Austria - Photos
Blogged on 30 September, 2008 at 3:41 PM by AndrewFinally I've uploaded selected photos of Austria. Unfortunately, there are no photos of our 3rd day (17.09.08) due to problems with the camera, but there still are two photos that were taken by a camera in the salt mines.
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| Austria (14/09/08 - 21/09/08) |
Mozart
Blogged on 25 September, 2008 at 6:27 PM by AndrewRemember I had promised you a little talk about Mozart? Here it is.
Having returned from my vacation in Austria, I'll describe something interesting about Salzburg and Mozart. I’ll assume I have gone to Austria without the least knowledge on this person, Mozart (which I hope is not the case with any of you readers). Well, after having walked through the streets of Salzburg and having visited a number of shops, I can proudly say to have learned that this man, so adored by the Austrians, is the one to have created or invented a kind of...chocolates. But really, everywhere you went, you'd see these chocolates nicely packed in boxes displaying Mozart’s face, or Mozart holding the box of chocolates. How can you think otherwise? You can see for yourselves:
And while discussing this, I can also mention that I’ve seen a book called: ‘The Sound of Cooking’.
These Austrians are quite proud with Mozart and The Sound of Music. Creating something like ‘The Sound of Cooking’ or Mozart Chocolates is certainly a good way to market your products. I’ll admit I haven’t seen such ‘strategies’ in Malta, but they definitely wouldn’t have been a bad idea. We can have ‘The Chocolates of St.John’ or ‘The Great Chocolate Siege of Malta’.
Ratatouille!
Blogged on 22 September, 2008 at 8:15 PM by Andrew
Does that look familiar? Did you enjoy that movie? Regardless, you may not watch that movie anymore.
I eated it!
(Grammatical error is intentional)
Salzburg, Austria - Day 6 & 7
Blogged on 21 September, 2008 at 12:26 AM by Andrew19th – 20th September
Hellbrun & the End
The vacation was nearing its end, and we had to decide which places to visit in the remaining days. The decision for today was Hellbrun, famous for the ‘Trick Fountains’ (and not related in any way to ‘hell’). After wishing my brother a happy birthday in the early morning, we headed out to catch the train to Salzburg once again. Luckily, this was the third day with good weather, enjoying some short sunny moments.
At Salzburg, we caught the bus towards Hellbrun, immediately visiting the Trick Fountains. If you haven’t noticed yet, it was a large place filled with fountains of different kinds, obviously with their own histories. A fun thing about this place was that one fountain could start to shoot water just in front of you, or above you. It would happen when you least expect it. For instance: You’re at one spot and need to walk through a hallway. There are active fountains at the sides of the hallway, but if you walk in the centre, you will not get wet. However, you realize that at the beginning of the hallway, there are small holes on the floor that – at any time – may shoot water upwards. Knowing this, you rush through this part and walk calmly towards the end of the hallway. This is where it gets you. At the end of the hallway are a few other holes nicely hidden in the wall that would be in front of you, that would shoot water directly onto you, just when you’re feeling all relaxed and calm because you (thought to) have avoided the water.
And below are a few other photos of my mum, dad and myself on this cool slide, without mentioning it was a children’s slide. Just look at our delightful faces.
After reluctantly deciding to let the younger children play with that slide, we headed towards the Salzburg Zoo, which was only a few minutes’ walk from where we were. There isn’t much to say about it, but by all means, I do not say it wasn’t exciting. I can mention that I was looking forward to see the wolves and tigers at the zoo, but we spotted none on our way in. Luckily they woke up on our way back, though I still didn’t get to see the Jaguar. A few photos below (hopefully I can get a few more ‘different’ photos uploaded in the future, but I need certain...permissions):
While walking out of Hellbrun, we took another photo at the entrance. Don’t we look like a serious music band with those looks and poses?
The day ended with a good meal at our favourite restaurant back in St. Johann im Pongau. Nothing could finish off the day better than the excellent beer, food and dessert the restaurant has to offer.
