TRAINING, CASTLES, SNOW, AND BOWLING; NOT A TYPICAL DAY IN SALZBURG

Tuesday was a busy day for Red Bulls Reader.

The day was the coldest since we have arrived in Salzburg, as the tempatures never went above the high 30's.

Training was the event of the morning, as the club went though its paces at the training grounds.

Following training, Red Bulls Reader accompanied the Madison Square Garden Network (be sure to check out Red Bull features this week), Seth Stammler, and Kevin Goldthwaite to the oldest castle in Salzburg, a nearly 1000 year old fortress that overlooks the city. We were able to see the many amazing features of the castle, including the torture chamber (no training jokes to make here), and the top of the castle, which gave a gorgeous 360 degree view of the entire city.



(Stammler and Goldthwaite meet with the other famous bull of Salzburg, here is a brief summary of the legend of the "Bull Washers":

During the period of the peasant’s riots of 1525, the city of Salzburg was under a siege. Soon the city’s population was running short of food, and fear spread when only a single bull was left within the mighty city walls.

Then the commander of the defending troops is said to have had an idea: he ordered to paint the naturally brown bull with white stain and lead it up and down the city walls on display to the enemy. The next day, they would wash the bull, paint it in black and do the same thing again. The next day, they would paint the bull red, then spotted, and so on.

In the end, the enemy thought that the people of Salzburg were slaughtering a bull every day, expecting that the live stocks were still large enough to feed the troops and people in the city for a very long time. Eventually, the troops that kept Salzburg under siege withdrew, leaving Salzburg to freedom. Under cheer and laughter, the bull was lead to the Salzach river and washed until he appeared again in his natural brown. Ever since then, people from Salzburg are called “Stierwascher” – bull washers.)


Following our short sightseeing tour, we went off to afternoon training at the stadium. Amazingly, near the end of the session, a mini blizzard hit the area, coating the turf and cancelling the scheduled team photo with Red Bull New York and Red Bull Salzburg.

Tonight the team went to a local bowling alley to roll a few frames (We imagine a few Big Lebowski jokes were floated around). Red Bulls Reader could do no better than a 155, and rumor has it that Mike Magee had the high game of the evening. The bowling wound down as Champions League matches began (understandably).



(Dave van den Bergh celebrates a great roll)

On a side note, all of us at Red Bull offer our congratulation to Red Bull Salzburg hockey, which completed its series sweep of EC Vienna Capitals with a resounding, 7-1, victory on home ice. Its now on to the league finals for the team!!

Tomorrow will bring training in the morning, then a visit to Hangar 7, then a trip back to the stadium to watch Red Bull Salzburg in its rescheduled match against FC Wacker Innsbruck. Another full day, so be sure to check back for the full recap.