Salzburg for the weekend

I am so glad I went to Salzburg this weekend, the weather turned out to be okay nothing amazing but I had a fantastic weekend with a fellow uvm student. I met Anna at the train station and she took me back to her apartment on the outskirts of Salzburg. I met her Austrian speaking roommate as we tried to figure out what we wanted to do with the rest of the day.

We had talked about visiting an ice cave in a small town outside of Salzburg, and since it wasn't beautiful weather outside we decided to do it. We looked it up and did the research on how to get there and were off, back to the train station. We took a train to Werfen Austria. There we took a bus to the ice caves. Once there we walked 20 min to the cable car. If I had arrived earlier in the day it would have been really cool to hike up but since we were running out of time and the last tour was at 3:45 we decided to take the cable car. Once at the top you again walk 20 min to the entrance of the caves. At this point we were so high up it was snowing! I couldn't believe I was seeing snow at the end of May!
Before entering the cave they give you a lantern and say walk two by two, so naturally I walked with Anna. The guides warned us of 700 steps and I was ready! Once inside the guide shut the door and without the lanterns you would not be able to see anything. I was already amazed at the sights! Incredible how much ice there was. Did I forgot to mention that this ice cave was the largest in the world? Cause it is. And wow, after an hour of touring it I was in awe... I can't believe discovering it and I am jealous of the guides that get to explore it everyday.

Inside the ice cave

Top of the cable car

Walking to the ice cave enterence

SNOWW!

SNOW!

Afterwards we headed back down the mountain and back into Salzburg for dinner. We we to Anna apartment to quickly change them went to Augustiener brew house for a traditional Austrian dinner. Here you get a pitcher of beer and walk to the different vendors and get whatever you want to eat. I got a slice of pork some potato wedges, and a large Radler (a beer mixed with flavored soda, very austrian drink)

Brew house

Cool environment

At the brew house we met up with a few of Anna's friends and then went to a bar to listen to some live music.

Saturday we woke up and had our hearts set on going to Hallstatt a small beautiful Austrian town on the edge of a lake region. But first we checked out the market in town and some of the gardens.

Display of how they make the famous Mozart Kugel

Market in town

Beautiful Flowers!

Breakfast of champs
Apple pretzel

Mirabell gardens
There were wedding pictures being taken behind me

After we hopped on a bus In order to take a train, to then get on the ferry to later arrive in Hallstatt! We arrived by 2 pm and quickly found a coffee shop to warm up and get some energy. I ordered a soup while Anna ate some cake.

On the ferry over to Hallstat

HALLSTATT!

My travel buddy ANNA! 

Lunch :)

Cute restaurant were we ate lunch.

Admiring the view

Love this place so MUCH!

SWANS!

My favorite picture

Jumping picture

I almost bought this hat

Cutest Village ever!

Wish I got to live here like this cat

Cemetery 

Roses on the end of the water

Laughing at each other on the ferry back to the train.

After we walked around for almost 4 hours exploring the side road and just enjoying our conversations and eachothers company. We tried to hike to the top of a waterfall but turned around before we got too far away from town. Once it hit 5 o'clock we decided it was time to start figuring out how to get home, and good timing because we made it for the last ferry and last train out of town. After a long trip back to Salzburg we went straight to dinner, at a local pizza pasta place, we ordered a pizza and some wine. And again chitchatted.

Yummy Pizza!

At this point we were pretty tired so we caught a bus back to Anna's apartment and I showered and went to bed.

This morning we woke up and went on a beautiful walk around her end of Salzburg, exploring the bike bath and it was incredible to see the alps just peaking through.

Morning walk

Not a bad view to call your backyard.
Thanks Anna for a great weekend!

After Anna made me an awesome omelet with onions, garlic and spinach. Yumm., now I am on the way back to Vienna with lots of school work to do and an exam to prepare for in the morning.

First exam

I arrived back in Vienna on Saturday afternoon and decided to go out for a friends 21st birthday. However she drank a little too much and didn't make it to the club. And instead of spending money to get In to the club I went home. Sunday I had my first lazy day in a very long time. I watched movies and started studying for my exams. I had my first exam on Wednesday for global consumer behavior. Monday was another Austrian holiday (there are about 5 of them in the month of may). So I went to the gym, studied some more and did lots of planning with Erin (UVMer that is studying in Newcastle) for our upcoming trips.
On Tuesday I had a group meeting to talk about an upcoming presentation, we have been doing marketing research on what an Austrian student looks for in a coffee shop. It's quite interesting and I really enjoy my teammates. After our meeting, I went shopping in search of light weight cloths that will be comfortable while traveling in Italy :) I'd say I succeeded, with purchasing 2 tank tops, one loose t-shirt, and a dress that I absolutely love. Afterwards I tried my first frozen yogurt in Vienna, not the same as froyo in downtown Burlington. Then I went to the gym with my iPad and biked for over an hour while watching enchanted the movie. I figured its about time that I get back into shape for bike riding this summer.

