Europe Day 4 (Thursday)

Left a little late from the Hostel today as we were packing up after 3 days. Tried to take care of making sure that we got to Austria in one piece. We made it out of Munich unscathed and made our way through the German countryside out towards the Austrian countryside.
On the way to Salzburg we had heard that there was a very interesting castle built on an island in the middle of a lake. The place was called Castle Herreninsel in the Chimsee. This was a palace created by King Ludwig II. Reasonably impressive looking place that was lifted (copied) in style and grandeur from King Louis XIV. We had to take a 20 minute Ferry ride to the island and then we very much wanted to go inside the place so we were forced to take the guided tour.
I think that I would be remiss if I did not at least take a moment to mention the worst meal by far that any of us have had during the trip. Of course, eating in the location that we ultimately chose was the fault of Dipper. We were not expecting glorious food but what we actually had was a Snitzel Sammul, a Cheezburger, and a Salami Sammul ( we can only assume that Sammul is sandwhich). The cheezburger was nuked before it was given to me and it looked worse than any mcdonalds hamburger. The Snitzel was like a piece of fried pork between a sad looking bun. The salami sandwich.. was … just like it sounds. Of course this ended up costing us about 18 Euro. … 28 dollars. There are pictures that will be posted later (probably by Dip).
After we got up to the Castle from the boat dock (about a 10 minute walk), we made our way through multiple gardens and fountains to the massive stairwell into the castle. From here were guided by our tour guide (English speaking!) into the main entrance of the castle.
The experience was awe-inspiring. The room had a huge branching marble staircase and vast ceilings and walls covered with French (inspired) paintings. Most of these paintings were either of Louis the XIV himself or battles that he took part in. King Ludwig was absolutely enamored with Louis the XIV. From here, we were informed that we were not allowed to take pictures inside. Upset at this fact, I snapped a few quick shots of the ceiling and then placed the lens cap on. I would soon find out that it would have been nearly impossible to take pictures in the Castle anyway because of the lack of light but, still it was amazing.

Nearly every room full of gold, porcelain, and candles. There were entire statues and flower bouquets made out of porcelain. In King Ludwig’s dining quarters there was a table in the center of the room that was attached to an elevator that could be lowered into the servant’s area so that food could be placed upon it and then raised back up. The elevator took two people 10 minutes to raise and lower. This was all done because King Ludwig did not want to have to deal with the servants personally. While continuing to describe the place is probably difficult without pictures, it is worth while to mention that King Ludwig lived in this castle for 9 days before dying in bed. The place itself had something like 50 rooms. Only 24 of which were completed because he ran out of money. You can actually look many of the uncompleted areas though. Pretty cool stuff.

Ryan of course wants me to mention the fact that it is STILL raining/cloudy outside. Glorious.

We finally headed back to the car and made our way towards Salzburg. We had to stop at the Austrian border to pick up a neon green vest to wear in the event that we ever needed to exit the vehicle on the highway. This gave us the opportunity to pick up a few snacks that we could not eat in Ryan’s car due to the new nature of his vehicle. Regardless, it was almost enough to hold us over until we could have an actual meal. This was becoming more and more necessary as we realized that we didn’t have anything to eat for dinner the night before.

Austria is absolutely beautiful. Salzburg is by far my favorite city so far. It is very small. A bit more touristy than Munich but only to a microscopic degree. They have a small bit of publicity due to it being the birthplace of Mozart but other than that it is a small town nestled in the mountains with no less than several cathedrals and a castle on it’s horizon. We were staying in what can only be described as a Catholic school dorm room. This is also the nicest place we have stayed in thus far. We had our own room with three beds and our own shower/bathroom. Awesome. This was nice to have given that our previous evenings did not actually involve copious amounts of sleep.

In order to arrive at the hostel, we had to locate a position that the GPS that has been saving us all over Europe could not find and then once it was located we had to drive down a pedestrian pathway and get yelled at by an upset Austrian woman. While this was irritating, we were ale to be on our way in reasonably short order. We got in the Hostel and were very pleased with the luxuries we were presented with. Our own room AND bathroom. Magical. We had internet and showers so we could not have been happier. We had plans to go to dinner at a restaurant that was famous for giving a Mozart concert and a 3 course meal all in the style/genre of Mozart.
We got dressed and left significantly early for the restaurant so that we would have time to wander the streets. Salzburg is incredibly clean and very pretty. It is ever so slightly more touristy than Munich but not even so much that you notice it. Munich had the atmosphere that an 18 -22 year old would love but Salzburg is much more comfortable for a slightly older crowd. As you walk around the city your sights are filled with green hills, amazing architecture, and castles on the horizon. The city is separated down the center by a very quick flowing river and everything about it brings a smile to your face.

We tried to use the GPS to locate the restaurant but were unable to make it cooperate properly so we ended up having to ask someone in a hotel if they could help us find it. Apparently the place is reasonably famous so he knew where it was and quickly had us on our way. We reached a large open area where the restaurant was located in a corner. I noticed that right next to it there was a large door and we had some time so we went in. What lay inside is probably the most beautiful church I have ever seen. This is no easy feat due to the sheer number of churches I have visited and my propensity to be insanely cynical about religious landmarks. Regardless of religious leanings this place is amazing. I learned shortly that the church was St. Peter, Salzburg. It didn’t have any crazy remains or body parts of saints in it but it was dedicated to St. Peter and Paul. The ceiling is absolutely amazing and painted within ellipses at the highest points. It is filled with marble and the pews are carved out of very heavy wood. They aren’t comfortable to sit in (none are) but they are very nice to look at. I will have to post pictures of this place later. Utterly awe inspiring.

After leaving we went over to the restaurant and were sat in their concert haul. We were pretty densely packed in but I was not uncomfortable. The plan was to have a concert intermixed with our particular courses. Before we got started the group performed selections from Don Giovanni and then our first course was served. This was Lemon Cream Soup with cinnamon. Very very tasty. Something I have never had before but it was very satisfying. After that course the group played selections from Le Nozze de Figaro. Given how much I have been listening to this opera, everything was very familiar to me and quite well done. We were then served our main course which was Roasted Capon Breast with polenta and truffle-sage-cream sauce, potatoes and vegetables. This was also very good. We were then presented with selections from Die Zauberflot. Desert was a semi frozen parfat of honey. This was probably my favorite course as it was just the perfect amount of sweet and cold. Yum.

As I am slightly elitist about musicianship, I must point out that all of the pieces were preformed by a 6 piece string orchestra with harpsichord accompanying a baritone and a soprano. Both were very effective but the baritone’s voice was a bit darkly toned for my taste. The soprano was very pretty and looked like she could not have been more than 25. She had a very powerful voice but had a tendency to power her way through sections in Le Nozze that could have benefitted from a bit more finesse and subtlety. Other than that, a superb evening. After the concert/dinner we headed home feeling like we wished we could spend more time in Salzburg but knowing that we had to leave early for Venice in the morning as it was about a 6 hours drive.