Austria Vacation Log: Day 16, Final Days

Our last day in Austria. We started the day by going to the Augustinian Church for Sunday Mass. The Mass itself wasn’t that interesting- even with my German experience I could understand essentially none of it, but the music made it worthwhile- orchestra, choir, and real organ.

Dorinna and I had different goals for the day. As this was our last day in Europe, we decided to do our own thing. Dorinna visited the Haus der Musik music museum, went on a quest for an open grocery story to buy Nutella, and had a restful few hours reading in a park. For my part, yesterday’s visit to the Kunsthistoriches Museum had merely whetted my appetite for art.

My tour started at St. Stephansdom, the largest church in Vienna. The sculptures and sepulchers were fascinating- well worth the few euros just to see where all the dead emperors were buried. But I cruised through it pretty quickly, so that I could take two U-bahns and a tram to the main event- the Liechtenstein Museum.

I had lunch in the museum café- square noodles with butter and ham, with a side salad of lettuce and chives. I dropped off my stuff and enjoyed an afternoon of Baroque art. Security was very intrusive, watching everyone like hawks. For the first time in my life I was asked to “step back from the painting.” But the museum was almost empty, so it balanced out. I especially liked a series of wall-sized paintings by Peter Paul Reubens about the Roman emperor Decius Mus. The library downstairs was just stunning- the kind of library you would have if you loved books and money was no object- books stretched from tiled floor to frescoed ceiling.

I went to the gift shop to buy the catalog, and bought a German kid’s book. It was a mystery book, loosely based on the Da Vinci code, where you have to solve the mystery. I explained to the attractive young woman behind the counter that I was learning German, but could only read children’s books. “Wenn Man kein Kind ist, es ist schwer interesante Kinderbücher zu finden.” (When one is not a child, it is hard to find interesting children’s books.) She was quite friendly, and told me to enjoy the book. I was quite proud of the fact that the entire exchange was in German.

Dorinna and I arrived at our rendezvous point at just about the same time. We met at the Café Demel, perhaps the most famous bakery in Wien. Two pieces of Sachertorte (a rich chocolate cake), and a Kleiner Brauner (a slow-extracted espresso with milk) later, we went back to Brezel –Gwölb for dinner. I had some pretty amazing cheese spaetzle and good beer. We took a long walk home, including a short u-bahn ride.

The next day our trip ended with an uneventful train and plane ride back to America. It was a great vacation, but we were pretty tired, and we decided that our next vacation would be back in the United States.

Two days later, I read a travel article about Croatia in Outside magazine…

This concludes the story of our Germany-Austria trip from 2005. I’ve still got a large backlog of interesting trips still to describe, including our Central European trip to Hungary and the Czech Republic from last summer, so stay tuned…

Austria Vacation Log: Day 15, The Enjoyment of Wien

In many ways, yesterday was a low point. I feel like I was overwhelmed with the amount of stuff that I wanted to see in Vienna. On Day 15, I admitted I wouldn’t see half of it – and it was more important to see some of it well.

We got a late start and wandered around the city. Dorinna spent some time in Frey Willie, a high-class jewelry store, while I poked my head into every bookstore in town. We thought to see St. Stephensdom, but they were setting it up for a wedding, and tourism was shutting down in there.

So we meandered our way over to the Kunsthistorishes Museum - one of the most important art museums in the world. We got our audio guides and started to explore. In keeping with my mindset for the day, we didn’t even try to see the whole museum. The German/Dutch/Flemish half was enough. We saw that half in great detail, only flying through the Italian/French section to visit some familiar names. We stopped in mid-visit for a visit to what turned out to be both a delicious and beautiful café. We had great food and a great desert.

After the museum, we went on a quest for a grocery story to buy Nutella for Maria. We failed, but found a few pleasantly uncrowded souvenir shops off the main drag, which allowed us to finish our shopping. We vowed that our next trip will be postcards-only.

