Spring Break 4

Thursday 1 April 2010 Day 7: Salzburg

Today was a beautiful day in Vienna! Was so sad to leave it. I loved Vienna. Got on Austria’s high-speed train, Railjet to Salzburg. The train ride was very nice and the cars extremely new. About 10 minutes out from Salzburg, the sky started to cloud over. The temperature was about 36-degrees—not very warm but do-able with a coat. We walked through a market and through the gardens of a palace, Schloss Mirabelle.

By then it was lunchtime and Nic and I were rather hungry. We went to café bazaar and ordered the special (which tends to be about half the price of anything else on the menu). It was a something I have never eaten before but apparently pretty common to the region because I saw them in the market too. They are big balls of like pasta dough lightly packed together and mixed with spinach. I forget what they are called, but they were very good! They were served with butter, more wilted spinach, and cheese—rather tasty.

After lunch we made our way to the old part of town. We saw Mozart’s birthplace, walked down an outdoor mall, and stopped in a Swedish candy store for Nic too. It started to rain here too! So we went to take refuge in a church. It was very ornate and grand like the Spanish Cathedrals I’ve seen but still slightly different. When left the cathedral, the rain had gotten stronger and we decided we weren’t having fun and would just like to go warm up. So we walked back to the train station and left for Munich. On the train ride home we passed through snow! It was pretty, But I think I’m ready for some sun and maybe a beach?!

We arrived right on time in Munich (I love train travel in Europe! So efficient and easy). Our hotel was only a 5 min walk from the train station. We were going to take a quick nap, but that turned into a full nights sleep of about 12 hours. Apparently we were pretty tired!

Friday 2 April 2010 Day 8: Neushwanstein

Today Nic and I visited King Luwig II’s fantasy palace in the foothills of the German Alps in southern Bavaria. The train ride there was one of the most beautiful. The train passed through quintessential little German towns with the view of the mountains in the background. As we got closer to Füssen, the last stop, the snow-topped mountains filled the train windows! The castle is about a 10 min bus ride from the train station to the castle, but realizing that this trip was quickly eating at our two-week budget, we decided to go for the more health-conscious option—walking the two-miles to the town and then another 30 min climb to get to the top of the hill on which the castle sits. Definitely got our exercise for the day!

Views from the top were quite pretty and I got some pretty neat pictures! The castle on the other hand, was rather disappointing I thought… A weakly lead required tour of information that could easily be found on the Wikipedia took us through a fourth of the castle because most of it was left unfinished. I’m very glad I went, but don’t think I’ll make the trip back again. I will however, make the trip to the alps again to do some skiing! We grabbed some lunch in a café just outside the train stop. The lunch specials here are amazing—7 euro for a dinner-sized portion. Plus, it fills you up so less for dinner too! It’s great.

We got back to the hotel 2 hours later and, afraid to take a nap because we thought we might sleep the whole night again, we watched some BBC world news about the bombings in Moscow, the census in India, the scandals with the Irish church, and a special on the closing of Guantanamo Bay. Then deciding to do something German, we went to the oldest beer cellar in Bavaria, Haufbräuhauskeller since 1644. Quite expensive, but definitely worth it for a liter or two of fine Bavarian bier! (I wouldn’t eat there though). There aren’t really individual tables but long cafeteria-like benches where you pick a spot and make friends with the people around you (the beer helps with that last part!) Nic and I grabbed a seat and randomly enough, they were Spaniards sitting next to us! They were actually from Valencia, where Nic studied a summer in high school and I want to go soon! They were really nice and after the beer hall closed, we went to another bar with them to play futbolín, foosball. Germans are crazy good at foosball. Nic and I didn’t even try to compete! It was strange speaking Spanish in Germany… forgot where I was for a little bit. Felt like “home” in Madrid! It was hard to switch back to the little German that I know that night. Finally got some kebaps on the way home! So delicious!