24 Hours in Salzburg and a Fabulous Parent Night
Hello Saturday! This is the first morning in over a week that I woke up not feeling like a sorority girl on Spring Break. This cold has been kicking my ass and I have been exhausted... but this morning, I am definitely back in the land of the living. Or the Nyquil is still in my blood stream and I have written all of this in emojis. Lol. Heh. No, this is going to be a good Saturday. I hope to get some yoga in and maybe maybe maybe a run in and of course, not eat as much as I did while I was in Salzburg. Which I will write about in a minute... I don't have many plans this weekend except to work a little more on the Autism in Vienna Beacon Beach House website and of course send the current website to a friend who will help me link the domain name that I purchased last week. This type of stuff is beyond my comprehension and my little pea brain will stare at website information and will start to wander.
I am not good at this stuff. No bueno. I even wrote a message to two guy friends with the message starting with "Gentlemen, I need your help..." and luckily I am being helped. A perfect example of my lack of technological knowledge is when I was on the phone with IT the other week and he said "Click on your start menu." and I helpfully asked "Start menu?" There was a lot of sighing on his end. A LOT. So once that website is set up, I can start adding helpful links and FAQs. I do get a lot of messages from parents and therapists and I find that I spend a lot of time writing out long responses and I need to streamline my responses more and of course a link would make things better. So that's on my to do list. Now let's talk about Salzburg.
On Wednesday morning I headed to the train station. I was a little early as usual so I bought my train ticket and then headed to McDonalds for breakfast. Shut it. There is nothing but happiness in an egg and bacon mcmuffin. Around 9:15 I headed to my platform, got on the train and settled into my seat, looking forward to my 24 hours in the city of Maria Van Trapp, Mozart, and many many tourists. The train ride took 2 and a half hours and just after 12, I walked out of the station and made my way to the hotel. The hotel is across the river from the old town and is called Hotel Markus Sittikus and I have nothing but love for this hotel. It is a converted villa and when I said that to a friend, she was like "Oooh. Nice." and I was like "No, not a Tova villa." and she totally understood what I meant and totally judged me at the same time. The hotel was 57 euros for the night and clean and quiet and I have to say, I totally didn't mind it didn't have a minibar.... because I barely spent any time there. The receptionist was lovely and of course bonus points that I could check in early. Just after 1, after checking in, I made my way over to the old town to meet my friend K.P. We met outside the Afrocafe and I immediately said "Want to try another place?" because I am an insufferable snob. She nodded and we pretty much walked 10 meters and stumbled across an upscale bar/restaurant and we were sold.
We walked in, grabbed some high seats and ordered some bubbly. We scanned the menu and noticed it was like an upscale tapas bar and maybe we should have been tipped off seeing that the name of the place was Carpe Diem Fine Fingerfoods. My friend ordered beef tartar and I ordered the burger and a few minutes later, the cutest two plates of food I have ever seen appeared. Her beef tartar (blergh) showed up in a cone and my burger showed up in a cone and it was all very fancy. I have to say that my mini burger in a cone was delicious and her cone of meat apparently was also amazing. After our "main" dish, we decided we were on holiday and went ahead and ordered the chocolate fondue for 2. This did not come in a cone but it came with high blood sugar. OUT OF THIS WORLD! If you are in Salzburg, I totally recommend checking this place out. And it is fantastic for rich people watching. So many designer brands... so many. After our cone lunch, we decided to walk around and check out the old town of Salzburg. That took about 10 minutes. We then headed back to the apartment that her husband is staying in while he performs an opera. It is a building from the 1600s and of course there is no elevator so we worked off some of that fondue. It's a small bachelor apartment that looks over a church and I have to say that if I were a student and I was in Salzburg for a few months and this is where I lived, it would be the best place in the world. Very La Boheme. Very Moulin Rouge starving artist but not because it is actually pretty lovely.
Speaking of La Boheme, I totes got to see the dress rehearsal that afternoon. As I mentioned before, my friend's husband (David Pershall: fantastic singer) is in Salzburg to perform. I won't go much into detail because it debuts tomorrow and I don't want to give away anything... but I think it is safe to say that it was by far one of the best performances I have ever seen. I bawled throughout the opera and while Madame Butterfly will always be my favourite, La Boheme is now a close second. It is a rare thing to watch a performance like the one I watched on Wednesday and feel like the singers sang effortlessly. It was magical and please, if you are in Salzburg for the next 4 weeks, you must see this production. You won't be disappointed... it truly is magical. And to be honest, I thought it wouldn't work when I first saw the beginning stage set up and costumes but it did. It worked so well. Hats off to the director and the performers... you blew this gal away. And I watch a lot of crap TV and yet can be hard to impress. Bravo! Truly bravo!