The evening adventure started off on the subway. We took the U4 to its end, and then found a bus, and took that what seemed like a very long way up one big hill. We got off at Kahlenberg. After visiting the only dirty restroom in Austria, we climbed up onto a terrace to get a view down to the city below. Grey clouds covered the sky, and it was fairly late. Fairly gloomy actually, and we wondering if we had enough daylight left. We were looking for a trail back down to the city. We found it, but it went on and off a road, and we soon missed one of the turn-offs, and most of our walk was on the Klenberger Strauße, down into the center of Nußdorf. Along the way we passed lots of vineyards- Vienna is the only world capital with vineyards within the city limits. At one point an Austrian car pulled up to ask me for directions. I managed to apologize in German: “Est tut mir Leid. Wir sind amerikanishen Touristen.“

We made it down to the cute little hamlet of Nußdorf, and after a short search, found the Heurige recommended in our guide book. We waited in the long line at the food counter, and ordered too much. We went outside and found a table, and started drinking wine. And drinking more wine. Rain started, and we talked about going inside, but a retractable canopy opened over our heads. It leaked over our table as the drizzle turned into a downpour, but we huddled against the building and stayed dry. I think we had four glasses of wine apiece by the time the rain stopped and we left. Not bad for €8. It wasn’t the best wine, but it went down smooth and after the first glass we liked it well enough.

Austria Vacation Log: Day 14, The Redemption of Wien

We were still wiped out and tired, in part because of the previous day’s travel, in part because of the hike 2 days before, and partly just exhaustion from traveling for so long. We got a late start and didn’t make it to the Hofburg until near 11, when the crowds were in full force.

The Hofburg Palace

Hercules statue at the Hofburg

The Hofburg was the royal palace of the Hapsburgs in Vienna, the seat of their power as they ruled first the Holy Roman Empire and then the Austria-Hungary Empire. We started the museum complex by wasting far too much time in the porcelain and silverware section of the museum- we didn’t realize that you could skip it entirely. The Sissy museum was also a waste. Sissy was the nickname of Empress Elizabeth, was basically a petulant and spoiled Barbie-doll type that was married to Emperor Franz Joseph. But the people liked her, and a cult developed around her, similar to the cult of Princess Diana in the late twentieth century. Finally we got to the Imperial apartments, which I found very interesting. Franz Joseph, one of the last emperors, was a real workaholic, but I guess that’s what you do if you take the job seriously. Sissy’s apartments were also interesting. They showed the room where she spent 2-3 hours a day to get her hair done. When she washed it, it took an entire day (it was ankle-length, and washed in raw eggs and brandy. Hmmm…)

After seeing those three museums, our feet were throbbing. We relaxed with a table at the Café Griensteidl and had a good lunch. I had fettuccini in a cream sauce with mushrooms and smoked salmon, while Dorinna had the cheese spätzel. We finished off the very good lunch with Esterhazytorte, my favorite cake in Vienna. Sweet and creamy, but not too heavy.

After lunch we headed for our next destination- the Neue Burg Museums, part of the Hapsburgs extensive art museums. The Neue Murg contained a large museum of armor and weapons. It was cool, but there was a lot of armor. I think we must have seen armor from every Hapsburg empero who ever lived. Unfortunately, the museum was very hot. We tried to look at the musical instruments collection, but I was just too beat to really enjoy it. Ditto with the sculpture. I just about collapsed into a small café opposite café Demel. Water and a Viennese coffee really helped. We then explored the fancy shopping streets back to our hotel for showers and a little rest.

Neue Burg Museums

We had dinner at Ferdinand Zwickl-Beisl. The food was good- I had goulash with sausage and beer. Unfortunately, a loud group of young Americans and Canadians moved in, and the atmosphere went to hell. We beat a hasty retreat to Brezel-Gwölb, a restaurant which Rick Steves describes as “an atmospheric place for a glass of wine.” He was right- picnic tables on the cobbles of a tiny alley. We sat at a table with a German couple (“Sind diese Plätze frei?”) I managed to speak almost entirely German with the waiter. It was fairly amusing: “Könnten Sie einen guten weiss Wein emphelen, bitte?” I asked, which means “Could you recommend a good white wine?” He babbled on in German for a while, far too fast for me to understand. I just pointed to one on the menu and said “Zweimal dieser Wein, bitte.” (“Two glasses of this wine, please”). But what made the evening magical is that it wasn’t long before the couple sitting next to us switched to English and started talking. Sabine was a social worker, working with deaf people. Frank does logistics for a catering company. They were from Köln (Cologne), Germany. We talked together for about 3 hours. Since we had just been lamenting our lack of personal contact with Europeans, so this really made our day. It’s hard to describe in words, but these experiences, chances to talk with people from different countries and cultures, are always the highlight of our traveling. It was a very late night indeed when we finally stumbled back to our hotel.

