October 27, 2019
Hey hey! I had a great last couple of weeks:) From my last post, you'll know that I went on a vacation (or ~holiday~ if you're European) in Austria. I also became an official European resident!
So the week I left, the Belgian king was visiting Luxembourg. That meant that traffic was really bad in the city and it was backed up all the way to Bertrange. My train left from Luxembourg City at 7:30 pm, and it should have only taken about 15 minutes to get to the station from the house, but with the way traffic was backed up, it would have taken over an hour to get there. I was able to take the train from Bertrange, which then only took 7 minutes, so I got to the station in plenty of time.
My first train was from Luxembourg to Koblenz, Germany. It took 2.5 hours to get there, and then I had 30 minutes in Koblenz before my next train to Innsbruck. At one point, waiting for my next train on the platform, I looked up and saw an illuminated castle!
The next train was a night train, which meant that you were supposed to sleep on it. I tried. It was a little hard. For one, I had a seat in a compartment (think Harry Potter Hogwarts Express style), and I was worried that someone else would get on, wake me up, and tell me I was in their seat. Eventually, I fell asleep across the bench for a quick nap. I went to the bathroom at one point, and in the compartment next to me, the person had folded out the seats on their bench. I was like, oh cool, I'm going to do that. So I went back to my compartment and folded out my seats and took another quick nap. At about 3 am, I got up again. We were at a station in Nuremberg. I got up and walked around the car for a quick second, and saw that the person in the next compartment had unfolded all the seats and made a huge bed in their compartment. I did the same when I got back to my compartment and slept again until 7 am. We were still in Nuremberg, so I went out to see if anyone else was concerned and to use the bathroom. It was impossible for me to know what was going on because everything was in German. I decided to use the bathroom then, and discovered that the last couple cars on the train had been left at the station, and the rest of the train had apparently just left us there. Fun fact about trains: when a car isn't connected to the head train, the air, lights, and bathroom don't work. So I hung out in my compartment until we started moving again, which was another hour later. I was supposed to be in Innsbruck at 9:14, but I ended up getting there at 12, so that's cool. I had nowhere to be, so I wasn't worried about it, but for my first train experience, it was quite the time.
My friend from Rocky, Ryn, met me at the train station shortly after I arrived, and we headed to our hostel, about 40 minutes away. We had a snack at a cafe that was near the hostel (the cafe was in a nursing home), and then checked in. We had dinner in the old town area, where the train station was. I had a whole beer! A Radler Sweet if anyone wanted to know. Back at the hostel, we noticed a lot of people wearing traditional dress (lederhosen and dirndl) and one girl even had an accordion and was playing it on the outside patio. Little did we know that was just the introduction to the next day, but I'll keep going chronologically:)
The next morning, Saturday, we went to Schloss Ambros, a ~castle~ outside of Innsbruck in the mountains. We were able to take a tram up the mountain (it sounds higher than it was, it only took three minutes to get to the castle). We strolled through the gardens and bought tickets as soon as they opened. There were several peacocks strutting around, just minding their own business. After watching them for a bit, we went through the armory and then an exhibit of different collections that were found with the castle. They also had lots of busts of famous people throughout history in the room built specially to house them. We then went to the main castle, which had five floors of exhibits. The biggest exhibit was the portrait gallery, which took up the top three floors. After looking through the rest of the exhibits, we went back outside to look at the surrounding walls. We found a grotto dedicated to Bacchus, the Roman god of wine. So basically, it was a cave that inhabitants of the castle from the 1500's went to to play drinking games, according to the plaque on the wall. We also tried to go through the tower to the wall, but it was blocked off. From the wall, we walked a bit through the forest before heading back to the entrance. There was a couple taking what we thought were engagement photos, but as guests started to arrive, we discovered that they were taking wedding photos!
Back in Innsbruck, we had lunch at a Mexican fusion restaurant, then walked around Old Town. This was where everyone dressed up in traditional dress was to be found. We took part in a sing-a-long, watched a demonstration of different instruments, and stumbled upon a protest. For dinner, we had snacks from the gas station (fun side note: I bought a cider but was carded...do you know what the drinking age is in Austria?? 16 hahahahahahahahahaha) and chatted for a long time before heading to bed. While sitting downstairs, an older lady asked for our help in figuring out how to thank her Facebook friends for wishing her a happy birthday:)
The next morning, we went to the train station to buy our tickets to Salzburg. After a two hour train ride through the mountains and a 45 minute walk to our hostel, we dropped off our bags and wondered around the plazas. The castle we went to the next day rose up from the center of town, which was absolutely gorgeous. Dinner was at a sports bar, where we watched Manchester beat Norwich in football (from what I remember and tried to clarify later).