After the incredible show, K.P. and I threw out our tissues and decided to find a place for dinner. We walked around for a couple of minutes and then she was like "What time is it?! It's a ghost town! It is only 7:30 in the evening! Where is everybody?!" and that is when the memory of my last trip to Salzburg with the Husband came rushing back to me. Yeah, Salzburg is a ghost town at night. I mean, creepily so. It's packed with tourists during the day but as soon as the shops close BAM!, people gone. It's like The Village but scary. Har har. Made fun of M. Night Shyamalan and I actually never watched the film. But Salzburg, dude, you are dead. We window shopped a little and stumbled upon an awesome store that had a couple of awesome purses. I said to K.P. "We will be back at that store tomorrow. Now I need food." and we continued walking around, noticing that barely any restaurant was open. I finally arm wrestled her into choosing Italian because I needed my pizza fix. We found a little place called Il Sole and sat down at a little table and ordered some chianti and pizzas. We talked and ate and were pleasantly surprised by the place.
After dinner, we decided to check out one of the 3 cocktail bars we had seen earlier. We decided on one place that looked super cute on the outside. We were so wrong to judge this cocktail bar by its cover. So very wrong. We walked in and the owner/bartender told us that we could sit at the bar. This of course was a little problematic because the no doubt expensive leather stools were instruments of torture. They were leather and one had to straddle them like a horse. Ten minutes in, my friend K.P. was like "I'm going to side saddle this." I felt so indecent that I used my coat to cover my thighs. The rest of the time in this bar went downhill. I ordered a mint julep because I am a sucker for silver cups. My friend tried to order a lemon drop and when the bartender didn't know what it was (After bragging he could make any cocktail) she helpfully said "It's like lemoncello." and the look of disgust that crossed his face was shocking. He snorted and said "Lemoncello?! We don't have that! That's not a real drink." and it was all that we could do to not shout "MILLIONS OF ITALIANS WOULD DISAGREE!" But he complied and started on our drinks that took forever to make. Her lemon gimlet was good, my mint julep was pretty much straight bourbon over crushed ice. I suffered through it because I am not the kind of gal to waste 11 euros. The bartender kept making incredibly condescending comments and we decided to ask for the bill... which also took forever. Yeah, we ran out of there after paying for our drinks and I believe that we will never return. Ugh. The worst.
We met K.P.'s husband outside the bar and went searching for a place to eat because he was hungry and of course everything was closed. We finally ventured into Stern Bräu and we ordered drinks and D.P. ordered finger food because that was all that was available because of course... obviously this is a thing in Salzburg. Probably also why people are so thin in that town. We then all made the decision to head to McDonalds. Listen, if Salzburg's restaurants close at 10, we are going to head to a fast food restaurant. We bumped into 3 opera cast members (and one actually lives around the corner from me in Vienna. Small world!) outside and chatted briefly. Then K.P., D.P. and I walked into McDonalds. I ordered an Oreo McFlurry and I am pretty sure a shard of Oreo got lodged in my left eye. We ate and then at midnight we were kicked out. My friends walked me to the taxi stand and I headed back to the hotel where I promptly fell asleep. Of course I woke up at 6 the next morning because I am masochist. And my eye was completely swollen. DAMN YOU OREO MCFLURRY! I read in bed and watched TV and then decided to get dressed and check out of the hotel. I headed back into town, through the Mirabell Palace gardens, and it was sunny and warm. I stopped at Starbucks for an oversized cafe latte and then met my friends K.P. and D.P. We checked out the store I said I needed to visit and within 10 minutes, I had picked up 2 purses, a shirt for the Husband, and a crazy pair of pink sunglasses.
I was happy. We decided to go for an early lunch and I figured we shouldn't mess with a good thing and went back to Carpe Diem. Yes, I ordered the burger again. Kind of obsessed. K.P. and D.P. walked me back to my hotel and I picked up my luggage and then we all headed to the train station. We said good bye and promised to try and see each other soon. It was so so so fantastic that we could spend the time together and catch up and it was awesome to do it in another city. I also probably put on a couple of pounds. I caught the afternoon train and at 5:30, rolled into Vienna's main train station. It was good to be home. And be surrounded by people. I am a city girl. Thursday evening, after putting the Kid to bed, I passed out at 9:30. I am glad I had the foresight to take Friday off and I spent most of the morning, lying on the sofa, watching Columbo. Around 12:30, I headed to Swing Kitchen for lunch and then met my friend for some tea and spritzers. Around 4:30 I headed to Beaver Brewing Company because a couple of friends were there having drinks and my parent night wasn't starting until 6. I ordered a spritzer and we caught up (mostly talked about me). And then at 6, I moved to the table of 10 I had reserved. Laziest bar hopping ever.
