My Travelogue Story WRITTEN BY ADITHI KART H IKEYAN

Austria and Us STAY TUNED FOR THE AP P LE SEGMENT

We went to Austria on 19th April, just 4 days after we reached Germany. We were six of us -me, my mother, my sister, my aunt and uncle and my maternal grandmother. I don’t recall much, as it has been three years since we travelled, and the sheet of paper which had the fresh memory of this travel was lost. But some incidents are just too memorable to forget. We took almost three trains in total to go to Austria. Two local trains and one train which went to Austria. It was very difficult to find seats, and with all the luggage, it became worse. I and my uncle went to many compartments finding seat and we all sat at different places. But slowly, people got down and we got a few seats next to each other. We all heard stories from my grandmother about her younger days, the fun she had in her village, how societies changed with time, how kids roamed freely in fields and farms, enjoying sweet fruits from trees, without ever worrying about their safety. Those were “Golden days”. There were a lot of people in the train to Austria, many of them didn’t find a place to sit, some of them also sat in the pathway.

Trains were not new to me. But it was two years ago that I had travelled in train before this trip. We then got used to changing trains, waiting for it in platforms and not understanding a single word there 😊.

I was quite proud of the fact that I had studied German for two months in school, but since my teacher couldn’t continue for the next 8 months, I had almost forgotten the language. One incident where I particularly tried to show that I knew German was when we boarded the local train, while going to Austria. A person was collecting the trash from each seat and when he was collecting in my seat, I said “Nein” which means no in German just to show that I knew German (infront of my family) but, then he said a long sentence, which I didn’t understand, I just looked at my uncle. He told something , after which the person took the trash. Through his way of speaking and expressing though, I understood that he asked whether I wanted the trash to be there as it was, or if he could throw in his bag. After this incident, I never boasted of knowing German, in front of Germans especially :D We finally reached the railway station in Vienna, Austria. From there we got another train to Salzburg.



On reaching Salzburg, we went by walk to the hotel, (Hotel Ibis). So, the first day we went to Untersberg. We went by bus there. The city was quite calm and peaceful, not much people were there. It was also cold. We went in the evening of the day we arrived in Austria, 19th April, about 4 pm. Night falls very late there, unlike India, there is light till almost 10pm, which was something new for me.

That night, since we were all hungry, two of us took apple from that basket, which was kept in the reception. The next day, I had no idea how long the travel was, nor where we had planned to go. I was just informed that we were going to salt mine, where we will have a slide, (never did I know that this was going to be a whole lot fun!)

Well, as of what we were going to eat, it was simple. Just take an apple each time you pass! It was my sister who went first, got an apple and came back, she then went the second time and got another. And both the times, there was someone in the reception. I was the next. We all went one after the other, without getting suspicious and got apples till the basket was over :D!!



So, coming back to our story, we went by walk to the railway station. Got the train to Hallstatt. there we took one more trains to the village. Then t a bus to go up the mountains. After that, we were waiting for another bus, to go to our destination, and we were the only one left. The others left by taxi. Then we figured out that we had to take taxi and well, it has a story too! I and my sister were very mischievous, we searched the car and found out that a dog was just behind our seat! It was so silent that it didn’t make a single noise. We immediately told everyone, and my aunt jokingly told us that we could get bitten, for it costs 2000 euros as a compensation.

Okay, now that we reached our spot, we took a funicular to our final place, the salzwelten! We walked a bit more, though, but it was fun, snow was still there in some places, (only a little) and I started throwing snow balls to my sister, and then it proceeded to everyone else. It was really fun and we had a great time.

We went inside, and we had get ourselves the right clothes, to wear on our clothes. I and my sister were looking like miners and the rest were like patients and prisoners. There was a guide for us, he spoke both German and

It started to get cold inside it. But more than that, it was fascinating. We went to a place where the first slide was there, it was a wooden one. I remember one thing that he said,” Whenever you find some miner, say Gluck Auf!” and that still has a place in my mind even after 4 years 😊. He offered my sister to try it first, but she was hesitant and shy, she was also scared because it went by a steep angle and also, it was a mine! She then went with uncle, I went with mom, and my aunt came with my grandmother. We passed by many places , we saw videos , we saw the old instruments and artifacts the old miners were using and that the bodies of these miners were preserved by salt, rock salt. We then went in another slide, which was longer than the first one. There was a hidden camera there, and while sliding, I told my sister to give a proper expression, but I ended up not giving it. Regrets apart, but really, we enjoyed the trip very much.

The guide was giving all the kids small boxes of rock salt, and he didn’t have enough and I didn’t get it, he promised to give it when we went out.





In last, we went out in a train not a real one though, it was like a toy train- where we had to sit on it and I had to bend in many places, where my head was saved by inches away!

We thought he wouldn’t give the salt box and that he forgot, but he didn’t, instead he looked for us and gave us all! That was indeed heartwarming and a memorable event. We made the same journey back to our hotel in Salzburg. Again, that night, each one went one by one and got ourselves apples! Or should I say we stole them :D It was really a wonderful trip, the next day , we packed our bags and found that the apples were not kept that day! They were fed up of us messing with apples :D .. and then, back again, off we went to our Nuremberg home, home sweet home!