Salzburg, Austria

Because I have a Eurail pass I can basically jump on any train I want. I desperately needed to go to the bathroom and since almost all of the bathrooms require a fee, I decided “Hey, I can just use the one on the train!” So I jumped on a train headed from Graz to Salzburg. I arrived in Salzburg, after of course using the facilities on the train, and had only 2.5 hours to see the town. With my lonely planet book in hand I followed the streets to the heart of the old town. Briskly walking and taking photos of every interesting building along the way I finally reached my destination across the river, the heart of town. It had narrow cobble stoned streets lined with shops and tourists, several bustling squares and many areas with concentrated amounts of tourist food under the obligatory beer company umbrellas. Several streets were closed due to live performances. I saw a bit of a theatrical performance and heard a bit of another musical performance on a different street. Walking through the narrow streets you can’t help but hear classical music, namely Mozart. As this is his birth town. The town has a beautiful castle adorning one of the nearby hills, even though I was pressed for time, I decided to run up the countless stairs to the top of the monstrous hill and up through the castle for a glimpse of the beautiful city below. At the top I was exhausted, sweaty and panting taking as many pictures as I could of the castle in the darkening light and the views of the city with the river snaking through it. After only a few minutes of being up there, I ran down the hill and tried to make my way back through the hordes of tourists to the train station. I stopped briefly at a fountain that was marked “okay to drink” and took a giant gulp and continued with my near-run walking pace to be stopped by a crowd in the middle of the street watching a street performer, darting down another alleyway I avoided the bulk of the crowd and continued toward the train station. I made the train by the skin of my teeth, but I am certainly glad I went to Salzburg, it was one of the prettiest and most interesting places I have been, I wish I could have spent more time there. 2.5 hours just wasn’t enough.