Landsberg am Lech

Wow. Here I am, on Friday, August 28. I have no more Thursdays left of my trip. I'm in my final week in Europe, and I can't believe how quickly 75 days have gone by. It always seemed very slow when it was passing, but I feel like I just left a couple weeks ago, though it was actually almost 11 weeks ago.

And how do I sum up the past few days in a short post? So much has happened.

The last thing I wrote about was that I was leaving Salzburg. Now, and for the past few days, I have been in Landsberg am Lech, Germany, about 50 minutes west of Munich. I'm staying with Jörg, another friend of my history teacher. Look, here we are eating pumpkin soup on my first night:

So on my first day in Landsberg, I wanted to just walk around the town, so that's what I did. I walked for about 7 miles around he city, which reminds me of Grass Valley a bit. It has old buildings, and a population of only 30,000, and its surrounded and filled with trees and hiking trails. The main difference is that this town dates back to the 1300s... There's some towers on the hills around the area, which I hiked up to, but couldn't go up into the tower because it was closed.

Also, there is a huge River Lech through the town, with a large dam-like structure right in the center, so I like sitting by the water and listening to the rush of the river in the cool air. So when I got waffles and berries on Wednesday, I ate them in front of the river. (And it was really good!!)

Okay I'm switching topics now because I have a lot to cover. Later that afternoon, Jörg and I drove up to Dachau, which was a major concentration camp before and during WW2, and let me tell you, it was truly horrific. To think that the grounds I was standing on had thousands of future-victims to the war just 80 years ago is extremely disturbing. We visited the rebuilt barracks, which clearly had no room for anyone to have personal space. The massive burial site for unknown victims' ashes. I think the most disturbing part though was the ovens. All of this is the reason I never want to visit a concentration camp again. It's too much. 

Oh also I had beer. 

(Not this full glass. That would be too much for me. It was so strong that I could only drink about half of it.)

Okay happier topic now. Yesterday, on Thursday, I took a day trip to Augsburg, another city about 50 minutes northeast of Landsberg. The two cities and Munich all form an equilateral triangle, roughly, if that gives you an idea. 

The problem with Augsburg is that I had no specific plans: I didn't know where anything was, nor where I should visit. Eventually, after wandering around for about an hour, I was able to find a map with all the major tourist attractions! So I started off on my journey, roughly following the green line, a few pictures down.

So I visited the Dom, the city's cathedral, which was very very impressive. An organ concert was in session at the time, so I got to listen to that while I walked down the aisles and through the corridors.

My next stop was the City Hall, or the Rathaus, which was originally destroyed in WW2 but then rebuilt exactly alike to the old one.

One of the biggest attractions in Augsburg is the Fuggeri House, where the Fugger family lived in the 15th century. Who is the Fugger family? I hear you asking. Well, I'm not too sure, but I know they were filthy rich because I think they sold salt which was huge back then, so they still own the land and the house. They built a bunker there during the war, so I got to go down there! That was rad. I've never been in an underground bunker before. 

Also when I was wandering around, I think I discovered the secret to teleportation: wander around in a city that you think you understand because you have a map and then you get lost and find out that you're about a mile from where you thought you were. At least, that's what happened to me, so I'm still not sure how that happened. So my walk back to the train station looked a bit like this:

(Transporter marked by red dots)

Disclaimer: I'm sorry I have like no pictures of Augsburg. The app is being weird and won't let me download many of them?? Sorry

When I got back to Landsberg, I met Jörg's wife and 5 year old son, and we went out to dinner. I had paprika and feta cheese, so that was interesting I guess.

I was accidentally up until 2am and I'm not sure why. 

Today, on Friday, I spent the day in Landsberg again, and got more ice cream* before Jörg's babysitter for his son met up with me, so he and his friends could show me around the city. Look, here we all are!!

Anyway, yeah. I don't think I'll update until maybe the 31st, when I will have time to write on my train to Munich. That's my last stop. I stay there for two nights before I fly out. It passed quickly...

It's a (von) Trapp!

pSee what I did there? It's funny because Sound of Music and Star Wars humor. Haha.