The parent night was absolutely wonderful! We had in total 12 parents and there is something magical that happens when people who go through similar struggles get together. There are a lot of nods and laughs and hugs and I am so happy. Honestly, the movement for autism change and awareness needs to stem from parents and I think we are well on our way. I can't wait to make this a monthly event and to create a strong "army" of really awesome people. We can do it! So now, after this long post, it is time for me to brush my teeth and do a little cleaning and of course a little chillaxing. I wish you all a fantastic Saturday! Toodles!
I am not good at this stuff. No bueno. I even wrote a message to two guy friends with the message starting with "Gentlemen, I need your help..." and luckily I am being helped. A perfect example of my lack of technological knowledge is when I was on the phone with IT the other week and he said "Click on your start menu." and I helpfully asked "Start menu?" There was a lot of sighing on his end. A LOT. So once that website is set up, I can start adding helpful links and FAQs. I do get a lot of messages from parents and therapists and I find that I spend a lot of time writing out long responses and I need to streamline my responses more and of course a link would make things better. So that's on my to do list. Now let's talk about Salzburg.
On Wednesday morning I headed to the train station. I was a little early as usual so I bought my train ticket and then headed to McDonalds for breakfast. Shut it. There is nothing but happiness in an egg and bacon mcmuffin. Around 9:15 I headed to my platform, got on the train and settled into my seat, looking forward to my 24 hours in the city of Maria Van Trapp, Mozart, and many many tourists. The train ride took 2 and a half hours and just after 12, I walked out of the station and made my way to the hotel. The hotel is across the river from the old town and is called Hotel Markus Sittikus and I have nothing but love for this hotel. It is a converted villa and when I said that to a friend, she was like "Oooh. Nice." and I was like "No, not a Tova villa." and she totally understood what I meant and totally judged me at the same time. The hotel was 57 euros for the night and clean and quiet and I have to say, I totally didn't mind it didn't have a minibar.... because I barely spent any time there. The receptionist was lovely and of course bonus points that I could check in early. Just after 1, after checking in, I made my way over to the old town to meet my friend K.P. We met outside the Afrocafe and I immediately said "Want to try another place?" because I am an insufferable snob. She nodded and we pretty much walked 10 meters and stumbled across an upscale bar/restaurant and we were sold.
We walked in, grabbed some high seats and ordered some bubbly. We scanned the menu and noticed it was like an upscale tapas bar and maybe we should have been tipped off seeing that the name of the place was Carpe Diem Fine Fingerfoods. My friend ordered beef tartar and I ordered the burger and a few minutes later, the cutest two plates of food I have ever seen appeared. Her beef tartar (blergh) showed up in a cone and my burger showed up in a cone and it was all very fancy. I have to say that my mini burger in a cone was delicious and her cone of meat apparently was also amazing. After our "main" dish, we decided we were on holiday and went ahead and ordered the chocolate fondue for 2. This did not come in a cone but it came with high blood sugar. OUT OF THIS WORLD! If you are in Salzburg, I totally recommend checking this place out. And it is fantastic for rich people watching. So many designer brands... so many. After our cone lunch, we decided to walk around and check out the old town of Salzburg. That took about 10 minutes. We then headed back to the apartment that her husband is staying in while he performs an opera. It is a building from the 1600s and of course there is no elevator so we worked off some of that fondue. It's a small bachelor apartment that looks over a church and I have to say that if I were a student and I was in Salzburg for a few months and this is where I lived, it would be the best place in the world. Very La Boheme. Very Moulin Rouge starving artist but not because it is actually pretty lovely.
Speaking of La Boheme, I totes got to see the dress rehearsal that afternoon. As I mentioned before, my friend's husband (David Pershall: fantastic singer) is in Salzburg to perform. I won't go much into detail because it debuts tomorrow and I don't want to give away anything... but I think it is safe to say that it was by far one of the best performances I have ever seen. I bawled throughout the opera and while Madame Butterfly will always be my favourite, La Boheme is now a close second. It is a rare thing to watch a performance like the one I watched on Wednesday and feel like the singers sang effortlessly. It was magical and please, if you are in Salzburg for the next 4 weeks, you must see this production. You won't be disappointed... it truly is magical. And to be honest, I thought it wouldn't work when I first saw the beginning stage set up and costumes but it did. It worked so well. Hats off to the director and the performers... you blew this gal away. And I watch a lot of crap TV and yet can be hard to impress. Bravo! Truly bravo!
