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Salzburg Day 1
My final trip before heading back to the U.S. was to Austria and Germany. One of our international friends, Miri, lives in Austria and offered to have Kendyl, Jessica, and myself come stay with her for a few days.
On Friday evening we took the bus down to Dublin because we had an early flight Saturday morning from the Dublin airport, so we decided to stay in an Airbnb near the airport. The Airbnb was a bit further than we thought, so I don't even want to talk about how expensive the taxi was to get to and from the airport. On a more positive note though, the Airbnb was so cute! That was the first Airbnb I'd ever stayed in and it was a great experience. The host was so nice, and the space itself was a good size, clean, and homey. We ordered pizza for dinner (because there was no way we were paying for another taxi) and then later on our host offered us a free bottle of wine! There was also a horse in the backyard and Jessica was obsessed with it because she loves horses.
The next morning we woke up at 4am to head to the airport and catch our 7am flight to Munich. We landed around 10:30 and took the train from Munich to Salzburg where we finally arrived around 2pm. Just from being on the train I could already start to see the cultural differences. For example, I think almost everyone on the train was drinking except us. There was also a group of guys celebrating a bachelor party and they were very loud and obnoxious. I couldn't believe how lenient their alcohol laws are.
On the train we also got our first glimpses of the mountains that are the backdrop of Salzburg. Miri's brother picked us up at the airport and brought us to their house. The house was very vertical and quirky, but cute. Kendyl and Miri stayed in Miri's room and Jess and I stayed in Miri's sister's room (and her bed was so comfortable!).
When we arrived, Miri's mom had made us some traditional German food including goulash and knödel which were so good! After we ate we headed into the center of Salzburg. My first impression of the city was that it was more touristy than I had expected, but also that it was very beautiful. We walked across a love lock bridge, which I didn't even know Salzburg had. We quickly got tired of the crowds and decided to go to Miri's friend's apartment in the city. The apartment was so nice, and even had a rooftop terrace where we had an incredible view of the city. The weather was also perfect that day. After spending some time on the terrace we went back into the city to do some sight-seeing before attending a wine festival that was going on.
It seemed a bit less touristy by that point which was nice. One of the first sites we saw was one of the fountains from the Sound of Music. My mom and I have watched that movie since I was little, so I was very excited to see sites that appeared in the film and were significant in real life. Sadly, one of the fountains was under construction so we couldn't get very close. We then walked to Maribel Garden, which not only was featured in the movie but is also just a beautiful place on its own. There is a cool tree tunnel in the garden too that was also in the movie.
The wine festival was happening right next to the garden, so we walked over to buy a bottle. Man, do Austrians and Germans love their alcohol, because that festival was packed. We managed to get a bottle and some wine glasses (which you get your money back for when you return them), and walked back into the garden where we met back up with Miri's friends and enjoyed our wine. It was so cool being able to relax and drink wine in a place I had grown up seeing in a movie. It felt surreal.
After everyone had finished the wine, we headed back to Miri's friend's apartment and on the way grabbed a quick, typical 'Austrian night out snack' from a food truck. The snack was called käskrainer which is a type of sausage, and it's served with either ketchup or mustard and a bread roll. It's similar to a hot dog but it tastes much better in my opinion.
We hung out at Miri's friend's apartment for a while and had a drink or two more before going to a night club. Jess and I were pretty exhausted considering we had been up since 4am, but we decided to go to the club at least for a while. Miri had warned us that it was nothing like the clubs we are used to in Belfast, and she was right. This club was so small you could barely move, no one was dancing and you were just getting pushed and shoved left and right. Also, they allow smoking in the club so that made it pretty unpleasant as well. We tolerated it for a while but by 2am Jess and I were more than ready to leave. When we walked outside of the club, there was a guy with a large speaker playing music and we started dancing and singing to it, and honestly, I think we had more fun outside of the club than inside it. I'm glad we went so that I could experience a different kind of club, but I definitely prefer Belfast clubs.