On Monday, we went to Hohensalzburg Fortress, one of the biggest 11th century castles in Europe. To get up to the castle, we took a funicular, a cross between an elevator and a tram. I could have spent all day at the fortress, but we had other things to see, so we were only there for three hours:( The chapel was built over Roman religious remains, and you could see some of the artifacts found when the site was discovered. I took so many photos of the view from the top of the castle, so feel free to skip through after looking at the first few pictures:) After the castle, we went into the catacombs of the monastery that was literally built in to the mountain. I climbed a lot of steps that were taller than I'm used to, so I was a little breathless when I got to the top, but it was absolutely worth it. I could feel the ancientness of the dead that are buried there settle on me, and I felt heavy, like I was wearing a big sweater the whole time I was in there. Also, I was able to go up the stairs and through the doorways without ducking. After the catacombs, we had lunch at a cafe, then headed back to the hostel to take a quick nap before heading pack to the plazas. We had dinner at a restaurant that served Italian, Indian, and Austrian foods, but we thought we should dine on local, Austrian foods for our last night. I had another beer at dinner (I know, I'm like a whole new person, a beer person), then went searching for ice cream. At that time of night, the only place to get ice cream was McDonald's, but we had the apple pie McFlurry, so kind of Austrian?
Tuesday, we walked around our favorite plazas before we headed our separate ways; me to the train station to catch my train to Koblenz, and Ryn to a bus station to head back to Munich. My train to Koblenz was 7 hours long, and involved me finishing my book (it had quite the surprise ending, so my neighbor caught me crying silently), taking a nap, and listening to lots of music. At one point, my neighbor, an elderly German lady, asked me to turn on her flip phone. It hadn't been charged, so I tried to explain that it needed to be plugged in. I hope she was able to get her phone turned on. She wished me a happy life, and it was another reason to cry a little. From Koblenz to Luxembourg was another 2.5 hours, so I was quite ready to get off the train and stretch a little when I got off of it.
The rest of the week went by pretty fast. On Friday, I went in to the immigration department to pick up my card, making me an official temporary European resident, so that's cool. My picture on it resembles a scary mugshot, so now I know what I'll look like if I ever do a crime. (Is it do a crime? I sound like an undercover cop: hey kids, I would like to do the drugs and some crimes if it's cool that I tag along?) Anyway. Saturday saw us going to the library, where I got four fat new books to devour, the market to pick up fruit and vegetables, and to the kids' grandparents house for a raclette lunch. I was soooo full. Sunday, I tried to write this post but I was watching John Mulaney on Netflix, so understandably I couldn't concentrate since I was laughing so hard. This morning, I opened a Luxembourgish bank account, so I really am a resident!
Because Ryn is a ~professional~ photographer, I wanted to share some of the pictures she took on our holiday. Her Instagram handle is ryn__rose if you want to follow her adventures this year as well!
Alright, that's all for now! Thanks for reading:)
So the week I left, the Belgian king was visiting Luxembourg. That meant that traffic was really bad in the city and it was backed up all the way to Bertrange. My train left from Luxembourg City at 7:30 pm, and it should have only taken about 15 minutes to get to the station from the house, but with the way traffic was backed up, it would have taken over an hour to get there. I was able to take the train from Bertrange, which then only took 7 minutes, so I got to the station in plenty of time.
My first train was from Luxembourg to Koblenz, Germany. It took 2.5 hours to get there, and then I had 30 minutes in Koblenz before my next train to Innsbruck. At one point, waiting for my next train on the platform, I looked up and saw an illuminated castle!
My friend from Rocky, Ryn, met me at the train station shortly after I arrived, and we headed to our hostel, about 40 minutes away. We had a snack at a cafe that was near the hostel (the cafe was in a nursing home), and then checked in. We had dinner in the old town area, where the train station was. I had a whole beer! A Radler Sweet if anyone wanted to know. Back at the hostel, we noticed a lot of people wearing traditional dress (lederhosen and dirndl) and one girl even had an accordion and was playing it on the outside patio. Little did we know that was just the introduction to the next day, but I'll keep going chronologically:)
The next morning, Saturday, we went to Schloss Ambros, a ~castle~ outside of Innsbruck in the mountains. We were able to take a tram up the mountain (it sounds higher than it was, it only took three minutes to get to the castle). We strolled through the gardens and bought tickets as soon as they opened. There were several peacocks strutting around, just minding their own business. After watching them for a bit, we went through the armory and then an exhibit of different collections that were found with the castle. They also had lots of busts of famous people throughout history in the room built specially to house them. We then went to the main castle, which had five floors of exhibits. The biggest exhibit was the portrait gallery, which took up the top three floors. After looking through the rest of the exhibits, we went back outside to look at the surrounding walls. We found a grotto dedicated to Bacchus, the Roman god of wine. So basically, it was a cave that inhabitants of the castle from the 1500's went to to play drinking games, according to the plaque on the wall. We also tried to go through the tower to the wall, but it was blocked off. From the wall, we walked a bit through the forest before heading back to the entrance. There was a couple taking what we thought were engagement photos, but as guests started to arrive, we discovered that they were taking wedding photos!
