Salzburg

In Gramps' autobiography, he details that the Walburn ancestors came out of a Palatinate in southern Germany. So the train ride to Salzburg was of heightened interest to me, as we passed through Munich and a great deal of that part of the country. The vague details about their origins made me spend a lot of time fantasizing about their lives three hundred years ago. Maybe they lived in that valley there? Or went hunting in those woods? Worked in those fields? Doubtless the landscape would be different, of course. My mind did a superman rewind, and I enjoyed watching the huge trees shrink back into the ground, towns dwindle to nothing, ancient groves spring up out of nowhere, and rivers slowly shift their course. I fell asleep somewhere in the Mesozoic era and had dreams about T-Rex eating club-weilding Walburns.

A quick transfer in München and we were Salzburg bound. As the train was pretty empty, the ride was almost cancelled. The conductor asked everyone to get off and wait for another train, but 2 minutes later he shuffled us back on. We sat on the top half of the double-decker with two other families. There were two kids with one of the Austrian families, a boy and a girl. Much to Jack's chagrin, I pulled out my back of small tricks to entertain the critters. Twirling my notebook on my finger like a frisbee hooked the boy, who was reading a very educational book his father had thrust at him. The girl came around later to see what her brother was so fascinated with, and I folded a napkin in the "Birds of Paradise/Sydney Opera House" school Aunt Marsha taught me years back. They spent the rest of the trip running around trying to twirl things and fold things and fed me Easter chocolate.

A chance glance out the window during this gave me my first sight of THE ALPS. I've noticed that as big and rooted as mountains are, they still have a great talent for leaping out and astonishing me. Needless to say, the pictures I took are small and bland and can't compare, so I'm not posting any of first contact. Just wait a few paragraphs.

We arrived in Salzburg in the afternoon and made our way over to the Yo-Ho hostel where we'd stay for two nights (making sure to go via Haydnstraße - there's nothing Haydny about it). As our trip continued, it seems as though each hostel got bigger and bigger. Prague was simply one flat with three rooms. Nuremberg was more dormitory style, added a small lounge and drink menu, but still only had one computer with free use. Yo-Ho charged for internet (uh oh) and had a noisy bar at night. Three floors, lots of people. Advertisements for the Sound of Music Tour were everywhere. Apologies to those who love the movie and have taken the tour with delight, but I can't take it seriously. It's so... yaaak. Insert whatever adjectives you can come up with, because "yaaak" is the best I can do.

We dropped camp and went searching for a place for dinner. No kitchen here. As it was Easter Sunday, most places were closed. We ended up at an empty Austrian restaurant with great tables. Just huge planks of wood - no, slices of tree. "Plank" gives the impression of process. Imagine a basted turkey served on Thanksgiving instead of sliced turkey from a package of cold cuts. That was our table. It was the Grandfather of Tables. The rest of the place fell short of those great standards, however. The only person working was an Indian man who cooked my weiner schnitzel while listening to horrible Austrian pop-covers on a skipping record player. A derelict electronic dart board was an interesting touch - I later learned that darts are pretty popular over here. Weiner schnitzel is nothing special. Fried food is universally delicious and bad for the heart.

Back in the hostel for the night, I met an American girl from Boston, who actually grew up in Jakarta, Indonesia, like momma. I wish I could say we had a long, intense conversation about family and history and current events, but she was leaving at 4am the next morning and we only had a few minutes. Can't find her on facebook with only a first name. I really wanted to learn about Jakarta today from her perspective - Wikipedia can only tell so much.

We woke up early for a walk around the city and a visit to Mozart's birthplace. Much of Europe that I've seen is infested with "Mozart" chocolate stores, which show a facade of the composer dressed in performance clothes holding a chocolate pastry instead of a writing quill or playing at a piano. It's not bad candy, but seeing this depiction of him I think gives people a false impression of who he was.

Mozart's birthplace is near the center of what I'll call the tourist district. Besides the gift shop at the end, however, the museum inside gave great insight into who the man was, his family, and his career. Scores and letters were everywhere, and also souvenirs from their life - lockets, hairs, his first violin, stuff like that. Part of the museum was an interpretation by American artist Robert Wilson of Mozart's life and personality. Part of it included a model of Mozart's Salzburg upside-down on the ceiling, with pictures on the walls of the city at that time, also upside down. Apparently this describes Mozart's revolutionary compositions or something. I remember my professor Ruth Rendelmen describing the place in class after she visited. She really disliked it, and while it struck me as interesting, it didn't seem appropriate to put it there. If it had existed in a private gallery somewhere else, I wouldn't have minded. Kinda rubbed me the wrong way where it was, though.

