Seeing Salzburg

The ice caves near Salzburg sounded like a good day trip, and I decided that I'd rather work out the transport for myself rather than paying the 30 odd euros to have it done for me. I got to the train station sometime around midday, got the train to the correct stop, but being a bit slow to get out of my seat and the door failing to open before the train pulled out ended me up in the next one along. Thankfully it wasn't too far away from the first, and a 20 minute walk down the tracks and directions from a guy who didn't like that I was headed directly for his house found me at the bus stop to get to the ice caves themselves. This was another 20 minute journey, followed by a 20 minute walk up to the cable car which would take me through the final ascent to the top of the mountain.

The mountains in the area are huge and beautiful. It's an incredible site, and one that my photos (yet to be released) simply do not do enough justice. The Austrian ranges really are incredible, and I can understand what all the fuss is about. What was not quite as beautiful was the hour and a half long wait for the cable car up the mountain. Whilst it was possible to walk, it was an ascent that would take an hour and a half by foot, and I decided that I'd rather preserve my energy for walking through the caves themselves. It was during this tedious wait in the line that I got talking to some guys that had come over from Kuwait to see the sights, and they had some interesting bits of information about their home country, the most ridiculous being that it is not uncommon for the weather in their fair land to reach into the 50+ degree mark. Insanity!

Eventually we made it into the cable car, which whisked us quickly up the side of the mountain, at which point there was a further 20 minute walk to the entrance of the caves themselves. It was at this point at the top of the mountain that the views became truly spectacular, which took the edge off all of the waiting for a while. Up this close to the caves had reduced the temperature significantly, and once we were within the large open mouth of the entrance, it was time to don jackets and jumpers. The tour took us into the caves, apparently which run about 42KM through the mountain, however we were only to see about 2KM of this. Another fact that the guide threw at us was that we were to expect a walk consisting of 1400 steps. The cave went into the mountain, but also continued to climb vertically. The interior temperature of about -1 degrees helped contrast the amount of work done actually walking through the place.

Every fifth person or so was given a lantern to help light the way, and the guide for each group holds a roll of magnesium which is lit to provide a very intense point of lumination that reflects off all of the naturally formed sculptures inside. Very impressive. As we walked through, the guide would describe the various different ice formations and how they had developed, along with bits of interesting history about how the place was found and when. The tour continued through, with various stops and at least a couple hundred people scattered through on their own tour; the Austrians, like the Germans, seem to be very efficient at getting people through these kinds of exhibits. About an hour or so later we were coming back out of the entrance, everyone pleased to be back in the outdoor temperature again. I didn't stuff around, as it had already reached the late afternoon by this stage, and I'd made plans to be back at the hostel to meet up with Brody from Innsbruck by sometime around 7. To my detriment, the queue for the cable car back down was another hour or so wait (which to me doesn't make sense logistically, how do they get them up there faster than they can get back down??), and after a near jog down to where the bus was, I was able to flag him down just as he was leaving and make it to the train station. All told, by the time I got back to the hostel it was past 8PM, and the whole excursion had taken about 9 hours. Was it worth it? The ice caves were pretty cool in and of themselves, but coupled with the incredible views of the alps while I was standing in those god forsaken lines, then yes. Yes it was. I found Brody and some new friends he had made in the hostel bar which I joined for dinner and drinks. I also ran into an Irish guy at the bar who, upon hearing "Roxanne" on the stereo decided to show me a drinking game of the same name. It basically involves taking a swig everytime the word "Roxanne" is said during the song, and anyone who is lyrically inclined will reliase that this is quite a number of times. My beer ran out just near the end, but it's definitely one I recommend. It's not conducive to conversation during the three minutes of play, as most of the time you'd be talking through a pint mug. Warning to the brave: Don't do this with shots.

The following day I decided I'd better actually see some of Salzburg itself and began my own walking tour of the place. I saw some nice gardens one my way down to the main area, the fortress being my primary destination followed by the Hellbrunn trick fountains. I got the furnicular (a word i've only become familiar with since getting to Europe, it's like a cable car but along the ground), up to the fortress and had a wander around. It offered some great vistas of the city, and there seemed to be a massive queue to get into the actual castle section itself. Deciding to see if that would die down, I went and had a coffee in one of the restaurants set up in the place, however this didn't seem to make any difference to the length of the wait. What it did change, however, was that I ended up standing next to an American couple, Eli and Jamie. They were on a couple of weeks holiday, and I was to spend the rest of the afternoon checking out the sites with them. They were both great to talk to, with that really eager and positive American attitude that some of them possess. This made wandering through the castle quite entertaining when the audio guide failed to deliver. Honestly the place wasn't much to speak of, interesting to hear about some history, but by this stage unfortunately regular old castles don't do much for me.

We left, got some food and beers down in the market area and made our way to a place nearby known as "Hellbrunn" which means "Fountain of Hell" or something along those lines. Basically it is a large park-like complex with several different "trick fountains". The first of these is a rectangular outdoor table made from marble. The owner of this place used to invite his upper class friends over, and have them join him at this table. This was replicated with the use of children on our tour, and once they had all taken positions, the guide flicked an out of sight switch, upon which time water sprayed out of all the seats save the one at the head of the table (where the host would sit). The kids, understandably, jumped out of their positions extremelly quickly and the crowd got a good chuckle. The rest of the park continued in this manner, where we would be taken through various interesting small buildings with fountains spraying at us from any possible direction. There was also one quite large animatronic display powered by water pressure depicting an old style town, with everything from a butcher taking off a pigs head to wenches being chased around in circles. It was all very interesting and well put together, and I was curious from an engineering standpoint about how they would have accomplished all this water pressure a couple hundred years ago. My interest was not satiated, even though there were some plans and drawings in the museum that we checked out later. We also checked out a stone theater that was nearby which was pretty neat. Basically imagine a stage carved out of stone with various stairs and levels carved into it as well. Very cool.

Getting later in the afternoon, I had to make it back to get the train to Vienna. I bode farewell to Eli and Jamie, picked up my bags and went down the station. It was only a few hours to Vienna, though I absent mindedly started in the smoking cabin which was horrible. I can't imagine how people can sit in a cabin full of smoke, and once I realised what I'd done, I grabbed my bags and wandered all the way up the train to find a seat in the non smoking section.

Eventually I made it to Vienna, checked into Wombats hostel (the Base) and dropped my stuff in my room. It was only about 11PM at this point, but the 3 other people in my room, a group of Korean girls were just getting into bed. I wasn't ready for that, so I quickly dropped my bag and headed down to the bar. I got my free tiny beer and found an American guy, Dan, that I'd met in Munich talking to a couple of American girls, Melissa and Alex. I sat down next to them and ended up spending the rest of the night in the bar till close with them.

Salzburg was cool, but I definitely didn't need any longer than I spent there. I missed going to the salt mines, but I'm not terribly dissapointed at that, it didn't sound that fascinating really. The ice caves were awesome, but I recommend anyone going to do the tour from Salzburg rather than pushing through themselves, as you will get to skip the cable car line that way, and the money you save is not worth the wait. Looking around Salzburg itself doesn't take too long, and they take every opportunity to let you know that Mozart was born and spent time there. Statues and buildings dedicated to the guy are everywhere. The following few days I would spend in Vienna, one of the coolest place I've seen so far.