The Hills are Alive with the Sound of Alternative Country

Wednesday October 21, 2009; playlist: Neko Case


Today I got up super early to get on train to Salzburg Austria. In order to save money and have more time in the city, I had to take 2 S-bahn trains to a station in far east Munich and then meet my train to Salzburg. I could have caught the Salzburg train at a sooner station in Munich but the Bavaria ticket doesn’t kick in till 9am so I skirted the system by taking the S-bahn as far as I possibly could. With all this train switching I just barely made my Salzburg connection, it was close with some movie style running up and down stairs to hop across the platform just in the nick of time. Time seemed to fly by once I was on the train and in just a couple hours I was across the border and in a new city.


The station was under construction but eventually I found a little portable building that housed the tourist information office. I got a map and an explanation of the bus situation. I also decided to go ahead and get a Salzburg City card good for 24 hours of bus rides and free entrance to almost anything a tourist would want to see in the city. It was a little expensive but I figured it would at least pay for itself and make my day easier. The card would probably force me to see more things that I would have if I had to pay for everything individually too. So I walked over to the bus area and happened upon one of the buses the guide told me would take me to the Aldstat, the old town. Well I sit down and I hear a girl, American most likely, step on the bus and ask the driver “zentrum” meaning center which is another word for the place I want to go. He then pointed to the buses across the lot. Ooopsies, looks like I’m on the right bus but going the wrong way. So I get up, go to the back door, which is now closed, and can’t figure out for the life of me how to open it. Thank God for some random lady who pushed a button I had no idea about for the door to open. I’m so used to just pushing the door on the train and it opening for me. Danke lady! They speak German in Austria as well, not that that really helps me since I don’t speak it but fun facts are fun.


So then I run over to the area the driver pointed to an wait for the right bus. I’m pretty sure that bus I was on would have taken me to Aldstat eventually but I’m guessing it would have just taken the long route. My bus finally shows up, I hop on, go through a couple stops and step off at Mozartplatz. I could right away that it must be the off season because here I am in the middle of one of the main squares in the old town and I’m pretty much alone. I’m looking at my map from the tourist office when a lady approaches me and begins speaking German, very fast. I’m sure my face said it all because I don’t think I even said anything before she asked “English?”. She just wanted to know where I got my map and if I knew where the tourist office was. You’d think for someone so fluent in the language she’d be able to see the big green sign with an “i” right across the square but maybe she’s new to travel :). So like the pro I am, I pointed her in the right direction and went about my way.


I had decided to start at the Panorama Museum, my Rick Steves guide book said it’s good and it’s free with my city pass. So I walk in, get my ticket and go in the main part. Emptiness. Looks like no one else cares about this. I walk around a bit, feeling like I’m being followed by a bored tour guide who finally points out how to actually see the panorama painting. The whole deal with this museum is that in the 1800’s it was very popular to have an artist paint a panoramic view of your cityscape and then show it off to other cities around the world. Now they have restored the painting and display it in a circular room in the museum. It was pretty cool, the guide even pointed out the building that we were currently in, but it wasn’t spectacular. Guide book fail!

After that, I made my way to the area past the square where you can ride a little car type thing up the mountain to the castle/fortress that overlooks the city. I didn’t even have to use my map to get there because there were direction signs everywhere in German, English, and Japanese haha. The ticket office was on a cute little cobblestone street with a steep incline and a curve to it, adorable. Once in the office I just flashed my city card, got a ticket, and crammed into one of three little compartments. They reminded me of a park in North Carolina, a completely closed in with windows ride up a mountain side. I talked to some Americans before getting in the car, it was nice being able to speak with people. I do enjoy being by myself, but it’s always nice to talk to once in a while. They also asked me how long I’d been living in Europe. That makes like two times this trip. I’m a pro at fitting in. The car goes backwards up the mountain kinda slow, like a pretty lame roller coaster. The view from the top is amazing though! The morning’s fog had pretty much lifted so it was becoming a beautiful day and you could see for miles at the top of the fortress. The city sits right below and behind the fortress is the Alps, so there are great views from any point on a day as beautiful as today. Included in the ticket up the mountain is entrance to the marionette museum and the palace museum, but I skipped both. It was much too pretty outside to be stuck inside looking at scary dolls etc.

Come on Feel the Illino....Bavaria!

Tuesday October 20, 2009
Today’s playlist: every Sufjan Stevens song I have ever illegally downloaded.

I was planning on going to Salzburg Austria today, but after the craziness that was yesterday’s almost fiasco I decided to sleep in, this is supposed to be a vacation remember? So I took my time and headed into Munich around midmorning. After the long ride in on the S bahn I transferred to the subway to head north to the University area. What a confusing mess, New York and even Shanghai are way easier in my opinion. The area around the university, I think called Schwabing, is very nice and is also where all the diplomats and embassies are located. Englisher Park is on the eastern border of the area and I walked along the edge of it back towards the Residenz and Marienplatz area. I really liked the gardens at the Residenz, very nice for people watching and sun bathing I guess since it seemed like all of Munich was out on a bench catching some rays on a sunny October day. After a little exploring I made my way back to the familiar Marienplatz and passed by my favorite store in Munich, the felt store! Ok, I know I said was going to get something this time, but really what am I going to do with some super thick expensive felt? They did have a kit type thing that included a cat but it was like 9€, not really worth it. I turned the corner from the felt store and was back in the center of old town Munich. I walked around a bit, saw some more of Viktulen Markt and got some gelato. I wanted to get like a shirt or jacket or something from the German National team, but everything was so expensive and cheap looking. I guess you really can’t expect more in such a touristy area, I mean I was like across the street from gag Hard Rock Café. I walked around a bit more and enjoyed my gelato in a small park behind the old city hall building before heading down the escalator down to the S bahn. Goodbye again Munch!

I then encountered the same problem we had trying to get back Sunday, none of these trains were going to Freising. I looked around and finally figured out that this platform was for trains only going east and I needed to go west of course. So I followed a few signs to some random horror movie type stair wells and finally got to the correct platform, only I was on the wrong side. In this station, since it’s so popular everyone gets on the train on a certain side and everyone gets off on the other side, to ease the flow of people. So I just had to fight a little harder to get on the train, but it worked out in the end.

I got to Feising about an hour later and took my time walking back to the hotel since the shops were actually open at this hour. I didn’t find anything but I did find some things to take pictures of, of course. It really is such a cute place and I should probably explore it some more. Oh well, early day tomorrow….Salzburg here I come!!