Part eight - Austria - Salzburg

From Hvar back to Split on the ferry and the sleeper back to Zagreb. It had rained in Hvar, but the train travels through Croatia's mountains and the rain was now snow. I slept for some of the journey, but spent most of it with my face pressed to the cold window watching mile after mile of snow covered trees and mountains by the eerie lights of the train. We would pass though a tiny station with more light illuminating the deep fresh snow as far as the light extended. It was really beautiful. When the train slowed to walking speed it was fairly scary too, as the drop from the track looked very close and steep and this was a huge fresh fall of snow. Amazing.
The train ticket we were using gives the freedom to plan a journey in advance if you want or be spontaneous. At Zagreb, John and I stood on a platform with a train heading for Vienna on one side and another to Budapest leaving five minutes later on the other. We had to decide quickly! I was really keen to go east, but we were aware that we were running out of days. To go to Budapest now would mean some continuous days of travel to get to our destination and I was running out of energy a bit. So we boarded the train for Vienna and changed trains to head for Salzburg. I'm still not sure that was the right choice - but hey - Budapest will be there for next time!
The train through Austria was awesome.


We stopped at a ski resort because we were both starving! We ate at a ski lodge surrounded by people from another planet - all togged up and ready to go. The contrast between were we had been and were we were now was quite surreal and we both decided that were were ski-o-phobes - with apologies to anyone out there who likes to ski.

So we beat a hasty retreat, not before John had made a new friend - literally

To Salzburg - land of the Sound of Music, Mozart, strudel and snow. We saw them all...well almost all... I was all set to do the S of M tour on the last morning we were there, but it rained. John was relieved.

If you are asked if you want vanilla cream with your strudel, say 'no' I think it would have been nicer without!
Salzburg is beautiful. We went to the museum to find out more about it - I did this whenever I could and it proved a really useful place to start. Salzburg museum is celebrating its sons and daughters with a series of exhibitions about their artists. I learned all about Nela - a young girl who died in her twenties leaving an amazing legacy. I've been able to find very little about her, she sold none of her work when she was alive and her father has co-operated in putting together the exhibition I saw by loaning every painting she did. An amazing young girl with a style like the Keith Haring art I love so much.
Old Salzburg is full of .....

and

and

and

SNOW - so the Noro had to make another appearance with the same reception as in Verona.
There is lots of opportunity to be a tourist here

Just take a look at this place built into the side of a mountain!

We took the funicular railway up to the castle with a whole tribe of shrieking kids - they shriek like that the world over - it sounds the same in any language - and the coach load of Japanese tourists. John had to put a Euro in the telescope didn't he - and got me to take a couple of pictures through it like this -

and when the money ran out he gave a short lecture to no-one in particular about  his invention - the telescope - and the features on it and why he had designed them as he had - more for his own amusement - but of course very entertaining for me and the benchful of Japanese   students.

He was the best travelling companion.
A bit more of Salzburg for you and then off to the next leg of the journey

a whole shop full of painted eggs - thousands of them - upstairs too

I ventured to ask what would happen to the shop after Easter? 'In Salzburg it is always Easter!' came the reply - Scary.
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Comments

[Alison]

I am so enjoying your travel tales.
Take care,
Alison x

[Sheila]

Thanks for telling us about your holiday with John, I am really enjoying reading about it, I think you should have gone to Budapest though. :-)

[lord scotland]

thats a class snow man. realy it is.

[Regina - MiaDeRoca]

Mid April was really cold in Salzburg... The Egg shop is very strange (they even have Christmas eggs in december..) and just opposit of it is a Christmas Shop were they have several stores of christmas baubles - but well, it is all a question of supply and demand...