Salzburg :-)

Train leaves at 5:38 but I’m getting nervous before hand. The plan: Tine is going to pick me up around midday and we’re heading to buy couple of last minute things. Then it’s off to her mom’s/step sister’s place to drop off her car then get a ride back to my place to grab our stuff and head for the train station (in walking distance).

                My backpack is heavy when I put it on but I’m excited to finally start my trip. The train station is relatively calm considering it’s a Friday evening but the train seems to be full. Tine and I manage to find couple of seats and it’s time to let all the stress go. Whatever I forgot I forgot and there’s no getting it now.

                I’m tired but spend the whole trip chatting with Tine. Arrive time: 9:45pm. One of Tine’s friends loaned us an apartment in Salzburg and the quest starts right away to find it. By the time we get settled in it is 10:30pm but we walk out into town hoping to find a comfy place to grab a beer.

                The river Salzach cuts through Salzburg is beautiful and the lighted Burg and churches look magnificent at night. We walk around for a while and all of a sudden realize we are at Getreide Gasse; the street where Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born. It’s late and most places are closed but there are groups of young teens running around headed for the clubs and bars still open. Did I mention that Salzburg has the culture fest this weekend? This means that a large percentage of them are rocking the lederhosen (leather pants) or for the ladies they are rocking their Dirndls.

                We finally find a quiet bar that happens to be on the water level of the river. Drink prices: expensive. We order some fancy cocktails and Tine’s friend, Baumi meets us there. Conversation is relaxed and nice. Baumi (George is his real name) is a pretty cool guy. It’s late we head back to the apartment.

                Sleeping in is not overrated in the least especially when you wake up to already made breakfastJ, Tine got up early and headed to the store. Weather wise we got lucky, Salzburg is famous for its rain but the weekend is sunny and warm.

                We head to Salzburg and decide to head to the Schloss Mirabell first, and then head to the “Festung” or fort and downtown Salzburg. The garden at the castle is magnificent; we had fun watching and laughing at all the guided tours, some in English and some in Chinese or Japanese.  We walk thru the garden and head toward the “Festung”, which is easy to spot since it is on top of a mountain. On our way there we stumble across Mozart’s house…you know the great composer; and just across the way we spot the house of Doppler, they guy that discovered the Doppler Effect.  Both houses are small and nothing out of the ordinary but it’s still pretty cool to see them. Tickets to enter the house are way too expensive so we just stopped and took picturesJ.

We finally make it to downtown and what an absolutely beautiful city. It’s full of history, even the McDonalds in Getreide Gasse is beautifully built and decorated. Once in Getreide Gasse we stumble across the house where Mozart was born.

                Looking up at the Fort or “Festung” Tine and I decide it’s worth climbing up it rather than take the lift since the lift ticket is a) too expensive and b) the line to get on it is pretty long. The decision was the right one because on our way up we got some spectacular views of the city of Salzburg; just amazing and wonderful city. I tried to take some good pictures but my camera isn’t the best and well, pictures just don’t cut it. Ticket’s into the “Festung” again way too expensive so we head back down to grab a beer and relax for a while. Baumi and his girlfriend Stefanie meet up with us for a bit and we decide to meet up at the Augustiner Brau (Augustiner Brewery) later. Tine and I decide to head back to the apartment to get some rest since we were pretty exhausted.

                A couple of hours later we walk to the brewery dressed in “Trachten” or traditional clothes. Tine in her Dirndl and me in a pair of jeans, a traditional dress shirt, vest and jacket, we look pretty good I must say ;-). It is the first traditional brewery that I visit while I’m here in Europe and I’m pretty amazed at the place. First of all it is humongous, the entrance is almost hidden and you decent a long stairwell. All of it showing signs that it’s been there for many many years. Thru some doors at the bottom of the stairs and there is a long hallway with food “Stands” or kitchens on one side and doors to big rooms full of tables, chairs and people. Another pair of stairs down and it opens up to a huge “innenhof” or courtyard with more food kitchens, behind the stairs is where you get the beer.

Ok let me explain a bit more…Basically it’s a bit of a self service type thing. Each kitchen offers different types of food; you pick what you want and order it there and pay for it right away. But the coolest part was getting the beer. There is basically one type of beer and it depends on the season; you go and you pay for either a Liter or a half liter. Then they give you a empty Stein and you walk to a fountain where you rinse out the Stein, next you walk over and give your Stein to the beer server who fills it up for you…..I know it doesn’t sound so exciting but I guess you have to experience it in person….The only bad part: the beer wasn’t that good L Tasted a bit like it was the last of a batch…..

Beer Museum (Hell yeah!)

Next day we decide to visit BrauWelt (Brew World) and the Stiegl brewery. A very famous Salzburger Brewery. It was on the other side of the mountain so it took a bit long to walk there.

Museum Tickets: 6.50euro each…not bad and it included 3 beer tastings (each .25 liters) and a gift (small beer glass).  Not a bad deal right?

The museum is the biggest beer museum in Europe so it took about a half a day to walk thru it. The cool thing was that we (Tine and I) were the only people there. The museum talked about the brewing process and how each type of beer brewing differed. Not surprisingly it talked about how Stiegl’s brewing process was the best in the business. Still it was great to see and learn about Stiegl’s history and the history of beer brewing. Afterwards we sat down to eat and drink our beer samples/tastings. The food was pretty good J

Then it was off to meet Baumi and Stefanie again before we headed to the train station. Both of them were so nice, and Baumi even drove us to the train station. Tine headed back to Graz and I waited there for Phillip, and Flo to pick me up and head to Munich. Marita decided last minute to join us too which was a great surprise.

Said good bye to Tine L and headed off to my next adventure…..