Salzburg, Austria

I arrived at the train station in Salzburg at about half past midnight. Unfortunately, I didn't get very much sleep on the train, partly because I'd stayed up writing last night's blog, and partly because this particular train's breaks were just awful, and screeched an ear shattering tone at every stop, which was loud enough to drown out even my iPod.

Exiting the train, I was absolutely delighted at the sight of the station. It was a big station, full of people and trains departing and arriving all night long. There were open park benches, guards and even a couple cafes still open. It was well lit, and everyone seemed pretty level headed and friendly. I set my stuff down at a park bench near the tracks. I was a little hungry, because I'd skipped dinner, but all I had on me were Czech Crowns, and there weren't any currency exchange places open this late. Fortunately, there was a vending machine right next to me, and since most currency exchanges won't exchange coins, I still had a little bit of change in euros. I found what seemed to be the most filling meal, which turned out to be some kind of apple tart (actually quite good), and bought that. I set up, laying along the bench in the way I've learned works best for sleeping, and tryed to get some sleep. I couldn't seem to get any though, because now it started to rain, and the wind grew colder. I bundled up with what I could find in my backpack to put on, and as I'd done before, tried to wrap my blanket around my legs. However, still I lay shivering. I tried hard, to look past the cold and just fall asleep, but everytime I began to nod off, a train would come roaring past and wake me up, and then it was too cold to go back to sleep. I decided to get up and see if I could find myself a place which was a little warmer and quieter. I hauled around the station until I found a little tunnel leading to the ticket office and waiting room for departure. There were already several backpackers sprawled out along the benches sound asleep, so it seemed like it might be a good place to stay the night. It was quieter than the platforms upstairs, and substantially warmer because it was inside, out of the rain. However, it had high ceilings over a tile floor which made it still uncomfortably cold. Also, all of the benches were already full of people, so I had to find a spot in the corner laying on the cold hard floor. With my blanket, I made kind of a mattress by folding it a couple times and laying on top of it. This helped keep part of my body off the cold ground, but now I had no blanket to cover my legs. I tried a couple different setups, until I finally found one comfortable enough to at least nod off for a bit. Later, one of the benches opened up, so I moved myself there, and got about an hour of sleep. I was still inexplicably cold though, everytime I'd wake up, and I couldn't get back to sleep even though I was utterly exhausted from my 7 hour train ride. I stared at the clock, and counted down the hours till someone would be at the information booth. I paced when I got too cold, and it helped, but as soon as I stopped moving, the cold came back. The rain outside had still not let up, and I began thinking about how miserable I was in Rejig, trying to walk through the city all day in the rain without a hotel or hostel to thaw out in. I started toying with the notion that I might just find a cheap hotel for this next night, and then I could take a nap in a warm bed, walk around all day, and then worry about getting a train ticket to Zermatt at my leisure. It certainly seemed like a good plan, and as the clock ticked on, It began to seem like the right thing to do. I'd seen a map of the city near one of the platforms, so I figured out roughly which way I needed to go to find the center. Then from there I was sure there would be some hotels I could afford. I got walking at about 5:30am out in the rain, trying to make sure I ducked under every shelter so that I didn't get myself soaked before I could find a warm place to stay. I asked a petrol station for directions to some hotels, and they pointed me down the right road. I passed by a couple hotels I knew would be way out of my price range (The Crowne Plaza for instance) and continued of to find a more moderately priced one. Unfortunately, they were all booked full, but the front desk clerk pointed me to a youth hostel which was just down the street. It was just the place I wanted to be, it was friendly, warm, and cheap. Unfortunately, when I got there the front desk said I had to wait till checkout at 11 before I could get my room assignment. However, he must have noticed that I was cold and now sopping wet, because he let me stay in the lounge and get some rest, and watch a little TV till checkout. I was so relieved to be in a nice warm place, and I curled up on a bench next to a table and fell asleep. When I woke up, only a couple hours had passed, and I heard breakfast being made in the next room. I waited for some others in the hostel to get down for their breakfast, then I got some of my own. Someone put on The Sound of Music on the TV in the lounge, so I watched that while I ate.

After I finally got my room key, I went up to my room and met my new roommate, Chris. Chris is from Arizona and travels around fairly often. He's on what he calls sort of a "best of" trip of his favorite places in Europe and Salzburg happens to be one of them. We talked about places we'd been and swapped travel stories, and then he showed me some cool places to see on the map. He favored heavily his right leg, because he said he somehow did something terrible to his left leg a couple weeks ago, and now he could barely even stand on it. He'd been keeping off it mostly, for the last couple days, hoping the pain would subside, but he says it's not getting any better. I suggested switching ice and heat to keep the blood flowing, and keep any swelling down, and he said he'd try that, but he figures he'd just bear it for the next month and a half he's got left on his trip, then deal with it when he gets home.

After settling into the hostel, I went out and explored. Immediately when I'd gotten here, I'd noticed that people were extremely friendly. People said hello, and smiled at me as I walked by, and when I asked for directions, I always got their best attempts to help me. It's like I'd felt of the people in Ireland, it's a very helpful community vibe that just makes you feel welcome. However I was also stunned when I entered the center area, and saw the absolute beauty of this place. The hills are a deep green color, and fall off into jagged cliffs which vale themselves partially behind the fog. Flowers are in bloom, and dripping beads of freshly fallen rain. The whole city smells of roses, and wet stone. I walked through some of the areas featured in The Sound of Music. The little park they road bikes through in "Doe a Dear", and the Abby where Maria was from. I also walked past where Mozart was born, and a house that he'd lived in. I walked through the old town on the other side of the river, and bought a huge chocolate covered pretzel at a vendor near a huge cathedral. I wandered all the way through the city through a tunnel carved out of the mountain side which lead to a little local suburb behind the mountain. I got myself lost among the amazingly cool houses, and beautiful gardens. Finally, The clouds opened up slightly, and I turned a corner and stopped in my tracks as the Alps slowly emerged from behind the clouds. They were snow-capped and majestic, exactly how I pictured them to look, but far more beautiful seeing them with my own eyes. When I found my way back to the city, I took a tram up to the Castle on top of the mountain. There I got a spectacular view of the whole city, and the Alps in the background. I explored the castle and walked through a Marionette Museum inside one of the towers, which was a lot creepier than I anticipated. When I got off the mountain, I walked past an old Goldsmith's shop, and then into the huge church where Maria was married to Captain Von Trappe.

When I got back to the hostel, I took a long nap, while letting my phone and camera charge. Then in the night, I walked along the river and bought a huge sausage with melted cheese and spicy mustard from a city hot dog vendor. By nightfall, the sky had been cleared, and stars shown all over. The city was lit up, and reflected in the water. I sat and admired the beauty of it all, and took in long deep breaths of the cold cleansing air from the nearby Alps.

Tomorrow there's a night train to Zermatt which I've reserved a seat for, so I'll check out from the hostel in the morning, and leave my bags in their luggage room. I can hang out a little more in the city till midnight when I have to catch my 9 hour train to Zermatt, Switzerland.
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