Dave the Nomad

After the consulate fiasco, I was ready for a break, and New Years was just the right thing. Our hostel was having a dinner and drink included party with entertainment which most of us decided to attend. We were wandering around on New Years Eve and suddenly noticed a ton of Santa hats and Christmas apparel. After a bit, we asked someone why the late celebration. The response was simple: “Why do you celebrate so early?” Perplexed, they explained. Your basis for the New Year is based on Christ, BC and AD, so why do you celebrate a week early? I laughed. It is arguably the widest reach of Christianity in the world, and Christians don’t even celebrate it on the right day! (Of course Orthodox Christians follow a different schedule, but in main stream society this is hilarious.) Light-hearted I again listened to Christmas tunes playing on the street at a time when most of us would throw the radio after being so sick of hearing them the past month. Belated but happy.

As most of you know, and thanks everyone for the Facebook posts. New Years is my birthday. I wasn’t sure how that was going to work abroad, but it turned out to be a blast. We had a filling Turkish buffett dinner and danced around. At one point the waiters were going around lifting people up on their shoulders and dancing around. The crowd was pretty tame until about 4 minutes to midnight, and then the place took off. I’ve never seen such late bloomers, but maybe its the European trend of not going out to party until 2 am rubbing off on them. I also had the chance to practice one of those dances that should be forgotten, the macarena. We also had a belly dancer come perform for us, and she soon pulled me up and made me dance with her. What we all soon realized was 1) she wasn’t a good belly dancer 2) She wanted money for being pulled up and dancing with her. Regardless, it was a fun party. I’ll have to write a separate post about my feats of during the day time of my birthday.

On a lighter note, the nights between my defeat by the consulates was spent seeing the city. I went to a small bar in the clubbing area with seating for at most 40 people. There was a live band playing Turkish music, everyone was singing along. We ended up being the only English speaking people in the room. It was a fun night, and relaxing break from the bustle of the city.

Brad and I also ended up running into a couple of guys from Chicago. They were just in town for a week or so, but we ended up randomly meeting them again the next night completely unplanned. They were a cool bunch of guys, and certainly a change from the usual Canadian Australian crowd I’ve been meeting along the road so far. So Igor, Paul, and Nemanja send me some pictures, I dont have any with all of us, and say hi to Chi-town for me.

I’ll keep this short after my long-winded consulate story, but I’m planning to drop off my visa application in Ankara and meet back up with some people in Cappadocia. I’ve been looking forward to a visit here for months now, and I hear its snow-covered as well.

After my much needed sobering end to Munich, I decided to go to Salzburg. I got into town around 10 pm under a steady rain. As such, I had no idea what to expect as far as seeing the Alps. I easily found my hostel and settled in for the night. In the morning, the rain was continuing its reign over the skies, so I decided to head into the old town to check out the inevitably cliche tourist stops in the home of … The Sound of Music. Everyone seemed to be trying to get their cut, but the town is certainly nice. I was a bit disappointed by the view. From the near emerald colored river you can see a large hill on the one side, and the cliff with the castle looming over the rest of the city on the other embankment.

Yes, this place is a bit of a tourist trap. You can certainly find some reference or claim to fame related to the ‘Sound of Music.’ My hostel had a daily showing of the movie, and abundant tours were available for those movie groupies. As for me…. I had seen the movie more than enough times, and wasn’t really in the mood to sing do-re-mi with people on a bus with an overly excited tour guide. However, there is some quality music to be heard here though, as Salzburg’s more long standing claim to fame is the brithplace of Mozart. As I was walking through the main plaza I found a group of musicians rocking out (literally) to Mozart on an accordion, and a mixture of odd string instruments. They appeared to be a renaissance twist on small guitars and a bass with rounded backs and triangular shaped fronts. They were amazingly talented, and moving around in a seizure of movement to the music. I’m sure they are regulars on the plaza and I highly suggest listening for them if you find yourself in town.

I decided to wait out the weather and hid in a small cafe until I saw the weather starting to clear. I had climbed up to the castle in the morning, without a good view, and so I thought I should give the other hill a chance as well. As I hiked farther up, the clouds started to break in the distance, and once the trees started to clear I could really see the Alps. They truly are massive, and just filled the horizon. The sun was breaking through the clouds creating its own light show on the peaks far and near as the skies opened. From up here you can see how small the cliff is the castle sits on, and it looks like a small island among the city, and in the distance were the real deal. It was a refreshing change of scenery, and I couldn’t wait to head into them the next day and start climbing.