The Hills are Alive: Part Two of Three

When we left off at the end of Part One, the Three Caballeros and I were on our way to Venice; the city without cars, roads, or even land (but it does have gold to steal). It’s a city built without a solid base, carved into a marshy swamp that is actually sinking back to its muddy depths. No place could better represent our own little group. We ourselves were sinking into the murky bottoms of our own emotions, ready to probably throw each other into the labyrinthine canals that wove around our future destination. Our only hope for repair was an hour-long nap on a plane.

It’s amazing what a nap can do. A world can change with just 60 minutes of sleep and people can quickly forget their previous problems. While my anger wasn’t completely squashed by the 95 euro one-way ride, it did give me enough time to remember to stop fretting because, after all, we’re in Europe. There’s probably a lot of Chasers out there that wish they could be where I am. So, while I could go on about the airport catastrophe, I will no longer talk about that in my monologue.

Upon landing, we took a waterbus (large boat) to the island of Venice. The traffic system was amazingly complex, with giant wooden poles sticking out of the bay to make multiple channels in and out of the city. The boat ride lasted longer than the plane, but eventually we were dropped off at Per San Marco on the South side of the island. We clamored out of the boat, but were stopped short on the dock because the road ahead was nearly impassable. Running down the streets were thousands of people, moving quite swiftly. Apparently, we had chosen to come to Venice on the same day as the Venetian marathon. The fatigued runners served as yet another reminder of the long travel journey ahead of us.

We were in Venice for a total of two days. Overall, it’s a unique city, what with its romantic gondola rides (we didn’t take one), winding waterways, churches, and large bell towers everywhere. However, one can only take so many churches, squares, bridges, and boat rides before it all becomes the same. I guess what I’m saying is two days was probably the perfect amount of time. It allowed us to rest and gradually become more accepting of each other’s presence.

I think the moment that we all felt like friends again occurred as we were watched the live box score of the Vikings-Steelers game at a McDonald’s with Wi-Fi. As Brett Favre’s pass was intercepted and returned 84 yards for a Steelers touchdown (which on the Game cast was shown by a simple black and yellow line zooming down the field), we were all brought together by our shared disbelief and disappointment. Maybe that’s where “Minnesota Nice” comes from.

The next night we had to catch a train from Venice to Salzburg, Austria. The train station was thankfully right next to our hostel, so there would be no being late this time. We still showed up two hours early just to make sure, arriving at the terminal even before our train did. There would be no mistakes this time.

The night train was a bit different than we expected. First off, our cabin had beds, which was an immediate plus. The cabin was basically a 1-meter wide walkway with beds on both sides, two at head level and two on a seating level. It was plenty of room for four people. In our excitement we started thinking about playing cards, I-Spy, or any other countless activities that we had room for. But, we were soon informed that two more Europeans would be joining us in our cabin at the next stop. We folded two more beds out of the walls, which no longer made the cabin look spacious but instead like tightly packed army barracks. Like most college boys, we hoped that our two roommates would be cute European girls, but instead were gifted with a smelly 40-year old guy and a large, whiny woman who complained about everything, including how she could barely fit in the bed. So much for all our activities. I spy something fat and Romanian…

By the time 4:30 AM came around, we had all had a poor nights sleep, highlighted by the train continuously stopping, the whiny lady continuously hitting her head on the wall and yelping like this, and a dry breakfast consisting of three pieces of bread and some jam. Yummy, now I’m awake!

The platform in Salzburg was undergoing renovation, and therefore was open-air. Few things are as unpleasant as needing a place to sleep at 4:30 AM and being able to see your breath, so we decided to walk the 30 minutes to our next hostel and pray that they were open. Luckily, they were. We were greeted by a sweet old Austrian lady at the desk who only spoke German. Matt struggled though trying to explain our situation, but we were all getting prepared to fall asleep in the lobby until check-in time. We situated our bags for pillows but were stopped short by the old lady. Looking up to see if we had done something wrong, we saw her holding a room key and smiling. Not a bad first impression, Salzburg.

We all slept until 10:30 just to recharge from the night train before heading out to see what Salzburg had to offer. None of us really knew what there was to do in the Sound of Music city, but we were about to find out. We grabbed as many brochures as we could carry and headed out the door.

Let me now try and paint a picture of Salzburg for you. As we stepped outside, we were greeted by a perfectly clear sky and temperatures hovering around 12 degrees Celsius (55 degrees Fahrenheit). Fall was in the air with beautifully colored trees and the soft crunch of leaves beneath our shuffling feet. If there was ever a “taste of home” moment, this was it. Everything was reminiscent of Minnesota, except of course the large Alps covering the skyline that only served to beautify the scenery even more. Salzburg already impressed us more than any city we’d been to.

