After the wonderful visit with my newfound maybe-relatives, I was ready to pause my project for a little out-of-Germany adventuring. Seeing as my German Rail Pass let me travel to Salzburg as well, the option of not going didn’t really occur to me. I’d never been to Austria before and was excited to see what it had to offer. Thus, I hopped back on the same train back through Nürnberg and München that I’d taken earlier and then transferred to a Railjet that got me to Salzburg in no time.
I’d booked a relatively cheap room in a hostel that Hana recommended to me and checked in there first. It was late afternoon by the time I was done warming up and had deposited Kassia’s giant but wonderful backpack in my room. Once more, I bundled up, found a city map, and headed out into the wet, wet snow.
There wasn’t much daylight left, so I wandered towards the Altstadt (old city) to see what there was to see. I’m sure the snow helped, but I was immediately struck by how pretty and cream-colored everything was. (And by everything, I clearly mean the sky, buildings, and fluffy white stuff on the buildings.) The first view of the Altstadt from the bridge over the river was gorgeous – handsome, elegant buildings, light green church steeples, and the giant castle topping the snowy cliffs that towered over everything. In my mind, I soon started calling it “The White City of Arches,” because, in fact, there were arches everywhere. There were big majestic ones, tiny ones through alleyways, and all in between. Salzburg’s biggest claim to fame after perhaps salt and Mozart is that it was the filming location for
The Sound of Music. And let me tell you, wandering the little cobblestoned streets around the city with the knowledge that both Mozart AND Julie Andrews had wandered there as well made me feel
awesome.
My shoes had gotten completely soaked by dusk, so I took a break in a café until darkness fell and I could take pictures of the city at night. It was then that I noticed how ridiculously expensive Salzburg is and my bank account cried a little. I don’t think it would have been that much of an issue if someone else had been there to share the time with. Who knew expensive coffee could make you feel so lonely? Anyway, I sucked it up and once it was dark enough, I headed back out into the cold to walk around the suddenly silent Altstadt once more. My ears led me to the side door of a church, through which I could hear a choir rehearsing something wonderful, which only added to the peaceful atmosphere in the old, old city. I’m also happy to report that the nightly architectural illuminations didn’t let me down.
(Wandering through the snowy Mirabell Gardens at night.)
My city map had a couple panorama viewpoints marked on various sides of the river that I naturally found intruiging, so I went to find them after a quick breakfast the next morning. It was a gorgeous morning. The early morning sunshine on the fresh snow seemed to purify everything and made the cold seem less cold. It didn’t take me long to fall upon (not literally) a little path leading up a hill.
‘Twas a very pretty little path that led to one of the more well-known city look-out points. I was happy to have found it before most of the other tourists that day. My favorite part was as soon as I'd reached the top and all the Sunday morning bells in the many churches all over the city started ringing below me.
This lovely spot was located just below a monastery where the monks were out shoveling the snow away in their long brown robes. (Such a sight, but not one I felt comfortable photographing!) I went up to the monastery and found the chapel door open, so I went on in. One of the monks was practicing the organ for that afternoon’s service and I sat there listening for a long time as the dark, rich, Lenten tones echoed around the still space.
Just past the monastery, I saw a familiar looking bust of a certain Mozart perched through the distant gate...
...through which I found the little garden hut in which he had composed
Die Zauberflöte! How cool is that!
I was intrigued by the lovely nature park that I found myself in and ended up walking all around it for a good long time. There was fresh snow on everything, sparkling little ponds, and the city castle peeking through the trees as a most majestic and fairytale-esque backdrop.
I ended up walking about a mile uphill to what was once an old convent or monastery that had since been turned into a restaurant. I cut the part with the big Coca Cola umbrella out of the picture. It just wasn't right. The mountains in the background were finally coming out to play and the view below them was a lovely one.
Walking back, I found the most beautiful patch of silver trees I'd ever seen. From then on, my brain started calling it "the silver forest." Ohh la la.
When enough daylight had passed, I slowly found my way back to the city. I wanted to check out a few more sights while the day was still somewhat young.
One of the places I visited was the museum in Mozart's house, where he was born and grew up. I have to admit, I was a little disappointed in the museum because of the lack of things inside it, but actually walking around through the rooms where he lived and was born was incredible. Seeing some of his stuff was also super cool. I saw a lock of Mozart's hair. Take that!
I then wandered over to the other side of the Altstadt to see the catacombs in St. Peter's.
As it turns out, the catacombs were closed because the caretakers were on vacation (can you imagine?), so I walked around the totally cool cemetery for a while instead.
Afterwards, I went to another cafe and tried some sort of sweet Austrian dumpling with hot vanilla sauce. It warmed me right up and made my tummy happy. Following that, I went back up the hill on the other side of the river to the same view point to see how the light had changed the panorama. I could almost see the mountains poking out of the clouds on the right side of the castle! Almost.
Once dark, I headed back to the hostel and decided not to move for several hours straight. It was just what I needed. I only wish I'd discovered the cheap delicious hot drinks machine earlier. Lucky for me, I even had the whole room to myself last night, as the three other Americans from the night before had moved on. I was grateful for a little privacy.
The next morning, I packed my bags and left them in the luggage storage area while I went back into the city for a while. I didn't have to be at my next family's home until later that evening, so I had lots of time. I wanted to visit Mozart's family's grave, and luckily that cemetery was open. I found his wife's tombstone and thanked her in German for keeping him organized and getting all his works published so that they could be enjoyed all around the world centuries later. I hope she heard me.
After that meeting, I wandered around the Mirabell Gardens a little more in the sunlight and then caught my train back to Germany on the same route as before. It was still a beautiful snowy stretch with little snowy towns dotting the valleys between big snowy mountains. One more family, then back to Hamburg for a little while to recover before taking on the DDR. All was well and then some.
