As we arrived ready to get to our hotel, we were confused again and walked out the wrong side of the train station. Now most likely this is because we are both in a deep jet lag haze that it was hard to communicate. This could have been a reason …or maybe it was because I was trying to use the map from Rick Steves Germany on my Kindle, which does not zoom in so easily. I’m glad we took that detour because I was able to take a picture of an Austrian Post Office for my brother, who collects pictures of post offices from all over the world, but mainly the USA. Eventually, we figured out the right direction to go, the exact 180 degrees from where we had gone and went for an adventure walking around Salzburg to find our hotel! We did find the hotel without too much problem, once we got our bearings using the little map in Rick Steves Germany! It was a hard walk with all our gear and in a haze, but we made it!
Hotel Wolf Dietrich was our home for the next couple nights and it was very nice! Of course, it would have been better if our room had more than zero ventilation, but we weren’t staying in the room now, because we had coffee and cakes to eat! Very helpful for a traveling couple to plan out their night enjoying a hotel provided coffee and some Austrian cakes.
We decided that our first stop would be to take a walk down to Old Town Salzburg and that was really fun! The old-looking shops, shop signs and the cobbled streets really made it feel old, and it is! This definitely feels like the touristy area though as there are lots of people around and tons of construction going on around the area, which is most likely getting ready for the high season. Not going to lie, kind of like being here in a less crowded time means more room for us! After walking around the shops, we walked down the street to Mozart Platz, or Mozart Place. You see, Mozart is a native Salzburgian and they are very proud of that fact! It was so crazy to see a bronze statue of the man in the middle of his square, which is not something I am used to seeing around where we live, though where we live hasn’t been around that long. We walked around the corner of Mozart Platz to see a super cool fountain that even had water coming out the horse’s nose (as pictured above). This was enjoyable for a couple who were a little out of it like we were.
After seeing these sites, we were hungry and decided on a place that was just a little ways away from where we were. Unfortunately, it turned into quite the adventure to find the restaurant. This was good and bad. Good because it was nice to get off the beaten path and see some new things with almost no one around. Bad because my world at that time was spinning and I had a monster headache, which most likely this was a combination of low blood sugar and lack of sleep from the jet lag. We actually walked past the restaurant once, not thinking it was the right place and then eventually back tracked to this small little place called Zirkelwirt.
This is where I truly experienced a different kind of lifestyle in another country. As we walked in, the waitress asked us, “Do you have a reservation?”, to which we responded, “No.” Then she looks over her clipboard, mind you the restaurant has like three empty tables, and asks us if an hour and a half will be OK. Thinking that we had to wait an hour and half I start to walk out, but my wife realizes she was asking if we could eat in an hour and half. Wow! In America we probably eat in less than half an hour! This place is awesome! Our favorite restaurant! Great food (a giant bowl of spätzle) and a delicious beer. We had so much leftover that we were able to give some to a homeless person on the street. It was a great day seeing so many different things. Started in Brussels and ended with a giant bowl of spätzle in Salzburg! Now time to get some sleep….hopefully!
Travel Tales From BB-8 