Austria Trip
Yesterday, the band, orchestra, choir and chaperons all got back from Austria. We left last Thursday for DIA, and after one 10-hour flight and another 45-minute one, followed by a long bus ride, we arrived at the Prinz Eugen Hotel in Vienna. We took a bus tour of the city, ate dinner at a nice restaurant and then went to see the Vienna Mozart Orchestra in concert. Unfortunately, everyone was so tired from being up almost 30 hours straight that no one could stay awake during the concert.
After sleeping well that night, we got up the next morning and spent some time on the streets of Vienna, via the subway. The public transportation system in Austria is pretty much perfect. You buy a ticket, and once you validate it it’s good for two hours. During this time period, you can ride any of the city’s public transportation (busses, street cars, subways) in any direction as much as you like!
When our time there ran out, we went to a senior center (which was really nice, and funded by the state) to play a concert for the residents. We played well, and were even invited to stay for coffee and cake! That night, we ate at a restaurant similar to Gordon Biersch in America. We had a sort of hamburger with no bun on a plate, and then went to the amusement park to ride a huge ferris wheel and ride a few of the rides. We went on bumper cars.
The next morning, we went on another tour of Vienna, this time focusing on famous classical music composers of the city. The most notable, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, appeared everywhere in both Vienna and Salzburg. As part of the tour, we went into the Mozarthouse Vienna. This was the building where Mozart actually lived, worked and taught private lessons. From there, it was off to the castle of Empress Maria Theresia where we had a tour of the amazing building. The choir sang a few songs outside of the palace, but it was too rainy for the band or orchestra. Because of the extra time this allowed, we went to an Easter market that was set up in the courtyard. Dinner that night was in traditional Austrian style with a buffet of various delicious meats. We stopped on the way back to the hotel at a beautiful overlook of Vienna, which looked amazing at night.
The next morning was Easter Monday. We attended a Catholic mass at the Melk Abbey, a truly magnificent church. Choir and orchestra played some music along with the massive pipe organ. After the service, we toured the massive building complex and then boarded the buses again. After driving on the Autobahn for a while, we stopped at a rest stop and my friends and I ate Winerschnitzel. It is an amazingly delicious food. We then got back on the road for another few hours and finally arrived in Salzburg.
We checked in to our hotel, which was considerably more… cozy than the one in the huge city of Vienna. That night we went to Sport-Oase Salzburg, which was a very American-feeling bowling alley and mini-golf place. We had spaghetti and ice cream for dinner, and then bowled a few games. We got back to the Turnerwirt Hotel and slept.
The next day, we had a walking tour of the old town of Salzburg. It was a lot different than Vienna. We saw the huge Hohensalzburg Fortress from the 11th century, and then went to a local mall to shop. It was a lot like an American mall, though, except with much better food. We then had wings and ribs at the Fürsberg Restaurant.
The last day of our trip consisted of visiting a salt mine that had been in operation from 500 BC to 1982 AD. It was a lot more interesting than it sounds, though, especially with what I’ve learned in my world history class at school. Later that day, we went to a music school for 11-14 year olds and gave a concert, then had time to socialize with the students. This basically ended up with us sitting there eating food awkwardly and being made fun of in German by the students. Luckily, we went to the Mozart Dinner Concert that night and had a several-course candlelight dinner with live Mozart music in a restaurant that had been serving since 800 AD.
The next morning, our trip home began at 3:20am (Austria Time) and lasted until about 3:30pm (Denver Time, which is 10:30pm Austria Time). We had two bus rides and one very, very long plane ride.
Overall, the trip was spectacular. It was great time with friends, and we got to see a lot of very cool things while we were there. Seeing the way of life in Europe was one of the coolest cultural experiences. I’d like to go back to Europe someday and see a different part, like France or Spain.