the hills are alive
2 weeks ago, we went on a 5-day study trip to SALZBURG and VIENNA in Austria! It was an amazing experience filled with beautiful sights and top-notch music!
So the first morning, we got to the train station around 8:00am. We had a 6-hr train ride ahead of us! I passed the time by playing cards, sleeping, and listening to the Sound of Music soundtrack. We arrived in Salzburg in the afternoon, and it was pretty rainy. I was pretty bummed about the rain, but I was thankful that I remembered to pack my umbrella. I kept thinking positive about the rain, while others complained about it a lot. We got to our hostel and got situated in our rooms. The hostel was really really nice! It was spacious, bright, clean, and had a TV! Even though I didn’t watch much TV in the states, I still missed being able to watch the news and shows. So after we got dressed for the concert that night, we went out to dinner! But first, we went to the Salzburger Dom. It was a grand cathedral built with a baroque style. They even had a downstairs section, and it had a ghost-looking thing projected at the walls to look like it was flying lol. I think it was trying to portray hell. It was pretty weird lol. Then we went to the Mozarteum, where we saw our concert! The concert hall was magnificent! Glittered of gold and chandeliers. After the concert, we walked back to the hostel and me and Allison watched some Germany’s Next Top Model haha :D Then we chilled down at the lobby before we went to bed. Before I slept, I prayed really hard that it would not rain the next day.
The second day was probably my fave! First off, I woke up to the sun shining bright!!!! I had no doubt that my prayer would be answered. <3 Anyways, we had breakfast at the hostel, then we went to the house where Mozart grew up in! And toured that museum, and then we went to the Salzburg Fortress!! We walked through the beautiful nature up to the fortress, and it was the perfect day to do it. The sun was so warm on our skin, the clouds were so fluffy, and everything was so crisp and clear!! We can see the Alps from almost every angle and they were marvelous. Once we got to the Fortress, we took a guided tour. Then we had the rest of the day free! 6 of us went on the Sound of Music tour!!!!! YEAH! That was the best part of this trip. It was such a great experience, and so worth it. It was 4 hours long and it was a bus tour, so we went to many of the film locations in the city AND the countryside! My photo albums have more detailed descriptions with photos here. It was so much fun. I learned so much about the film AND the actual von Trapp family! Our tour guide was Sue, and she was English! She was so very nice and made the tour very interesting! So definitely skipped and sang around Salzburg just like the von Trapp family ( : So after the tour, we tried to go shopping, but almost all the shops were closed already lol. Then we went back to the hostel and relaxed with Austrian TV and hostel friends.
Day 3!! The day we depart from Salzburg : ( and arrive in Vienna! After breakfast, the girls went to buy souvenirs. Then we met up with the group to see a open rehearsal of the Berlin Philharmonic! It was great. Then we got back on the trains to Vienna! And the best part was that we got Harry Potter compartments this time! SO COOL. We even figured out that we can fold our seats down so we can lay all the way down, so we all put our seats down in our compartment = our compartment was a giant bed! Hahaa. So then we all napped : ) We got to Vienna and we had to rush to our new hostel, change, and get to the Vienna State Opera!! We had to get standing tickets for the Midsummer Night’s Dream ballet that night. We got the tix! So yes, I saw the Berlin Phil. and the Vienna Phil. on the same day! So the ballet… wow… just incredible. I think it was one of the most highly regarded performances that I will ever watch in my life. The art in all aspects was so magnificent. I was really moved. After the ballet, we went out to get a late dinner! It was really fun. But we were so exhausted, so then we had to rest up for a full day in Vienna the next day!
We woke up on Easter Sunday for our full day in Vienna. It was so crowded at breakfast that day! Then we went to St. Stephen’s Cathedral for a traditional Catholic Easter Sunday service! It was legit, the a Kardinal was there and they were burning the in-scents like crazy! After the service, we went to the house where Mozart moved to after Salzburg. We took a guided tour at that museum, and then we had the rest of the day free! 5 of us decided to plan out the day together. We had lunch at a pizzeria, then went back to the hostel to get some things. Then we went to Beethoven’s apartment. Then we went to a the Schönbrunn Palace! It was huuuge. Gigantic gardens and mazes apart the the palace buildings. They even had the Vienna zoo there lol. We explored that for awhile, then went to get dinner! Then we were craving ice cream and were one a mission to get it!! We actually ran into the other guys in the group. We found ice cream! Then we played Skipbo at the hostel’s lobby til we went to bed.
Last day in Austria!! The last day basically consisted of us traveling back. It took around 8 hours to get back to Heidelberg, but we definitely knew how to keep ourselves occupied! We played many card games, and even invented one! Haha. It was nice to be back in Heidelberg, but I must admit, I wasn’t ready to leave Salzburg so soon : ( I love that town.
So after that trip, I had two whole days to rest up before my next journey… to Holland!
