First Snow, First Skate and First Club in Salzburg

We woke on Thursday morning and it was snowing at 6:00am. We were absolutely amazed as the locals said even though it was predicted to snow it wasn’t likely to happen so when we saw the flakes coming down from the sky we were in awe as it was something very different for us to. We all rushed out onto the balcony and got hit by how freezing it was but also very pretty.

It continued to snow for most of the morning and then stopped around lunch time. We thought that was it but the next day it snowed even harder and lasted most of the day so all of the trees and mountains and cars were covered in the flakes. Not enough to do anything with but the kids had fun having snowball fights.

By happen chance the weekend prior Ben and I went shopping to get a start on the Christmas shopping and they had ice skates for sale. This is what started it all off. I thought for fun I would try on a pair and the biggest pair that they had was too small for me (a size 41). All my shoes I had purchased since being here were in a size 42 so I assumed that would be my size. I quickly put the idea behind me to buy ice skates and we continued shopping.

Ben went online to a second hand site here called Willhaben and found a pair of ice skates that were a size 42 and before I knew it the next day we were on the bus out to Leopondskron in a lovely ladies house purchasing her skates. We had planned to go ice skating with the kids this weekend and now I had some adorable comfortable skates to wear.

Ben also found a pair of skates on Willhaben too so he bought his and we were going to also get the kids some skates but they were just not interested at all so we decided that they could hire there’s. We are planning on getting a season pass so we can go ice skating when we want now that we have our skates.

The ice skating rink is at Eisarene I’m Volksgarten - Hermann-Bahr-Promenade 2, 5020 Salzburg and was a decent size. They have an indoor ice rinks but they also had the cutest outdoor skating area with lane ways and Christmas trees lining the skate paths and a nice big area out the back to practice tricks and falling over gracefully. We invited Daniel’s friend Yali to come so they had a blast skating around together and Jessy and I had fun going round the outside track and dodging all the little kids who were very unpredictable and had lots of the push toys to help them skate. Just when we thought they were going in one direction they quickly spin and almost knock us over like bowling balls. I really enjoyed the whole experience and being outside while skating and the course that they had set up. I can’t wait to see if the lakes freeze over and they have skating on the lakes as predicted too.

After 2 hours everyone was all skated out so we got on the number 21 bus which stops right outside our apartment (and my happen chance has 3 gumball machines just randomly beside it on the road to purchase from which is Daniel’s best source of sugar and only 0.20 euros.

The kids were wanting to stay in and just get pizza for dinner… but Ben and I were wanting traditional food so the kids were more than happy to get a pizza and cosy up inside and Ben and I jumped on the 21 bus and headed back to the Bau Haus that we loved but haven’t been back to.

It was like entering Harry Potters great banquet hall with the hustle and bustle of people everyone and every table was filled. We selected our choices from the various vendors including 4 salad varieties of nuddle salat, sauerkraut, greek salat and a meat salat and then had a side of pickles and pork knuckle which was falling off the bone. Our plates in hand we wandered the halls trying to find somewhere to sit and we thought we would try our lunch and squeeze into the only 2 seats that looked available and they were.

After we finished our meal the 2 men we were sitting next to struck up a conversation with us and we learnt they were brothers living in Austria and they were incredibly friendly and funny. We ended up sitting and talking to them until closing time. I don’t know how they did it but they were down 4 x steins (which were 1 litre each) at the end of the evening when it closed at 11pm and they seemed perfectly fine. I’m occasionally drink the alcohol here but can’t seem to find anything I like and I can’t stand beer and that is the only thing they sold here so I enjoyed lemonades all evening and Ben had water. Amidst our conversations the idea of going to a club came up and I couldn’t resist.

We ended up going to a club called the “Rockhouse” and it is Salzburg’s go to music club. it was an absolute blast. It’s 5 degrees outside and 40 degrees inside and everyone is dancing. The room is like an underground cellar and there was a great atmosphere of lasers and lights. We got lost dancing until 1am to trance techno (not my favourite) but it had been so long since I had gone dancing I just enjoyed the beat and movement.

The two brothers Tony and Gilgen were great company and really knew their history of Austria. I am amazed at how all the locals are heavily involved and passionate about their history and background and knowledge. They stayed on at the club when we left and I think they would probably be there until closing time. We had a really fun night out.