The next day, Friday the 20th of September was practically our last day in Austria. We decided to forget the ice caves for this vacation, and be a little relaxed on this last day (also because we had no chance of waking up early after the beer from the day before, which were followed by a complimentary round of red wine liquor). We simply visited some shops in St. Johann, then later headed to Salzburg, moving about the city. In the evening, for the third consecutive time, we dined at that same restaurant, most of us ordering the same kind of beer, the same kind of dish and the same kind of dessert. We surely are going to miss this restaurant.
Back at the hotel, we packed our things since tomorrow, we will be leaving the hotel early...very early. In fact, while I am writing this, I realize I have to wake up in less than 6 hours (and even less until I would have posted this). Below are the last two photos for the moment (we’ll make albums with much more photos when we’re back in Malta):
Wish us a safe trip back. Good night to all :)
Salzburg, Austria - Day 5
Blogged on 19 September, 2008 at 10:46 PM by Andrew18th September
Welfen
Today, my brother and I were determined to go on a bike trip to some place. At first we planned to have a trip from Salzburg city to the lake Königssee which would roughly be 30km. However, due to potentially hilly roads, we instead decided to head north to Werfen from the town we are at, St. Johann im Pongau. Mum and dad would travel by train and meet us there a little afterwards. We rented two bikes from the hotel and courageously headed on our way...
...and to describe our first attempt of the trip in shrt: epic fail! Or more appropriately, total disaster. It wasn’t even 10 minutes after we left before I found myself flat on the ground, gathering the attention of several people around me. In no time, while my parents were waiting for us at Werfen, I found myself at the hospital of another town whose name I can’t remember. I didn’t tell my mum yet that I have a few broken teeth and risking serious permanent problems with my spine. I’m kidding...I just know she reads this. It’s nothing too serious. Here’s a photo of me, taken by my guardian brother who accompanied me all along:
Hey, I couldn’t quite smile at that moment.
I can’t thank my brother enough for being so helpful with his encouraging words.
“That cut you got is so deep.”
“You’ve really ripped your skin there...”
But joking apart, I sincerely am thankful to him (...for keeping all this, a secret to my parents. Ehh, joking again). Anyway, after two and a half hours at the hospital and trying to get back, we made a second attempt of our trip and made our way to Werfen, this time, successfully. The bike lanes are nothing compared to Malta’s. During most of the trip, we were amidst the greenery and beside a wide river, enjoying the beautiful views of the vast mountains ahead and around.
At Werfen, the family united at the Hohenwerfen fortress, the second castle we visited in Austria. Once again, it was a nice attraction, possessing interesting objects on display (such as the armoury and large old-fashioned mechanical clock) along with a likewise-interesting history. At the fortress itself, there also was a bird show given, featuring falcons, eagles and vultures flying around, with some of them simulating a hunt, while others catching food thrown into the air. Here are a few selected photos of the castle and the bird show:
We had planned to visit the ice caves as well on the same day. However, due to my unfortunate accident, we lacked the time to do so, and in fact we all headed back to St. Johann after the castle visit, me and my brother riding the way back.
Salzburg, Austria - Day 4
Blogged on at 9:07 AM by Andrew17th September
Hallein
A miracle! For the first time during our vacation in Austria, we could see the sun and enjoy its splendour, although that would only last a few hours. In the past days, the skies have always been cloudy and constantly raining (admittedly, most of the times it was only light rain). This reminded me of the weather forecast given on a hanged paper at the hotel which showed three ‘degrees’ of rain during the whole week: Light rain, drizzle and sprinkles...don’t they seem to be synonyms? Hard to say if one is heavier or lighter than the other.
Anyhow, we enjoyed the morning with some nice views of the surrounding mountains, as they’re usually concealed beneath thick clouds. Shortly after, we caught the train to Hallein, heading for the famous salt mines, or in german, Salzwelten.