We returned to the hostel (I'm not calling it by its name anymore, they refused to pay for the advertising) for a 1pm tour of the city and a walk through surrounding hills, ultimately leading to the St. Augustine Monastery. Built in the 15th century, this is a big tourist attraction not for the history or the 'solitude' but for the beer halls in the lower levels. They brew traditional beer here in wooden barrels and serve it in one-liter steins. Monks love their beer, I guess. Or at least they love to sell it to tourists.

While waiting for people to show up, I tried making conversation with the few people there. A girl named Whitney was there. We exchanged the general greeting fellow travelers give each other. "Where are you from, how long have you been here, where else have you been..." etc. She told me she grew up in Nebraska. I've never been there, but I know my great-grandfather Hugh Walburn grew up there. I tried a desperate attempt to make a connection with this.

"You know, my great-grandfather grew up in a sod hut somewhere between Callaway and Broken Bow." Like that will work.

"Wait, what? Really?" I turned and looked at her. She'd stopped moving. "I live on a 4000 acre ranch between Callaway and Broken Bow."

Then we exchanged various "WHAT THE F&£%!?!?"s. I described the land as I remembered it from Hugh's autobiography, and she confirmed and elaborated on it. There are canyons between the towns (which Hugh walked through to get to school) and a one-room schoolhouse still stands close by. Whitney told me her family has been in the area a long time. Is there the chance that her great-grandfather and my great-grandfather went to school together? Played that game with the ball over the roof of the schoolhouse? Gramps, what was that game called? And what are the chances that I would meet someone with this common history in Salzburg?

Thinking about it even now makes my head reel. I have a standing invite to visit her sometime. She proposed to go horseback riding around the area and try to find the location of this old farm. I imagine the land is annexed somewhere within her ranch, but who knows? Unfortunately, she hasn't yet sent me the Facebook message I asked her to. I found her this morning, but don't wanna come off as the stalker kinda guy, so I'll give her more time to "find me" before I send messenger pigeons.

Jack and I broke off from the tour after half an hour to walk on our own. We did an extra hill and found an amazing viewpoint of Untersberg mountain and more of the Alps before meeting at Augustine's a little after they arrived. The beer was good, but I had to leave soon after to catch the sunset at the viewpoint. It's up above.

My big plan for the following day was a hike on Untersberg. I first headed to the same viewpoint as the previous night to catch the sunrise on the same mountains. Untersberg is the mountain behind me. Following a great calming wait for the sun, I returned to the street to catch the bus to St. Leonhard. Due to time considerations, I had to take the "touriste-lite" version and ride a cable car from St. Leonhard to the top of the mountain, but I was happy to walk down from there. Untersberg has many fantastic views, with just as many legends surrounding it. Emperor Charlemagne supposedly sleeps under the mountain waiting for the time he is again needed. You can read a good summary about these here.

While the mountaintop was snow-covered icy, it was surprisingly warm, with only a slight breeze. I was alone with the place. There are two giant crosses on this mountain, one on the Geiereck peak at 1800 meters and one on Berchtesgadener Hochthron at 1972. Also, a mountain climbers memorial between them. I walked from Geiereck to Berchtesgadener and then down a ski-slope back to town. It was wonderful. I've missed mountains so much. On the side, I've decided to try hiking in the Dolomite region of the Alps in northern Italy for my next big expedition. Anyone want to join me? Jack's not into the idea. By the way, have you noticed the motif in all of these? I will take Kat's name for it, and call it the "God-Awful Red Flannel" shirt. It is my favorite travel and hiking shirt now. If I were a more generous and inspired person, I would give the shirt away and from a brotherhood of the traveling God-awful red flannel. But I don't think anyone would love it as much as I do.

Jack used the morning to visit Lake Wolfgang. You can refer to his blog for that account. I got back to Salzburg around 1pm, and managed to squeeze in a quick visit to the fortress in the center of Salzburg - normally an expensive admission ticket, but free with the Salzburg Card I used to get my cable car ride (If you go to Salzburg for more than a day, I recommend buying it). I was surprised to find a museum with more ancient instruments inside! There were also archeological finds of a chapel and plenty of great views. Besides that, just some places to spend money. We caught a 5:30 train to Vienna.

I will write Vienna's entry tonight and tomorrow. For now, suffice to say it was an orgy of museums for me. And if you're a student visiting Vienna, DON'T buy the Vienna card. It's a waste of 18 euro, because student discounts are better on everything. Time to practice. I officially suck at trombone again.