Adventures Overseas 10/16

These sixteen updates will be the condensed and often more erratic version of my adventures overseas, comprised of the updates that I sent home to my family at the time.

Author's Disclaimer: The following were written when I traveled overseas with my sister. They were the short and sweet version of what was going on in my daily journal. Often, I watered things down so that our parents wouldn't know how scared we really were or how bad a hostel really was. We didn't want to scare them. Also, I wrote these updates on my iPod, and in the interest of authenticity, I haven't edited or changed the formatting much. This may be less to do with authenticity and more to do with all those darn buttons I'd have to press if I edited it all. Anyway, there are plenty of little typos to go around I'm sure. I'm sorry. They bug me, too.

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Update 10: October 26, 2018 – FRIDAY

Another week gone! Since then, Sister and I have travelled to Salzburg from Vienna. I left you on the edge of your seats when I last wrote, as we had not yet tasted the famed Vienna sachertorte.

On Sunday, after we went to Mass, I am pleased to inform you that we got to taste a slice of this long-awaited cake.

To be honest, I would have easily traded it for any one of Mom’s cakes. It was just two chocolate layers, a thin layer of apricot jam, and all coated in a hard chocolate. It was good, to be sure, but like I said: Mom’s has a greater hold on me. I think this should be a sufficient compliment to secure a couple of cake requests from said mom when I get home (hint: I’m in the mood for something pumpkin-y, and I probably will still be when I get home).

Anyway, even though a letter per week seemed like a fantabulous plan, I’m finding it really difficult to remember what I did in the last week... bearing in mind I am quite forgetful anyway. Sometimes, when I have lost something, Sister will take me on a step-by-step journey back through time to figure out what I did with the thing. That is, she remembers things so well, she even has filing systems in her head to organize my actions. That is mind blowing to me. I guess we each have our strengths and weaknesses. While super-powered in many attributes that make her an excellent caregiver (I call her Mom sometimes), Sister does certainly struggle with basic math and English principles.

I think I’ve written about her math struggles before, but a great quote to exemplify her grammar skills is, “Me do?” Which she said in response to me telling her she had something on her clothes.

Anyway, I need to go do some back tracking...

Let’s see, on Saturday, we decided to look up some musical greats. Of course, they are long dead now, but the likes of Mozart, Schubert, Beethoven, Bach, and Strauss are buried in Vienna cemeteries.

The cemetery where Mozart lies is old and not in use anymore, but the Central Cemetery, where all the others are, is thriving! That is a really weird way to describe a cemetery, but the massive place really was beautiful! There was a whole church in it, huge crypts, great, elaborate headstones, forms of art for headstones; it was crazy! We only saw a small portion of it, but it was one of the more beautiful things we saw in Vienna; there is such care given to these gravesights; it’s so beautiful to see how people here honour and remember the dead.

On Sunday, after Mass and sachertorte, we wandered around and happened upon an art exhibit featuring works from Klimt, Monet, and Van Gogh. For a while now, I have really admired some of Van Gogh’s art, so we went into the gallery and looked around. There was some weird stuff (“modern art” they call it), but mostly, it was a really beautiful exhibit on how Japanese art influenced Klimt, Monet, and Van Gogh. Even though the two Van Gogh paintings featured were “Butterflies” and “Butterflies and Poppies”, (which are not my favourite creatures, to put it lightly), I still really enjoyed finally seeing some of his art in the flesh (I am glad the paintings were not in the flesh. They may have been named butterflies, but they looked more like moths to me).

On Monday, we left Vienna, taking a double-decker train to Salzburg in the late morning.

When we got to Salzburg, we checked in to our hostel and did some research on where we wanted to go. We pretty much did that and rested, then went out for groceries and a walk along the river.

On Tuesday, we planned a hike up to the Cappucin Monastery up on one of the mountain-y hill things that surround Salzburg. We didn’t go into the actual Monastery, but wandered the hill top and admired the views as well as the fall colours that the lovely trees provided.

On Wednesday, we went up to the castle fortress and spent several hours getting lost in it as we tried to see everything. It is the best castle we’ve experienced so far! They’ve kept it looking old, though there are exhibits, and you can wander pretty freely through it! We were able to go up to the lookout tower and get a great panoramic view of the whole city!

On Thursday, we set out with a mission: I had found an Asian buffet on the other end of the city, and we decided to get our moneys worth.

We skipped breakfast and made the hours walk to Wok Sushi Star. There, for the steal of €10.50, we had access to all-you-can-eat buffets of hot food (typical Asian buffet options), sushi, and dessert.

Wow. I have not eaten that much in a long time, nor have I witnessed Sister eat so much. Despite being cheap, it was one of the better buffet experiences I’ve had; I would definitely recommend it, if you’re ever in Salzburg.

After that, Sister and I felt as though food would never be appealing to us again, especially as we waddled back to city center.

We wandered through Old Town, admired the architecture, bought some great journals, then called it a day as the sun went down.

We were still feeling full.

That buffet was all we ate, all day.

Today, we decided to hit up the oldest bakery in Salzburg, but when we found it closed, we also discovered that today is Austrian National Day. Instead of bread and butter for breakfast in the square as we watched glockenspiel, we got a chocolate covered pretzel.

It was delicious.

The weather was simply scrumptious today, so we hiked up another one of the mountain-y hill things. At the top, we found a grassy patch that was full of sunlight and softness and we ate our lunch there. And we had a nap there. It was one of the most satisfying naps I’ve ever known. The sun was just perfect, and the grass was just perfect, and the temperature was just perfect!

Oh, that was a good nap!

We checked out the fortress at the top, admired more views, then came back down to Old Town.

There, we stayed true to our form and tested the famous Salzburg Nockerl dessert. It’s a white soufflé with a raspberry base. We didn’t know it was famous here until we saw Nockerl paraphernalia in the shops. You have to try a dessert that had its own paraphernalia, right?!

Another famous sweet is the Mozart chocolate balls.

Of course, we tried those too.

I’m sorry for any scattery-ness in this update; the hours have ebbed away here and I find myself in a little bit of an overtired state as I wrap this up.

Till next time!