
of the gate that Julie Andrews dances from, excited at the prospect of
nannying; then, at the world it overlooked. Tears genuinely pricked my eyes,
and I was at a loss for words. The juxtaposition of man-made versus natural
elements in the scene was all too moving.
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| I walked in Julie Andrews' footsteps. Holy gosh. |
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| The Church in the Abbey |
It didn’t stop there. We took a trip to the Fortress, sitting
on a hill that guards the city below. Like the Edinburgh Castle, the Fortress
encompasses a large area and could be considered its own town, with all of the
ins and outs. Before lunch, we returned to earth and visited St. Peter’s church
and cemetery, where beautiful plots are dedicated to the deceased and the final
scene of The Sound of Music was
filmed. And after lunch, taken at the outdoor café of the Salzburg Museum, we
spent a little time there as well as in the Panorama Museum.
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| The view from the Fortress |
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| St. Peter's Cemetery |
With our Salzburg Card came the opportunity to tour the
Stiegl Brewery free of charge. With the tour came the opportunity to sample
three glasses of this Austrian delicacy. With the samples came a young Korean
man from our tour who told us he ordered too much food and asked if we would
like to share it with him. So the three of us sat among tourists and music,
picking at fries and some form of pork and recounting our travels. He was
backpacking through Europe for three months, taking a break from engineering
school in Korea. He also let us know that in Korea, the age of a person begins
in the womb, at zero. So really, they are considered one year older than the
rest of the world perceives.
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| No, I could not finish all of them. |
At around 4:30, we thanked our friend for having us and we
journeyed on. The façade of the von Trapp house was our next destination, and
after trying to maneuver the buses but not seeing any that would take us there,
we walked. Twenty five minutes later, we had passed suburban streets scattered
with leaves and the sun was quickly falling away, leaving us confused and ready
to make our way back to the old town. Our eyes were drawn to the right at a
crossroads, and saw the sign for the Leopoldsville Hotel—a “private” lot that
did, indeed, contain the von Trapp house. Another car was turning in, so we
jumped in as the gates opened. The pale pink and blue sky, a swirl of subtly
popping colors, reflected in the lake, and for the few moments that we were
there time ceased to exist. The von Trapp house was, of course, spectacular; I
danced through the garden walkway and stared at it in awe. Absolutely stunning.
Hashtag rebellious.
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| The von Trapp residence |
Another twenty minutes led us through a park and
modernly-housed neighborhood. We followed the Fortress, perched high in the
sky, until we found ourselves back in the city center. Dinner was taken at a pizza
restaurant tucked into one of the side streets, and I ordered their pumpkin
soup. I never realized just how much I loved pumpkin until I arrived in
Salzburg.
And we could never
forget dessert! Being Sunday, much was closing and the squares were practically
empty. That didn’t stop us from finding an internally lit café, where I ordered
a chocolate and vanilla combo cake. I really didn’t know what it was, but I
loved every single bit of it.
Home awaited us, and we crawled into bed upon arriving and
slept until our bodies woke us up at around 6:30 the next morning. Our last day
in Salzburg was spent among the very lively hills, palaces, and delicacies.
Monday, October 26th was a holiday for Austria: it
is the date in history in which Austria declared permanent neutrality following
World War II. The grocery store was closed yet again, but we poked our heads
into a café that the server opened for us fifteen minutes before it was
supposed to. Kayla and I both purchased cinnamon rolls and sat waiting for the
number 7 bus to appear. A waiting game was laid out for us then, for we also
had to wait a bit for the number 25 bus to take us to Untersberg Mountain. A
free cable car ride was included in the Salzburg card! And it couldn’t have
been any more beautiful.
We “landed” at the top of the mountain at about 9:40 in the
morning, and spent the next hour and a half there. We hiked to a peak across
the way, and both Kayla and I had our Maria von Trapp moment, twirling around
the unbelievable mountains that surrounded us. For the one millionth time in
two days, I couldn’t have felt any luckier to be there.
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| Shots from the Untersberg Mountain |
We also met a family from New Hampshire! The father went to
school nearby Kayla’s father, which was so wild. It is the smallest of worlds.
To boot, we ordered apfelstrudel at the little bar on the way
back to the cable car. We’d been craving it since arriving in Austria, and it
couldn’t have been better than served warmed on the top of a mountain. Around
us, people were celebrating with beer and wine. It was barely eleven in the
morning, but to each his own. That would have been my next choice.
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| Apfelstrudel and some Austrian beer, perhaps? |
Our afternoon was spent in the presence of Hellbrunn Palace,
where we toured the trick fountains and the palace itself. For lunch, both of
us ordered pumpkin soup and sat in the warm autumn sunlight. I needed to take
my jacket off, it was so not cool as
one may expect! (I was even quite warm on the mountain. I did not dress for it
correctly at all.)
The gardens are stunning. The Sound of Music gazebo is
located there, and the whole park was dressed in October afternoon glow. The
pictures say it much better than I ever could.
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| The Trick Fountains--here, dinner was served with a side of dampness. |
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| Through the looking glass of one such fountain room |
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| Hellbrunn Palace's Gardens |
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| I felt sixteen going on seventeen... |
We then whisked ourselves back to the city center to visit
the Mirabell Gardens—the filming location of “Do-Re-Mi”—and after, Mozart’s
birthplace. Dusk fell in around us, and we headed for the Museum of Modern Art
to visit the sky deck, offering sweeping views of the city. It is a postcard of
a city, held gently by reality, and built from the bottom all by people of
centuries ago. I was left in, as always, awe. Kayla and I stumbled down a
little footpath, only to find a dead end. What we got as a result were new,
equally as grand perspectives.
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| Julie Andrew's famous final note to "Do-Re-Mi" was hit at the top of these steps! |
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| Still in bloom! |
For dinner we located a traditional Austrian restaurant, ordering
beef goulash with a bread dumpling and sausage. Our server initially brought
over a basket of bread and pretzels, but removed it after we ordered our
drinks. The rest of our time there was left in a state of confusion and
hysterics.
The final leg of our journey in Salzburg called for a sprint
to the bus, which we saw in the distance and knew wouldn’t come round these
parts again for at least twenty minutes. In that time, we not only fought of
the chill, but burned calories as well!
We had been blessed with good weather, the timelessness of
the city, and lots of laughter. All worked to form a beautiful harmony that
will forever rest in my mind with fond memories and a heart full of song.
“My heart will be blessed, with the sound of music: and I’ll
sing once more.” –‘The Hills are Alive’ from The Sound of Music
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