First few days in Puch & Salzburg!

Oh my! So much to write about, it's hard to determine what is worthy! 

I have been busy this week, as it is the Welcome Week/Orientation for all the incoming students for this semester. A mixture of information to help us newbies get around campus, how to get the best out of our stay and of course, ending each night with a visit to a famous brewery or pub. 

A group of friends and myself decided to go out for dinner, so after taking the train and the bus to where we think the restaurant is we get wonderfully lost and came across the Medieval City of Salzburg.  Unfortunately it was nighttime, so my pictures are not that great but the infrastructure alone was beyond incredible. Walking through narrow cobble stone streets that seemed as if they were lit with lanterns and tall brick buildings, each a different pastel colour, on either side of the street. And then approaching the massive cathedrals and bishops quarters, complete with the Salzburg Castle on top of the mountain, overlooking everything. On Tuesday, all students were taken to the city centre for a 'City Tour' and we went to this same place, and I was often the subject of laughter because I was in such awe of everything around me. Being the only Canadian, and never seeing anything like it I was constantly expressing my infatuation with "Wowwww!" "Whatt!" "This is insane!". Many of the students were surprised to hear there is nothing like this back in Canada. Below is a picture of the entrance into the Cathedral dom zu Salzburg that we visited. This picture does not do it justice. The size of this cathedral was amazing enough, but the you start to get lost in all the detail and paintings. It's incredible!

Amongst other things we visited during our city tour were WWII sites, the smallest house in Austria, a famous cafe in which I had the delicious traditional hot chocolate (yumm!), climbed the mountain near the city centre with an outstanding view of the entire city at the top! I found the The WWII 'site' to be very interesting. There is this narrow street that the Germans wanted to get through, and they decided to drive a tank down this narrow path and obviously, they got stuck. You can clearly see the parts of the building on the side of the street that was taken out due to this..err.. lack of judgement.

     Salzburg has very narrow streets everywhere! Narrow enough that when a bus comes into the city centre, the traffic has to be stopped in the oncoming direction to let the bus pass. Very odd for me to experience! 

The view from the top of the castle was breathtaking. It was nothing like I have ever seen. And I am sure I will see many more views like this in my travels... and I don't think I'll ever get used to how beautiful and colourful Europe is! In the picture below, you will see the cathedrals I visited (right/middle) and the Salzburg Castle on top of the mountain, and the river that runs through the city on the left. I can look at this picture for hours and still find it as beautiful as the first time. 

Another great view from the top of the mountain... 

 We finished the night at a well known brewery in Salzburg called the Augustiner Brewery in the City Centre. They have been brewing their own beer (in house) since 1621 and is one of Salzburg's best breweries. They offer 500ml mugs and 1L mugs. Massive, heavy and sturdy mugs, but yet they fit in your hand so nicely!  Can you guess which size I went for? 

There will be so much more to experience and write about in the next few weeks, as I begin to explore the neighbouring countries on weekend road trips. Some upcoming plans include going to Cologne for Carnival and then off to Berlin to hopefully attend a Tourism Conference! 

To say the least...I love Austria! 

Auf Wiedersehen!