Day 58 - Travelling Home

Going Home

Today I go home. I took the train from the Salzburg Hbf. at 9:02. I worked on my math on the train. I felt super good because I understood what was going on. Then at the Westbanhof in Vienna I didn’t see Filip. We were supposed to meet for lunch, so I just got on the bus. Good thing I didn’t wait, turns out he was 45 minutes late. The flight felt like forever long but at least people sitting beside me spoke English this time. There was a little girl beside me. She told me she was 11, and she was visiting her grandparents in Romania and now going home to her parents. That’s quite a flight to be all by yourself at that age! On the other side there was a guy and his sister across the aisle. They had been visiting family in Europe for a month. She was reading my favourite book, the Hunger Games, and he was reading Harry Potter. The movies were pretty lame. And finally after what felt like forever I was in Toronto. I couldn’t wait to get home. Then my family wasn’t there. They were late. 45 minutes late. I was so sad. I started crying when I saw them. I missed my family a lot, I’m so glad to be back. The funniest part was that about five minutes after we walked in the door, Maryn called. I couldn’t have asked for better timing than that. So she came and said hi after work for a little bit. 

I had so much fun on this trip. It was the best way to blow 3 thousand dollars I think. And I had so much fun getting to know Dom better. We had tons of fun. I can’t wait to do it again. I guess I better start looking for a job! Also, if you'd like to see more pictures just shoot me a message, or come see me!

Day 57 - All Packed

Last Looks at the Old Town

Weird Decor at the Restaurant Where We Had Lunch

Today was rainy. Set to rain on and off. Of course it poured for the whole morning. Then it was sunny just long enough to walk into town and start lunch on the terrace. Lunch was alright although the restaurant was kind of weird. They had all dog statues and pictures everywhere. And they were dressed up oddly, kinda like little Lady Gaga Dogs. I also finished my packing today. I wasn’t able to fit the masks into my suitcase, which is good because I was worried they would break in there anyways, despite all the bubble-wrap. I put them in my carry-on. They should maybe be safe in there. I feel ready to go now that I’m all packed up. I just want to be home now. Anyways, I have planned tomorrow like so:

- 3 hour train ride to Vienna

- 45 minute bus ride to the airport

- 9 1/2 hour flight to Toronto

What a day. Tante Carole made Salmon Teriyaki again tonight. It was delicious, again! It’s funny that we had that my first and last night in Salzburg. 

Day 56 - Eggy Mountains

Music Hall

Concert Soloists

Dessert!

So this morning I went to a concert. It was actually amazing. It was about Ivan the Terrible. So... in Russian, but it had subtitles above the stage (are they still subtitles if they are above the stage?). The Vienna Philharmonic was playing with a choir, male and female soloists, a narrator (a speaking part, well played), and Gerard Depardieux (from Cyrano de Bergerac) as Ivan the Terrible (another speaking part, obviously well played). They were all amazing! Oh, there was also a boys’ choir. They were all little and cute. I was very impressed with the brass section; they were glorious. The female soloist was very strong, very good. And I thought Gerard Depardieux was amazing, although I’m told his Russian sucks. I didn’t notice. Some friends of Tante Carole and Uncle Rainer were visiting from Vienna. They were very nice. Afterwards, I took my Aunt and Uncle to dinner. It was wonderfully delicious and ended with a Salzburger Knokurl (?). I don’t know how to spell that. It’s pretty much just egg whites, except more eggy than meringue. It was alright. It was more exciting to see than to eat. It’s just a big fluffy...thing. It’s like three little mountains. Anyways, it was a fun dinner. 

Day 55 - Oh Beautiful Sunshine

Riko, Hide and Me

Today was meant to pour rain all day. So I planned to read and do some math. I quit as soon as I saw the sun peaking out around noon. I grabbed my stuff and headed to the pool for the afternoon. I didn’t do much else besides swim and laze about all afternoon. Riko and Hide came over for supper as well. We had penne with tomatoes and mozzarella for dinner. It was delicious!

Day 54 - The Salt Mines

View of Hallstatt

Geared up for the Salt Mines

Mine Slides inside the mountain

View from our lunch spot

Today is Friday the 13th! Ah! Tante Carole and I went with Riko and Hide to the salt mines at Hallstatt. That’s right! I spent the whole day with a dentist! He said I had very nice teeth, but I didn’t tell him about the braces or all the cavities. At Hallstatt, we had to ride the cable car up the mountain. Then we learned about all the graves and tools/jewelry/artifacts that were found on the mountain from the oldest salt miners in the world (7000 years). Then we took a tour through the mountain (in protective clothing), where we learned about mining and miners throughout history. This makes it sound super boring but it was actually fun and interesting. They had wooden mining slides that took us down into the mountain. They went pretty fast. I was going 20 km/h. Tante Carole made 26 km/h! Our tour guide made 35.8 km/h!! I’m sure she practices though. At the end we rode a little train thing out of the mountain. Overall it was a pretty fun tour. Then we got a late lunch at a brewhouse built in 1595. Tante Carole let me in on a secret of not eating at crappy touristy places. She said always head for the church, because that’s where the town centre is, where all the town council buildings are and all the best cafes and other things to see and eat. It was a nice lunch right on the water, with a view of the mountains and a small castle right across the water. It was great. Later we had dinner with Rainer. It was a pretty fancy restaurant, so I had Chardonnay instead of my usual orangensaft. I ate chicken (which turned out to be wrapped in bacon, it was interesting) with a wild mushroom sauce and risotto balls (which was really just deep fried rice). Today was a great day. 

Day 53 - Linzerstrasse

The Oldest Drugstore in Salzburg

Today I went for a walk on the new-town side of the river (although, I think it is still older than Fergus). I went up Linzerstrasse, which is a shopping street, but isn’t so touristy and expensive like in the old town. I got some things to do my math and some cute fish magnets. It’s kinda weird how much I love magnets and stickers. It’s probably really childish. I also bought two more books and a sweater because I like sweaters too. When I got back to the apartment I felt pretty sick, so I went to bed. I got up once to eat some bread, but I pretty much slept until the next day, at which point, I felt better. 

Day 52 - Riko and Hide

Tante Carole, Hide and Riko

Nothing really happened today. I worked on the puzzle. I helped Tante Carole with the groceries. I started on the U of G math package. I think I’m stupid. Although to be fair, I haven’t done any math in over a year. Also, Riko and Hide were visiting from Japan, so they came for coffee. She is a tennis player and he is a dentist. They both look very young but Riko is 40-something and Hide is 52. They were very nice and we might see them again on Friday for a day-trip.