Salzburg

Next stop...Budapest! We got on the train all set to go to Budapest. Unfortuantely we were on the wrong train headed for Munich. We flipped a coin and decided to stay on the train. This was not without the influence of the beautiful, lovely, and talented Larissa. She told us Salzburg was a gorgeous place and that was her stop because she had moved to a little town about 35 minutes outside of Salzburg. She was this cute little old woman who sat behind us. When she was kicked out of her seat...she asked to sit with us.

It turns out that Larissa is an author (Two Lands, Two Languages, Two Lives - which I advise everyone to go out and buy) from Moscow who was on a 52 hr train ride that involving 9 customs checks to her holiday home in Bad Reichenhall. We were enamored by her. As a fellow traveller and full of stories I think she was just as excited to meet us as we were her. After an hour, she suggested that we come home with her. She promised us that it was a gorgeous mountain town and there was this incredible Spa (which happens to be the reason she moved there). She told us she would set us up with accommodation, and that we wouldn't be sorry.

Larissa!!! In the bag contained vodka with bees (because apparently that is the fashion trend and good for your skin)

One thing you should know about Larissa...is that she never lies. Ever.

One may think its strange to meet an older Russian stranger and decide, sure we'll go home with you- but we had a feeling about Larissa.  I don't know how many people I'll meet like her in my lifetime. Larissa is one of those people you meet that restores your faith in humanity. The bus ride to her town was gorgeous as it kept taking us deeper and deeper into the alps. 

"We're the four best friends that anyone could have!"

We were the last bus stop. When we got out we headed for her apartment. She said she needed to freshen up and that we could just hang out at her friends while she got ready. Hmm...what? She dropped us off at her friends who didn't speak a word of english. As we walked in, large backpacks on, and took off our shoes we tried to communicate with them. We understand have a seat on a couch. Alexzander (Sasha) looked perplexed. Marsha was in her blue nightie. We all looked around at each other? What was going on? Three young american girls had just been dropped off in the middle of nowhere at a strangers friends house who didn't speak there language. We all looked around after an awkward silence and started dying laughing. I think Marsha was crying she was laughing so hard. We all knew what each other was thinking. Crazy Larissa. 


Sasha got us a beer - another universal word. We sat down at their dinner table and they served us a feast. Talk about being kind to strangers. They served us pizza bread, BISON (which i tried...but gibo had to stick the rest in her bag because they offered us so much and we didnt want to be rude), oranges, pretzals etc etc. Larissa came back, showered and dolled up. She was so excited to see her friends and they caught up while the three of us sat back and just watched them be so happy all-together. 

The most welcoming family on such short notice!

Sasha broke out some vodka which he made us all take a shot of because that is what you are supposed to do in Russia and it would have been rude to break with tradition! We learned via Larissa that this was the first time they (including herself) had ever met Americans, and had never in her life dreamed she'd be having dinner with 3. Its hard to understand because we didn't grow up in the Cold War like the 3 of them. Marsha+Sasha had been kicked out of Germany and forced to move to Uzbekistan.  After finally settling in there, the Germans forced them to move to Austria because there were not enough Austrian-Germans. Crazy. 


Larissa explained that she had a daughter around our age who was traveling throughout India who she was worried about. And..."although I am a Christian I still believe in Karma"

With the smuggled Bison!

After dinner and a few more toasts we all gave each other big hugs. Larissa, along with Marsha and Sasha walked us through the town to a hotel right across the street from the Spa. The going rate a night was 150EUR which we obvi couldn't afford. Larissa talked the guy down to 50 total for the 3 of us. Thrilled, we all hugged goodbye again and thanked our new friends. 


We saw Larissa the next day at the Spa but only for a few minutes. She was in her element. 

Larissa frolicking in thermal pool

The rest of the day we spent exploring the town and took the cable car (which was the first in europe) to the top of the alps and hiked around. 

Cable car. Cool photo

Blue Steel

After that we took a bus back into Salzburg. I won't say much about Salzburg except that I believed I was fraulien maria (if only for a few hours). 

How do you solve a problem like erin ? Being a tour guide for sound of music salzburg hotspots

Larissa was right about everything --- down to the price of the Spa to the guarantee that this would be one of the most beautiful places in the world we would ever see. 

View from thermal pool