Back in Innsbruck, we had lunch at a Mexican fusion restaurant, then walked around Old Town. This was where everyone dressed up in traditional dress was to be found. We took part in a sing-a-long, watched a demonstration of different instruments, and stumbled upon a protest. For dinner, we had snacks from the gas station (fun side note: I bought a cider but was carded...do you know what the drinking age is in Austria?? 16 hahahahahahahahahaha) and chatted for a long time before heading to bed. While sitting downstairs, an older lady asked for our help in figuring out how to thank her Facebook friends for wishing her a happy birthday:)
The next morning, we went to the train station to buy our tickets to Salzburg. After a two hour train ride through the mountains and a 45 minute walk to our hostel, we dropped off our bags and wondered around the plazas. The castle we went to the next day rose up from the center of town, which was absolutely gorgeous. Dinner was at a sports bar, where we watched Manchester beat Norwich in football (from what I remember and tried to clarify later).
On Monday, we went to Hohensalzburg Fortress, one of the biggest 11th century castles in Europe. To get up to the castle, we took a funicular, a cross between an elevator and a tram. I could have spent all day at the fortress, but we had other things to see, so we were only there for three hours:( The chapel was built over Roman religious remains, and you could see some of the artifacts found when the site was discovered. I took so many photos of the view from the top of the castle, so feel free to skip through after looking at the first few pictures:) After the castle, we went into the catacombs of the monastery that was literally built in to the mountain. I climbed a lot of steps that were taller than I'm used to, so I was a little breathless when I got to the top, but it was absolutely worth it. I could feel the ancientness of the dead that are buried there settle on me, and I felt heavy, like I was wearing a big sweater the whole time I was in there. Also, I was able to go up the stairs and through the doorways without ducking. After the catacombs, we had lunch at a cafe, then headed back to the hostel to take a quick nap before heading pack to the plazas. We had dinner at a restaurant that served Italian, Indian, and Austrian foods, but we thought we should dine on local, Austrian foods for our last night. I had another beer at dinner (I know, I'm like a whole new person, a beer person), then went searching for ice cream. At that time of night, the only place to get ice cream was McDonald's, but we had the apple pie McFlurry, so kind of Austrian?
Tuesday, we walked around our favorite plazas before we headed our separate ways; me to the train station to catch my train to Koblenz, and Ryn to a bus station to head back to Munich. My train to Koblenz was 7 hours long, and involved me finishing my book (it had quite the surprise ending, so my neighbor caught me crying silently), taking a nap, and listening to lots of music. At one point, my neighbor, an elderly German lady, asked me to turn on her flip phone. It hadn't been charged, so I tried to explain that it needed to be plugged in. I hope she was able to get her phone turned on. She wished me a happy life, and it was another reason to cry a little. From Koblenz to Luxembourg was another 2.5 hours, so I was quite ready to get off the train and stretch a little when I got off of it.
The rest of the week went by pretty fast. On Friday, I went in to the immigration department to pick up my card, making me an official temporary European resident, so that's cool. My picture on it resembles a scary mugshot, so now I know what I'll look like if I ever do a crime. (Is it do a crime? I sound like an undercover cop: hey kids, I would like to do the drugs and some crimes if it's cool that I tag along?) Anyway. Saturday saw us going to the library, where I got four fat new books to devour, the market to pick up fruit and vegetables, and to the kids' grandparents house for a raclette lunch. I was soooo full. Sunday, I tried to write this post but I was watching John Mulaney on Netflix, so understandably I couldn't concentrate since I was laughing so hard. This morning, I opened a Luxembourgish bank account, so I really am a resident!
Because Ryn is a ~professional~ photographer, I wanted to share some of the pictures she took on our holiday. Her Instagram handle is ryn__rose if you want to follow her adventures this year as well!
*featuring me trying to look over the wall to the stream below
Alright, that's all for now! Thanks for reading:)
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