Venice, Or Laura has a Birthday in Italy and Wades in the Water

Here in Salzburg, they like their holidays (and extended lunch breaks, but that's another entry). So, in late October/Early November we ended up with a four day weekend. My pal Walter wanted to go to Venice and I asked to tag along. Soon, it ended up that Brian and Anne-Marie were coming, too. The more the merrier! And I just happen to love Brian and Anne-Marie, so it's all good.

So, off we go on a night train to Venice. The train ride sucked because it was cramped and there were loud teens in my compartment and the train was running an HOUR late. But, after what seemed like an eternity, we arrived in Venice. It was amazing: You are riding along on land, and all of a sudden, there is water on both sides of you as you take the bridge out to the island. After a lunch on the steps of the train station (where Brian kept trying to lure the ugly pigeons towards us with food), we walked around a bit. Walter mentioned something about wanted to see the church where the painter Tetian is buried. Brian misheard and thought he said Teesha. This was the start of possibly the funniest ongoing joke since arriving in Salzburg. Go back and read the name again with a Ghetto accent. And then you have why it was so funny, because the whole trip was filled with "When we gawn see Teesha? Where Teesha at? Teesha wouldn't stand fo' this...nnmm. Shiiiit, where Teesha?" It's probably one of those 'had to be there moments', but as the trip got longer, it was one of the things that kept Brian and I going. Anyway, we were all grumpy and tired from our train ride, so we decided to find our hostel, which was on the main land. Walter, naturally, got us lost on the way and the bus system in Italy is totally SCREWY in case anyone wants to know. But, after walking down a creepy tunnel (cue horror movie voices from Brian: "It's getting so dark! Let's go exploring! But let me change into my bikini and high heels first!") we found our hostel. Which, was actually a campground with little bungalows for rooms. It was pretty spiffy and the cheapest in the area. We ended up going back into Venice after a short nap. And partook of the first of many dinners comprised entirely of pizza and gelato. Mmm.

Next day, we set out to see the main tourist things and walk around the island. Somehow, Brian and I got started singing the old African American spiritual, "Wade in the Water". And of course, Brian improvised some excellent verses to an already creepy song: "Devil gonna getcha, Mama can't help ya, Daddy don't know you, Jesus don't love ya..." Funny stuff and appropriate for our horror movie walk and canal dodging. Along our walk, Brian and I had much fun pointing out the many fashion disasters (and were there ever!). Our main objective for the day was San Marco's square, which might soon be overtaken by pigeons if those Italians aren't careful. The church was gorgeous, the inside all inlaid with gold mosaics. A few pics from Venice:


(No, we didn't take a gondola ride. They start at about 80 Euro.)


After a nice day, we had a lovely dinner of *gasp* Pizza and gelato. It was pretty much amazing.

The next day was my birthday! We did some more walking around. And this day, Walter wanted to go see some modern art crap. I wasn't really all for that, but I figured I'd let him see the things he wanted to see, too. So, he drug Brian and I into the Peggy Guggenheim museum. Brian and I lasted about 10 minutes before we had to leave and be bored in the courtyard where we talked about the superior merits of Teesha compared to Peggy:


Then it was off for my birthday dinner which consisted of...pizza, again. And wine. Mm, good wine. We enjoyed ourselves very much and then went and sampled more gelato.

The next day we wandered around some and Walter got us lost:

(OMG SEND HELP PLEASE)

Walter wanted to go to some super duper (boring) art museum, so Brian, Anne-Marie, and I chilled in a cafe, at tiramisu, and scoped out the sailors at the nearby naval museum. Totally wins over modern 'art', I'd say. Anne-Marie went to join Walter, so Brian and I went and sat on the canal and had an adult beverage (that he just happened to have in his bag). It was something out of a movie: sitting on the steps of a canal bridge, day after your birthday, drinking with a good friend as you both laugh yourselves silly and the sun sets out on the sea. It's a night I'll never forget, even though it was such a simple thing, especially in comparison to the canals and gondolas and gelato.

