Sadly, this was our last day of the Plus3 Germany program. For our last day, Professor Feick gave us a free day. As long as he approved what we wanted to do and where we went, we could do it. Some girls got tickets for the Harry Styles concert in Munich. One of the guys went to Munich to visit friends and one of the girls went to Stuttgart for a couple days. The rest of us went to Salzburg, Austria, just like the group last year. Because Austria is in the no passport zone of Europe, we were able to travel there very easily. I was very excited because Austria would be our second country in just two weeks.
Since we wanted to enjoy as much of our free day as possible, we woke up bright and early and had hotel breakfast at 6am. I enjoyed the German croissants and the multi-fruit drink one last time. We then headed to the train station around 7am and met up with two of the German students we’ve worked with the past couple weeks. We bought our all-day tickets and then took the train to Munich, in order to catch another train to Austria. On the way to Munich, the ticket my name was on got randomly checked and one of the German students bought the wrong ticket! Luckily, the ticket lady let us go. Once we got to Munich, we headed immediately to the other train, and it was packed.
On the train to Austria, there were no empty seats and most of us had to stand. All of our personal space was gone. Sadly, the train ride was around 2 hours and I was really tired from the night before. The only option I had was to try and nap while standing up. That was probably the worst train ride I have ever been on.
After two dreadful hours, we finally made it to Salzburg. My initial reaction was that Austria looked like a “poor Germany”, as it was dirty and outdated around the train station. It was not pretty whatsoever. Because of this, I was a little concerned about how our day was going to go.
We immediately went looking for a snack after the long train ride and sure enough, we came across an ice cream shop. I got chocolate ice cream, but it wasn’t as nearly as good as German gelato (Tutti Frutti is the best ice cream I’ve had this whole trip).
After our snack break, we continued to walk down towards the middle of the city to see what there was to do. In the distance we saw The Fortress, which was literally a giant fortress on top of a mountain above the city. We decided to make our way to the fortress. In the end, we made the right decision…
As soon as we started making our way towards The Fortress and more towards the center of the city, I started to understand why last year’s group loved Salzburg so much. The whole center of the city has historical architecture, just like Augsburg. The city is very beautiful and we couldn’t wait to explore.
We first started to spontaneously explore different places like a park, a couple churches/cathedrals, a small castle and its garden, etc. One of the highlights of today is how we found the oldest dwarf garden in the history of Europe. Overall, it was really fun and relaxing just walking around and exploring, having no set plan and nothing to worry about. During our exploration, we also passed Mozart’s house, a ton of chocolate shops, Mozart candy stores, beautiful fountains and statues, etc. Austria was surprisingly cooler than I thought it would be. I was amazed and speechless every time we turned the corner.
For lunch, we found a little döner kebab restaurant, and I tried a döner kebab for the first time. In my kebab I got lettuce, tomatoes, onions, meat, and this special sauce the restaurant had. The kebab was amazing and is now one of my favorite street foods. I was told this whole trip to try döner kebab at least once, and I finally got to.
Once we finished lunch, we headed right to The Fortress. Along the way, we passed more statues, fountains, pop-up shops, and street performers, reminding me a lot of the city of Munich.
Finally at The Fortress, we took an electric incline all the way up the mountain, and it went really fast. At The Fortress, the money we spent for tickets did not go to waste. We all thought the fortress was just a place for sightseeing, but it was actually really big. In the fortress, there were museums, gift shops, restaurants, churches, a common area, etc. My two favorite parts were the view of the city and the string puppet museum.
From the fortress, the view was one of the best views I have ever seen in my life. You could see the whole city and the Alps. We walked around the whole fortress and the view on each side was just as beautiful.
The string puppet museum, on the other hand, was really creepy. In the museum were a bunch of old string puppets from history that were saved. In the end, we all thought the museum was really funny.
After spending almost 3 hours in The Fortress, we decided to get dinner and head back to Augsburg earlier than we initially planned. As we started to walk back towards the train station, we first stopped at this cafe for a little snack and then ate at this Italian restaurant. I was all out of Euros, so I did not eat dinner, but it was still fun hanging out together one last time. I am going to miss this group.
After a long and fun day, we headed back to Augsburg. Just like this morning, we took a train to Munich first, then took another train back to Augsburg. When we crossed the border from Austria to Germany, we were shortly stopped by the police for a random passport check. Luckily, Professor Feick told us to bring our passports just incase. Once back in Augsburg, we finished packing our bags and headed to bed. Tomorrow morning, bright and early, we head back home.
What an amazing trip it has been. I am forever grateful for this program.
Nicholas Monetti