November 15, 2009

Salzburg, Austria: Untersberg

On our final day in Austria, we decided that we would get out of the city for a while. Included in our Salzburg card was a trip up the Untersberg as well as entry to Schloss Hellbrunn, both of which are a little ways away. We had to pay for the second half of the bus ride to the lift up the mountain, but that was less than two euros each.

Our drive through the countryside was not too long, and we were able to see some very quaint small towns along the way. It would be very easy for someone to stay in one of those towns and still get into Salzburg whenever they please. If you were looking for a place to stay that is very quaint and has less people, it would definitely be the way to go.

The day was shaping up as chilly and cloudy; there was a lot of low cloud cover our last day. This meant that we didn't get the best views while up on the Alps, but you can't control the weather, so it is what it is. We still had a lot of fun up there.


The building above is where you go to get your lift tickets and then ride up. I think the man on the side of the building is pretty funny. We headed inside, obtained our tickets and then had a couple of coffees while we waited for the lift to return and pick us up.

Just before going in, I took some photos of the area around the lift, and this one? It is for Jenky:


I would show you what our view out of the car was like, but basically it was a photo of a window out of which one could see nothing but white foggy clouds. Oh, yes and occasionally some rocks came at us out of nowhere. The visibility was only five feet at most, so we couldn't see much at all aside from the car itself.


I probably shouldn't even have had my camera out up there, as the air was very moist and the temperature was definitely below what we had been experiencing down in the valley. Rocket Man took the camera for a photo of me and then he tried to get a photo of the nothingness that was our view. Imagine whitish-gray. That was it. He pointed the camera, messed with the zoom a bit and declared that it wouldn't focus.

Um...yeah...

'Cause there was nothing for it to focus on.


There were a couple of men up there who were planning to hike to the next station, which in decent weather, is supposed to be quite a nice thing to do. Considering the weather and also the fact that my leather shoes had very slick soles, there was no way we were going anywhere. We did walk a tiny ways uphill away from the station and to get back, I had to walk right behind Rocket Man and basically let his feet stop mine from sliding all over the place.

Good times.


Everything up there was frozen. Pine bushes, leaves, and every other thing you can imagine. We did notice the markers for the trail, which are painted to look like the Austrian flag.


After just a little time, we were frozen as well. My hair was completely stiff and even Rocket Man's eyelashes were frozen. We took refuge in the lift station and waited for the car to take us back down to the bus.


From there we took the bus back towards town but got off at Schloss Hellbrunn. We saw some crafters making all sorts of things by hand and also the gazebo that was created in Hollywood for The Sound of Music. More on that tomorrow!

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