Dave the Nomad

After Salzburg, I took a train into Innsbruck, and had one real goal: take the tram up to the top where my dad took pictures. He said the tram was so fast he had a headache for a couple days afterwards. I was looking forward to getting up high after the spectacular train ride, and play in the snow for a bit with the knowledge of a warm place to go to afterwards.

Innsbruck was home to the Olympic Games twice in the last 50 years, and as such had a solid infrastructure and nice tourist maps. I arrived into town about the same time the clouds did. I checked right away with the tourist office, and they said the weather would be getting worse rapidly. I decided to take my chances with the closer tram in town versus the glacier 40 km away in hopes of getting up and actually being able to see something. Fortunately, I made it up, and had a great view of the city. However, there was no snow, and I knew it wasnt the same peak my dad had visited. Miffed by the increasing cloud cover. I stopped on the second highest stop, as the peak was already engulfed in clouds. People coming down from the top said you couldnt see a thing. Now, if you haven’t been on top of a mountain in pea soup thick clouds, you should. Its has a eerie suspenseful aura worth experiencing. My luck with mountains in the past has already given me this wonderful experience, and I decided to stay here and enjoy the view while I still could.

A bit saddened by missing the same photos, I knew I would have a chance to climb more in Switzerland, and settled for heading into the old town and checking out Innsbruck as the rain started to pitter patter. As I only had one real goal for Innsbruck, I had booked a seat on a night train to Zurich to save on money. There was plenty to do to entertain me around the city, and as night settled in I stopped in a bar/restaurant at the train station to make sure I wouldn’t miss my train.

I was scheduled to take the 12:10 train to Zurich, around 11:35pm the departure board said our train from Hungary was delayed by two hours…. Bummer. The train station closed down, and I felt like a wandering soul in this purgatory of a stop. Just around midnight we had an update, the train wouldn’t get in until 4:40 am…. this brilliant idea was looking grimmer by the minute. I decided to cut my losses, and went into one of the sheltered sitting areas on my platform and shamelessly took out my sleeping gear and alarm clock and set my alarm.

A security guard came by around 1:30 am woke me up. I kindly showed him my ticket, we had a good laugh, and he let me go back to sleep. I awoke to businessmen with briefcases talking loudly, and gave up on sleeping until the train arrived. The train ride was smooth sailing into Zurich, and I was planning to go to Interlochen to have some fun in the Alps. My next train was connecting in Bern, and along the way travellers said the weather was terrible in Interlochen and wouldn’t be improving anytime soon. When I arrived in Bern I checked out the weather, and I wouldn’t be seeing any part of the mountains above 100 m ceiling in Interlochen for a solid four days. I decided I would pay a visit to Switzerland later in the trip, and started my way up towards Amiens.

This is the first time on the trip where I’ve been somewhere for a couple days, and feel like I’ve completely missed out. I did have some delicious chocolate, and swiss cheese, but the Alps are definitely a place I’ll be back to visit.

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.