Austria Vacation Log: Day 13, The Disappointment of Wien

It has been much too long since I last posted about last year's Austria trip. It was a bit embarrassing to be in Vienna earlier this month, and realize that I hadn't blogged about my last trip to Vienna. The good news is that earlier this week I finished cataloging all my slides from that trip, so it should be easier now to bang out the last few episodes. This one sounds like a downer, but my opinion of Vienna improved as the trip continued.

Today we said goodbye to the idyllic village of Hallstatt and traveled by train to Wien- the capital city of Austria, and the former heart of the Holy Roman Empire. The English name for the city is Vienna, of course. The travel started off easy with a boat ride back to our train. And we knew which way the train went this time. We made our connection without a problem, but the trip felt very long for some reason.

When we got to Vienna we had to find the U-bahn (subway), buy tickets, and get on the train. The subway was very hot, and then it stopped at a station for longer than usual. An announcement came over the loudspeaker. I could make out the words “13 minutes” and saw everyone around me groaning and sighing. Clearly this train was going nowhere fast, so we bailed and went for the surface. We walked several blocks down a busy street, hot and crowded, with our heavy packs. We were tired and cranky, and this was perhaps the low point of the entire trip. Thankfully we found another subway line, and took that the last few blocks to our hotel . The manager was very friendly and showed us to our room. We got a bit worried at first, as the room was in an old office building behind the main hotel. But the room itself was fine- decorated in antique furnishings, it was big, had a separate bathroom and toilet, even a kitchenette with a freezer (ice cubes!). We relaxed, showered, and I even checked e-mail.

Then we went out to see the city. My initial impressions were not too good. Crowded. We tried to follow our guidebook’s recommendation to ride the tram around the Ringstrauße- a circular street that surrounds the inner city. It took us a long time to find the tram, then it was just too crowded. We bailed after 2 stops and started wandering on foot. We got out the map, and found our way to Stephansdom, the great cathedral.

Most of it was covered with scaffolding- with advertisements. I thought that was a pretty tasteless use of the church. All of the streets were crowded and packed. Even the plague monument, which looked like it might be really cool, was completely covered with scaffolding. Bah. We found our way to Am Hof square- where they were setting up for a carnival or something. This really wasn’t a good city for taking photos- I shot less film in Vienna than any place we visited. We found the Restaurant Ofenloch, recommended by our guide. All the tables were reserved- we could have one if we were gone by 8:00. This is gemütlichkeit?

We started the meal with an aperitif of champagne mixed with elderberries. It was good, even if it sounds like the punch line of a Monty Python joke. The meal was good- especially the soup with dumplings. I had Wienerschnitzel with real veal, the first time I’ve done that in memory. After dinner we kept wandering, and I got my first hint that Vienna wasn’t that bad. Maybe the friendly American couple we met in Michaelerplatz (from CA, taking a tour with a college professor to study the history of the Hapsburgs. We ran into them by chance the next night), or the opera singer singing underneath the Hofburg dome.

We ended the evening by finally taking that Ringstrauße tram tour. We were both exhausted and slept great.

Austria Vacation Log: Day 12, The Alp (Post 2 of 2)

We showered and then met Christine and Jae-Young for dinner. They had met at the ice caves they had visited that afternoon. Young was Korean, about to start school in Paris as an exchange student. We went to the Gasthof Zauner, ivy-covered and very picturesque. The waiter, Mario, spoke excellent sarcastic English, and we had a great dinner together.

Mario (Photo credit: Christine Hoffman)

I had the “Gypsy Skewer”—chicken, sausage, steak, liver, and onions cooked on a skewer in a spicy sauce, with rice on the side. And of course several mugs of Kaiser beer, which turned out to be my favorite Austrian brew.

