"The Hills are Alive" - Weekend in Austria

This weekend we went to Salzburg and Hallstatt, Austria. We left Thursday night from Berlin and arrived early Friday morning, having to spend the night in the Munich train station during our 5 hour layover. We couldn't sleep very well, so we found ourselves riding the escalators up and down for entertainment. Leah and Trey got woken up by police and asked to move b/c they were not allowed to take up hobo tendencies (aka sleeping on newspapers and pillows handed over by strangers - funny story). So, needless to say, that was a long night. We got to Salzburg and searched for a hotel (which took longer than we would have liked). Upon entering the hotel room, the door hit something on the way in. One might think "Oh no I hit the bed". Well, no. What we found behind the door was the shower.... in the middle of the room..... with a glass door.... across from a mirror. Talk about awkward. Luckily there was another shower down the hall along with the communal toilets. Like I said in an earlier post - its always a surprise what kind of bathroom you will have when traveling. So soon after we set out to see the sights of Salzburg. We saw a few churches, Mozart's home and birthplace, a palace with gardens, and a fortress that overlooked the entire town. After seeing all of these great things, I think the whole group would agree, our favorite thing was a nap on the bank of the beautiful river that ran through town. We've noticed in Berlin that people do this, so we decided to join in on the experience, and it was wonderful. We voted it the best napping spot in the world.

We woke up, walked around some more, found a spot to watch the end of a world cup game, and then found dinner. During dinner we heard music going on in the streets so we went to check it out. It ended up being an annual festival of basically just celebrating Salzburg. There was a band and lots of vendors in the streets. We ended up talking w/ an American man who had lived there for 20 years playing and coaching hockey. While talking to him, a British man came in on our conversation and we talked for quite a while with him too about his travels. He actually goes to Salzburg and Hallstatt every year. He was about 75 and had a lot of fun stories. And, did I mention he's received an award from the Queen?! Such an interesting person to run into.

So, the next morning we hop on the train to get to Hallstatt. This i

s a beautiful little town right on a lake in the valley of some mountains (I'm pretty sure part of the Alps). This was a quaint and charming town full of character. This town we found out later is 5500 years old and the hotel/ b&b we stayed in was 500 years old! pretty incredible. We foun

d some lunch at a nearby cafe - i had an assortment of dumplin

gs with salad. I've never had dumplings like this (filled with different meats). I was surprised at how well I liked them! We were dying to get out on the water as soon as we arrived. (we had to hop a ferry to actually get to the town) So, after lunch we quickly found paddle boats and kayaks. We paddled around for a couple hours soaking in the atmosphere.

Looking back on my pictures now, as beautiful as it looks, still doesn't do the town justice. It is just absolutely breathtaking. For dinner we went to The White Lamb, as suggested by the British man in Salzburg. I had a pork dish with veggies and potatoes and an apple strudel for dessert. Delicious. We ended the night watching the US lose to Ghana in the World Cup. Better luck next time. The next day, we set out trying to go to church but re

alized that we did not have time to go to the church and see what we wanted to see before the train left. A couple people set out to see

one of the oldest salt mines - besides the view, what Hallstatt is known for. The others of us decided to go to the top of the mountain to see what they have been calling "The 5 Fingers". It is basically a lookout point where you walk out on these structures that hang off the mountain.

To get there we had to take a bus to the next village over, two gon

dolas to the top of the mountain, and hike a 20 minute trail. But it was completely worth it. This was the best view I think I've ever seen. God's good isn't He?

CULTURE

We found out that Austrians are a little more laid back than Germans - as is evident through their train system. Our train from Hallstatt to Salzburg was l

ate and very slow on the way, making us miss our connecting train back to Munich and Berlin. We got it fixed, but ended up having to go through Hannover stretching the return trip from 11 hours to 17 hours. Luckily the extra time was spent on the train and not sleeping on benches in a train station or even riding the escalators all night. Monday was a very long day after traveling all night and getting back 1 hour before class.

Another thing we found entertaining was the traditional dress

of the Austrian locals. Some of the people you will find wearing lederhosen (leather shorts) and Dirndl dresses. From little kids to old couples, we found lots of examples - here are just a few. I tried to be somewhat inconspicuous haha.