June 25th
I woke up just in time for breakfast and once again it was
wonderful. Every morning the owner of
the B&B writes a little letter to the guests (in German) that tells about
the days weather, horoscope, and how what is served for breakfast that morning
ties in with that. The owner has been so
kind to me to translate the letter into English so then I do not miss out on
anything. After breakfast I packed my
belongings and paid my bill and was just about to leave when I was offered to
be driven to the train station if I waited thirty more minutes. With that down time I went outside into the
garden and laid down in a hammock and gazed up at the mountains and watched the
goats.
I not only got a ride to the train station but I also got a
ride to the Salzbergwerk (Salt Mines) after I threw my bags into a locker. After saying goodbye to the driver I bought
my ticket for the tour and then ate a brat with some coffee while I
waited. The first part of the tour
required us to put on these (silly) work jumpsuits over our clothing and then
we hopped onto these little rail cars and sped on down into the Earth. It was neat learning how they make the salt
and then extract it and the tour itself was a lot of fun, especially the wooden
slides that led us deeper and deeper.
After the tour I walked back to the train station.
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Silly Mine Outfit |
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Mine Rail Cars |
The departure time of the bus leaving to Salzburg gave me an
hour to get some lunch. I walked across
the street from the train station to a Chinese restaurant. Not long after I sat down at a table I knew
the owner and staff could speak Chinese so I gave it a go. The response was enthusiastic so I continued
to only speak Chinese for the remainder of my meal. It was fun to break out my Chinese
again. The bus arrived and I was off to
Salzburg.
Salzburg Old City |
The bus ride is a scenic forty five minute commute to the
train station in Salzburg and my hostel was just a few blocks away from
there. After getting off the train and
leaving the train station I started walking to my hostel, but in the opposite
direction. A kind local was able to
point me in the right direction and I was able to find the hostel without any
problem. I checked in and climbed the
stairs to my room and opened the door and found that two of my bunk mates (all male room) were passed out in
their beds (its 3:00 pm) looking a bit hung over. I thought to myself “they must have been out
late last night, I have come to the right place”. I quietly stowed my bags and left to go do a
walking tour in the old part of the city.
Hohensalzburg Fortress |
I followed the walking tour in my travel book and saw all of
the main attractions in just a few hours.
It was fun seeing some of the locations from the film The Sound of Music. As I was walking around I wondered if I would
ever run into some students from my undergrad college (St. John’s University)
because they have a study abroad location there. Unfortunately I didn’t see any. I walked along the river for a while, ate a
brat and then made my way back to the Hostel.
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Canadian Friends from Hostel |
It was about 6:00 pm when I got back to my room and my two
bunk mates were still asleep. I worked
up the courage to say something funny and introduce myself to them “You guys
must have been to one serious party last night”. After realizing the time they both jumped out
of bed with, we made friendly introductions and then they went to go clean up. They were both Canadians and not long (30
minutes) another friend of theirs (also Canadian) showed up. After they finished cleaning up they met up
with me down in the hostel bar to take advantage of happy hour. The night was a lot of fun; we played cards,
had good conversations, got some beers to go and walked around the old city,
climbed a radio tower to get a breathtaking view, and then returned to the bar
for more merriment.
Once again another successful day of hosteling.
That salt mine thing looks badass. I bet that was crazy cool. Thank god you are smiling.
ReplyDeleteIt was so much fun!
ReplyDelete