Days 8-9: Salzburg & Vienna

Day 8 Salzburg (Wednesday 9 February 2011)

This morning I am leaving Munich Hauptbahnhof at 0827, due to arrive in Salzburg in just over an hour and a half. Once in Salzburg I have little more than a twenty-four hour stay. My luck with the weather is still holding out and, despite the snow cover from recent days, today is another glorious one. I check into Yo-Ho International Youth Hostel, 9 Paracelsusstrasse, and then spend the afternoon sightseeing. I am experiencing my first problem since setting out eight days ago because without warning or incident my left achilles heel has become really sore. I have to strap it up and take pain killers to be able to walk on it. My only footwear is a pair of heavy duty walking boots and I suspect days spent on my feet and all that trekking around the Englischer Garten and Olympic Park in Munich has taken its toll.

 

St Peter's cemetery



You might think it odd but my highlight of Salzburg is St Peter's cemetery. I was here once before, three or four years ago, and my most vivid memory from this time is also this cemetery, even though on that occasion it was packed with a large group of tourists on a walking tour. Today I am alone in the cemetery which is nestled against the cliff face, with Salzburg Fortress looming above and the Christian catacombs carved in the rock face next to where I stand. St Peter's dates back to 1627 making it the oldest Christian graveyard in Salzburg. What makes it so singular are the highly ornate and decorative tomb stones that make beautiful monuments to some of Salzburg's oldest and wealthiest families. If you ever visit, be sure to go at a quiet moment, it is magical.

Returning to the hostel at about ten o'clock (after a hearty dinner of sausage stuffed with cheese and wrapped in bacon) I decide to pop into the bar for a last beer before turning in. A group of backpackers are about to go into town and invite me along so, not for the first time, I have to gulp down my beer between quick introductions with the group: Milo, Pablo, Ian, Amy and Georgie. Ian is married to Amy and they are Australians travelling with her sister, Georgie. Milo, also an Aussie and Pablo, Spanish, are, like myself, travelling solo. Our night out turns pretty epic and we are not back again until the early hours of the morning.



Salzburg Dom and skyline



Day 9 Vienna (Thursday 10 February 2011)

Inevitably I sleep in past check-out time and so lose my 5 Euro bed linen deposit. More annoying still I miss the breakfast buffet too. Last night was really fun and not what I had been expecting from my short stay in Salzburg. I am a little sleep deprived but, with three hours ahead as the 1201 rolls out of Salzburg Hauptbahnhof bound for Vienna, there is a chance I will nod off along the way. Good news is that Milo is making his way to Vienna with me. He is a really top bloke and we get on well. I decide to ditch my hostel plans and stay at Wombat's Hostel where Milo has already booked for the night. My stay in Vienna will be be a short one as like Salzburg I have also been here in the past. I am surprised at how well I remember the place and I am able to give Milo a bit of a rough tour of the city. Just beyond the Ringstrasse near the Rathaus a temporary ice skating rink has been installed but, unlike those I have seen in England, someone has had a lot of fun designing this one. There are channels that break out from the main rink and follow the course of the street before looping back towards the centre. Despite our enthusiasm for how cool this looks neither Milo nor I even come close to a pair of skates and instead we go in search of food.



Ice skating highways



Milo hails from Melbourne, Australia. I guess he is three or four year younger than me. What is for sure is that his version of a European backpacking trip frankly puts mine in the shade. He has been on the road for over two months already and has well over a month to go. Describing where he has been before now, there are not many places missing from the list. Geography can never have been a strong suit of his as it strikes me at times that his journey has blazed a fairly bizarre and illogical route to-and-fro across Europe. Coming all the way from Melbourne I guess he doesn’t think much of hopping on a two or three hour flight if it means meeting up with mates or being in a certain place for this or that festival or event. He started out in London in December where he says the British winter was a bit of a shock to the system, especially coming from 35 degree heat. I remember it was indeed an unusually cold December in 2010, even by Britain's standards. Listening to his story I appreciate his philosophy on travelling. It amuses him to think of returning home with a thousand photographs of various fountains and churches but not being able to remember where most of them were taken! Joking aside, it is good to hear him talk about preferring just to live in a place for however long and experience it that way rather than constantly looking through a camera lens. Why go to all the trouble to document everything you see in a place if you never actually stop to experience anything while you are there? A motto I most definitely share.

At half past ten we are back at Wombat's Hostel to claim our free welcome drink and settle down in the bar. Between rounds of pool Milo attempts to explain his beloved Aussie rules football to me and I do my best to keep up. It is a far less beery night than last, but still two in morning by the time I turn in. Milo has been a good mate for a few short days and it is a shame we must go our separate ways tomorrow. I think it shows good character and a genuine interest that he has decided to do his trip over the European winter. Spending time with him I am struck by how much good he seems to have got out of his trip. I hope that I am able to get as much out of mine. Good luck to him.

(c) Robert Beardsworth