The Pope of Rope: An Adventure to Austria

Hallo meinen Freunden!
   So, this last weekend I went to a country that I had yet to explore- Austria. Specifically, Salzburg. This place was AMAZING. Honestly, it is absolutely gorgeous.

Thursday, July 19th
8 of us from the program made the 8 hour train journey to Salzburg from Freiburg. The trip was easy, mostly because Traci got me addicted to the author Tom Robbins, so I couldn't look away from my book for more than 43 seconds before having to dive back in.

We managed to get there and to our hostel (Meininger Hotel- definitely recommend this place to my fellow European travelers) in an orderly fashion, and after our rooms were situated, we walked to this restaurant that the front desk operator recommended. The restaurant was VERY Austrian- the servers spoke only limited English (not a problem for us, because conveniently, we speak German), and all the food was typical Austrian eats. We ate our way through enough schnitzel, pork dumplings, spatzel, and spare ribs to send a small family of Sumo-Wrestlers into a food coma. But damn, was it worth it.

So. Much. Schnitzel.

Friday, July 20th
We awoke still full from the night before at a bight and early time and walked to Mirabellplatz to try and catch the 9am bike tour with Fräulein Maria's Sound of Music Bike Tour company. Although we emailed them a few days before letting them know that we were coming, they we're full, but promised that if we came back at 4:30 they would get us in.

So we had some time before we needed to be back at Mirabellplatz and decided to hit up some of the sights. First we strolled through the beautiful gardens at Mirabellplatz, and then we walked across the town and into the Salzburg Cathedral. It was gorgeous. Big, baroque, and beautiful. It was all nice and pretty there until I had the living shit scared out of me. I was taking my time through the Cathedral (being a very cliche tourist with my nose deep in Rick Steve's guidebook, reading every detail about every bit of the Cathedral) and I got separated from the group. Not a problem for me, because I like wandering though places like this alone. I made it to the underground catacombs and crawled down. I was all alone when I wandered into this dark, ominous room in the back. It was dimly lit by a few candles which shone shadows of little monsters onto the walls. All of a sudden a shadowy figure in a hood came floating across the wall and a soundtrack with loud beeping and voice came on. I pretty much peed in my pants right there as I jumped out of my skin and ran out with my tail between my legs. Turns out that an artist had set it all up as an art exhibit, but at that moment, I felt less like I was in an art exhibit, and more like I was on Candid Camera. Joke was on me I guess.

Inside the Salzburg Cathedral

After the Cathedral we trekked up the steep hill to the Hohensalzburg Fenstung- The Salzburg Fortress. Sitting high above the city, the fortress has views of Salzburg that I literally cannot describe in words. We stood on an outside balcony with views of the city, the river, the fields outside the city, and the gorgeous mountains. Breathtaking doesn't even cover it. The weather was a little dim, but seeing the mountains against the stark purple sky, with the clouds playing hide-and-seek between their ridges made the whole thing seem completely surreal.

View from the
Hohensalzburg Fenstung.
Doesn't do the real
thing justice.

After spending a few hours going through the museums in the fortress we retreated into the city to try to find somewhere to eat. And honestly, things got frustrating. Traveling with 8 people is not easy. Everyone wants to go somewhere else or do something different, and keeping everyone together was like herding ferrel cats. At this point, everyone was also hungry, so tempers were short and attitudes were high. We managed to agree on a small Italian restaurant, and then grumbled our way back to Mirabellplatz to catch the tour.


We had a bit of time before the tour started once we got back to the gardens, so we decided to go our separate ways for a bit and get some space. Thank god we did, because when we finally met back up at the tour's starting spot, everyone was a beaucoup more cheery. We grabbed our bikes (coincidentally I got the bike labeled with the name 'Grelt', the littlest of the Von Trapp clan), met our guide (Jonas, from Denmark, and very, very cute) and set off.


