With our last weekend in Austria, my friends and I decided that we wanted to take a trip to Salzburg, 60% so my friend Miriam could live out her various Sound of Music fantasies and 40% for the beautifully green landscape.
View from not-quite-atop a mountain.
I have to say it was remarkably bittersweet to be getting on our last ÖBB train ever together, but the trip itself was fabulous. When we got there on Saturday, we immediately changed into our dirndls and headed out into public. Turns out (as expected), we were the only ones wearing dirndls and we got many stares and chuckles in our direction. However, after about four hours of wandering Salzburg, we barely noticed.
Randoms we didn’t know/ever talk to were taking pictures of us. Pretty sure they though we were part of a show or something.
We did all of the touristy things: we unsuccessfully sought out a hill upon which to frolic, we went to the gazebo where Rolfe and Liesel sing “Sixteen Going On Seventeen” in The Sound of Music, we went to the garden where “Do Re Mi” was filmed, and we went to Augustiner beer hall for dinner.
The weather on Saturday was lovely, so we were lucky enough to get to see the city properly.
Aforementioned green landscape.
On Sunday, it was significantly less nice out, so, naturally, we went to a salt mine. It was the most fun. We got to dress up in miners’ clothing and go on a train, a super fun slide, and a boat.
Down the slide in our cool outfits.
We were the only English-speakers there, so we got really cool, subtle audio guide devices to wear around our necks so that we knew what was happening and to make sure everyone knew we were American.
Preparing for our salt mine adventure to begin.
Overall, Salzburg was amazing, and we were so lucky to be there when the weather was so nice. It felt only right to make my final trip during my semester abroad to another city in Austria, and I am so glad that it worked out well. I remember back in March when we first decided that we would go to Salzburg on our last weekend and it felt so far away.
Katherine (Nina) Jones
<p><span style="color: rgb(29, 29, 29); font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; background-color: rgb(237, 237, 237);">Nina Jones is a junior at George Washington University studying International Affairs and History. In the future, she intends to pursue a career in either law or research. In addition to her interest in travel, Nina likes to read, play tennis, and listen to music. While in Vienna, Nina looks forward to taking advantage of the history, art, food, and language. She cannot wait to immerse herself in everything Vienna has to offer.</span></p>
