Aufwiedersehn Austria

On our last day in charming Vienna we decided to tackle their U-Bahn (subway) system and found it easy to understand.   It whisked us to Schönbrunn Palace (summer residence of the Habsburg's.   With a huge menu to choose from we opted for the grand tour which allowed us into 40 of the 1,441 rooms of the imperial apartments.  Compared to Versailles Schönbrunn is much more elegant and not so garish.  The wealth involved in these places is staggering.  Photography is not allowed anywhere inside the Palace.  I thought this was a ploy to get you to buy the book but soon realized allowing photography would turn the tour into a giant brawl.  After our interior tour we wandered the sprawling gardens.   These gardens are so large that your eyes play tricks on you.  You do not realize how far away things are by just looking at them.  These gardens include the amazing and iconic Neptune Fountain.

We climbed Schönbrunn hill to the Gloriette and a bird's eye view of the French gardens and the Palace

Leaving the Palace we boarded the U-Bahn and were greeted by a young girl and her Australian Shepherd dog.   We tried to imagine how Zöe would react to all of these people and the subway.

Arriving back in the old town we settled in at a side walk café for a session of people watching and a cold one.  We proceeded to window shop and wander through the wonderful backstreets of Vienna.  On the whole, Vienna's architecture rivals or even surpasses that of Paris.   We discovered the Viennese institutions called "beisl" (a pub which serves food or a casual restaurant).   We scouted out 2 and settled on Reinthaler's Beisl.   It's just 100 meters off the busy tourist shopping street, Graben, but a thousand miles away from tourist crowds.   We found a cozy corner and had our most authentic Austrian meal.   It was also the best and cheapest.   If you come to Vienna, don't miss this place.  It's mostly filled with native Viennese but the host could not have been more welcoming. 

Home for an early sleep because we leave first thing in the morning for the Czech Republic.   

Tales From the Vienna Woods

This morning we woke up to silence.   The thing about waking up to church bells is that on the first occasion you think, "isn't that lovely and so very European".   On the second occasion you think, "gee, that's just like being woken up by the first few bars of the Anvil Chorus".  And on the third occasion you think, "that sounds like someone dragging a broken dumpster down a cobbled lane".   

Heading off bright and early to see as much of the city as we can we stop at the local Sbux for breakfast.  Following the Rick Steves tour we start off in front of the State Opera House.   Passing a lot of notable sights our first real stop was at the Monument Against War and Fascism, a grouping of modern art statues which manage to leave you quite moved. 

Next stop, Kaisergruft, the burial crypt of many Habsburg's.   Surprisingly this place is not as eerie as you would think.  Row upon neat row of highly decorated lead coffins.   Among the more notable and ornate were Maria Therese, Franz Ferdinand I and his wife Elizabeth of Bavaria (Sisi), who was so beloved people still put flowers at her tomb.

Winding our way down to St Stephen's Cathedral, we walked around outside, captivated by the majesty and beauty of this magnificent cathedral.

Upon entering we found we had just missed the last opportunity to tour the interior until after the noon mass.   With an hour and a half to kill, we backtracked to the Cafe Stube and sampled the famous Sacher Torte (cake).

With more time we decided to take the opportunity to tour the opera house.   The tour was quite well organized as they separate the groups by language.   The opera house is still the centre of Vienese society and one of the premier music venues in the world.   It is lavish in the extreme.   The highest ticket price is €290, standing room in the nose bleed section goes for €3 or €4.   

Winding up this excellent tour we rejoined our Rick Steves tour in the interior of St Stephen's.  The most amazing part of St Stephen's is the beautifully carved sandstone pulpit.  The life-like carvings  tell a story.

We wandered up Graben Street which had a couple of interesting features, the first being the plague column.   This was raised in thanks to God for the end of the plague.   Another interesting feature is Loos' loos, the first underground public washrooms designed by Adolf Loos.   They are so ornate that they are still used for poetry readings.    

Turning left we headed up Kohlmarkt Strasse, one of the swankiest shopping streets you've ever seen.   All the big names are here.

We spent some time looking through portions of the Hofburg Palace, the winter home of the Habsburg's.   By this time we were running out of steam, so decided on an early dinner.   Acting upon recommendations from our host, Franz and documentaries we've seen, we headed to the iconic Cafe Central.   We were not disappointed.  A truly excellent meal.   