About 15 minutes into our tour, it started to pour rain. I'm not talking about a light drizzle, I'm taking about a good, solid rain. But even the rain couldn't rain on our parade, and we biked further. The great thing about this group is that we go beyond being just troopers. In this case, a bike tour would have been fun, but a bike tour in the pouring rain was fun, hilarious, exciting, and memorable. There is this great quote my Bob Marley that I love that states, "some people feel the rain- other's just get wet". Let me tell you, at this moment, we were definitely feeling the rain (and to be fair... we were also a little wet. But in the literal sense, because after all, it's very hard to carry an umbrella and bike at the same time). 


Our guide did a great job of including both Salzburg history and Sound of Music sites. We wandered through St. Peter's Cemetery, peddled up the steep hill to Nonnberg Abbey, sped down the mountain to the Horse Bath fountain, splashed our way to the actual Von Trapp house, and the movie house as well, meandered to the infamous 16-going-on-17 pagoda, and explored every place in between. The best part had to be biking on the outskirts of Salzburg. The rural, country-side of the city is so serene, and is draped with meadows, farms, cows, dirt roads, secret pathways, and even a "Milk ATM".

The Von Trapp Family House
(as seen in the movie)

And, naturally, I was unable to make it though the whole tour without making a complete fool out of myself. At one point in the tour, we stopped at this old house in the middle of a field that was covered by foliage. Our tour guide asked us to guess who used to live there. Traci started our idiot parade, and, without her glasses, she could only see the trees. So of course when the guide asked who lived there, she thought he meant "who lived in the trees" and she yelled out "A HOMELESS MAN!" Everyone laughed, because obviously, a homeless man would not live in a house. But I managed to top her as Queen Idiot with my next guess. Our guide gave us a hint and told us that the man who lived there loved "ropes and axes". But, with his thick, Denmark accent, I heard "robes and X's". I connected "X's" with Roman Numerals (an inference that I honestly have no idea how I reached), and connected Roman Numerals and Robes with a very famous figure that OBVIOUSLY does NOT live in a tiny house in the middle of Austria... but my mouth preceded my brain and I proudly shouted out "THE POPE!". I really need to learn to think before I speak. The correct answer (which made sense to me after Adara explained what the guide actually said) was the executioner.

We ended the day back at the restaurant from the previous night, where once again just couldn't hold back on the schnitzel.

Saturday, July 21st
On the way to walk around the Old Town, where most of the shops are located, we came across a giant market. Booths and tents lined the river as far as the eye could see, selling hand-made jewelry, funky clothing, and other bizarre objects. These markets are my favourite things to explore in any city in the world. I think it is the best way to get to know a place. Meeting the locals at the booths and seeing the objects being sold there, rather than at the big department store chains, is the ultimate way to understand a new culture.

After making our way through all the booths (and buying a pair of hippie pants that my fellow Vauban students would be proud of) we walked around the Alt Stadt. Finally we made our way back to our hostel where we made pasta in the kitchen they provide for us.

That night we decided to go out and experience Austrian Nightlife. Everyone had fun. Except me. Because I missed it all. I will spare the details, but, basically, I drank a little too much vodka before leaving the hostel (because it was cheaper that way and I was trying to be responsible money-wise), made it to the club, lasted about 15 minutes, prayed to the porcelain God, realized (with the help of the bar's bouncer) I should not be in public, took a cab home, and passed out in my bed. All before 11:30 pm. This is a wonderful example of "learning a lesson the hard way". And trust me- the lesson has been learned.

Sunday, July 22nd
Train-ed it back to Freiburg. Laughed the whole way back. Watched Traci open a bottle of wine with a toothbrush. Smelled the wine. Almost tossed my cookies. Ich habe einen Kater gehabt. Not worth it.


And that, my friends, was the adventure to Austria. Would I go back? Absolutely. Any year, any day, any time. So, if any of you head that way and need a travel buddy, you know who to call.

Until Next Time,
Meggie