Fa, A Long, Long Way to Bus, Metro, Plane, Bus, Train: Austria (April 5-April 12)

While most Spring Break students are packing their bikinis and shorts and leaving 30-degree weather behind to head towards 90-degree weather, I was packing gloves, hats, and mittens, saying goodbye to 95-degree weather, and heading to colder temperatures in Austria. As we stepped out of the airport after our epic journey and into Vienna however, we were pleasantly surprised by the “cool” 60-degree weather. We had finally made it to Austria, and we were ready to begin our adventure.

Our Austrian Extravaganza began in Vienna, mostly because it was the cheapest city in Austria to fly into. The highlight of our time in Vienna was the Opera we went to. We were unsure how to obtain the two euro standing room tickets (we just wanted to see the Opera Hall) but some kind, old Austrian man saw five confused, young Americans outside the Opera Hall and asked us if we needed help, then had us follow him around the outside of the hall into a side entrance, where he ordered us to stand in line. We really had no idea what to expect once inside, but luckily, helpful Austrian women taught us to hang our scarves on the railings to save our seats and also taught us how to work the monitors that would translate what was being screeched (some may call it singing). After about 30 minutes of the show we had had enough and headed out to one of the best dinners I have had in my time in Europe (and no, not because of the food).

We had quite the entertaining meal, topped off by me hitting the bench after biting into my pizza crust and hearing a loud crunch. In my typical, overdramatic way, in between laughs and to four very confused faces, I stated that I thought I had chipped my tooth. A second later, when feeling around my mouth, I realized I had, in fact, chipped my tooth. When I confessed this fact, everyone burst out laughing even harder, and I was left not knowing whether to laugh and cry (in the end I did a combination of both). For the rest of the trip I was referred to as Skaggle Tooth (a combination of Snaggle and Buck tooth).

On a spur of the moment decision, half of my group decided to buy train tickets to go on a daytrip to Salzburg. The minute we arrived we second-guessed our decision, since we had been dropped off in a snowstorm (remember, I had left behind 95 degree weather). Luckily, though, the storm tapered off and as the day went on the weather became better and better. The first half of the day we walked around Salzburg, doing a combination of normal site seeing and trips to places where filming was done for the Sound of Music. One of my favorites was hiking up to the Nonnberg Abbey and seeing absolutely breathtaking landscape.

At one point on our walk, we stopped in a narrow alley. We were standing in a triangle talking, when out of nowhere a group of pigeons started dive-bombing. This is a fairly normal occurrence in Sevilla, so I didn’t really react. One of my friends, Dorothy, however, pulled out a matrix move, bending backwards in order to avoid the pigeons’ wrath. I thought that she was totally overreacting, that is until I was “pidge-slapped” in the face. That’s right, I was hit in the forehead with a pigeon’s wing (I have witnesses to back me up). I, of course, was totally freaked out and screamed in an extremely high-pitched voice “It hit me in the head”, attracting the attention of everyone in the square. Dorothy and I were absolutely hysterical, finding the situation hilarious, and I was laughing so hard I was doubled over with tears streaming down my face, attracting even more attention. It took us quite a while to recover from the incident, and for the rest of the day every time a pigeon came near us we practically hit the ground in fear.

The second half of the day in Salzburg was spent on a Sound of Music Tour. Many may find riding around Salzburg singing songs from The Sound of Music, conducted by their tour guide Trudy a bit geeky, but I wouldn’t spend a day in Salzburg any other way. Trudy was so cheesy it was hilarious, and it was a great way to see where the movie was filmed and to see both Salzburg and the surrounding countryside. Much of the tour was spent reenacting scenes from “The Sound of Music”, and I am proud to say I was the only one to climb the trees that the cast did when they are hanging from trees dressed in curtains. After a great, exhausting day in Salzburg, we got back on a train and headed back to Vienna.

The following morning we woke up early and headed off to Hallstatt, a tiny mountain town of 500 people in the lake district of Austria. The train ride in itself was amazing, as we drove along rivers, up mountains, along lakes, and through beautiful countryside. When we finally made it to Hallstatt, I felt as though I had entered a storybook. Hallstatt is a beautiful town (it is a UNESCO World Heritage town) perched above a lake on a mountainside with one river contained by two very old walls that also serve as foundations for the houses ripping through the town center, and with another river lazily running through one far end.

