Jan 2007

After spending some quality time with family it was a relief to get back on the road and the obvious destination was Austria next door. So it was onto a train for most of the afternoon, finally arriving in Salzburg in the dark and then wandering around for an hour til i could find my hostel (a lot easier in the light of day).

When checking in I saw the sign I had been waiting for - 'Sound of Music' tours the very next day, so I didn't waste a second in reserving my spot on the kitschy tour bus. The tour was a four tour (not a three hour one as Gilligan and the gang had looked forward to!) and covered all the major sites made famous in the film. Our host for the day was a lovely American lady who seemed to love the film more than would seem naturally possible but her cheerfulness was infectious. We all prenteded to be Lisel in the Gazebo, or Maria and the Captain getting married in the church, but unfortunately we were not spared the sing-a-long on the way back and for the rest of the day I could not get 'My favourite things' out of my head.

Well I loved Salzburg - its charming old town, the over-the-top use of Mozart to sell anything and everything, and the castle on the hill where the real Maria lived. To save money I walked to the top, forgoing the funicular and its hour long line, and must admit it turned out to be the best idea as the views up to the top were breathtaking although I was a little puffed by the end of it. Thus it was with a real sadness that I left the baroque beauty of Salzburg on a train to Vienna for New Years.

Vienna didn't have the charm of Salzburg - maybe due to its size or some of the people but it didn't capture me as Salzburg had. However I did have a very enjoyable night at my very first opera in the world famous Vienna Opera House. It took four hours in line to get the cheap tickets they release before the performance (3 euro - a bargain in any language), and the production itself went for another two (It was the English story of Italian Romeo and Juliet in French, in a German speaking Viennese Opera House with English subtitles - very multicultural). So it was a late night before I managed to make it back to the hostel on the other side of town.

The next day was New Year's Eve, and the famous Viennese New Years Trail. I spent the day exploring the city before heading out to the trail after dark. The trail covers much of the city and contained eight different stages with all different performers, carnival tents, food tents and of course lots of champagne stalls. And thus as the clock struck midnight in my first New Years away from home, I celebrated my birthday alone in a crowd of Austrians and turned the ripe old age of Twenty.

The day that followed was not the greatest with nothing to do and nothing open except a small store at the train station. So it was with relief that the next day I boarded a flight to Berlin.