Salzburg/Munich/Oktoberfest

Monday, September 22nd-Wednesday, September 24th

In these few days I wrote my architecture paper, was assigned a Shakespeare paper (dang it) and planned our trip to Italy. Also, Andrew cooked a roasted chicken and potatoes while wearing only an apron and undergarments. Honestly, why? Chicken was delicious though. I realized I’m kind of running out of money. And by kind of I mean I have barely enough to pay the credit card bill and monthly rent. Sorry mom and dad. But hey, our 3 flights in Italy add up to a total of $133.80. Not too bad if you ask me.


Sunday, September 21st

We woke up at 6.45am and I felt like a million bucks. Really, I did. However, Andrew did not. We ate a quick breakfast and made our way to the airport to catch our return flight at 9.50am. We got back into Stansted at about 10.40am and got back to the flat around 12.45. I basically relaxed the rest of the day and focused on writing that darn architecture paper.


Saturday, September 20th

Today was opening day of Oktoberfest and we experienced it first-hand. We caught a 7.09am train to Munich, meeting up with our friend Margaret who’s living in Austria, so her German helped our communication problems immensely. We got into Munich at about 9.15am and made our way straight to the festivities. There were already a good number of people there, and we were told to go try to find a place to sit in one of the many beer halls there. Every place seemed packed, but we found one hall that wasn’t very crowded at all. We got a table and were waiting until noon when they officially start the festival and tap the kegs. We ordered a platter of meats, cheeses and breads thinking it would be 20 euro total. Nope, that’d be 20 euro for each one of us. I took a picture of that bill because it was so epic.
After they tapped the kegs, we had a beer at that hall (which we realized after was a wine hall, not a beer hall, which is probably why everything was so ritzy and expensive). Then we made our way around the grounds (much like the NYS Fair) and found a place to order up some Paulaner steins. This is where we spent the rest of our time at Oktoberfest, besides running back and forth to the “pissoir.” We made friends with Bavarians, including a punk rocker, who drank us under the table. I still don’t know how the human body could possibly handle that much beer. They were having two or three steins in the time it took me to drink one, and they were perfectly coherent. Boggles my mind…
We stopped at a Chinese restaurant on our way back to the train station, but I wasn’t in too great of shape and didn’t eat much of my 10 euro dinner. Also, Omar peed in the sink in the bathroom. Why? I have no idea. But it’s OK, cuz we got back to Salzburg safe and sound, albeit quite sloshed.


Friday, September 19th (Mike Day)

Today was my birthday. Looking back on it, it was probably the best birthday ever, but when the day started out, it just felt like another day with me being out of my element in a new place. We ate breakfast at the hotel consisting of Kaiser rolls, deli meats, pound cake, hot tea, hot chocolate, orange juice and cereal. Pretty friggin tasty. We loaded up and packed away a few rolls and some fruit for the road, then made our way into town. Since we flew in late the night before, this was the first time I saw how beautiful the mountains surrounding the city are. I was just soaking it all in and loving every second of it. We stopped in some small shops to get some post cards (that will be sent out soon…) and some music shops here and there. We eventually made our way to the Mirabell Gardens which were absolutely gorgeous. Then we checked out the old town, including Mozart’s two houses (his birthplace/where he grew up and then where the family moved to later). It was so surreal being in the same town where a musical genius grew up, the place we’d all read about in music history classes and were told was beautiful. Reading about it or seeing pictures is absolutely nothing compared to just strolling around the city for a day.
They had a random square with a market, a puppet show and some music going on. We each got some giant pretzels and heard the sweet sounds of a brass quartet playing. It was a group consisting of a tuba, a euphonium-looking-thing, and two trumpets. After they were done playing a few tunes, I went up to the euphonium player and asked him what his instrument was. He said something like a “denoa” but said it was very similar to the baritone. I explained that I play euphonium, and he handed me the horn to try. It was really strange to hold since everything was backwards and it was shaped all funny, but the mechanics of sound production were exactly the same. What an awesome guy.
I had my eye on the fortress up on one of the hills, so we made our way up there (we walked up the hill instead of taking the train up the 45-degree angle slope). It was really neat seeing this castle that’s 900 years old, especially after a few weeks of the architecture class. At one point we were at the very highest point of the castle and the view of the countryside was breathtaking. Mountains are bad-ass, I don’t care what anyone says, especially when they rise up into the clouds.
When we made our way down the giant hill, we came across this giant tent containing hundreds of people and a community band playing. Everyone was drinking and listening to the band consisting mostly of brass but also had a couple of clarinets and flutes. We ordered a small glass of Stiegl (brewed in Salzburg) and found a spot to sit down and enjoy the music. When the first band finished I went up to the euphonium section and talked to one older guy for a few minutes about euphonium playing in Austria and Germany. Euphonium players are the best people. Eventually we got a hankering for one of the giant steins of beer that we saw people drinking from, and Omar and Andrew offered to pay for mine since it was my birthday and all. We got them, drank them rather quickly and also had a shot of schnapps from these ladies walking around with little barrels on their hips with a little tiny tap and tin shot glasses. So freaking awesome.
When we were leaving the tent, we were a bit tipsy, and I had the awesome idea of playing a game which involved shooting an air rifle at small metal pieces on a wall in order to win stuffed animal prizes. I hit 2 out of 3 and won a small dolphin keychain for my mom (be proud, mom, it’s hard to shoot a rifle after consuming over a liter of beer). Then we set out to find our hostel, and that journey was exciting. We talked to some Spanish/Austrian restaurant owners, some trumpet players, and Omar peed in a back alley. We found our hostel, checked in, found our room, composed ourselves then set out for dinner at 9pm. We ate at a relatively nice restaurant in the old town said to have served Mozart and Schubert on multiple occasions. I had the Viennese Lamb (wiener schnitzel) with roasted potatoes and it was awesome. I'd say that's a pretty awesome birthday.


