The strangest two week vacation

All the walking doesn't stop. In fact, it seems to be all I've been doing since I've arrived in Salzburg. I've walked on a panoramic trail to the Hohensalzburg Fortress twice, once in the rain and once in the sun. I've walked to the Bräu Haus, but that was never begrudgingly. I've walked down the majority of the Gaisberg...well slipped mostly, wet roots are not safe to step on. I've walked back and forth to German class every day - a 50 minute round trip. I've walked to buy a bike, failed, and walked back. I've walked down 4 flights of stairs everyday to leave my building because the elevator only goes up from the first floor (All ya'll logistical peeps are gonna tell me that doesn't work. Trust, it does. There's only a button for the elevator on the first floor). I've walked to and from Hellbrunn, about 6 miles. I've walked and walked and walked, and it's all beautiful. 

Just please, a bike, eventually.

Today is exciting because it's finally nice out. I think we've had one nice day here besides today. Otherwise the weather has averaged around 50 degrees and drizzly. It might even get up to 70 tomorrow!

So many things to write about, and I'm completely lacking the brainpower to do it, so instead I'll give a sentence or two about some funny pictures.

The Augustiner Bräustübl: Tasty beer + expensive prices = a good time nonetheless

A view of Altstadt and the fortress from the footbridge.

The panoramic view from the hike

The fortress from behind.

OMG Bergs. The alps.

Heyyy look! It's me! And my favorite statue! In the Mirabellgarten!

Another view of the Mirabellgarten

Out to dinner. From left my roommate Ja, Kristen, Jeff ruining the picture, and Jeff's roommate Jon.

Cool! A mountain view from atop another mountain (Geisberg)

I wasn't the first person to verbalize the Misty Mountains LoTR reference, but I may have been the first person to think of it.

A view from the bell tower at Hohenwerfen.

The Birds of Prey show. Hawk up! Norris would be so stoked to see this.

Sweet.

The trick fountains at Hellbrunn.

Jeff, Scott, Ja, Andreas, Matt and Liz getting owned by the table and stools. 

A bunch of us decided to walk up to see the hunting lodge and cave theater, which I unfortunately couldn't capture because my camera died. From left Geoff, Ja, Liz, Jeff, Sarah, Taylor, Me, Scott, Jered, Hillary, Jon and Jared.

Last night at Shamrocks...an irish pub in Austria. Taylor, Scott, Seth, Seth's friend Florian from Berlin, Liz, Jeff and me :)

Bis Später!

Willkommen nach Salzburg! (via London/Munich)

The morning after Picadilly Circus, we took a tour of London. I hopped on a bus (a coach actually) filled with a lot of kids destined for Paris. Sightseeing brough us to statues and buildings, soldiers and Buckingham Palace, Trafalgar Square, Parliment and Big Ben, St. Paul's Cathedral (unfortunately, there was no feeding of the birds - forget tuppence, it'd probably be £5 a bag considering how expensive London is) Tower Bridge, the Tower of London and Covent Square. 

A few of us stumbled away from the bus after the tour in search of food (being starved has become a regular occurance, nay reality, ever since my flight to London). After munching on a "pasty" (short a) and exchanging money in the lingere section of a department store (awk), we set off to find the British Museum. We found it an hour later and popped in for a bit, but honestly, museums not being my thing, I sat down after a while. My feet were mad at me. 

I split off from the group on the underground, returned to my room, blogged to you lovely folks about my previous night, shut my eyes for a bit, woke up to some cartoon blaring next door, got panicky that I wouldn't be able to meet up with anyone else from the group for dinner, decided to go write a postcard in the park, and found the post office closed. Luckily, people started trickling back into the hotel after their free evening and finally Kristin, Jeff and I made our way to an Indian buffet (I checked Mom, it is "eat as much as you'd like". Sounds better than "all you can eat" huh?) 

Afterwards, I had to make good on my promise to Dave to try to visit his bars. Jeff agreed to come along with me and we rode the underground to Putney Bridge to find The Bricklayers Arms. After getting lost a few times, we finally found the place. And Dave, let me tell you...you are going to be so depressed that you weren't there. Not only were you right about the "who the hell are you?" stares we'd get upon entering, but you weren't kidding about it being one of a kind. Jeff and I just happened to stumble upon one of two annual beer festivals held outside. Roughly 30 beers were on tap, all of them I'd never heard of, and although some kegs were already kicked (we got there around 10pm) the guy pouring never led us in the wrong direction. 

We each had two and somewhere around the second we decided it was a good idea to stay up the whole night, rather than get a few hours sleep before our 5:15 departure for Heathrow. Idiotic? Maybe. Worth every step? Definitely. 

