October 10, 2010

So I wrote this a while ago, didn't like it too much, decided to change it, didnt end up doing that, decided to post it, had to deal with my bike being stolen, and now I'm finally getting around to it.  Thanks for your patience (if it required any ;-p )!

At Oktoberfest. . I think all of Italy and a lot of Bayern were there.

I think I am forming quite the habit of writing while on the train. . I guess I need to start taking books with me to avoid this.  I am traveling back home to Dresden after half of our Fall break, in which I traveled to Salzburg, München (Oktoberfest), Nürnberg, and Bamberg. Although there were a lot of locations wrapped up in that last sentence they are all situated in such close proximity to each other that I was actually able to achieve relaxation!  I spent four and a half days spending time in Salzburg (exculding the one day at Oktoberfest) and then the other days in Nürnberg with the last overnight in Bamberg.  The weather, in a surprisingly unusual move, decided to welcome the break with sun and clear sky (minus one day).  We have some Russian air currents, meaning cold air, moving in but it has also kept the clouds away.  That is one reason that this trip has been such a success.. hopefully I'll be able to impart some other reasons in at the next paragraphs.  I have settled on a couple overarching reasons for the trip being so relaxing and fun, they are as follows: Spending time with friends, gracious hosts, and Fulbright connections.

On the train to München

I met up with Denise and Liz, Liz is a college friend that went on the Salzburg program with us and is participating in a Fulbright grant in Mainz, and returned to our old stomping ground of Salzburg.  I left Salzburg with a plethora of experiences but a convincing feeling that I had not stomped the ground to its fullest extent.  A few days of doing "Salzburg things," with the exception of Oktoberfest, did a little to abate this feeling and reminded me how easy it is to pick up something that has been left off.  We stayed with one of our former professors in Salzburg, who owns an extra little apartment right next to her own.  She would have us for tea and coffee in the evening and set a time for us every morning for breakfast.  We would knock on her door to find fresh break and tea or coffee cup, according to our preference.  I was battling a little of a throat cold and, therefore, consumed about a liter or two of tea a day. 

I forgot how gorgeous Fall was in Salzburg

On Untersberg. . Im getting better at self-shot photos. :)

We went to Mass on Sunday morning at the main Dom, which is actually not under renovation at the moment.  So many of the old churches and buildings maintain an almost constant external skeleton of scaffolding over part of their exterior.  It is very rare to see a large old building that does not have at least a partial shell.  We then wandered through the city, had coffee/hot chocolate at the café Fürst, Later in the day we had dinner at our favorite local restaurant (Knüsperschnitzel--breaded with cornflakes, mmm, mmm mm, so good), and commenced to run the food off on the way to getting Denise and Liz to the train station.  Apparently our sense of how long the journey took was a little underestimated.  In end result Denise and Liz reached the train clutching full bellies of Schnitzel and Weißbier. 

The most quintessential Austrian hiker.. Note the Nordic walking sticks

My last few day in Salzburg brought me to the top of Untersberg, a small mountain just South of Salzburg, and the the UP-Salzburg Center.  I made it to Untersberg without problem but with worry I was on the wrong bus. When I asked the ticket booth if they had a student price for the Gondola to the top of Untersberg he asked if I lived in Europe. Yes, I live in Dresden.. oh and here is my international student card.  His response:  This card is bad. . . but I will give you the discount.  I guess there are some tangible benefits to trying to speak German all the time.  Untersberg was wonderful. . I spent a couple hours just enjoying the clean air and un on top.  The only polluting element was an annoying American tourist that knew everything about anything.  I think if I could have had dinner with him I would have been lucky if I only escaped with a couple pearls of knowledge or at best understanding the progression of philosophical thought throughout time.  On the gondola he explained to some other American tourists some of Salzburgs history and that it seemed amazingly small for having 300,000 to 400,000 people. . the Austrian next to him corrected his impression by informing the group the total was close to 100,000.  Go big or go home I guess.

Aloe Blacc on tour in Munich. Denise's cousin plays keyboard for Aloe.  It was awesome hanging with them and being at the concert.  One of the sweetest connections I've been able to use.  Ever.  If you like soul music at all look him up!

After making sure that I utilized my week bus pass to the full extent and a short stop in München for a Aloe Blacc concert I could I met Denise in Nürnberg to spend some time with her and do Nürberger touristy things.  It was wonderful being able to wander around Nürnberg and enjoy the sun with her.  My favorite part of our wanderings was stopping at a cafe on the castle wall called the Wanderer for a couple glasses of wine and just watching people and chatting.  Our time in general we did many things that I would have done on my own as well but it reminded me that traveling is much more fun with a companion or group.  I would have had a hard time justifying staying at the café so long (we outlasted everyone who was sitting when we first sat down) or been so content walking around for so long.  We met up with two different groups of Fulbright people in Nürnberg which most definitely gave us a slice of America.  Sitting at a table of 6 Americans who are all excited to speak English is quite comforting. We are also certainly all German-nerds. . we're a small percentage of American college students who really wanted to learn German and come over here for a year.  Fairly homogeneous really.


Tschüssie!!