The next day, it was time for us to head back to Salzburg. We were all happy to go. Venice was a lovely city to see and I am happy to say that I got to see it. But it's one that I don't think I'd want to go back to for at least several years. And maybe only for a romantic get-a-way or something. Venice was just too crowded and touristy and dirty for my likes. And it was hard being in a country where you didn't understand the language or how the bus system works, etc. We really all noticed how much we took Salzburg for granted. Our train ride home gave us a few pains, but with the help of some Teesha jokes, some Wadin' in the Water, and some cake, we made it back to Salzburg just fine.

So long, Venice (and Teesha!)



To see all my Venice pictures, click here.

Halloween, in Which Your Heroine Is Emo

The day of Halloween, we had a personal tour with our art history teacher at an old castle onthe outskirts of Salzburg. Built inthe 16th century as a hunting lodge of sorts, it is famous for its trick fountains and mechanical devices run by the water. Check out the Flickr pictures here to read all about it. I described the whole trip, including our awesomely evil professor spraying us all with water and getting us into secret areas. Awesome tour, awesome castle.

After all this, we had to attend a Halloween party at my program director's house. Amber and I went as emo kids. Because even though they are so ~*~uNiQuE~*~ they are always seen in groups. Wearing the same thing. For those who don't know what 'emo' is, just type it into google. Or look at pretty much any MySpace page. Basically, it's young(ish) kids who like to think they are very deep and misunderstood. They write bad poetry and listen to music like Fallout Boy and My Chemical Romance. They wear too much eyeliner and eyeshadow. Black nail polish and straight hair that must cover at least one eye completely. Spend five minutes in any shopping mall and you'll see emo kids everywhere. It's like a disease.

Even though it was meant to be funny and poking fun at the emo kids, I got many compliments along the lines of "OMG YOU LOOK SO HOT AS AN EMO GIRL AND OMG HOW DO YOU DO THE EMO LINGO SO WELL?" Let's just say I was emo before emo was hot. Yeah, back when I was 12 or so. All the rest of you are posers. Emo kid hotness:



Along the way to the party, we found the location of Salzburg's old witch tower! I'd read about it and knew it existed but never found it. The tower was used back in the 16th and 17th centuries to hold women accused of witchcraft before they were burned at the stake. Nice. Sadly, the building was destroyed during WW2, and there's a used bookstore on the spot. However, they still have the old iron sign that used to hang above the tower. There's also a picture of a woman burning in a fire on the side of the building. Anyway, I thought it was pretty rad that we found the building on Halloween. The iron witch:



The party was pretty fun. Most people came in costumes, and surprise! Amber and I found a fellow emo kid!

Brian, so emo that even his skin turned black:



There was also Radely as an iPod commercial. Boy, did he get some strange looks on the bus when we rode over together. But it was totally worth it, see?



There was a coloring contest. Being a good emo kid, I refused to conform to the system by coloring my pumpkin orange. Mine was black. Like the dark abyss that is my soul. There was also chili, which was amazingly good. Of course, it was free, and free food always tastes amazing.

To see who else showed up to the party, you'll have to view the rest of the pictures at Flickr (link below). Not trying to name drop or anything, but the Seedy Sheriff, Kriss Kross, Groucho Marx, and Justin Timberlake were all there.

See all of the Halloween pictures here.

Um next, Venice!

Vienna

All right, here's the deal. Vienna was AMAZING. And I'm going back as soon as I can. It's probably the most consistently gorgeous cities I've ever seen. Everywhere you turn there is a gorgeous building to look at. The atmosphere was something bordering on magical. I'm going back as soon as I possibly can. Because I loved it and also because I didn't get to see one of the main things I planned to: the Zentralfriedhof (cemetery). People such as Beethoven, Schubert, Strauss, Brahms, etc are buried there. Must go and worship at graves of musical geniuses. (kidding)

Other deal: I don't have the patience, nor the webspace here to put up even over view pics from our 3 day trip to Vienna. So. You're going to have to go to Flickr and see the photos. There is commentary on all the photos there so you'll know what you're looking at. Be sure to view the photos individually. I think, if you do slideshow, you don't get the commentary.

