Eurotrip Day 01: Adventures in Salzburg
This post begins a series chronicling my 38 day vacation through Europe, and I’ll try my best to condense the dozen thousand pictures I shot into one post per day. I began my journey in Austria, where I checked into the Amedia Hotel around midnight.
I didn’t get any sleep because the bed was as hard as a rock, so I started my exploring really early in the morning. The hotel was quite aways from the center of town, walkable in maybe 30-40 minutes. I decided to head towards the hill in the lefthand side of the picture above, found a trail and started to climb.
Like all my spontaneous navigational decisions, this one failed to disappoint.
It was really steep and I ended out of breath pretty fast.
It was definitely a wise course of action. Just 5 minutes into my vacation and I was already at a magnificent viewpoint!
There was some sort of monastery or something at the top of the hill, and I like the light that gets cast by a sun low in the sky.
I think out of all the panorama locations I found in Salzburg, this was the best one. On my last night I managed to capture one here during a sunset, but I haven’t opened those photos yet so we’ll have to wait and see 🙂
This hill spanned the distance from my hotel to the town’s center, so I just walked through the forest trails in that direction and enjoyed my elevated view.
Here is a random heart wreath that was hanging from a branch, and Hohensalzburg Castle in the background.
Tragically, I just can’t get over how disgusting and brown that river looks.
Salzburg is a beautiful place for sure, but the beauty is really marred by that shitriver and they should do something about it. If I come all this way to waste money in your country, the least you could do is pour food coloring or something in there so I can have a blue river in my photos I mean get your act together Austria fuck. 😀
I’m actually too tired to continue thinking here but I really want to get this post shoved out the door because I spent so many hours editing the photos. I’m just going to keep narration to a minimum and maybe fill in this story later.
Actually wait this is really awesome and I have share with you. So that ancient watch tower on the ledge there is actually a gypsy house.
I met the family who lives there, and trying to communicate with this woman was the most enlightening and exciting experience I had on my whole vacation. She didn’t speak a word of my language and I not a word of hers, but she managed to get me to fill out a page in a visitors logbook she keeps for random passersby.
It was basically a book where each page had blank spaces for your name, where you’re from, your favorite foods and tv shows, etc. After I filled out my bit we were flipping through and there were entries in there from decades ago. It was really amazing just to think that this person lives in this tiny little room in a centuries old city wall lookout tower, and finds people like me sit and share and exchange cultures with. And she had the most striking eyes.
I’m not going to lie, at first when she walked up to me the only thing I was thinking was oh god this homeless person wants my money. But not once did she ever ask me or motion to the effect that she wanted me to give her anything, she was really just happy to see and talk to someone from so far away (and so was I). We don’t have gypsies in the US but I’ve learned from living here that Europeans hold very strong negative stereotypes about them, basically that their race is sustained through professional thievery and they they should be avoided bla bla bla.
It was such an enlightening experience to meet such a kind, sweet person that’s in all ways contrary to the image I had in my head beforehand, and I really feel like a terrible person for even harboring those ill-conceived notions in the first place without having met someone to draw my own impressions first.
Anyway, after ten minutes or so I motioned over to her house like I wanted to see inside, and she let me have a look inside and even take pictures. I felt very respected that someone would let me into their house and film them without asking anything in return, and I just handed her 10€ because I felt so exploitive there with my camera. But anyway, here are the two photos I took inside.
Then I gave her a hug and we parted ways.
What I learned from this experience is that you should never judge a book by its cover, stereotypes are bad, etc etc etc. Everyone knows this already, it’s just I actually came face to face with how evil and wrong stereotypes can be, and I will try to keep an open mind from now on. Ok now I really can’t handle typing anymore so I’ll just leave it at that.
Cage Jesus! If only faith could keep his statue safe!
The house from below.
Hiking up to the castle now.
I was too good for the funicular so I walked up instead.
Here’s the gypsy’s house from across the river. A really fantastic and unique location I must say!
I shit you not, this is the picture of Salzburg attached to the Wikipedia article right now:
Just thought I would make note of the competition out there 😛
This is the Larry Craig stance of picture taking.
While eating lunched I was emboldened by the idea that I might be able to go on top of that mountain, and it turns out I can and did.
Before I finished eating though, I noticed this woman ordered an alcohol free beer. I was so shocked by this I didn’t know what else to do but take a picture, just so I can remember that that’s the face of an alcohol free beer drinker (didn’t even know they made such an atrocity!).
I really dunno what the fuck is going on here.
Just playing around.
Ok mountain time yay.
And away we go!
And once again, this is the current Wikipedia photo:
It baffles me if anyone would actually peruse the article, notice that picture and not start dry heaving like I did. Sometimes I think I’m getting elitist in this hobby.
The staff members in the cable car were so awesome, when they saw me with my camera they motioned me to go and look out the driver’s window so I could have a clearer shot.
The end! I’ll try to have my next post up in a week or so 🙂
