Schule und Reisen

The first two weeks of classes have gone really well. I am in all the classes that I wanted/need to be in. I’m not crazy about one of my classes, Österreich Aktuell. The professor is kind of weird and I want to fall asleep during class. My favorite class has to be Free Writing. Our professor gives us prompts and we take it from there. It’s fun to let the creativity flow out onto paper. Plus it’s great practice. My Art History class is bound to be interesting. The professor is involved with renovations to historic sites all around Salzburg and he really knows his stuff about art. German Lit is kind of boring. The book we are currently reading is not one that I’d pick up and be excited to read. I prefer my Harry Potter book, in German of course. The DaF course is a little dry but going well. I have the same professor for Free Writing so he’s awesome. That’s it for classes so far, we’ve also had a ton of homework but it’s doable.

Now for the truly fun part of the past two weeks: my day trip to Innsbruck. We left around 8 Saturday morning and planned on leaving around on the 9pm train. The train ride was AWESOME! I wish that the seats were that nice for plane rides. The train ride was about 2 hours long and the scenery was GORGEOUS! The alps are awe-inspiring and everyone should see them at least once.

Once we arrived we found a tourist booth and got an Innsbruck Card. This card allows you to get in free to museums, public transportation, and discounts at certain stores. It’s a must if you want to stay within a budget. We also got a map that definitely came in handy. We then headed to the cable cars that take you to the top of one of the mountains in town. Let me tell you that the view was breathtaking. We didn’t want to leave. There was a hiking trail that you could walk up the mountain, but we quickly nixed that idea as we had a tight schedule. It had also recently snowed and we got to throw snowballs at each other for a minute. That was fun haha. After we spent about an hour of taking in the view and taking pictures we decided to head back down and explore the Old City.

I forgot to mention that I have been to Innsbruck before. My dad and I went, the summer I graduated, on a 10 day Germany, Switzerland, Austria, and Italy tour. We only got to spend a few hours there and it was raining. Today there was not a cloud in the sky and was everything I remeberd and more. Once we got back to the Old City we went to St Jacob’s Cathedral. It is ethereal. Marble floors, gold leafing everywhere, a huge organ, the statues themselves are beautiful, and some of the painting on the wall/ceiling literally come off the surface. For instance, if there was a scroll held by someone in the painting part of said scroll would be 3D rather 2D. So it jumps out at you. After we spent a while taking in the Cathedral we went to see the Golden roof.

The Golden Roof is part of a building that has been around for over 500 years. It was built during Maxamillion’s rule. The roof is literally made out of gold. You can go inside the building and take tour and see artifacts and look out from the balcony that the roof covers. When we finished we got some of the most delicious gelato I have ever had! I should have taken a picture of it because they formed a flower out of the flavors I chose. However me + multitasking + gelato in a cone = a mess. So I decided not to. You’ll just have to take my word that it was not only delicious but presentation definitely gets a 10/10.

We then decided to go to the Imperial Palace and walk see what it would have been like to live as a King or Queen. It was fun trying to find the entrance because the Palace covers a good deal of the Old City. My friends trusted me with the map, which I did well navigating even though I get lost in my hometown. We finally made found the right entrance and started the tour. I wish we could have taken pictures because it was beautiful inside. I could definitely see myself living there if I were a Princess let alone Queen. My favorite rooms were the ballroom, dining room, and the dressing room (which was all pink).

After we toured the Palace we went to Swarovski  Crystal World. It’s a museum for well you guessed it Swarvoski Crystal. It was so shiny, glittery, breathtaking, and at times weird. It was neat to see all the creations made out of high end crystal. I even got a little Four Leafed Clover magnet. I highly recommend going if you have the chance. The pictures below give a better glimpse as to what I saw.

Once we made it back to the Old City we decided to get dinner and then head home. We went to this nice little pub/restaurant. We all ordered Schnitzle and it was pretty good. Dessert was better though. We ordered three things, an Apple donut pastry, brownie, and Vanilla Ice Cream with Whipped Crème and Hot Chocolate Sauce. My favorite was the ice cream, but the Apple pastry was a very close second.

We then caught a train back to Salzburg and promptly fell asleep during the trip back. We were exhausted but had a fabulous time. I can’t wait for the trip to Vienna next weekend and Prague the following weekend.

Hat ein schönes Tag!!!

-A