After the incredible show, K.P. and I threw out our tissues and decided to find a place for dinner. We walked around for a couple of minutes and then she was like "What time is it?! It's a ghost town! It is only 7:30 in the evening! Where is everybody?!" and that is when the memory of my last trip to Salzburg with the Husband came rushing back to me. Yeah, Salzburg is a ghost town at night. I mean, creepily so. It's packed with tourists during the day but as soon as the shops close BAM!, people gone. It's like The Village but scary. Har har. Made fun of M. Night Shyamalan and I actually never watched the film. But Salzburg, dude, you are dead. We window shopped a little and stumbled upon an awesome store that had a couple of awesome purses. I said to K.P. "We will be back at that store tomorrow. Now I need food." and we continued walking around, noticing that barely any restaurant was open. I finally arm wrestled her into choosing Italian because I needed my pizza fix. We found a little place called Il Sole and sat down at a little table and ordered some chianti and pizzas. We talked and ate and were pleasantly surprised by the place.
After dinner, we decided to check out one of the 3 cocktail bars we had seen earlier. We decided on one place that looked super cute on the outside. We were so wrong to judge this cocktail bar by its cover. So very wrong. We walked in and the owner/bartender told us that we could sit at the bar. This of course was a little problematic because the no doubt expensive leather stools were instruments of torture. They were leather and one had to straddle them like a horse. Ten minutes in, my friend K.P. was like "I'm going to side saddle this." I felt so indecent that I used my coat to cover my thighs. The rest of the time in this bar went downhill. I ordered a mint julep because I am a sucker for silver cups. My friend tried to order a lemon drop and when the bartender didn't know what it was (After bragging he could make any cocktail) she helpfully said "It's like lemoncello." and the look of disgust that crossed his face was shocking. He snorted and said "Lemoncello?! We don't have that! That's not a real drink." and it was all that we could do to not shout "MILLIONS OF ITALIANS WOULD DISAGREE!" But he complied and started on our drinks that took forever to make. Her lemon gimlet was good, my mint julep was pretty much straight bourbon over crushed ice. I suffered through it because I am not the kind of gal to waste 11 euros. The bartender kept making incredibly condescending comments and we decided to ask for the bill... which also took forever. Yeah, we ran out of there after paying for our drinks and I believe that we will never return. Ugh. The worst.
We met K.P.'s husband outside the bar and went searching for a place to eat because he was hungry and of course everything was closed. We finally ventured into Stern Bräu and we ordered drinks and D.P. ordered finger food because that was all that was available because of course... obviously this is a thing in Salzburg. Probably also why people are so thin in that town. We then all made the decision to head to McDonalds. Listen, if Salzburg's restaurants close at 10, we are going to head to a fast food restaurant. We bumped into 3 opera cast members (and one actually lives around the corner from me in Vienna. Small world!) outside and chatted briefly. Then K.P., D.P. and I walked into McDonalds. I ordered an Oreo McFlurry and I am pretty sure a shard of Oreo got lodged in my left eye. We ate and then at midnight we were kicked out. My friends walked me to the taxi stand and I headed back to the hotel where I promptly fell asleep. Of course I woke up at 6 the next morning because I am masochist. And my eye was completely swollen. DAMN YOU OREO MCFLURRY! I read in bed and watched TV and then decided to get dressed and check out of the hotel. I headed back into town, through the Mirabell Palace gardens, and it was sunny and warm. I stopped at Starbucks for an oversized cafe latte and then met my friends K.P. and D.P. We checked out the store I said I needed to visit and within 10 minutes, I had picked up 2 purses, a shirt for the Husband, and a crazy pair of pink sunglasses.
I was happy. We decided to go for an early lunch and I figured we shouldn't mess with a good thing and went back to Carpe Diem. Yes, I ordered the burger again. Kind of obsessed. K.P. and D.P. walked me back to my hotel and I picked up my luggage and then we all headed to the train station. We said good bye and promised to try and see each other soon. It was so so so fantastic that we could spend the time together and catch up and it was awesome to do it in another city. I also probably put on a couple of pounds. I caught the afternoon train and at 5:30, rolled into Vienna's main train station. It was good to be home. And be surrounded by people. I am a city girl. Thursday evening, after putting the Kid to bed, I passed out at 9:30. I am glad I had the foresight to take Friday off and I spent most of the morning, lying on the sofa, watching Columbo. Around 12:30, I headed to Swing Kitchen for lunch and then met my friend for some tea and spritzers. Around 4:30 I headed to Beaver Brewing Company because a couple of friends were there having drinks and my parent night wasn't starting until 6. I ordered a spritzer and we caught up (mostly talked about me). And then at 6, I moved to the table of 10 I had reserved. Laziest bar hopping ever.
The parent night was absolutely wonderful! We had in total 12 parents and there is something magical that happens when people who go through similar struggles get together. There are a lot of nods and laughs and hugs and I am so happy. Honestly, the movement for autism change and awareness needs to stem from parents and I think we are well on our way. I can't wait to make this a monthly event and to create a strong "army" of really awesome people. We can do it! So now, after this long post, it is time for me to brush my teeth and do a little cleaning and of course a little chillaxing. I wish you all a fantastic Saturday! Toodles!
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