The Vienna Trip Part 3-Salzburg Part 1 (Stiegl Brewery)

The next destination on my way to Vienna was Salzburg, famous for being where "The Sound of Music" was filmed! Unfortunately this section starts out disturbingly.

On the train ride to Salzburg from Regensburg, the train stops somewhere after Munich and will not start. An announcement comes over the speakers in German, and the lady next to me was nice enough to translate. She said that the train could not continue because the rails were locked. Ten minutes later another announcement explained the rails were locked because there was a police barricade on the tracks. Another ten minutes passes, and another announcement finally explains what is going on. A man had committed suicide by jumping into the front of the train in front of us. Not my train, the one before. I almost took that train, decided to get food instead.

So, it took the police half an hour to clean up the tracks and then we were on our way. Wonderful omen for the start of a trip...

Anyways, once I arrived in Salzburg I made my typical beeline to the hostel first, where I met my friend Brett. We were in a 6 person room, which we shared with an Icelandic guy who plays Team Fortress 2 and an awkward American/Romanian couple that never left the room. Awesome. Once Brett and I settled down, the two of us and the Icelander went to the old city to find food.

End day one. Day two begins with a tour...

of the Stiegl Brewery!

This brewery, located on the outside of town, makes delicious Austrian brews that are available in Jungle Jim's in Ohio! Notice the scenic mountain backdrop and the pretty yellow color. The whole thing had a very home-based feel to it. This brewery was around during the time of Mozart, so these people know how to make a good Wiess.

The entrance led to a nice courtyard in the center of the brewery, which was decorated in Oktoberfest and pumpkin themes. The whole place seems very...non-industrious.

The courtyard was filled with people eating the local ham stew (which I had and loved) and drinking various beers (biers), such as Goldenbraus and Radlers. Right next to this courtyard was a gift shop, where we bought the tickets for the tour. It was only 9 euros, a wonderful price! This 9 euros included more than just a self-tour...

The museum was based in the old brewery rooms and were filled with various nicknacks and trinkets of the past. There were many different rooms, but my camera kept dying and messing up the pictures it took, so this is the only room picture not distorted. You can see a pyramid of bottles from the past 100 years or so of production.

This crazy lady was one picture on a wall entitled "How Do You Open Your Stiegl?" I think this lady's answer was "without the help of my meds."

At the end of our tour we were given three beers and a free glass. Three beers cost 9 euros by themselves, so by taking the tour they just gave me a free glass...ok! The beers here (from left to right) are a Weiss (very smooth and sweet), a Radler (half GoldenBrau and half raspberry juice), and a typical GoldenBrau (not my favorite and not that bad). Definitely worth 9 euros...Brett and I left happy with our glasses to set out for the next tour.

Oh, and my blog has a new fun feature! Notice the fish at the bottom of the screen? Click to feed them :3

Orval Abbey

On September 2nd I traveled with a group of Miami students to the Orval Abbey, a catholic abbey in Belgium. I  could not stop singing "The Sound of Music."

It only looked modest from the outside. Once you got past the main gate the abbey transformed into a huge, well manicured courtyard. It was very impressive, but not very humble for monks oddly enough.

Anyways, as the tour continued we were brought to a small spring. Legend has it that the Queen dropped her wedding ring into the well on accident. She went to the church to pray for a miracle, and when she returned a fish jumped out of the water, the ring in its mouth. The well was then dubbed sacred and is now the water supply used to make the beer.

The abbey is from the medieval times, with the ruins of the first abbey crumbling near the newer abbey. The old abbey was destroyed in the French Revolution, when the French peasants thought the abbey was hiding an important official. It actually wasn't, but it was destroyed nonetheless.

After getting to see all the cool ruins of the abbey, we were taken through the beer museum. The monks brew beer as a way to make money, and all of us were given a bottle of free beer. Be jealous.