The main area of town was a welcome break from the bustling streets of Athens or the romantic alleys of Venice. The drivers weren’t constantly honking, the smell wasn’t unbearable, and the buildings actually all looked cool. In the center of the town, on top of a huge hill, was the medieval castle of Hohensalzburg, the oldest and best-kept castle in all of Europe. We took a tour (the best 7 euro I’ve spent so far) that allowed us some amazing views of the town below, along with the Alps that surrounded the city. I can tell you now this is the best picture album yet.

The next day we journeyed beyond Austria and into Germany. Our destination was the little town of Berchtesgaden, another gem of a town nestled in a valley between snow-capped peaks. Our purpose for this visit was to get a little bit of a history lesson about World War II and the importance of this area. Berchtesgaden, and the nearby town of Obersalzburg, is actually where Hitler’s house was. He spent a little over 1/3 of his wartime years here living on the side of a mountain that overlooked the town. We were given a tour of the famous area, including the remains of his house, the houses of his secretary and highest officers, the barracks for the SS troops, and the intricate bunker system dug deep within the mountain. The highlight of the mountain, however, is the Eagle’s Nest, a concrete house that sits at the top of the mountain.

The Eagle’s Nest was given to Hitler as a 50^th birthday present, but he only visited it 14 times, and never for more than a half hour. It is actually a teahouse, meant to show the grandeur of the Third Reich. After the war, it was left by the Allies and historians because of its significance and architectural greatness (Also, the Allies missed it while trying to do a bombing run over the mountain). The only way to access the Eagle’s Nest is on a winding road hidden beneath the trees of the mountainside that eventually dives into the cliffs and through a large tunnel that leads to the very center of the mountain. From there, a bronze and gold elevator large enough to fit 45 people takes the visitors up the remaining 111 meters to the top of the mountain. Unfortunately for us the road to the top was closed because of decreasing weather conditions, but we were still able to travel up most of the mountain and get a great view of the valley below. Though I can’t say I agree with any of Hitler’s morals, I can’t disagree with his thoughts on scenery. We finished off the day with some true German drinks and headed back to Salzburg for the night.

The final day was a day of rest and general enjoyment of Salzburg. We went to the grand opening of some new mall and mingled with other Salzborgians (not sure if that’s what they’re called) before heading back to the old town to just walk around a bit. Around noon, we toured the house where Wolfgang Mozart was born and saw some of his first instruments. This was pretty cool, especially for me because I used to play piano and considered myself a modern Mozart (I also played him in a school play, so this isn’t just my ego showing). Later, we walked to the main square at the base of Hohensalzburg Castle. There was a giant chessboard in the middle of the square, so naturally we decided to play. I challenged Ryan to a match and we played on while the sun set and the town around us lit up. It was quite the setting. Though I should have lost (Ryan moved his pieces so that we had a gentleman’s stalemate), the whole experience was pretty surreal. Many people stopped to watch us play, which felt cool but also added a lot of pressure. It was almost like having cheerleaders there as they clapped with approval or groaned in disappointment at times. I’m positive that a group of Asian tourists that stopped by for a while had mapped out an entire strategy for me, but I had no idea what it was.

We returned to our hostel to grab our bags and headed off to waste time until our night train arrived. We wouldn’t be leaving until 1:35 AM, so we played cards at a McDonald’s and hung out. It was at this point that we made the pact to never speak of the airline debacle again. Clearly, all tensions in the group were gone.

Surprisingly, we made it back to Rome without any troubling incidents. We went our separate ways and finally settled in with our new homes and roommates. From this point on, our trip is on the winding down phase. Everything is going to go fast. I now realize how much I have to savor the time I have left, because in an instant, I’ll be on my way back. But for now, I’m in Rome and going to live it up the best I can.

If Part One was titled Problems, then Part Two should be titles Patchwork. The Three Caballeros and I, along with the other 26 people on the trip, have now lived with each other for two months in the closest of quarters. Hopefully the patchwork can hold until the end of the trip, but there is much more to occur. As for what is coming up in Part Three, you can expect to hear about all the excitement of living in Rome. From a new face of a visiting friend to an audience with the Pope, there is much to look forward to in the next segment of Scott on the Rocks. Keep on reading, Chasers. There is only so much time left.

Here are the pictures from Venice and Salzburg...enjoy!

Special Shout-Out of the Day: The desk lady in our Salzburg hostel. Though I don't know her name, language, or anything else, she may be the nicest person we encountered on the trip. In fact, everyone in Salzburg was nice. But she gets the ultimate prize of the shout-out.

European Insult Tally:

Bill-1

Scott-4: I received a point for this trip because of my “I-Spy” comment that I made about the lady on our train. I’ll tell you what, though; you try to sleep by a woman who complains about everything from her back to the temperature all while leaving her light on half the night and see if you don’t insult her, too.

Matt-1

Ryan-3

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Scott Twelves