It wasn’t too hard to find the entrance of the salt mines, and we were nicely welcomed by a smiling agent. In preparation for the salt mine tour, we were given some white clothes to wear before entering the mines...clothes that made us look like astronauts. We only lacked the big helmet. Together with us for the tour was another tourist, most likely from America who volunteered to take us some nice photos. He seemed the playful type, asking for certain poses and expressions for the photos. Here they are:
From each one’s expression, I seem to be the odd one out, but in fact, I was the correct one. That American guy asked for a serious expression, and everyone laughed at that, resulting in the opposite. Onto the next photo...prepare for a fright:
This was supposedly the funny face photo. Starting from left, my brother’s face is identical to the previous one (when he laughs, he’s serious. When he laughs, he’s making a funny face as well). Mum made a hopeless attempt. Maybe she needed a coffee to spill on herself to make some funny face. Dad at least made some effort. And...no comment needed on the last weirdo. Final photo:
Left foot up. At least everyone cooperated in this, with my mum being really into it, with those hands. My brother’s face once again made no change.
Following the celebrity photo shoot, we then ventured deep into the mines, inside the mountain. A ride took us through the tracks in the mine, giving us that unique feeling of being inside there. The narrow and rocky paths and trails were truly remarkable. Even more remarkable was a small lake that we traversed slowly with a boat, that actually lies inside the mountain. That lake contained the water from which salt was extracted. Another fun experience was the slides that the miners used to use for quick access down the levels. We had the nice chance to slide down these wooden slides, giving you a slight thrill. After the vacation, maybe I’ll upload a photo of us sliding down.
After leaving the salt mines, we walked to a nearby old Celtic village that was connected to the salt mines in history. At the top of the hill, we took a nice photo of us all again:
After leaving the salt mines, we walked to a nearby old Celtic village that was connected to the salt mines in history. At the top of the hill, we took a nice photo of us all again:
The last event of the day was a visit to the Silent Night house, the place where the popular song ‘Silent Night’ was written and played for the first time. People visiting this small museum all walked out (including myself) singing the Silent Night song, unsurprisingly. Inside, there were about eight translations of the song, and yet the Maltese translation was lacking...shame on them!
That’s all for the day and I hope you enjoy reading these as much as I do writing them.
That’s all for the day and I hope you enjoy reading these as much as I do writing them.
Salzburg, Austria - Day 3
Blogged on 17 September, 2008 at 8:59 PM by Andrew16th September
Liechtensteinklamm (Liechtenstein Gorge)
The planned destination on this day was, as you already know, Liechtensteinklamm. This is a striking attraction relatively close (15 minutes by bus) to Pongau (once again, the village our hotel resides at). The bus trip was followed with a walk towards and into the mountains. At one point, the path split into two and we were at a loss on deciding which way to go. You might wonder, weren’t there any signs to guide us? Of course there were, but place yourself in our shoes, and imagine standing in front of this sign, showing the following:
<-- Spazierweg zur Liechtensteinklamm
--> Wanderweg zur Liechtensteinklamm
Now also add that you have no dictionary or (instant) translation (yes, silly of us not to have been prepared for this, but you have to forget something during a vacation). Wouldn’t you feel lost as well? However, it wasn’t too bad. We only wasted a little time: 5 minutes staring at the sign, 10 minutes walking through ‘Spazierweg’, 10 minutes walking back to the sign, 5 minutes walking through ‘Wanderweg’, 5 minutes walking back and finally going through ‘Spazierweg’ once again. Funnily enough, it turned out that both were correct paths. Spazierweg, the one we chose, meant ‘footpath’, which was a rough way through the trees. On the other hand, wanderweg meant ‘track’ or ‘road’, which was a wide and easy road towards the gorge’s entrance. Ah well, let us just say that not knowing if the path we took is the correct one is part of the fun in itself.