And so began our walk back to the hotel. Since our map of London was of no use (Putney Bridge was too far South) it never made its way out of the hotel. My sense of direction was "go up" (North, for those of you who know I always have a mental map in my head) and Jeff's was, "go East". So we did both. We walked past bars and people, closed shops and cars; we were all over the place really. Our second good idea came in the form of a bottle of white wine purchased about 1/3 of the way into the walk. The nice man in the liquor store even uncorked it for us! We forgot cups though, so you can imagine how classy we looked. Every now and then we'd stop and ask for directions, and most people would laugh when we said Hyde Park. I guess we weren't too close...

Around 3:30am we decided to call it quits. 5 minutes from our destination by taxi, we paid the man (in Pounds and Euros) and I crawled into bed at 4am. 

Zombie-like, I dragged myself to the bus a mere hour and a quarter later and was in and out of sleep en route to Heathrow. After a small breakfast of granola, yogurt and OJ, I boarded the flight to Munich where I slept uncomfortably for an hour. Upon arrival, we were met by another bus and a 3 hour ride (including traffic) to Salzburg. Our dorming information was handed out. All I wanted was food, and I could barely savor my Mozartkugel (a small chocolate that Salzburg is famous for) as it was my lunch. Finally we arrived. 

My new roommate Ja (who is from Thailand and goes to school in Wisconsin) and I got into a taxi, and I tried to say our address to the taxi driver. Linzergasse 41 bitte. Through my fatigue, it didn't sound so good and so I had to pass the paper up to the front of the car and point at the address. Yeesh. We checked into our building, which is actually a dorm as well as a youth hostel, and I barely managed to unpack. My shower refreshed me, and I was quite excited to use Ja's blow dryer as my hair has suffered since my first shower in London. I plugged it in, hit the switch and bam! Out goes the power. Greeeeat. Dinner was a blur, I could barely eat without feeling nauseated and I didn't talk much. I wearily came back to the room and fell asleep at 8pm. It was fantastic.

I just flew in from JFK...

...And  boy, are my feet tired! I have pounded so much pavement in the past 40ish hours...

The flight went smoothly...I sat next to Kristin from UVM and we chatted for a bit while playing with the TVs and trying to get them to work. Which they didn't. Dinner was served around 8ish. Then around 10:30 it was time to try sleeping, but the air hostesses thought it'd be a good time to sell duty free things and get into an extensive conversation about perfumes with the passenger in front of me. Chanel no. 5, Dior, A&F has a new fragrance that can only be bought in the states! Criminal! I put on my iPod and fell asleep for maybe 30 minutes.

And so it was that I flew out of a sunset and into a sunrise. All in a matter of 6 and a half hours. Flying over England was beautiful in the early morning hours. All the lights from the sky look like tiny orange crystals against the lush green land. As we approached London, fog set in over the city and I don't even know how the pilot found the strip. 

2 am EST - up 18 hours : 

From the tarmac we were shuttled to the terminal. While walking to customs, we met up with Aaron, also from UVM and Jeff, from somewhere that I don't know yet. The customs woman was curious about my trip and I was flattered by her interest. Then I realized that was her job. 

3 am EST - up 19 hours:

The four of us make our way down to our luggage and out into the meeting point. I felt like a runner finishing a marathon. People were thronging, pushing against one another and holding signs with names on them. And then, like Stephano Baldini, our JFK group was broadsided by a large Greek (Italian?) man in a suit, bade to follow him, whisked into an elevator and packed into a VW van for the scariest car rides of my life.

3:45 am EST  -up 19:45 hours:

We arrive at the Park Hotel and can't check in yet. Instead, myself, the JFKers, and a few other new arrivals take off to find a coffee shop for some breakfast (It's now 8:45 am in London).  After some coffee and a croissant, we go for a stroll in Hyde Park, which is across from the hotel. I fed some funny ducks my crackers from the plane.

6:30 am EST - up 22:30:

We return to the hotel to a lobby full of students waiting for their rooms. It is first come, first serve based on our initial arrival time in the hotel. There are a lot of us, and about half are going to Paris for the semester, as AIFS combined the two semesters on the London stopover. 

7 am EST - up 23 hours:

A room!! I unpack my stuff a bit, wash my face, change, brush my teeth, and head upstairs to meet Hillary and go to the Globe! We end up leaving closer to 1 pm, but we make it just in time for the start of The Merry Wives of Windsor. For just £5 or £6 (I don't remember, things are seriously hazy at this point), roughly $10-$12, I got a Groundling ticket and was able to stand on the ground (duh) and watch the show. My back hurt but the play was fantastic and thoroughly entertaining, so obviously it was worth the trip.

12:55 pm EST - up 28:55 hours:

I make it back to the hotel with 5 minutes to spare before the welcome reception starts. I run upstairs for a shower, can't figure out how to get anything but the hand-held shower head  and cold water to work so I deal, try to dry my hair and throw on some make-up and I make it downstairs by 20 after 6 pm GMT. Snag the last glass of red wine.