Flickr Vienna set photo link:
http://www.flickr.com/gp/22248978@N00/2R2tv9

On the way to Vienna, we stopped in Melk which has an amazing 18th century cloister. With an amazing library that almost sent me into fits of geekiness. We then stopped at another town and climbed another mountain (surprise!) to visit the ruins of the castle where Richard the Lionhearted (Think Robinhood) was held prisoner for 2 years. Apparently, he insulted the Austrian prince on his return from the crusades. Don't mess with the Austrians, man. They'll make you huff and puff up a huge mountain and stick your rear in a cell. (He was eventually bailed out by the French. Weird, huh?)


Then it was on to Vienna. Where we stayed in a gorgeous 4 star hotel right in the center of town. The view from my window was incredible (see Flickr :D ). The next day, the group split into two parts and took walking tours through the city. Seeing such things like.

St. Stephen's cathedral:

Heldenplatz: (where the Hapsburgs had a palace and where Hitler gave a speech after the Austrian Anschluss)

After leaving the tour group to explore on our own. An incredible art and artifacts museum in yet another Hapsburg palace:

Trank melage and ate Wienerschnitzel and Sachertorte in the Cafe Sperl where Hitler used to come to spout off politics when he lived in Vienna as a young man:


We attended the opera Elektra at the Staatsoper House (had such bad seats, we could see approximately NONE of the stage). Chilled at another cafe afterwards and soaked in the Viennese experience.

Next day, was the day of palaces. And of rain. It rained all day. No relief. I think Vienna was just sad I was leaving. We saw Schloss Belvedere, built for a French general. It now houses a huge collection of art. Including Kilmt's famous "The Kiss". Schloss Belvedere:


Then it was to Schloss Schonbrunn, which was probably my favorite thing. We had a self guided audio tour which meant you could take your time and look around each room as long as you liked. The place was incredible and looked like Franz Joseph and Sophie (Or Marie Theresa) had just stepped out for a moment.
It was hard to get a good picture because: a) It was raining. And b) The place was freakin' huge.


Sorry this was a lame update. But I spent a lot of time uploading the Vienna pics to Flickr, so go check them out there and read all the good commentary that I wrote. :) YOU'LL FALL IN LOVE WITH VIENNA, TOO.

http://www.flickr.com/gp/22248978@N00/2R2tv9

Berchtesgaden

I'm only a 30 minute bus ride from Berchtesgaden. For a Nazi history nerd like me, this is like living as close to history paradise as possible. Knowing that the historic points shut down at the end of October, I prodded a friend of mine, Walter, into going with me. I booked a tour to see the old Nazi sites on the mountain and to take us up to the Eagle's Nest, Hitler's playhouse on the tip top of the mountain. A short bus ride and border crossing later, we were in Berchtesgaden. Berchtesgaden used to be just a quiet little mountain village until some members of the Nazi party started buying out local residents in order to make their own playground. Many high-up Nazi officials had homes here, including Hitler, Speer, and Goering. Soon, the small town was a bustling Nazi center. They even had to build a train station to receive the flow of visitors visiting Hitler. Part of the station as it looks today:



Those three arch ways are were Hitler's private receiving area was. It's now a travel office and hocks cheap souvenirs. Haha, Hitler. Ha. Ha.

Remnants of the train station's Nazi past can still be seen. Such as this victory wreath, which used to have a swastika in it. Above the door, you can barely make out the faint outline of where the Nazi eagle used to be:



You can see more pictures of the building's past in my Flickr.
After exploring the train station, we took a short walk into the old city. It's a typical, quaint Bavarian town.

We found an amazing looking cemetery. Wandering through, you see many graves from Wehrmacht soldiers. The saddest one I saw was of three young brothers who all died in the war.