At last we arrived at this gorge. Certainly, there were a few magnificent views of the waterfalls, with the water powerfully flowing through it. Passing in between the extremely high rocks of the mountains, along with hearing the constant flow of water as well as (and especially) watching the plunging waves made it all an unforgettable experience.
At last we arrived at this gorge. Certainly, there were a few magnificent views of the waterfalls, with the water powerfully flowing through it. Passing in between the extremely high rocks of the mountains, along with hearing the constant flow of water as well as (and especially) watching the plunging waves made it all an unforgettable experience.
Talking about the gorge itself stops here; however I have to add something (or rant) about the place. Since this place is definitely a popular tourist attraction, I’d expect the ‘high’ people to employ some competent translator to translate all the signs into good english. I realized that signs were either in their native language only, or translated into unprofessional English, so to say. Let’s start going through the small series of mobile-taken photos:
...Avter some revlection, I decided to revrain from commenting on this. Though after serious analysis and meditation, I think they wanted to write ‘Climbing on the hand rail is forbidden’...
This is just confluencing... I mean, confusing me. I’m not exactly sure what it’s meaning should really be, perhaps not to bump on other people? Or to walk in a straight line. In any case, it also says the hand rail might be overloaded...huh? Maybe with people ‘ascending’ on it?
Okay sir, I’ll avaid stopping on...brigdes, whatever brigdes may be. I can’t say I’m an expert in the Italian language, but I am good enough to say that it is far from correct, quite possibly worse than the English translation. Someone proficient in French can comment on the French translation.
Amazing. You can find the gorge’s security forces in these rocky zones. Although I could see nothing but rocks, I’m sure there was a secret door leading to a secret room where the secret security secretly and securely watching over each and every person. Oh wait, maybe it meant, safe-zone? Now that’s a whole different case.
‘Onlyinmalta.com’ is not only in Malta after all.
Oh and by the way, maybe this is a good time to show you one photo of us all:
Salzburg, Austria - Day 2
Blogged on 16 September, 2008 at 9:47 PM by Andrew15th September
Salzburg City
First thing in the morning, we headed towards the train station to catch a train to Salzburg city (since our hotel actually resided in a small village called Pongau). As we stepped outside, we all regretted not to have brought our gloves, scarves and beanies. We had to live with that. On the train, I guessed it would take about 10 to 15 minutes to get to the city. I was only a little close...it took a whole hour (I shouldn’t be trusted for scheduling).
The first notable sightseeing location we’ve been too was the Mirabell Gardens and the palace of Mirabell. This is one of the spots used in the popular Sound of Music. Personally, I don’t have much to say on this place, but the photos will speak for themselves.
The first notable sightseeing location we’ve been too was the Mirabell Gardens and the palace of Mirabell. This is one of the spots used in the popular Sound of Music. Personally, I don’t have much to say on this place, but the photos will speak for themselves.
Going further into the city, we encountered yet another notable building, this time being the residence of the famous Austrian composer and musician, Mozart. Nothing too special actually, just the sight of the residence from outside.
I promise to write an exciting little story (or better, opinion and my experience) regarding the Austrians and Mozart that I’m sure you’ll like (and laugh, if you’re not deprived of basic knowledge and sense of humour*), but that’ll come after the vacation ends (most likely), so keep checking.
Going back to our vacation, as we continued along the streets, we were amazed at one particular shop. Indeed it was a little early thinking for Christmas decorations, but this shop boasted of numerous painted eggs. There must have been hundreds of them, all painted in different styles, colors and themes. All the eggs were hollow. We thought that these guys must have had eggs for breakfast, lunch and dinner since their childhood. Here’s a photo of one small area of the whole shop:
Going back to our vacation, as we continued along the streets, we were amazed at one particular shop. Indeed it was a little early thinking for Christmas decorations, but this shop boasted of numerous painted eggs. There must have been hundreds of them, all painted in different styles, colors and themes. All the eggs were hollow. We thought that these guys must have had eggs for breakfast, lunch and dinner since their childhood. Here’s a photo of one small area of the whole shop:
The highlight of the day was the fortress protruding on the top of a high hill. Being too lazy to walk it upwards, we rode the funicular which lifted us up straight into the castle. Although we spent most of the day there, I have to admit I can’t think much about what to mention on this place. There were some spectacular views of course, and the museum inside was interesting as well, showing some antique objects used in those times (11th and 12th centuries), such as torture objects (there’s no reason at all for mentioning this first), swords, guns, rifles and so on. I have a photo of their cutlery taken from my mobile, and from that photo, (in a (somewhat) random thought) I realize that the people of those times did not know the efficiency of forks with three teeth...