Yummy

Time to work out..

Wednesday I took my exam in the morning and I have to say I haven't written that much by hand in a long time it was 7 short answer questions, I felt confident that I passes when I left the class. The teacher had the exam grades posted before the end of the day and I got an A in the class :)

So to celebrate I invited some friends over and we planned to have have a few drinks on the patio, but then it started raining so we moved the party inside. The girls had wine, strawberries and maccoroos, and the boys enjoyed there whiskey.

White wine and strawberries on the patio 

Macaroons 

Friends!

Thursday I had a presentation for international marketing and we decided to only have 2 people present, me and Dee because the others are hard to understand and become too stressed over how they are going to say something. (These are not native English speakers).

After I went to the gym, then home.

Yummy Salad

The things you see in the park..

Laying in the park

French toast with some VT maple syrup

Chilling in the park with my new shoes on

Cool graffiti in Vienna 

I have been in debate on weather to go to Salzburg or not this weekend, and I finally decided to just go. The weather looks awful, but I figured I am only in Austria for a few more weeks so i have to take advantage of everything it has to offer.

Most beautiful views ever! Hiking in the Austrian alps

This weekend I went hiking with the Buddy Network. About 25 people from my school and others in Vienna. We hoped on the bus friday morning with our packbacks and headed west to a town called Windischgarsten, Austria. About a 3 hour bus ride. I didn't know exactly who was going to be on this trip but I knew I would know someone and surprise I knew almost everyone :)

Just got off the bus going to drop the bus driver off at his "hotel"

Yup that is the mountain we stayed on!

About to start the up hill 

Beautiful Valley!

A hiking we will go

Lisa our leader

This is the valley we walked through before getting to the step uphill climb. It was so beautiful and I want to go back so bad! I have never hiked with my backpack so full and I have to say my back definitely hurts today. I didn't even bring that much stuff, just a change of cloths, and tooth brush and whatnot, and a small fleece blanket. But actually I have never stayed at the top of a mountain  usually I hike up and down in the same day.

Love these girls!

Almost there, me, frances, kristi, and jessica

Frances and Kristi were the two girls I traveled to Spain with for easter break, and Jessica and I have hung out many times in Vienna, it was great to get out of Vienna for a weekend with these 3.

Hanging out after dinner

View from the cottage at night

After about 2 and a half hours of hiking we arrived at our cottage, there are some pictures of the cottage below from the morning. Everyone decided to stay and wait for dinner and avoid getting rained on. But actually it never ended up raining so we were able to make a small fire. It could have been bigger but it was too windy and would have been dangerous. Dinner was a traditional Austrian dish called Kasnocken, which is basically mac and cheese with bits of bacon. Perfect meal after hiking.

Camp fire

 Some people sat around the fire while others sat inside playing board, and card games. I played a really fun game of Uno, and Taboo with others, we were able to enjoy a beer or two and just have a chill night. We were not the only ones staying in the cabin there was about 10 other people that were there and they were Austrian hikers, probably trekking through many mountain ranges.

Night Haze 

 Everyone went to bed pretty early and I was able to sleep peacefully with the help of earplugs. There were many snorers.  In the morning a group of 10 got up at 6 a.m. to hike to 700 meters left to reach the top! I decided to stay behind just because I knew I haven't been hiking since last summer and you use completely different muscles. I don't want to strange my ankles. Too much of Europe left to see. Also I really enjoyed my relaxing morning of taking pictures while the clouds lifted around the valley. I woke up around 7 and had breakfast with some others, before heading outside.

Foggy morning

They went up to the top, which you can't see
But they were able to have a view above the clouds!

Spider making his home

Our beautiful Cottage!

The EBN team!

Jumping picturee!

Inside the cottage, where we ate and played games

Our sleeping arrangements

Clouds lifted

Hiking down

After everyone returned from who decided to go to the top we hiked down to the bus. It was a steep downhill and I can definitely feel it in my butt today, haha. The valley below was absolutely beautiful! I am obsessed!

At the bottom of the mountian

Group Picture!

 Once on the bus we drove 15 min to the town, where we got to go tobogganing down a mountain! Ahh it was so much fun, and such a great day for it.

Love little Austrian Towns

Chair lift up!

Selfie!

Jessica on her chairlift 

BEAUTIFUL VIEW
Representing VT

Love these girls!

Toboggan!

After the toboggan we loaded onto the bus one last time, stopped at a grocery store for lunch and travel snacks and were on our way back to Vienna. On the bus ride a few of us played 20 questions which helped the time pass. It was great! Such an amazing trip, and I am so happy I went.

Toboggan!