Anyway... So I've been in Salzburg for the past day and a half (and this morning but only briefly.) and I can honestly say that it's the most beautiful city I've been in on this trip. Sorry, Ljubljana and Edinburgh. You have nothing on this view:

Okay, so on Sunday, my train arrived and I got to my hostel to check in, and then I walked into town.

And I was just amazed at how amazing the view -- even from the city streets -- was. I was constantly in direct view of the Hohensalzburg Fortress, which was used in the olden ages as a defense/lookout tower. Given the view, seen above, I can imagine. But more on that later. 

My first stop was the National History Museum, which was a good way to start off the city. It had many many rooms on Art history, but more importantly, it talked a lot about WW1, because Austria was a huge part in that. After all, it was the Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand's assassination that was one of the main sparks to the fire. But yeah, there was a lot of information on all that. Lot of information in general.

I walked over to Pommes Botique, per the suggestion of the hostel, because I heard they have really good burgers for cheap, so I got a really good chicken burger, then walked over to the riverside to eat. How often do you get a view like this for lunch?

(I was over on that hillside, near the other people you see over there.)

I also visited some Gardens, which I forget the names of, but they were a lot like the other gardens I've talked about. Lots of flowers. What made this one unique, however, was the Pegasus statue, which is briefly seen in Sound of Music:

My hostel is pretty cool. My roommates are super nice. 2 of them are from Australia, and the other 3 are from Korea, but I didn't talk to them much because they didn't speak much English. I did make friends with the two Australians and they're super rad and were willing to talk about why America is a joke to the rest of the world right now...

The hostel also plays Sound of Music every night. Every. Night. At 8:30. Every night. They currently have the record for most consecutive nights playing the movie. Maybe any movie. So I watched that with about 30 other people. 

Okay so that was my half day in Salzburg. My full day was much, much more walking. I hiked up to the Fortress, like I said earlier, which just gave me the most incredible view of the mountains and the city. I guess the whole area used to be a lake for several thousand years, but it drained out in about 8000BC, so all that remained inside the mountains was one giant hill, where they built the fort.

(You get the point.)

After a couple hours up there, I headed back down and rested at the hostel for a bit, before leaving to an old monestary-turned-church on a hill, which took way too many steps and my legs kinda wanted to die.

But after that, I discovered the residence and the birthplace of some composer. His name is like Mayonaisse or something? Or Most Tarts? Oh. Mozart. His birthplace and residence, which I didn't feel like it would be worth paying €10 for each, were filled with tourists, but was still an interesting sight. You know, no biggie. Just a huge pop-star of his time was born there. 

My last two stops for the day were two very different churches. On one side, one looked very old. You can just imagine an old stone church built into the side of a rock. Pretty old, yeah? Look at the inside.

There's blue and violet lights everywhere and it makes this old church look like a night club??

Then this other one was just a nice simple white one, but in its simplicity, I found it lovely and I liked it anyway so yeah. 

I ate dinner at the hostel, because I figured it was a good way to meet people. I ate some goulash soup with an Austrian and a Texan, so that was interesting. He didn't have a southern accent.

Wow okay it's only 10:40pm but I feel like my eyes are going to kill me if I stay awake any longer so bye. Love you all!

Also, if you need a quick laugh, this one never fails to give me the giggles:

More days in Vienna

So I'd like to preface this one with the fact that there are spelling errors in some of my posts because the autocorrect on the iPad likes to mess with me, so sometimes it comes up with things that don't make any sense. Anyway...

So on Friday (wow is it already Sunday?) I went on a walking tour of the city that was put on by my hostel. I've been doing this whenever I can, because it gives me a basic layout of the city, and maybe if I did this first, I wouldn't have gotten lost a few times...

But the tour was great! We walked about 2 miles all around the city center, starting at the Nachstmarkt. It's 1.3 kilometers long, and full of people selling foods, gifts, treats, spices, etc. The word Nachstmarkt literally would translate to Market of Little Nibblings, which is pretty fun.

We walked by the building Secession, referred to as The Golden Cabbage, because of the golden globe on top. In actuality, it's a modern art museum that charges way too much for just a couple rooms. Sorry but I don't have any picture. 

