Exchange semester in Austria

Round Trip of Austria

(Hallstatt - Salzburg - Innsbruck - Grossglockner - Heiligenbrut, Graz)

Initially this was an excursion organized by FH, however due to insufficient number of participant, it was cancelled. I wanted to see more of Austria badly, luckily Tomek has a car and is willing to drive so there we go. 4 of us went for the trip, me, Tomek and Konrad from Poland, and Monica from Canada. First stop, Hallstatt, a beautiful small town surrounded by mountains and lakes. We visited a church nearby where nearly a hundred of human skulls were rested. Then we took a tram up the hill to visit the world's oldest salt mine and were required to put on the mine dress. The most interesting part of the tour was the slides in the cave, claimed the world's longest mine slide. I had so much fun that i still hope to do it again. After the tour we headed to Salzburg, the birthplace of Mozart and home to famous musical film 'The Sound of Music'. On the way there, it was raining and we almost caught into an accident. Tomek was making a turn down the curve and our car spinned off the road facing almost the opposite direction. Luckily there wasn't a vehicle right behind and we got back off the road without a single scratch. We first stopped by at the Red Bull exhibition, followed by chilling out at the bar and spent the night in a tent. It was so cold that night that i was freezing the whole night without blanket. 11 Euros for a night, what else can i expect. The next morning we went to Mirabell Gardens. The view was stunningly beautiful. From the hill we could see the castle, the river, bridges and the traffic. Later of the day we joined the tour of Sound of Music, which cover major sights scene from the movie. The entire tour was well worthy, songs and documentary of the film were played along the journey and the sightseeing was some of the best ever. Later of the day, we moved further west to Innsbruck, another charming city in Tyrol. It was already late in the evening so we basically just had a rest. Innsbruck is a very relaxing city, by just walking along the main market street we could enjoy the view of the mountains covered with snow. The trip is getting more exciting, next up is Grossglockner, the highest mountain in Austria and my favourite place ever. Getting to the top is no easy task as the road is narrow and curvy, a small mistake down the corner would mean the end of the trip. We made a couple of stops along the way and had a little bit of hiking. Standing on top of it was a glorious moment and the view was breathtaking. From Grossglockner we drove to Heiligenbrut, a very quiet small town down the hill and stayed the night there. The last day of the trip, we departed to Graz, the birthplace of Arnold Scwartzenegger. We had couple of shots up the hill and decided to call it a day as everyone was tired. Soon, we went back to Wiener Neustadt. The entire trip around Austria was amazing, in fact the sightseeing was tremendous, all over along the journey. I would definitely love to see it again.