We left Antonio's apartment and made our way to the train station by 7:45am, at which point we had to wait 15 minutes for the train to come. The conductor took his merry little time in making his way to the main station, and what should have been a 20 minutes tra
in ride turned into a 35 minute train ride. When we finally arrived, we had about 2 minutes to make our train to Salzburg and hauled ass through the crowds of people with our backpackes and Kjelsie's beer steins in tow. We somehow miraculously made it to the platform just seconds before they closed the doors... Score 1 for us!We slept the whole way to Salzburg. When we arrived we found our way to our Hostel (for future reference it was a 10-minutes walk) and dropped our backpacks off before going to find some coffee. The cafe we stumbled upon was owned by the sweetest old woman in Austria. She was so welcoming, we loved her.
When we finished our coffees we went back and checked into our hostel before making our way to the heart of Salzburg. It's a beautiful city and is home to both Mozart and The Sound of Music. Mozart balls can be found everywhere (get your mind out of the gutter!) and are quite tasty. We sat in one of the city's main squares and watched some businessman play chess on a life-sized board. There was also a peaceful cemetary that we walked through at the base of the fortress that was pressed against the hillside where a monestary were built into. Mozart's Geburtshaus is one of the city's main attractions, located on a
quaint little street that was bubbling with people. A street vendor was selling dried fruit so we got ourselves some mango.. tastey goodness! We later went on a quest for a grocery store which was much more difficult than we expected it to be... we decided that Austrian's must eat out more than they eat in. We bought a bag of lettuce and some dressing and then headed for a stretch of grass along the river where we had a picnic. We couldn't have asked for a better view of the city from where we were! What was once a picnic turned in to a nap and we ended up staying there for a couple of hours, enjoying the peaceful atmosphere.All in all, we concluded that unless you have money in the bank to pay for a tour of some kind (Sound of Music, ice caves, Bird's Nest, etc.) Salzburg doesn't have a whole lot to offer. So we saw everything that we wanted/could afford to see within the first 3 hours of visit.
Back at the hostel, we checked out email, journalled, and then succumbed to the temptation of the Mozart balls in the vending machine on our way back to the room. Apparently the vending-stocker didn't know how to stock Mozart's balls correctly because the balls continued to get stuck after we paid for them twice. A young traveler, swaggering out of the bar, offered us his services. He violently manhandled the machine and not only did the balls fall but also a Milka choclate bar. He squeeled with joy, swiped his bar from the machine before we knew what had happened, and dashed out into the night.
The whole way up to the room we could hear him bragging to others about his good fortune. We showered and fell asleep as soon as our heads hit the pillow. This may be due to the fact that this was the first time in over 2 weeks that we didn't have to sleep Willy Wonka style (i.e. we got our own beds). Yay... but not a good thing for long because we ended up sleeping through our alarm.
Not good, given that we had to catch a 6:22 train to Zurich. Mikayla woke up at 2 min
utes to 6; luckily she groggily glanced at her watch because otherwise we really would have missed our train. In a chaos we tried to get ready, checked out, to the train station, and onto the correct train within 24 minutes. As fate would have it, Mikayla couldn't find the key to her locker. After a 5 minute search she gave up and ran to the receptionist for a new one. On the way back up she met Kjels in the hall with the original. Mikayla finished throwing all the shit into her bag, while Kjelsie checked them out. We ran, then walked, then ran, then walked to the train station. What was once a 10 minute walk turned into a 7 minute hellacious trek.Miraculously, we once again made our train in the knick of time. Woot! After gaining breathing-ability again, we went in search of the dining car, Mikayla paid for an overpriced coffee, and then we went to find a place to crash. The train was practically empty so we took an empty compartment, folded out a couple couchettes and pursued slumber. Our nap was quickly interrupted by a portly and grumpy Austrian man. God knows what he was spewing about, but it wasn't kind. So we folded up our couchettes and sat facing each other, loathing the man to Kjelsie's left.
At Innsbruck the train cleared out again. After crossing the Swiss border, we got our passports checked by Swiss officers and we were alarmed at the beauty of the countryside. The closer we got to Zurich, the more and more we regretted not spending more time there. It was absolutely spectacular, the who
le damn place looked like a country club. It's good that we got to enjoy the views, because once again, our train arrived a half-hour late, and thus we weren't able to spend any time outside the station. We made reservations for the Milan train with about 3 minutes to spare, and so Mikayla set off to get postcards and bread (a very difficult task). Kjelsie went in search of our seats which didn't turn out to be terribly simple either. The store would only accept euros for goods, with the sole stipulation of giving change in Swiss francs... mmm, scatch the postcards, scratch the bread. Mikayla booked it to the platform, to find a familiar bright green backpack getting off the train... She followed. Apparently there was some misunderstanding, and the Italian man in our seat had formed some sort of attatchment to it and insisted that we sit elsewhere. A kind man on the platform, who had previously helped point Kjelsie in the right direction, came to our rescue. The Italian moved. Great success.It was a long day of travel but the ladies sitting next to us on our way back to Milan were great company. There was a young girl in her mid-20's traveling with her dalmation Zoey who we befriended, an elderly Italian woman, and a young single mother traveling alone with her infant daughter. The Italian woman insisted on helping the single mother in getting off the train and to where she needed to be. We were really inspired by her heart-warming generosity and kindness.
Finally, we were back
in Milan and made our way to KJ's apartment where we bummed around for the rest of the evening. On Thursday morning we set out for the post-office once again with hopes of finally obtaining our package that would be there "guarenteed!".... Surprise!! Still not here. Come back and check tomorrow, they told us. We've heard that once before, maybe a few times even. We drowned our disappointment by getting ourselves some 1-euro McDonald's milk shakes. Later in the evening KJ's Italian friend Benny came over and took us to a Victorian bar down the street from Teatro alla Scala with her best friend who was in town from Switzerland. We shared a delecious but expensive Pina Colada and as we were leaving Kjelsie's dreams of sitting on a vespa in Italy were fulfilled when one the guys we were with let her sit on his. Score 2!
Well folks, we are leaving in a couple of hours to begin the rest of our backpacking journey. We're taking a train from Milan to Venice where we will be taking a night-train to Vienna. We'll try to update you soon!Much love-
Turtle & Bird
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