36 Years Ago

36 Years Ago, Vienna 1971—A Student Journal

Day 018: Salzburg, Austria; first train trip

36yearsago.com

Vienna 1971—A Student Journal
A year of music, study, travel, sightseeing & friends.


Day 18 — Salzburg, Austria; first train trip
20-August-1971 (Fri.)


TRANSCRIPT

Salzburg
Salzburg trip.

An adventure on my own.

On the way to Salzburg 01

My first train trip.

It must be pretty hard to believe that I didn’t have a train trip before...but this was my first. I learned a lot:

• It’s easy to get sick on a train.
• When you don’t reserve a seat – you stand.
• You always pay more at a travel agency.

I really didn’t enjoy it—standing—but the scenery was
Beautiful. The countryside is lovely. I hope that my “moving pictures from a train,” I mean “pictures from a moving train” – come out, otherwise losing my lens-shade out the window would have been in vain.

Immediately upon arrival, it began to hail. There is also no student service which is worthwhile in Salzburg.

In the Mozarteum, I happened to discover a flute recital by summer students—excellent. [Concert 03] I also met one student from Fairlawn [NJ]. Planned to meet others.


REFLECTIONS

This was a surprise, even 36 years later. Why did I suddenly decide to go to Salzburg? Did someone tell me to go, or was I reading about the wonderful summer music festival in Salzburg? Probably both and so I suspect it wasn’t sudden. So, I went. Good thing.

Austrian countryside
First train trip. This was one of my firsts that you read about on the Welcome page. What I learned is that you can get motion sickness from standing on the train, and that you always need to get advanced “seat” reservations so you can sit. The countryside was certainly beautiful—probably rolling hills and pastures as we head in the direction of the Alps. I’ll have to check the pictures when they come back.

Salzburg arrival. When I arrive in Salzburg, I am greeted by a hail storm. Hmmm, was that some kind of sign? I also complain about the student service not being good. While I don’t remember (I could be wrong), I can guess that I arrive, luggage in hand, walk to find a “student service” and that perhaps they can’t find me an available room. Complaining is natural. When you’re young though, I now think that you don’t always see the “big picture.” THE BIG PICTURE—I’m in Salzburg without a reservation, during a major INTERNATIONAL music festival, with ALL rooms most likely booked up, and I blame someone else for not finding me a room? Big picture, John! [Have you ever tried to get a reasonably-priced room to the Sundance Film Festival (Park City, Utah) during the Sundance Film Festival? Or it could be that I didn’t find any student service. I wish I could remember the detail.]

My complaining is light. I don’t generally feel like I’m a complaining type of person, except now that I’m getting older, I’m just grumpy. As a youngster, I’m just noting my frustration. Please forgive any future complaining that I do in the journal.

Hillside church 01
Photography. When I took pictures (36 years ago), I usually had my Nikkormat 35mm camera slung around my neck. I loved photography and was a serious hobbyist. I had a lens shade (lost during this trip), a few filters, and my trusty zoom lens. In those days, 35mm cameras were a bit heavy. You had a light meter in the viewfinder that would indicate your basic exposure; you set your aperture (f numbers) and shutter speed. It was manual but easy. It’s great to have hobbies. They engage you. You can learn by taking courses, or buying and reading books and magazines. Do it.

Imagine what my memory of this year would be
without pictures? Pictures are memories. [Kodak, you can advertise here.]

Today is a great time to learn photography, with digital cameras, great Mac and PC software, and classes, books, websites, and podcasts to get you started.

River and mountains
Photography podcast: one of my first photography podcasts and one that I still enjoy today, is that of Chris Marquardt’s TipsFromTheTopFloor.com. Today, Chris has an international reputation among podcasters and podcast listeners. You can subscribe to his podcast in iTunes or directly from his website. Chris even mentioned me in one of his early shows (show #47) where I mention that you can become a “published” photographer with a point-and-shoot camera. I’ll put a link to those Flickr photos here. If you want to learn more about the “creative and art” of photography check him out.

Flickr. Since photography will be a large part of this adventure, I will change my Flickr Pro account to something like “36yearsago” and hopefully post a few photos there. Perhaps, you will join us as friends and share your journal or travel photos as well. You can set up a free Flickr account at Flickr.com.

Back to Salzburg.

Magnificent Salzburg
Salzburg. Salzburg is the birthplace of Mozart (Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, 1756–91) and home to world-renown music festivals, notably in the summer. It’s quaint and beautiful, has its own medieval castle (Festung Hohensalzburg), and is a wonderful place to walk around and soak up the music. I happened to walk into the Mozarteum, which, I believe, was a recital or concert hall and heard a great flute concert.

Sometimes I wish I had written more detail about what I did on each sightseeing adventure.


John

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