...I told you it was a bit random.
On our way back, we were practically lost and had to ask a few times for directions towards the train station. Two compelling conversations are the following:
______________________________________Conversation 1:
Dad: Do you know where the train station is?
Passer-by 1: Uh?
Dad: The train station?
Passer-by 1: Um...
Dad: Bahnof?
Passer-by 1: Oh! Left, straight, right and straight again.
______________________________________Passer-by 1: Uh?
Dad: The train station?
Passer-by 1: Um...
Dad: Bahnof?
Passer-by 1: Oh! Left, straight, right and straight again.
Conversation 2:
Dad: Where’s the train station please?
Passer-by 2: Wuh?
Dad: The train station...
Passer-by 2: *stares quietly*
Dad: Bahnof...
Passer-by 2: Ah, right, down the tunnel and right again.
______________________________________
P.S. At the moment, only a few photos are uploaded, simply to aid the blog. More photos (ex. of us) will be uploaded after the vacation.
*With an exception to foreigners – and this is no insult, but they are excused from knowing events regarding Malta and its history.
Salzburg, Austria - Day 1
Blogged on at 8:32 AM by Andrew14th September
Departure from Malta
This day is the day of travelling. I must admit it started out quite well upon seeing the efficiency of Air Malta’s new feature – Web Check-in. Everything’s going online now. The check-in is mostly done on the web, choosing the seats yourself, printing the boarding tickets yourself, (or better, “tickets”, as it is a little unusual to see boarding tickets on a piece of normal paper, black and white), and no needs to wait in long queues at the airport. What can I say? Air Malta is a serious company.
Air Malta took us to Vienna in Austria, were we had to wait for about three or four hours before our next plane leaves to Salzburg. After careful analysis and exhaustive thinking, we decided to remain at the airport before the next flight. At that, I chose to take a look at some cameras, in hopes of finding one that is relatively good and that’s not any more expensive than €200...it turned out that the cheapest one was €235. Pity.
Past those four hours, we headed for the next plane, which was a propeller plane. During the course on this plane, I can say that I have learned something. Air hostesses offering hot coffee during a flight on such a plane have a good sense of humour. It must have been the laugh of the day watching my mum spilling coffee all over her (logically, due to the shakiness of the plane). I’m also assuming that the pilot was just dumped by his girlfriend. You’d understand if you experienced the landing yourselves, or if you had the honour (which I had) of seeing the aircraft’s wheel smashing onto the ground.
Finally we arrived in Salzburg. It was a strange feeling after having been swimming just the day before, and now shivering in the cold. It must have been around 11°C at that time (in contrast to the 30°C and higher in Malta). After 50 minutes on the taxi, we arrived at our dear Alpenland Sport Hotel, at around 11:30pm. We thought our room was 137, and we spent about 10 minutes inserting the card repeatedly, each time being rejected. In fact, it was not our room. I can imagine the people inside there, shivering in fear after hearing weird noises at the door at that time of the night. But anyhow, we then made it into our (correct) room, and had a good night sleep.
The Infamous Chuck Norris
Blogged on 10 September, 2008 at 3:14 PM by Andrew
- Chuck Norris never retreats. He fights in the opposite direction.
- Chuck Norris was able to win Connect 4 in three moves.
- Chuck Norris can punch a cyclops between the eye.