This is Austria! Why? Because for our free day in the Plus3 program, I and 11 others decided to take a 3 hour train to Salzburg, Austria. Nestled in the Alps quite close to the German border, Salzburg is a small city with a lot of history.

Salzburg is similar to the German cities, but differences show up. It seemed like there was less English spoken in Austria than in Germany. There were very old buildings and parks, including the world’s oldest dwarf garden, built in 1695. The castle upon a hilltop near the city center dates back to the 11th century, and it was so large that it felt like an entire village inside of it! The castle also sported medieval cannons to defend itself from the primitive attacks of its day.

Later on, Salzburg is notorious for being the place where the classical composer Mozart was born and raised. Unfortunately, we didn’t have all that much time in the city, so I just passed by the Mozart Wohnhaus (house where Mozart lived in).

What we did do a lot in Salzburg was eat.

I got a cheese pizza where I initially wanted garlic on it, but it was hard to communicate it with the server. And then the pizza nearly got stolen by this random guy to clean the table under it. But then he gave it back to me, along with an energy drink that I don’t like. Weird.

I also got chocolate ice cream and this four cheese ravioli-like pasta, that were both really good, and a slice of chocolate cake that I didn’t like. Shame because I spent every last cent on that thing (I was running out of Euros).

On the way back, I had one of the best moments of the trip by playing the card game Mao with some friends. Despite there being over a dozen weird rules I had to remember, I chalked up a win, which means I get to create my weird rule.

It’s so sad that I have to leave not only Austria but also Germany behind. I had some great experiences, and there was so much more that I wish I could have done. I’ll tell more about this in the reflection post, coming soon.