Salzburg

I left you last night saying that I was sharing a room with other guys who were probably going to be out late and come home loud. I said that I needed to fall asleep before they got home. Unfortunately, I didn't fall asleep in time. Two of them came home, and they were both respectably quiet. We had a short conversation. One of them was named Djanko, and he came from Australia. He's a student in Sydney who has been traveling around Europe for the past 2 months on his holiday break. Last night was his last night in Salzburg. The other guy showed up after Djanko and I had already gone to bed. He was an older Asian guy wearing swim trunks and a polo. I don't know what the deal is with swim trunks, but Djanko was wearing them too. It's cold outside. There's a lot of snow, and I don't see a hottub. Anyways, they were both wearing swim trunks. My biggest mistake was not falling asleep before that Asian guy got home. Turns out, he is the loudest snorer I've ever heard. Long, deep, thick snores; all night. I slept horribly, but I know I slept for a little bit because I didn't see one of my other roommates come in. This morning, I woke up and came downstairs to eat breakfast. It was a rather expensive breakfast (3 euro) for what they provided (yogurt, granola, coffee, and rolls). It was only 9 am when I finished, so I wrote some emails. Around 10, I decided it was time to go out. All morning, the snow had been falling in huge snowflakes, but there was nothing left to do in the hostel. I went out with no plans, only an idea of where the main train station stood. So I walked, and I walked. I walked a lot. I walked around my entire neighborhood, found the train station, and walked around that entire neighborhood. I saw a lot of old buildings, but nothing really impressive. But then I found a bridge that goes over the river Salzach. Now that was something impressive. The open area showed me a view that couldn't be seen through the mass buildings I'd seen for most of the morning. From the bridge, I could see mountains, towering churches, and the famous castle. Somebody told me to visit the castle, but I heard it cost money so I didn't want to go. I'm a terrible tourist. I don't really want to pay to see anything, and I'm really bad at taking pictures. The pictures I do have are nothing compared to the ones taken by the people I just left in Herrnhut. They were professionals. Anyways, the view was amazing, but I decided to head a different direction than towards the castle. I headed back towards the main train station. My idea was to find a place to eat and maybe check out the mall, so I went to get a ticket. Like always, I had no clue what ticket to buy or what train to take, so I just bought what I thought was best and hopped on what I thought was right. Nobody came around to check for tickets, so I felt good about the ticket situation. Within a couple minutes, we arrived at Salzburg Europark, a huge crazy looking building that is the mall. I made my way around the mall; a lot of overpriced European clothes, jewelry, snow gear, and restaurants. What came next was marvelous. I walked out a different entrance than the one I came in, and I saw a huge building across the courtyard. It was an Ikea. I've heard of Ikea, and I've seen it on a movie, but I've never been in one. I knew that they were huge, and people can get lost in them. My idea was that I had a whole day to do nothing, so why not get lost in Ikea? I walked in the door to see pure madness. If you've ever been in Ikea, you know what I'm talking about. There were a million people going every which way. Some of them were following little arrows on the ground which set before the customers a guided path in order to get the best possible view of every item in the store. There were maps at every corner, and information kiosks could be seen from every point you stood. The store was huge. I think you could build 100 houses out of that one store. Maybe more, I don't know. A lot, though. It took me only about 30 minutes to get through, but I was happy to have wasted that half hour. I got back on the train and headed towards the main train station again. After the train, I got a dürüm and headed home to take a break. I had already walked so far, including at least a mile in Ikea. My legs were tired, and I was cold. It was only 3 pm. I got home, ate, sat, then went back out. Not too much of a break. I went out with a goal this time, though. My goal was to make it to the castle, which was quite a ways away from where I had seen it on the bridge. I think it was at least 2 miles from that bridge. I brought my camera in hopes that the photographer that had been instilled in me in Herrnhut would finally prove itself. The path I took was right along the river. I feel like I should write something like, 'it was such a beautiful walk along the rushing river with the powerful Alps looming just in the distance,' but that's not really what I like to do. It was beautiful. The sights were magnificent, but you can look them up on the internet if you want. It's not really about the things that you see to me, rather, I enjoy the feeling you get when experiencing it. I'm sure that's how everybody thinks, but I thought I had to say it. So I was walking, and the castle was getting closer and closer. I looked up and there was a cliff to my right with a big church tower on top of it. Right in front of me, there were steps that took me there. It was nice because the area I had just found was quiet; no people. It was through the woods where you could see adults sledding if you looked through the right trees. I enjoyed the peaceful area after being in the busy city. I walked around the woods for a bit, then continued my trek to the castle. It was almost 4 by now, so the sun was on its way down. I wanted to make it there before it was dark so I could maybe get a picture. I climbed down the cliff stairs to the river path and walked. A whole new section of town came up on the right. This was the section where Mozart was from. I saw the house where he was born. Then I saw the castle. I could only see slivers through the buildings, so I searched for a better view. I'm sorry to tell you, I never found it. The sun was down, and it was cold. I saw many great views of the strongest fortitude in all of Europe through the old baroque-style of architecture buildings. All of those old buildings next to me were shops, banks, post offices, museums, and they all had Mozart in the name. The walk home took about an hour. I got another dürüm and some chocolate. Now, I'm in the internet cafe part of my hostel. My legs are very tired, and I'm ready for bed. It's only 7:20, though, so I rented a movie on my computer and plan on watching that until I fall asleep. Tomorrow is a big day. I'm finally going to Klagenfurt. My plans for this day began last year around this time. Now, it is happening. I'm meeting another student at the train station, and he is going to help me get into my apartment. I think that the foreigners club at the university also has karaoke planned for all of us. We'll see how that goes. I will write when I arrive. Good night.