Munich and Salzburg

Hello everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful weekend! Mine was fantastic. Friday morning (I had permission from my Goethe teacher to skip class that day) I went to Munich along with the rest of the students in my program from St. Eds. We got there around eleven, and after exploring for about an hour, we went on a city bus tour, which our teacher, Kerstin Somerholter, paid for! It was so nice not to have to spend money on that. It was really nice, because we could get on and off at various stops, and get back on later. We got of at the Marionplatz (I am not sure of that is the correct spelling) which is where the famous Glockenspiel is, that every hour, figures come out and dance and cuckoo, and all that. Also very close by was the Hofbräuhaus, a famous brewery and Biergarten. We ate our lunch there, and had a regional beer. I got a Spätzle plate, which one of my friends, Tanya had made for me and Anthony once, but I quickly found out that Tanya's was better. This plate tasted more like macaroni and cheese. It was good, but not as good as Tanya's.

After that, we got back on the bus and headed back to the train station, where we started out, so that six of us could get on a train to Salzburg. I was very much looking forward to going there, since that was one of the cities Anthony and I visited on our honeymoon. I also wanted to go on the Sound of Music Tour, and was very much looking forward to it, but I found out that it would have cost me 35 euros for the tour, and no one else wanted to spend that money on it, so I decided to wait until I could go see it with Anthony. This fountain is in that movie, by the way.

We did go see Mozart's Birthhouse, and walked down the street with stores that have to abide by certain regulations about the signs on the store fronts. They have to have these iron brackets, and look antiquie. Does that make sense? Anyway, I found a number of stores carrying Dirndl dresses, which are the traditional dresses of Austrian and Bavarian women. I really wanted to buy one, but decided against it at the moment, since I really don't have anywhere to where it, and it cost around 300 euros for a simple one. I saw some very extravagant ones, that people where to their weddings, and such.

We also went into some very beautiful churches, and a cathedral. That cathedral was the second prettiest I have seen so far, the first being the one I saw in Trier. After that, we headed up to the fortress overlooking Salzburg. Six of us went up there together, but we got split up somewhere in there, so I along with three others decided to leave after a bit, and go get something to eat. After that, we walked along the street, window shopping, and then went back to the hotel, which is actually an interesting story in and of itself.

When we got there Friday evening, the lady running the bed and breakfast we had made reservations at told us our rooms weren't ready, and it was fairly obvious that the house was under construction. She had already called a lady friend of hers who also runs a bed and breakfast, and she had rooms that we could stay in for the same price. So for the first time this trip I rode in not one, but two German cars, both Mercedes to be precise, along with the four other girls who were renting rooms for the weekend there. The lady at the first place took us to a middle point where the lady of the second place was waiting to take us back to her establishment. The halls there smelled like stinky cats. It was really bad, and there was cat hair in some of the food in the breakfast room. However, I decided to not eat that food, and still was able to make myself quite satisfied with what was available.

In any case, we were split up, and the two girls that weren't with us still had the keys to my room, which was of course locked. So I spent most of my evening with the other two, who fell asleep on their beds, leaving me very bored, and nowhere to sleep. I finally got really tired of that, and since I didn't know where the proprietor was, except that she lived in the house, I went to the front door, and rang the doorbell, since that was the only way I knew to get a hold of her. She seemed a little put out when I asked her to open my door; I think she was ready for bed. In any case, shortly after that, I went to bed, and shortly after that, the other two finally came back.

The next morning, Kasi and I decided we wanted to go to the Salt mines, which were an hour away by train. The rest of our group went back to Mannheim, via Munich. Let me tell you, the salt mines were so much fun! At the beginning, everyone changed into a suit that was supposedly what saltminers wear, however, I don't think they were very authentic. After that, we got on this tram which took us to the first point of interest. A slide. Apparently they used the slide for transporting both people and supplies further into the mine. We were able to slide down and it was exhilarating! It makes me want to go to an amusement park again! Well, we slid down, and a picture was taken of us on the way down, and I sortof cheated, since I didn't want to pay the huge price to get the picture, so I took a picture of the picture. Anyway, the next parts of the mine were explaining the process of mining salt. I don't remember all of it, but basically what they did was fill parts of the mine with water, let the salt dissolve, then pump put the brine. That process took a few years, and then they were able to test the area for the content, and finally start mining out the salt they found there. After that, we were taken into one of those areas, which still had much of the water in it, and it was breathtakingly beautiful! I could hardly tell there was water in there, it was so clear. The pictures that I took didn't come out very well, but in the picture here you can't even tell there is water! We took a short boat trip to the other side, all the while they were playing laser shows for us. It was pretty cool, if a little bit cheesy. But I still think it was well done. Shortly after that, we got back onto a tram which took us back to our starting point, but before we got off, each of us received a tiny container of salt that was taken out of that mine. That was a bit cheesy, however, I didn't have to buy any!

After the salt mine tour was over, Kasi and I headed back to Salzburg, and from there we took a train to Munich, and caught another one from there to Mannheim. That day was just packed full of different modes of transportation for the two of us. We took two different buses to get to the train station, then a train to the town where the mines were, and since it was Sunday, the buses aren't as regular, so we decided to take a taxi to them, and then in the mines themselves, we took a tram, a boat, a slide (I am not sure if that counts, but it was a way to get from point A to B), another tram, then three more trains to get to Mannheim and once we were in Mannheim, we took a tram back to our dorms! All in all, I enjoyed the trip very much, and look forward to going to Salzburg again, this time with Anthony.