Salzburg

I visited Salzburg last week. Unfortunately, I did not take any pictures, so just close your eyes and imagine.  

This was my first time traveling between Bischofshofen and Salzburg in the daytime. The train ride between the two is supposed to be beautiful. I couldn’t wait to see it for myself. The highlight of the train ride was the castle overlooking another little village called Werfen.

The weather report said that Salzburg would be rainy all day. I was a little disappointed by this forecast, but it wasn’t raining when we arrived. We walked into the old city from the train station. We noticed that there were a ton of people milling around, more than usually according to Holly, the other TA I was with. There were also a lot of men and women wearing Trachten or traditional Austrian costumes. For more information about the Trachten of Austria, go here for information about the Dirndl and here for information about Lederhosen. There were vendors along the river and inside the old city, selling food and all sorts of other things. Holly figured out that it was St. Rupert’s Day, some kind of festival, hence the Trachten, vendors and massive crowds of people. Rupert was a saint that founded Salzburg.

We were starving and after meeting Holly’s friends, we bought huge pizza pretzels. They had other kinds, including a chocolate one that smelled amazing. I regretted not buying it and saving it for later.

We wandered around for a while and the other TAs, who had been in Salzburg already, decided to go up to one of the beer halls. It’s called St. Augustiner and probably the most famous one in Salzburg. It’s a huge building with a beer garden. Unfortunately, because of the rain, we sat inside.

Walking inside, there are a bunch of snack stands serving foods from pretzels to schnitzel. We walked past the food stands and into the area where the beer is served. You take your own mug, a half liter or full liter, rinse it out in a big fountain, pay and then give your mug to the man working the tap. It was a confusing process, so I’m glad I was with someone that was familiar with what to do.

We sat in one of the large halls. Because it was just me and three other ladies, we attracted attention from the other tables full of men near us. They didn’t realize we were American at first until they came over to talk to us. Once they realized we were American, they started switching to English. At one point, one of them brought us a paper plate full of a thinly sliced, white, almost translucent vegetable and a pretzel. We finally figured out that it was a pickled radish. It was a little strange, but it grew on us after a while. After delivering the radish and an awkward silence, they left us alone. Besides the radish, I also had some schnitzel.  

The day before, I was offered candy and this day, I was offered a pickled radish. Austria is an interesting place.

I promise that I will take pictures next time!