Somehow, it’s our final day already. It feels like we just arrived in Augsburg and got sandwiches at the bakery yesterday, not 2 weeks ago. Even though I was sad how fast the trip went, we still had our free day to enjoy. The majority of our group decided to all go to Salzburg, which is a city in Austria. Two of the German students from Augsburg, Tim and Brian, came with us! l was glad they did because they made navigating the train system and city so much easier. We woke up early in order to make the 7:30 train. The ride had one transfer in Munich and took around 3 hours. On the way there the train was packed and a few people had to stand the entire way. Even though it was crowded, the ride flew by.
Once we arrived to Salzburg, we made our way closer to the cooler historic part of the city. On the drive in, we spotted a massive castle/fortress on top of a mountain and decided that’s where we wanted to go. On our way there, we stopped by a beautiful garden and there happened to be a live band playing which was awesome. I noticed that the city was super clean, which made the experience even more enjoyable. I loved everything about this city as well as the German cities, except having to pay to use that bathroom. I made it a goal at the beginning of the trip to never pay for a bathroom, and I managed to do it. Definitely didn’t have to jump a few turnstiles.
After the garden, we continued on our way to the castle and entered the more historic area. There were a bunch of narrow streets with beautiful shops. There were also many massive plazas that had beautiful buildings and statues. I think that Salzburg was probably my favorite city on the trip because everything was so decorative and pretty. The castle on the hill that was always in the background gave it such a cool look, it almost didn’t look real.
We grabbed doner kebap for lunch and then continued to the castle. Once we got there, we managed to secure the ticket for the incline at the under 18 group price with a little bargaining. The incline ride up was beautiful as we slowly got to see more and more of the city. At the top was probably one of the most beautiful views I’ve ever seen. We could’ve looked out over the city with the alps in the background all day, but we decided to look around the castle too. The castle was surprisingly big and was basically an entire village on the mountain. I noticed that much of the main part of the city had either walls our mountains surrounding it. It must have been a great place in terms of security back when it was built.
After spending a few hours walking around the castle, we unfortunately had to head back to the train station. On the way, we grabbed a dinner at an Italian place, where Evan made fun of me for getting Hawaiian pizza and then proceeded to ask me for a slice.
Finally, we made it back to the train station and headed on our way home. There was some sort of incident that required police to stop the train and check everyone’s IDs and passports, which we were lucky that we brought along. On our second leg of the trip, from Munich to Augsburg, a very intoxicated guy tried to fight us, but unsurprisingly decided against starting a fight with a 14 person group. We made it back safe and sound, and Evan and I played two last games of darts to use up our euro coins.
Sadly, our trip had come to an end. I finished packing up my stuff and got to sleep early so that I could wake up at 4:45 for breakfast before the airport the next day. I’m writing this from the plane as we’re about to land in Charlotte after 9 hours. It’s a satisfying feeling to know that I just created such great memories and learned so much over the past two weeks. I’m sure I’ll be back to Germany again in not too long.
Auf Wiederesehen!