Young, Christine, Dorinna, and Rich at dinner (Photo credit: Mario)

Afterwards, we went to Ruth Zimmermann, the town bar. It was smoky, but filled with friendly drunk Austrians. We only had time for one drink before they closed at 11:00. Not much of a nightlife in Hallstatt… The hotel was locked up and the lights were out. We had a key, but it took a long time before our group of inebriated foreign tourists figured out how it worked (Dorinna got us in). We exchanged e-mails with each other, said our goodbyes, and ended the night.

Dorinna, Rich, and Young at Ruth Zimmermann's (photo credit: Christine Hoffman)


Group Shot in the Main Town Square (photo credit: Christine Hoffman)

Austria Vacation Log: Day 12, The Alp (Post 1 of 2)

We started off Day 12 by going grocery shopping. Hallstatt didn’t have supermarket per set, but we went to a bakery for breads and pastries, and then to a small deli for cheese. What we should have bought was another two or three water bottles, but instead we left for an all-day hike with under 1.5 quarts of water. Not the smartest plan, but we really didn’t have a firm destination in mind.

We started off by hiking European style- we took the funicular up from the village. In Europe, this isn't considered cheating!

From the top of the funicular, the trail followed a paved road, then a dirt road. Both roads climbed straight up the mountain. I was frankly surprised that cars could climb something so steep- there were lots of tire marks where cars had lost traction. Finally it got just too steep for anyone- and the road started making switchbacks. The trail, however, cut the corners and made officially marked anti-switchbacks, heading straight up the mountainside. The trails were somewhat maze-like and not particularly well marked. Or at least they didn’t match the cheap 1€ tourist map that I had with me.

Somewhere along the way, we decided that we would climb an Alp, a peak marked “Passen”. The trail finally left our last road behind and started to get interesting. The trail opened up and we got some views of craggy, crumbling cliffs.

Soon we hit an unmarked (on my map) trail junction and then met some Germanic hikers, who confirmed that we were on the right path- but that we still had 1-1.5 hours to go. Right after that we came across our first of two sets of cables and ropes bolted into the cliff. The climbing was hard but fun. We were both getting hungry and thirsty, but we pushed on to the summit, crowned with a cross. We ate our lunch, drank a few precious drops of water, then snapped a ton of pictures in the haze, and signed into the register.

Rich on the Summit



Views from the Summit

For the return trip we opted to take the longer loop around, since it had to be less steep… well, not really. Fairly quickly it plunged down a steep, wet gully with mud and small, loose rocks. The going was slow, and the lack of faith in the map didn’t help anything. Eventually though it started to get less steep, and we hit a trail junction clearly labeled “Hallstatt”.

For a short time the trail went up and down small hills as it traversed across a notch. Finally, it dropped down the other side. We were rationing gulps of water at this point. We came out to a road and started following it down. I resorted to chewing gum just to keep some moisture in my mouth. We hit familiar terrain and the grade steepened again. We had about 2 sips of water left when we came across a spring of sorts- a wooden post with water gushing out of a pipe. Risk be damned- not seeing a “Kein Drinkwasser” sign around we drank and drank and drank, ate a snack, and then drank some more. I estimate that about half of the water that I drank on the entire hike was from this single spring. Plus I drank more on the way home than I did on the hike up, and we were an hour from home. The funicular was closed, so we took the trail that switchbacked down to the Catholic Church. We were jubilant when we returned to town at 6:00 pm.

Salvation!


The Plassen - red arrow points to the summit cross

Austria Vacation Log: Day 11, Hallstatt

Over three months since my last Austria post? How did that happen?

Our day started looking for the bus station. We found the place where were supposed to buy tickets, waited in line for a very long time, and then were told to buy tickets on the bus. We wandered around looking for the correct bus stop in Mirabell Platz. I asked a tour operator, and we finally crossed the road and found the correct spot. I bought tickets from the bus driver. This was our nicest European bus experience. We took the back row to ourselves and spread out our luggage. The trip was pretty, through a series of lake towns. We made about 500 stops unfortunately. The bus dropped us off right in front of the train station at Bad Ischl. We waited a few minutes before boarding the slightly early train. It was a very pleasant train, passing through a number of very pretty lake towns, some with paragliders. After a while, I checked our progress on the map. Oops.