I found the fountain where Storm Troopers took a picture back in the 1930s. (Click here to see the original). I look just as fierce, don't I?


The buildings in town were gorgeous and I took many pics. See Flickr.

Also found the infamous Rathaus mural. You see this in many film clips from the end of the war when the US reached the town.


The Wehrmacht soldiers were modified after the war to be less menacing. A pair of them used to hold grenades triumphantly over a dead Russian's body. Not too PC nowadays, I guess.

After thoroughly exploring, we hooked up with our tour group, only to learn that the Eagle's Nest was closed. It started to snow early up in the high elevations and they closed the house the day before. I was really bummed out, but they did off us another tour for a reduced price. They drove us part way up the mountain and showed us where so-and-so's house used to be, where the old SS barracks were, etc etc and then we went to the documentation center. The documentation center stands on what used to be a Nazi hotel built originally for use "by the people" on the cheap. However, it was used exclusively for high ranking visitors. It has a nice little museum in it. But the best part, is that some of the hotel and Martin Bormann's (Hitler photographer) bunkers are still intact underneath. We got to go in and explore. These particular bunkers (there were miles of bunkers that transversed the mountain) are a great example of the entire system because they were never completely finished. So, one can see the finished product in some places, but also where they just stopped working, leaving the rock exposed. I took way too many pics, but here's a small sampling:





You can see more bunker pics and descriptions of the rooms/tunnels in Flickr.

The Eagle's Nest wasn't visible all day. There was a snow cloud that hung over the mountain and though we knew it was there, we just couldn't see it. There's a local legend that a dark cloud literally hangs over the mountain because of its Nazi past. Well, that day, just as I was coming out of the bunkers, that cloud lifted for about 15 seconds:



TA DA! The Eagle's Nest! At least I got to see it. I'll be coming back in spring when it reopens. I'm sure the view from the top will be astounding.

Back down in town, Walter and I took some gorgeous shots before hopping the bus back to Salzburg:



As always, please head over to my Flickr account to view all the photos. The bunker shots and the panoramic pictures are great!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/itcouldbewurst
And click on the Berchtesgaden set.

Up next (internet speed and school willing) Vienna and Venice!

Altstadt

Sunday was a gorgeous day. I planned to into the Old City of Salzburg and take some pictures and tour some of the churches. But first! My friends and I had planned a Big Ol' American Brunch. We had pancakes (ok, they were really crepes because the Austrians don't do regular pancakes apparently) with peanut butter and/or jelly, hash browns, and eggs with ham. SO GOOD.


After eating ourselves silly, we figured it was a good time to visit the old city and walk off that breakfast.

The old city is about a 10 minute walk from where I live. Once you pass the apartments and banks and kebab stands, you climb a set of steps and it's like you are transported to another time! The old city is so beautiful, complete with the narrow streets and cobble stones that you would imagine.

First up was Mozart square. As my friend Amber says, Mozart is Salzburg's Jesus Christ. He's everywhere and they are more than happy to claim him as their 'son'. Amber and I chillin' with Wolfie:



The highlight of our trip was to visit the Salzburg Cathedral (Dom). It's gone through a few re-buildings due to fires. It was most 'recently' rebuilt in 1629. The magnificent dome of the cathedral was destroyed by a bomb during WWII and was rebuilt in the 1950s. The inside and outside are masterpieces of baroque architecture. The inside is incredibly ornate, with paintings of Bible scenes all over the ceiling and walls. You could sit in the cathedral forever and still not see everything.

From the inside:


The inside of the dome:


Next we visited St. Peter's church and cemetery. The cemetery has very unique graves and markers. It also served as the inspiration for the cemetery in which the Von Trapps hide out in in The Sound of Music (it was a set in the movie!).

A few famous people are buried here, including Mozart's sister, Haydn's brother, and the US General of the last occupying forces in Salzburg. (see Flickr site for pics of their graves). After spending some time in the cemetery, we paid 60 cents to enter the 'catacombs'. They aren't catacombs in the sense that there are no bodies. Rather, it's places of worship built right into the mountain by the early Christians. You can still see the altars and paintings inside.