Our walk with all our luggage from one end of the town to the other to get to our apartment took less then fifteen minutes, and along the way we came across many Austrian children anxious to say “hallo” and many elderly men anxious to tip their heads and smile. Our apartment was, just as the rest of the town is, perched above the lake, with a balcony with a beautiful view of the lake and surrounding mountains. Every morning was spent on the balcony eating pastries bought at the local bakery, watching the blazing sun and its reflection in the crystal clear water as it climbed up the sky.

Once settled in, the rest of the group decided to rest for a bit while I took a hike. At one point on my hike, I came across a road that I wasn’t sure if it was private or not, and when an Austrian man (dressed in the typical Austrian clothing) approached with a wheelbarrow full of wood, I pulled out the little German I knew “Privat?” He answered with a slue of German words, and when I gave him what I am sure was a very confused look, he switched to English and we had quite a little chat before he wished me a good hike and we parted ways. I hiked until I reached a good lookout point of the town and then headed towards the sound of rushing water, coming to a bridge crossing the violent river rushing below. After relaxing a bit and enjoying the scenery I headed back in a different direction, following a logging trail back into town.

The following day we all took a hike to a fantastic waterfall fed by a glacier. To get there we hiked through the town, through pastures, past other waterfalls, through evergreen forests covered in snow, over leaf-covered paths, up steep inclines, alongside the rushing river, and over old bridges until finally reaching our destination, a giant waterfall fed from three different directions. After admiring it from the observation area, we hiked down a precarious path to get closer to the water and explored the area, being sure to have good footing so we wouldn’t get swept away in the frigid, fast moving water. We found an area of slower moving water and decided to try the water, having read somewhere that the water was clean enough to drink. Yes, I drank the river water (it was absolutely fantastic) and no, I don’t have E coli…yet. After exploring some more by the river, we continued on a different path to find glacial gardens, an area of different types of landscapes formed by glaciers. We continued hiking up until the path ended, and then headed on our way back down. The rest of the day was spent relaxing after our exhausting hike.

The next day we rented paddleboats to get to the center of the lake. Our original plan had been to take a ferry out across the lake and to hike around half the lake, but since the railroad is out because of a nasty storm that ruined the tracks (for this reason we had to switch from a train to a bus when arriving) and the ferry only is there to take people from town across the lake to the train, the ferry wasn’t running. We had a great time out on the paddleboat nonetheless, and when we were sitting in the middle of the lake I heard this loud rumbling sound. I turned around to see that an avalanche was barreling down the mountainside. I could not believe it, it was quite the thing to experience, and pretty fun to watch from the safety of the lake. Later on that afternoon, under the guidance of our lederhosen-clad apartment owner, we took a bus up to see a glacier and the lake below it. Once again, our original plan had been to hike around the lake, but a massive avalanche had ripped through that side of the lake and the path, so we could only tackle one side. We did this, despite the sign warning “Do not pass, danger of avalanches”. Later on that evening, I took another hike around a less traveled part of town higher up on the mountain where the lake used to reach. I came across more Austrian locals, eager to, at the very least, give a polite nod and a “hallo”.

The next morning we reluctantly left Hallstatt by train, not eager to exchange the peaceful serenity, clean air, beautiful scenery, sounds of birds and water lapping against the shore, and pitch black nights accented by stars, with our hectic lives in Sevilla.

After 16 hours of travel by train, bus and plane, we finally arrived at the Madrid bus station and waited to start our 6-hour drive back to Sevilla. We were welcomed back to Spain by a fight between the rent-a-cops and what we now know was a homeless man. As the first punch was thrown, I eagerly turned to my friends, and said a little too loudly, “He just threw a punch”, attracting the attention of the man sitting behind me. He then tried to strike up conversation with me, asking me where I was from and what I was doing there before trying to offer me his half-eaten sandwich. He continued to ask the same question over and over again, one in which it took us a while to figure out what he was asking. It wasn’t until we were walking away to board our bus, as he yelled after us if he could come with and if I would take care of him, that we realized what he was asking. It turned out that he had mistaken me for a homeless person (yes, I was a bit offended), as he was one as well, and was asking whether or not we thought we were going to be thrown out on the streets like his friend just was. At this we all started laughing hysterically, another mix-up revolving around me. As my friends remarked that only I would be hit on by a random homeless man, I thought to myself both that we were a long way from Hallstatt, Austria, and that there could have been no more appropriate way to be welcomed back into Spain.