Thursday, September 18th

Today is the first day of a trip that Omar, Andrew and myself took to continental Europe, and it was freaking awesome. After British Pop (we talked about the Beatles for 3 hours, I love that class) we exchanged 20 pounds for about 30 euro and stopped back at the flat to grab our stuff (a backpack with a couple of pieces of clothing). Omar and I made it to a bus stop near Baker Street to catch our bus ride to Stansted Airport with a crazy bus driver who kept slamming on the brakes and running vespas off the road. Andrew took a train. Probably a good call on his part since he beat us there.
Once we got to the airport, it was really easy checking in and getting to our gate. The plane wasn’t very big (Boeing 737) and we boarded like the Beatles would have on those ladders. The flight wasn’t very long, only about an hour and a half, and we arrived in Salzburg, Austria at 10.30pm local time (one hour ahead of London). Once we got out of the airport, we immediately realized that not knowing German makes it hard to get around in this city. We couldn’t figure out what the hell the map said, or where our hostel was (I knew a general location but had no idea what bus goes there) or even how to operate the bus ticket machine. We eventually asked a bus driver on the #2 bus (only one that comes to the airport about every 20 minutes) and he told us we had to transfer to the #4 bus and that will get us there.
When we were dropped off at a bus stop to catch the #4, we had about 15 minutes until it came so we went on a search for food because I was freaking starving. We found a little shack next to a pub that had two older Austrian ladies serving food. I looked at the menu and had no idea what anything was. I saw a picture of a hot dog (nahh) and a hamburger with a happy face (that sounds right). Next to the burger it said “Ruck Zuck” so I go up to the window and say “Hello, one Ruck Zuck please” (like “duck”). They burst out laughing at me and say “No no, ‘Rook Zook!!’” I’m so all-star it hurts. I’m in the country for 30 minutes and I already have two ladies laughing at me. Ah well, the spicy chicken breast burger was pretty damn good, even if it did have 2 inches of mayo on it.
The hotel we stayed in the first night was really nice and had a nice cozy feel. They had toilet paper with cartoons of soccer players and jokes written on them, small but comfy beds, and porn on the tv. Europeans are so open when it comes to sex, yet don’t show much violence. Kind of backwards compared to America. At any rate, we got settled and passed out promptly.


Sunday, September 14th-Wednesday, September 17th

So during these few days I basically spent my time doing research for my British Art & Architecture paper on a statue of Queen Eleanor of Castile (made in 1291), practicing and packing for our trip this weekend…yup.
Oh yeah, we saw a play at Shakespeare’s Globe theatre, the Timon of Athens, and I didn’t like it very much. I think it’s because Shakespeare co-wrote it with another dude and it’s all about a guy giving out all his money and becoming poor when none of his “friends” will help him out; not too riveting. But the theatre was awesome. We had standing yard tickets, so we stood the entire time down near the stage. The theatre isn’t entirely covered and it was interesting because the play set in very olden times and there would be planes flying overhead. It was an amazing night to look at the city on the Millennium Bridge, right near the Globe theatre. London is such a freaking awesome city. It’s so bizarre how sometimes when you least expect it you can stop for a second, take a deep breath and take in the history, the beauty and realize that yeah, you’re in freaking London.