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Tips :
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Vienna to Salzburg
We started the second leg of our journey as we left the comforts of our beautiful apartment in Vienna for a YHA hostel in Salzburg. Having an apartment does make for a very interesting experience. It gives you the small comforts of home and it is quite cost effective as well with a relatively large group.
We were quite pleasantly surprised by the Austrian trains. The carriages were clean, modern, very comfortable and each seat has its own power socket ! That's a lot better than economy class on any airline !
We did run into some snafus while boarding the train to Salzburg. We all bought un-reserved tickets but we weren't sure how to tell whether a certain seat is reserved or not. I was used to the Japanese system where entire carriages are set aside for reserved tickets and separate carriages are used for passengers with unreserved tickets.
We assumed that this was also the case with the Austrian trains. We boarded a carriage and occupied the first set of seats we could find. There were no clearly visible signs indicating that the seats were reserved, so we all thought it must be OK. We loaded all our bags on to the baggage rails above the seats and settled in. Two minutes later a lady and her child appeared and we quickly realised that we were sitting in their seats ! All seven of us had to unload our bags and walk to the next carriage and by this time, the train was already leaving the station.
This scenario was repeated another couple of times before we figured out the system. Above each seat on the baggage rail is a plastic tag. If there is a ticket in the tag, that meant the seat was reserved ! Well, we were finally able to find seven empty and un-reserved seats.
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Salzburg
The scenery enroute was quite nice but it rained the whole way to Salzburg. Upon arrival, I went to buy the tickets for the next leg of our journey (to Venice) while Jimmy went to secure some transportation for us to the YHA hostel. Jimmy was able to find a very nice taxi lady, Frau Theresia, who operated a mini-van taxi service. She cheerfully drove us to the hostel which was only about 5 minutes away by car. It was quite fortuitous that Jimmy found Frau Theresia as she also offered to drive us an entire day to see the regional sights around Salzburg for EUR200.
That was an excellent deal as we had our own private transporation for an entire day and we could split this cost among the seven of us. We had originally planned on joining a tour to see the regional sights.
The hostel was located within walking distance to the main center of town and it is a very nice hostel. We had three very cosy rooms and one of the rooms had unobstructed views of the Fortress that towers above Salzburg. Breakfast every morning was also included and the Sound of Music screened every night in the common area of the hostel. All in all, a very nice place to stay in.
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Mozartplatz
It's been raining all the way from Vienna, but we couldn't let that stop us. We decided to explore the neighbourhood around our hostel. Our random walk led us to Mozartplatz - a square with a statue of Mozart as its center.
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The Streets of Salzburg
Despite the rain, everyone was keen to continue our exploration of the streets of Salzburg. We were all mesmerised by the new sights that each turn of the corner brought. Pretty soon, we were all dispersed into the myriad side streets that lead from Mozartplatz into the heart of Salzburg. We had no idea where we were going, but the allure of the streets of Salzburg was too much to resist. The narrow cobblestone streets were lined by century old shop buildings whose interiors have been converted into modern shops and boutiques. The reflected glow from the shops on the wet cobblestones were like a trail of candy for us to follow.
2. The cobblestone streets of Salzburg. 3. The ivy covered walls of St Blasius church at the end of Getreidegasse. 4. One of the many restraurants on Getreidegasse. 5. Boutique shops line the streets.
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Some Random Photos
8. Hsin Hsin sizing up some clothes on Getreidegasse. 9. Nila's cache of souvenirs after exploring Getreidegasse.
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