1:30 pm EST - up 29:25 hours:

Mingle, mingle, mingle. Salzburg or Paris? Paris. Oh, nevermind. Groups start peeling off in search of dinner. I invite way too many people to dinner, run upstairs to grab a sweater, fall up the stairs, recover, grab my sweater, and go outside. I can't find anyone I was talking to and instead JFK (minus Kristin), Brian M., Brian S., and some girl I didn't meet  and I start walking towards Queensway Street for dinner. 

2:30pm EST - up 30: 25 hours:

My innate ability to find a good pub emerges and we walk into The Kings Pub (or at least I think that's the name). Food! (Finally, since the  wine on an empty stomach wasn't a good start). I order a Hoegaarden and the glass is too big to fit my hand around. Carmen, who I introduced myself to on the walk to dinner, orders a Pims. We're already getting along great when she drops the P bomb. Paris. Bummer.

3:45 pm EST - up 32:10 hours:

We stop back at the hotel and upon the recommendation of the bartender, hop a bus to Piccadilly Circus. Imagine Times Square, with less traffic, less bright signs, more narrow winding streets and people all over them drinking. 

Figuring we can't go wrong unless it gets too expensive, we make our way into The Yard and Loftbar. Carmen spots it first. There's way too many guys here for a straight bar but the boys are making their way up to the bartender, oblivious. We let them know, and they are mature about it so we stay for a drink. I talk with Brian M. as I watch him get checked out from behind. 

(From left: Jeff, Brian S. Brian M, me, Carmen and Aaron)

From there we cross the street and silently and unanimously decide to wander in to a sex shop. The last straw for Brian M. (with the gay bar a very recent memory) comes when I point out the Ass-Master. Back out on the street, we are wandering, but not aimlessly. I think I find the White Horse! No, it's not, I may be drunk but I still sort of know roughly where I am. 

We walk into another bar (please, like I even know the name) and they have TIMOTHY TAYLOR'S LANDLORD!

I buy one because Dave demanded it. Delicious. It tastes like grapefruit. Carmen orders one and so does Aaron. A promoter tries to get us to go into a club, ladies free, guys £5. We debate for too long, but just long enough when your drunk.

Brian S. talks to this guy:

We don't go in. Instead we pop into one more bar. The bar closes at 11:30...I think, so we can only order a half glass. Brian M. and I share a Guinness and we move onward. 

After much debate, we climb onto the right bus and run into a jovial homeless black man singing show tunes. Brian M. and Carmen strike up a conversation with him. After we get off at our stop, we try to find a packy, wander into a gas station, realize we should have done this earlier, and walk back to the hotel. 

8:30 pm EST - up 37:05 hours:

Back in my room, we're talking about god knows what and I'm musing about forgetting playing cards. Kristin comes back to the room and we call it a night, a hectic, exciting, tasty, gay, funny, completely and simultaneously exhausting and thrilling night. 

Ahhhhh!

Oh wow...my flight's tomorrow. When did this happen?

I spent a good portion of the afternoon packing and playing with space bags. Totally awesome. You guys should see my pillow; it's completely flat.

Now if I can only find a way to put Ollie in one of the bags...I wonder if he'd come out just as fluffy once it reinflates.

I call this, "Can I Come Too?".

The countdown begins...

Okay, so that's not entirely true...the countdown has been going on for a number of days, months even, but now I'm actually starting to freak a little. I haven't begun to pack and I have a loose notion of what I need. I can't even pack light for a weekend, let alone 3 1/2 months! I leave 9 days from today and I'm oscillating between complete excitement and sheer panic.

I said goodbye to Eric this morning :( sehr traurig. I almost stole something that smelled like him to bring along but I'd been in his apartment for too long over the weekend to tell if anything smelled like him at all. I considered taking his deodorant but I figured he'd miss that. So instead I'll just get some killer pic of the two of us. He looks Austrian anyway.

Other than that, I'm busy collecting mailing addresses for my Great Postcard Project. Want a postcard from a faraway land? Well, hand over your addresses! If you're not sure if I'd write to you, I probably wouldn't, but hey, give it a shot anyway! Everyone loves mail. I know I do! That being said, here's MY address if you want to write me:

Kelly Kaye c/o AIFS

Makartplatz 5
5020 Salzburg
Austria

If you have a package to send or are sending a slightly larger letter/envelope, make sure to write the following phrases on the outside of the package, BOTH the English and German:

"Used Personal Belongings" and "Student-keine Handelsware"

Apparently for packages to get through, you have to tell the Austrian postal workers that some of my old crap is being sent. Please don't send me old crap. I don't want some junky toothbrush or nail clippers or a half-eaten sandwich. The food I'll be eating over there will be ten times better. Suckas.

Fröliches Reisen!