We walked through the middle of town, in front of the opera house, and through some alleyways. We visited some churches that were built in the 14th century which is just too crazy for me to imagine. They're still in such good condition! Sure, there's been renovation, but still...

I learned that the Hofburg Palace, which I mentioned earlier, was the intended home of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, but then something happened so that he couldn't move in... Hmm... Hitler also made some of his first speeches at this palace, which was kind of a fun fact. Oh! We also saw the art school where he was rejected from, so... 

The final stop on the tour was the St. Stephan's Cathedral, which I showed you earlier. I got a closer look at the roof, which I didn't even notice earlier, which was really cool. The church burned down partially in WW2, so they rebuilt it exactly to how it was, according to photos and paintings. I learned that it was built in 1137, and the highest point is 136 meters tall, so almost as tall as me...

One of the most interesting things, however, is that I talked to another hosteller on the tour who was from San Jose, CA, and was even born in the same hospital as me, so that was really coincidental.

(Ludwig's Star on the Mile of Music)

The other main thing I did on Friday was go to the Sigmund Freud museum! That was really interesting, because the museum was his apartment when he lived here, but renovated with pictures of the rooms and the doctor at work. I'm glad I got the student discount of €4, because I don't think the full price of €10 would have been worth it. It wasn't very extensive, though it was very cool. 

I also stopped by some gardens that I don't know the name of, but it was so so beautiful there that I had to spend an hour there, just sitting and watching. 

Ugh, that was only Friday? I still have to do Saturday? Okay.

I really like my hostel. My roommates are all super cool. Tonight, they are both from London and Australia, so everyone naturally spoke English. Nice. 

I got an early start to the morning-- 9:30! But in just 2.5 hours, I walked about 5 miles, not counting for time that I wasn't walking, so my legs kinda wanted to die. But it was all worth it. That morning, I decided I wanted to visit a couple more palaces in the area, so I started off toward the Belvedere. Now, I can't tell you all that happened there, because I'm sorry, €25 for entrance to the palace is absurd and I refuse. However, I can show you what it looked like and I can tell you that it was more beautiful than any other palace I've been to. Look at this marvelous building and stare at it in awe. 

The fields in front were peaceful, the grass was green, the water was clear-ish, and the skies were blue. I could definitely spend more time here, but I had to get moving to the next place so I wouldn't be walking in the heat of the day. 

My next stop was Schloss Schönbrunn, another palace with HUGE gardens out in front. If you're starting to see a trend here, it's because there is. I like gardens.

But it was such a long walk. Over two miles from one palace to the other, and there weren't many sights along the way. Just buildings and housing. But there were two wonderful sights:

These two different places are the WW2 memorial, and the St Elizabeth Church. I got to the memorial just in time to see a rainbow created from the fountain in front, and I got one of my favorite pictures I've ever taken on the camera. I wish I could share it with you. 

The reason I decided to stop by the St Elizabeth is because it was different from the other churches in the area. This one has a very modern feel to it, though maybe not as much as the one from Trieste, but it was still a beautiful church.

Finally, an hour after I left, I reached Schloss Schönbrunn, which my legs were very thankful for. Look at the gardens out in front, and keep in mind that my phone's camera doesn't do the real thing any justice. 

So many flowers. Just... So many... And the mist from the fountains in the back was very refreshing, especially on a 90 degree day, which I hadn't planned on when I wore jeans. Luckily there are water founains all over, so I filled up my water bottle a lot of times. 

I couldn't walk any more, so I just took he subway back to the town center. It's great because the subway is free here. No tickets, you just hop on. Super great. 

That was the majority of my day, because after that, I didn't want to do much. So after a quick nap, I just walked slowly around town for a few more hours. I had two more Käsekrainers today because they're so good. 

Again, my roommates are great. I really like that part about hostels. The people are all great. I haven't had a single bad roommate this whole trip.

I'm currently on my train to Salzburg, where I will stay for 2 nights, then I'm heading to Germany for a week. Then, and only then, can I finally return to California. It's been a wild ride. 

(In the Stadtpark, which I just briefly visited before I made it to Belvedere. The clock is wrong.)