Next, it was to the inside of St. Peter's. It was gorgeously decorated in Rokoko style and houses the body of St. Rupert. This church was first built around 700. It's another church where it's hard to see everything at one time. Guess I'll just have to go back!


After that, we took a walk down Getreidegasse, the oldest and most famous street in Salzburg. It's also the street where Mozart was born. His house is now a museum, but I haven't been inside yet (there are pics of the outside at Flickr). We treated ourself to some Eis (ice cream) that is a bit Italian in style and taste and so good. And only 1 Euro!

We ended our day feeling accomplished and happy. But there's still so much I have to see. There's several places we haven't been to, as well as more churches. Churches to Austria are like Wal-Marts to the mid-west. So, hopefully we'll have some gorgeous weekends and I can go on more adventures in the old city.

PLEASE visit here to see all the pictures from the Altstadt. It's well worth it; it's so beautiful! You can also leave comments there on the pics.

This Friday Walter and I are going to Berchtesgaden! AKA, Hitler's mountain playground!

Gaisberg

Last weekend, our group took a hike up the Gaisberg mountaing, just on the edge of Salzburg. We took a bus up part of the way and then walked the rest. The way up with the bus was incredibly steep! It was almost scary to look out your window and see nothing but a steep cliff on the other side. We joked about not leaning to far over, lest the bus over balance and topple over the cliff! The worst part was that it was incredibly foggy. You couldn't see anything looking out the front window. It's amazing that the bus driver made it up the mountain, but I suppose he's done it enough times that he could do it blindfolded. Once we disembarked from the bus, we got a lecture about how dangerous the mountain can be. Every year, dozens of people are killed on Gaisberg. One of the ways there are killed is very strange. It snows a lot and this makes the trees break and fall. These fallen trees are then covered with another layer of snow and hidden from view. However, when a hiker steps on this, it acts as a spring trap and the trees spring up and throw the snow and hiker into the air.

When we got off the bus, look who was waiting for us:

Ol' Bessy and her sisters were just laying around in a field, seemingly waiting for us. The way we all took pictures, you would think that us mid-west kids had never seen a cow before.

Unfortunately, it was so foggy that I couldn't take any pictures. The mountain did look incredibly beautiful and eerie in the fog, though. This picture did turn out:


It's a cross part way up the mountain. It serves as a sort of memorial for those who die on the mountain every year (between 5-30). It's also supposed to remind those who pass that they are mortal and can die, too. Finally, you are supposed to see it and be reminded that God created the beautiful nature you are enjoying (including the fog).

Afterwards, we enjoyed a cup of coffee in a darling hut that was about 400 years old. Jeesh. We sat in a cute cute CUTE fireside corner. I wish I had thought to take a picture.

Perhaps I'll visit Gaisberg again when it's not so foggy.

Monchsberg

Last Saturday, our program director took us on a hike up the Monchsberg. You have seen that in the pictures in previous posts. It is topped by the Hohensalzburg fortress. The Monchsberg has been fortified for centuries and is the best preserved fortress in the world. This is because it was never successfully attacked. After climbing up the mountain, I can see why! The climb wasn't hard (everything was paved or packed with gravel) it was just steep and very long to the top. A short way up the mountain is an old church; it was really beautiful inside! Outside the church, part of the Sound of Music was filmed. However, the fortress is by far the most outstanding feature on the mountain. We didn't go into the fortress itself (but I plan to later) but it was incredible to see all the fortifications. I loved seeing the old walls, gates, and other fortifications and couldn't help but wonder what it felt like to stand there back in the 16th century. The mountain also gave us a great view of the Altstadt (Old City) of Salzburg, which is really beautiful. The climb was worth it all once we got to the top and saw the incredible view!




And here is a video I took of the Altstadt from the downward slope of the mountain(just push play):


One pic of Altstadt:


To view the rest of the photos from our mountain excursion, click here.

You won't regret it!