So where did I leave off? I believe we had just gotten off the fucking bus ride from hell, but at least it had a nice view.
It was about 7am. I don’t remember the last time I was awake at 7am save for flying to Prague from the states, but that doesn’t count cause I was flying through time zones n’shit. Needless to say, I was getting pretty darn loopy and slap happy. Our trip coordinator Tereza decided we would all walk to the local grocery store and sit outside for 30 min waiting for it to open. After awkwardly standing on a street corner watching elementary school kids fail at kick flips and ollies the grocery store opened and we made bets as to what the adorable little boy patiently waiting outside the door would buy. I decided to hop in and buy a tasty Danish. Of course it’s too early for the Austrian sweets to be ready yet so I pass the little boy buying Football trading cards and step through the sliding doors. To add to my displeasure the doors decided to jolt shut on my as I crossed the threshold. It was a good laugh and I think the 13-year-old German Scenster girls who watched the beating go down enjoyed it.
I’ll spare you what I had for breakfast, it was good though.
We proceeded to some huge gardens that apparently were in The Sound of Music. I had never seen the movie but regardless, the gardens were breathtaking. Since coming to Europe I have this new found appreciation for flowers. I always enjoyed them but in the USA flowers seems like this treat, something that’s not for everyday enjoyment. In Europe people fucking love flowers. They are everywhere. In huge plots near my tram stop, outside my communist dorm, everywhere.
We plodded around taking pictures and what not, walked past Mozart’s boyhood home, birth place, etc, then stormed the Salzburg Castle with all our might.
It was quite the hike up, especially on an empty stomach and 0 hours of sleep, but we made it. Surprisingly, it was a real castle. Prague castle isn’t really a castle as much as it is just a bunch of buildings and open spaces. This place though was a legit castle with like turrets and places where you know they used to pour boiling oil on invaders. We took an audioguided tour. I chose to use the children’s version, it was way more exciting than the adult one, they even told me what an archeologist does! After the castle there was more plodding, eating, hangin’, and then finally, nap time. I took full advantage of this. I was asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow and woke up 2 hours later feeling somewhat refreshed and ready to drink.
News had travelled of multiple marching band performances so we walked on over to that shindig, had some german brews, watched dudes and gals play sweet marches in lederhosen then went and got some za. The night ended as quickly as it began with the deathblow being dealt from an Irish pub that the majority of our group was adamant about going to. One beer and Johnnie Walker Black later I was ready to go home, so me and my new lovely English friend Hanna made the trek back getting inside just in time before the rain came pouring down. I heard the others come back several hours later wanting to go dancing, I would of fucking loved to go dancing, and lord knows I would have stayed out til the wee hours of the morning but 2 hours of sleep and a wake up call at 8:30am the next morning were really disheartening. After a peculiar breakfast and cornflakes the bus was off again, this time to Hallstatt, this time deeper into the Alps, this time, to paradise.
Hallstatt was the place we saw pictures of before heading out, and goddamn if I wasn’t stoked to the nth degree to straight chill out by a lake and strain my neck looking up at snowy peaks.
Hallstatt exceeded our wildest dreams of grandeur. It really was unbelievable. Like a picture was placed in front of your eyes and you couldn’t remove it. Our hostel was on the bank of a raging river with a deer farm on the opposite bank and a football pitch across the street all sitting at the base of a towering alp. We had the place to ourselves, 24 students from all over the world left in paradise with literally the keys to the palace. I knew it was going to be a good night, but the day had yet to begin.
After some regrouping time we were off again, on foot, to town and then the half anticipated for Salt Mine Tour. The walk was about 5Km or 2 and a half miles for you Americans. We started in one big line but people began to speed ahead or lag behind mostly due to picture taking opportunities and awing. Michael and I held up the rear because I needed to use his camera to “test” shoot pictures I wanted to take. He was more than happy to oblige as he normally is. We finally caught up with the group at the dwindling May Day festivities. We had a nice little picnic in the grass next to lake, I fed ducks, Mark played on the playground and everyone took pictures. Next was the salt mine. I won’t go into detail but basically you had no idea you were in a mine because now-a-days museums do a pretty fuckin good job recreating the natural world. In my opinion it was a waste of time and 25 euros.
Hanging around the down town area was next, and like every trip to Germany it involved ice cream and more duck feeding. I found a nice little bench to sit on behind a chapel on the bank of the lake and watched the boats go by while feeding various water fowl. Next thing I knew the entire group is gone and it started to rain. Somewhat panicked I decided my best bet would be to walk back to the hostel, all 5km and hope to meet them there before dinner. I shrugged it off and kind of felt like a badass and that my rogue behavior was pay back for the shitty Salt Mine tour. But, the cards fell and they fell my way because about 2km into the walk our bus drove by (I dunno if I already mentioned this but me and the bus driver had a connection) and pulled over for me to hop in. Apparently he was on his way to town to grab the others. Score!!
Upon return to the hostel the drinking began. My two bottles of whisky and Mark’s bottle of vodka were finally going to be put to use. After a solid round of pregamming and me making a road soda we were off to the restaurant for some za. It seemed like everyone had the intention of getting drunk that night so after several beers, glasses of wine and fantastic meals everyone was feeling the best they had all trip. The details of that night are still blurry, I know they consist of and Mark and I debating music, Mark and Michael swimming in the lake, never have I ever, more beer and wine and whisky and passing out at 3am. It was a rough morning. Breakfast helped but no one was stoked for another bus ride to Bad Aussee. Where the fuck is Bad Aussee? I don’t want to leave. Why leave this place is amazing?! Were just a few of the grumbles I heard, mainly from myself.
Bad Aussee was another magnificent town, but this time instead of a lake it had 3 rivers 3! That all met at one point. Everyone wanted to rent bikes, save for me because well shit, I love cruising bikes but not up Alps. Then after the mess that was the bike rental shop Hannah, Ilka and I went off on our own with the mission of finding a lovely spot to just sit, relax and possibly reenact The Sound of Music. As most of you saw from my pictures, the majority of which are from Bad Aussee, we found a place to sit and just bask in the sun. Despite my grumbles Bad Aussee was fantastic. Especially riding a bike too small for me on which the chain kept falling off, up an Alp. It wasn’t the going up part that was terrible, just get off and walk not that hard. But going down, that was a different story. Imagine you’re on a children’s bike, riding down a 30-degree incline with shitty brakes and two girls to impress. I thought I was going to die right then and there but thankfully gravity saved me and held my body down on the seat.
Not much else happened the rest of the trip.
Since then Prague has been pretty bleak, it rained a lot and was cloudy. The Beer festival was fantastic.
Right now I am writing this on the train to Copenhagen. Expect a blog post about this trip 4 weeks from now.
Now it’s my lastnight in Copenhagen. Expect post tomorrow. Two posts back to back?!
