This morning started in a bit of a rush since we had to be at the bus by 9:20. So we wanted to be sure to give ourselves at least 45 minutes to walk over. Since breakfast started at 8 we knew we had to have our backpacks ready to go and try to leave the hotel no later than 8:20. In this way we knew if we got lost or took a wrong turn we could still be there on time.
As it turned out we had no problems finding our way and in fact made the trip in 32 minutes so we had lots of time to wait. We met another young couple from England waiting for the same bus so it was great to chat with them. I keep mentioning people we meet and have been asked how come we do not have pictures of them, but it feels funny to ask someone if I can take their picture for our blog when we will likely never see them again.
As we wait bus loads of seniors start to arrive and get off the buses all carrying red flags and signs. I can not read what is on them, but it looks like the start of some form of demonstration. When I finally asked I was told it was likely demonstrations protesting the cutting of pensions for seniors. Regardless, I was happy not to be caught in the middle since the bus arrived soon and we were off.
Since we have first class Eurail passes, we got first class seating on the bus. I have never heard of such before, but this bus was a bit taller than a greyhound bus, and had two decks of seating. The lower seating area was plush leather seats that were very comfortable and was first class. The upper seating, with the better views, had regular bus seats and was second class. On our level we had a small cafeteria available to make ourselves coffee, tea or grab a juice. It was very comfortable.
The views as we drove along were really great. We left the ocean views and headed into flat agriculture land with spring working being done. Eventually we started to see mountains in the distance and before long we actually started to drive through them. We noted that the is a tendency to put in tunnels rather than build roads up and around the mountains (though there is some of that too).
We arrived in Villach which is where we transferred to the train to take us on to Salzburg. I am not sure exactly why there is no train service on the first half of this trip, but the bus ride was so comfortable, I did not mind at all. We got onto the train, again first class seating which is larger and more comfortable seats than 2nd class. However, there is one class above this called business and those are small compartments. In Italy first class seated passengers were offered complimentary drinks and snacks, but in Austria this is not the case. We are learning that even though it is a ‘Eurail Pass’ not all countries have the same train services.
We continued to travel through the mountains and the houses are exactly as I had imagined Austrian houses to look like. They are the ‘alps’ look if that means anything. As we travelled along often we looked down into the valleys to see small villages with green grassy slopes (not many trees but some) with mountains in the background. On the top of these mountains there is a bit of snow still and we learned that until a couple of days ago all the snow on these slopes was gone, but it has been cool and rainy down low and snowing up higher. It is overcast so we can understand.
We arrived in Salzburg around 4 pm after spending most of the day organizing to travel or actually in transit. Now we had to figure out where to find the hotel. We had created a google map with directions from the railway to the hotel and sent that to the blackberry. In addition Wes had put the address in the GPS. Because we had travelled such a long distance, it takes the GPS a bit of time to locate satellites and orient. I figured that we should just use the blackberry until the GPS is ready rather than wait at the railway station. We got about ¾ of the way to the hotel before the GPS finally oriented and agreed with our route. However we did have fun ‘duelling’ me on the BB and Wes getting the GPS up. By the way, the GPS is better since it is dynamic and what I had on the BB was just a jpeg map.
We are both tired and this is partly due to the fact that we have not had any meal (only some snacks) all day so it is time to eat and sleep. Tomorrow will be a fun day I am sure.
No comments:
Post a Comment