57. Claudia from Salzburg

Excerpts from a letter Claudia wrote to her family on Saturday, March 6, 1971, from Salzburg, Austria. She recounts a visit to Vienna, Austria.

Last weekend we went to Vienna & had a gay ol’ time—every minute was packed with fun-filled adventure & Moments to Remember! We took the long southern route to Vienna & passed through the most beautiful mountain country i’ve ever seen—it was like the movie Heidi, with little villages snuggled in tiny valleys covered with snow & surrounded by mountains of tall pines—we saw two snow avalanches off the mountain¬side, that was kind of exciting & then we put our bus on the train & went through a long tunnel for about 10 or 15 minutes—that’s the only way anybody can get through the mountain pass during the winter. One of the neatest parts of the whole trip was when we got to get out of the bus & climb an old castle that was high on the hill—it was so jolly & old—just like the real thing (which it was!) i climbed this one little winding stairway that was made of crumbling stone & covered with leaves—it was real tiny & narrow, just like out of King Arthur & when I got to the top i was in a lookout tower—it was so joyful! i could see clear out over the entire valley (no one could have sneaked up on this castle ’cause you could see everything! It was so exciting!) The castle was so neat—it had turrets and places for the weapons in the wall & everything!!! Boy, castles are fun to climb, i wish we had them in America!

The trip normally only takes 4 hours from Salzburg to Vienna but since we took the long southern route & stopped to climb the castle, it took us about 13—when we finally got to Vienna the bus driver got lost & we drove around the city for a while looking for the youth hostel where we were going to stay—we finally ran into Dr. Baker in his little VW, he was looking for us, & he led the caravan to the hostel. We had 8 in a room—4 sets of bunk beds—and it was the same bunch who’d been with us in Berlin, we really have a gay ol’ time together! We laugh & talk all night with a little “soft shoeing” & messing around thrown in for fun—we really get along good together!

Saturday morning we got up & it was freezing cold outside! i have never been in such cold weather in my entire life! Even with gloves & boots & arctic tights my hands & toes froze—i couldn’t believe it! (We found out the next day that it had been –20o F with 30 mph winds—which explained it) but that just made it all the more an adventure!! The famous Lippizan horses weren’t performing but they were training & that was open to the public so we went & watched—Goll, those horses are fantastic! They are precision trained & just beautiful (pure white), they’re so neat to watch!

After we went to the Spanish riding school & saw the Lippizan horses we—hey there’s so much to tell you i’m going to sen y’all a tape OK?!!! Vienna was full of adventure!

i love y’all lots & think about you often! A lot is happening all the time & there’s so much to say but i just don’t have the patience to write it all down—so be expecting a tape. i love you!!