into another country

days flew, as they generally do when they don't have anything else to do, and the next weekend, a 3-day one, was on us again. and the usual frenzy, where to go, what places to see, how to go, when come back. gets frustrating at times, but then it had to be done, so be it.

this weekend was dedicated to austria. saturday morning, train to salzburg, a cute little city at the border of austria and germany, with barely a population of 150,000. the place is so small that even in a day, u could do the rounds of the city twice, and still have enough time to have a heavy dinner, catch a couple of hrs sleep and take ur train to vienna. that is precisely what we did, or atleast tried to, coz we didn't have much that one can qualify as 'dinner', and that couple of hrs were an agonizing 4 hrs at a waiting room in salzburg, with the temperature no more than 5°C. hey, but i m jumping details. let's start from the start.

so saturday morning, reached salzburg, and got a map. most famous as the birthplace of mozart, this city is surrounded by alps on all the sides. we took an hr before starting the tour of the city, when we decided on the places that we were going to see, and picked up what would eventually be our 'dinner'. mirabell gardens was the first destination. u would know this place if u have seen 'sound of music'. it was here that maria and the children sang 'do re mi'. good place to see. from there we moved on to mozart wohnhaus, and my knowledge abt his life took a quantam leap. we kept on moving from one place to another, castles and churches, the mozart platz (one of the more beautiful city centres that i know). next we moved on to a very famous and old castle overlooking the alps in the south. gosh!! how beautiful that looked, with sunlight filtering in thru the clouds. u could easily spend an hr there, only admiring the details of the scenery. we stayed there and came down by a road track, coz a very cute ice-cream vendor suggested us that the view is really nice. we kept on jumping from place to place, until the day drew to a close. the last few hrs before hauptbahnhof were spent sitting along the bank of salzbach, doing nothing, just introspecting.

neither having a place to stay, nor an idea of a night in the middle of may in salzburg, meant that we had to make HBF as our home for the last 4-5 hrs. not the best of the times, i must say. it was cold and windy, and the icing on the cake was a toe of mine, gone sore. the train to vienna was right on time, at 2am, when we dragged ourselves in it and slept off (or tried to, at any rate) for 4-5 hrs.

sunday morning, vienna, the austrian capital, and their largest city. presented not the best of appearances at 8am, and we were wondering if we made the right choice of place for the weekend. but then the day opened up, and we went along to see places. another striking city centre (very different from others, bear in mind) with a huge and famous cathedral. then we moved on to the area around the parliament which was the main attraction of the city with wonderful buildings (mind u, i mean it -- its not just another city with just another 'beautiful' buildings), the most prominent being the famous sisi museum. we spent quite some time there. fatigue was coming along, not only for the lack of sleep, but also for the lack of proper meals. schonbrunn castle (we did not go inside) had beautiful parks surrounding it, which gave a nice view of the whole city. the best part was the maze and labyrinth, and a small children's park nearby. i don't know abt ravi but it sure refreshed me. my toe was getting more difficult by the moment, and i was even having trouble walking. any plans for using the holiday on monday were immediately dropped. we dragged ourselves to prater, had a ride in a giant wheel, tried going to donau beach, but it was too late in the evening and was empty. so much done, and a very exhausting tour completed, we came back to the station around 9:30. the train for munich left at 11, and we barely had the energies to droop ourselves onto the train seats when it came. by now, my toe was aching like hell. but i still had time to admire the fact that vienna central station was more beautiful and more well maintained than the indira gandhi international airport at new delhi.

came back monday morning. the part of the journey from ostbahnhof to munich passed on less than half awake and when we awoke after having slept for 5-6 hrs, it felt like it was another day. did not have the energies to go out, so we stayed at home, and somehow managed to pass our time.

so much for not planning properly, haa!!