Aufwiedersehn Hallstatt

With a heavy heart and a lighter wallet we left the amazingly beautiful village of Hallstatt.   

Cruising across the lake to the train station there were many sad people.

Even as touristy as it is Hallstatt is the kind of place you want to return to.   

After a running train switch at Attnang-Puchheim we were on an ICE train to Vienna.   The scenery is flatter and a lot less pretty and iconic as the one from Salzburg to Hallstatt was.   Eventually finding our way out of the sprawling Wien Westbahnhof we took a pleasant 15 minute walk through an older area of Vienna to arrive at the Rosa Linde B&B.  We knew it was on the 2nd floor of what we found to be a non-descript and not overly appealing building.   Gaining entrance we were greeted with a spiral staircase encircling a very old-fashioned birdcage elevator.   Finally finding the correct door to the B&B we opened it and stepped in to another world.  The lobby was bright and modern and as far as we could see uninhabited.  We tried to gain entrance to our room and failed.  Doing further investigation I found a young guy working in an office.  I told him who we were and he immediately sprung into action.  After taking care of all the formalities he took us down to our suite "the Freud".   You open the door and our breaths were taken away.  It was absolutely lovely - 12 foot ceilings, parquet floors, huge tall windows and even a chandelier.  The bathroom is very modern and tasteful as are the furnishings.  This place is amazing.

Franz, our host, took about 20 minutes to outline the highlights of Vienna for us including a few good places to eat.   We headed to the old town.  A bonus of our hotel is that you can walk to the old town. Spending a couple of hours just wandering and craning our necks looking at the sights, we discovered that we were both hungry as we had missed our daily strudel and beer ritual which has become our lunch.  We headed to the Plachuttas Gasthaus (recommended by Franz) for an authentic Austrian dinner.  And for the first time on this trip actual vegetables, if you don't count sauerkraut as a vegetable.   Ambled back to our flat.

Tiny Charming Hallstatt

Up early and saying goodbye to our funky little Salzburg Hotel, Krone 1512.   Stopping in at Sbux for a quick breakfast on our way to the new Salzburg train station.   It's the new train station because the old one was obliterated by Allied bombing in WWII.  I would have like to have seen the old station as that is where the Von Trapp family had their big going away party when they boarded the train to go to Italy and then America.  I'm sorry, did you really believe that they "fled on foot over the Alps to escape the Nazi's"?  Didn't happen, but not many people would want to see a movie about a family moving for the opportunity to make money.

The train ride through the iconic Austrian countryside was beautiful even in the rain.  Judy had read a number of articles which listed Hallstatt as one of the most beautiful towns in Europe.   Even in the rain it fully lived up to its billing.

Arriving at the Hallstatt train station you have to walk down about 200 meters to board a boat which takes you across the Hallstätter See to the town itself.  Perched on a small wedge of land and creeping up the mountainside Hallstatt is everyone's idea of a fairy tale village.   Spent the afternoon exploring and gawking at all of the amazingly beautiful sights.  Two things we noticed:  1. there were a large number of Asian tourists in Hallstatt, and 2. the best tourist scam ever - you can rent a dirndl for €23 an hour.  

 

After another good meal in a real sit down restaurant for a change instead of a beer hall we retired to our luxurious room complete with a lake front view.

The Hills Are ....... Wet

Awoke to the sounds of church bells and rain.  After a light breakfast we headed off to Hohensalzburg Fortress (Festung).  

Anybody that knows me knows I am a sucker for a good funicular and the one to the fortress is very good.   This castle was built over a number of years but was primarily used to intimidate as it was never conquered.  It's primary use was in the Thirty Years War - a war that was fought between the church and the state to see who could squeeze the taxes out of the peasants.  The castle itself is very imposing but with the exception of the state chambers not very interesting.   The best part for us were the amazing vistas even in the rain. 

After a stop for strudel and beer we headed along the path that lead from this fortress to Mönchsberg Castle, a very scenic hike along the ridge line.   Another amazing view at every corner.   A walk in the woods was very restful after jostling with tourists for two days.   Arriving back in the city we did a little more exploring and shopped for trinkets and trash.  A little people watching at Café Tomaselli and then across the river to Biergarten die Weisse, an enormous brewery beer garden/hall complex for dinner.  Then back to our hotel for an early night.

