salzburg part II

this morning, we had a nice hostel breakfast. i became frustrated with people and left for the Festung Hohensalzburg on the hill alone (for some reason, almost always no one ends up following me on these things i want to do, and i definitely waited around for nothing). it was surprisingly easy to find. i was upset that there was no student discount, but the ticket covered all of the museums in the () plus at least one tour, so i guess it evened out. i really enjoyed looking at the old armor and weapons they had. i learned the word for armor: Rüstungstiele! i've been pretty into Rüstungstiele ever since i went to Köln, meaning i want to draw it all the time.



the watchtower was also a highlight, despite the rain. good views are always good views.







we got back to the hauptbahnhof, and a few trains later, we arrived at the small, silent, and beautiful town of Traunkirchen surrounded by the Alps and the Hallstätter See. so beautiful. the train ride itself was incredible, passing the lakes and clouds hovering over the mountains. wow.









(the others wanted to photograph me sitting here, aww)










two adult swans and their baby swan hung out with us for a little while, by which i mean they came uncomfortably close and hissed.




Frau Lonnes's friends met us at the lake and got us all up to the trail by car.



then we began the ascent up the mountain in the rain and the cold. it was definitely not the highlight of the trip, i'll say that much. at LAST we arrived at our home for the night, a large house/ranch thing in the middle of nowhere surrounded by llama and goat fields, and, strangely, two porcupines.




we immediately sat down to drink warm things and eat good food. i ate some venison + dumpling thing that was the best ever (but did not completely agree with my stomach, i discovered later) and PROBABLY one of the best cups of coffee i've ever had, and not just because ich war sehr kalt und feuscht.

it was here we became acquainted with florian, the 10 year old son of Frau Lonnes's friends. he spoke no english and we could barely understand him most of the time, but it wasn't really necessary because he behaved like every other hyper 10 year old i've ever met. he took pictures of us with his 3DS, which blew my mind. it was surreal coming across that technology for the first time in some obscure, desolate part of austria in the alps, surrounded by wooden furniture and walls. i wonder if florian will remember us.

we played some uno, some dice game, and then later a game of kings with a smaller faction of the VCU group. i thought it was fun and i learned a lot. i wish i could have learned the traditional austrian games, but i don't think my german would have been good enough to follow it. but who knows? i've surprised myself a lot with that. also, the guys were hilariously/excessively uncomfortable with their 4 bunk beds in a row arrangement, it was like two really really wide beds stacked on top of each other.