Schnitzel, Strudel and Suds

After a somewhat fitfull and jet-lagged sleep (or lack of) we were awakened by a cacophonie of church bells.   Getting organized we breakfasted outside under clear skies at a charming Cafe.  We headed across the river to Old Salzburg.  Salzburg is famous for three things, two of them are musical, namely Herbert Von Karajan (famous conductor) and Wolfie Mozart.   The third is The Sound of Music.  In case you haven't guessed I'm not a fan of musical cinema and The Sound of Music being the worst of the breed, in my opinion.   In the annals of Hollywood changing the truth to make a more enjoyable story - this was an Academy Award winning movie?   

Following our good friend Rick Steves we set off on a walking tour.  First stop Salzburg Cathedral (Salburger Dom), a beautiful light and airy cathedral with ties to Mozart, who played organ here for a number of years.  He was also baptized here.  This place is so big it has 4 organs (4 organs, no waiting).    

It didn't take us long to realize that the old town of Salzburg is a whole lot of churches joined by a whole lot of platzes.  An interesting feature were 2 extremely ornate horse washes. Think car washes before the car.  We wandered on to St. Peter's Church, the only baroque church in Salzburg, lined with some very dark paintings and some amazing frescoes which have been iced with "a sugary Rococo finish".   And on to St. Peter's Cemetery - a beautiful and quiet garden-like setting for the remains of Salzburg's elite.  This location inspired a scene in the movie TSOM but it was actually shot in Hollywood like 90% of the movie.  

Time for lunch.  Feeling thirsty and a bit hungry we decided to try the Stiftskeller St. Peter Restaurant, reputed to be the oldest restaurant in Europe, circa 803.  Charlemagne ate here.  We figured if it was good enough for him it was good enough for us.  We decided on something light - apple strudel chased with a Schweppes Bitter Lemon for a meager €30.

We wandered the streets and alleyways of the old town seeing far too many interesting sights to catalog.   Of particular note was the Getreidegasse Street which reminded us of the Shambles area in York, England, except all the signs were in German.   It's been a centre of trade since Roman Times (third century)  and most of the buildings date from the 15th century.   Many of the shops have wrought iron signs with symbols designating their products.   Ron was lured by the siren call of Sporer where they have been brewing spirits for a century.   He sampled a particularly yummy carroway liqueur.  We ambled back to Café Tomaselli and settled in to people watch.

 As dinner time approached we wandered down the Salzach River to the Augustiner Monastery where the monks have been brewing beer since 1623.  Not content to keep it all to themselves the brothers constructed an enormous beer hall and garden, with a food court where you can get nearly anything as long as it's deep fried.  They have an interesting system.  You choose your stein off the shelf, take it to the ticket seller who charges you depending on size, take it to the fountain where you wash it and then to the beer guy who fills it.  

Strolled back along the river to our hotel. 

In the Beginning

Miracle of miracles, Judy and I and all our luggage made it to the airport in one trip.  The caution of arriving 3 hours before your flight is beginning to cut it a little fine.  By the time you spend an hour lining up for baggage check and another hour going through security it doesn't leave a lot of time for relaxing.  A pretty uneventful flight.   Seeing it's the first time for us flying Lufthansa we rate it 3.5 on the Decaigny rating scale (Air Canada being 1, Singapore Airlines being 5).  We may have to alter the scale or start awarding negative values as friend Dana insists American Airlines is even worse than Air Canada.  Last year KLM earned a 4 rating, it's food being better and it's staff friendlier than Lufthansa.   The big plus for Lufthansa being it's information/entertainment system.  

Arriving in Frankfurt we made our way to the train station which the ever efficient Germans had built in the basement of the airport.   Way cool.   With a little help from a super friendly DB Bahn employee we validated our tickets and found our appropriate track.  We boarded a Munich bound super modern, super quiet super fast and smooth as butter ICE high speed train.  Another myth shattered and a point of national pride badly bruised - both of our German trains ran late.  Unfortunately due to our marathon travel we were unable to really enjoy the countryside as we were fighting to stay awake.  Arriving in Salzburg we found our cute little hotel and unpacked.  Heading out for a light dinner the skies opened up into full-blown monsoon rains.  With 2 umbrellas borrowed from the hotel we made it to a nice local bistro and had a light dinner of goulash, beer and bread.