A couple of questions (in German) to the German woman across the row confirmed that we had gone the wrong direction from Bad Ischl. We got off at the next stop, and only had to wait about 10 minutes for the next train. Thankfully the conductor never made it to us before we got off, but our friend across the row offered to explain our predicament if he asked.

Going the right direction now, the scenery was just as nice. Once we reached Hallstatt, it was a short walk down to the water. Hallstatt is squeezed between a lake, the Hallstatter See, and a mountain. There isn’t enough room for a train station, so the train station is on the other side of the lake.

Hallstatt (photo credit: Christine Hoffman)


Village of Hallstatt (Photo credit: Christine Hoffman)


Ferry to Hallstatt from the Train Station (Photo credit: Christine Hoffman)

A few minutes later and the tiny ferryboat arrived. We arrived in the village and walked through it to our hotel. We stayed at the Bräugasthof . This former brewery was built in 1472, with an older section of the building built in the 1380s. This place had serious character- every step made the whole building creak. Our room, the nicest room of our vacation, was just gorgeous- hardwood floors with throw rugs and old antique furniture (the wardrobe was dated 1833). Outside was a deck overlooking the lake, complete with colorful flower boxes, a little table, and two chairs. Of course, the room had modern plumbing and electricity. One of the things I noticed the most was the sheer size of the wood planks and beams that were used to put this thing together. You can’t buy wood that big anymore.

Main street in Hallstatt. Our hotel is the pink building. (Photo credit: Christine Hoffman)

We cleaned up, and then set out to explore the town. The guidebook said it would take 10 minutes, but it might have been 12 or 15. We got ice cream and pastries for lunch, then spotted a young American woman carrying an identical set of pages ripped out from the Rick Steve’s guidebook. She came over to say hello and introduce herself. Her name was Christine, she lives in Washington, and was on an extended solo tour of Europe.

We checked out the Catholic Church, reached by walking up the street- street here being defined as a covered stairway. The cemetery was reminiscent of St. Peter’s in Salzburg. They don’t have much room in Hallstatt, so after a few years they dig up the bones and display them in the adjacent Beinhaus. This was also pretty cool- cool being defined as a small, confined, and creepy room filled with bones and painted skulls.

Downtown Hallstatt from near the Catholic Church (Photo credit: Christine Hoffman)

Our next stop was a small village history museum. Dorinna liked it, but I thought it was pretty cheesy- highlighting historical events of Hallstatt such as a landslide, and a fire that destroyed 30 homes. The landslide was simulated by being on a little wooden bridge that shook back and forth as the movie played, showing fake trees tumbling over. And the fire was demonstrated with a wall of red lights that flickered over a picture of the city while a sound best described as “eggs frying” played on the loudspeaker.

Finally it was over, and we got to sit on the hotel balcony, listen to iPods, and relax. As we got ready to go to dinner I spotted Christine walking by. I yelled to her from the balcony and invited her to join us for dinner. We all started with a wonderful cheese soup, served from a communal crock. I got a fairly lame smoked trout salad. At least the fish came from the lake a few feet away. I ended up eating some of Christine’s breaded trout, which was better. I also drank some fairly mediocre local beer. The dinner ended on a good note though, with our first taste of Sachertorte. We talked late into the night. Christine really liked Prague- definitely on our list.

Christine at dinner (Photo Credit: Christine Hoffman)

Special thanks to Christine for providing the photos for this post!

Austria Vacation Log: Day 10, The Fortess of Salzburg

Today was another marathon day. We started it by searching for the Laundromat (Wäscherei in German), so we could drop off our “well-used” clothing. We had a bit of a problem finding it, so I had to stop and ask for directions. Not only did I ask in German, but I actually understood the answer, which was pretty gratifying. The place had a laundry service, which we gladly paid for. Whenever possible, we did laundry in our hotel rooms, and only made this one Laundromat stop in our 17 day trip.

Before heading to the castle, we did a quick loop through town to see some sights we had missed on the previous day. We checked out the Universitätplatz market, before returning to the mysterious bronze door described in our guidebook. Following the directions in the book, we pushed a red button next to the unsigned door, and were buzzed inside by a very old nun. Inside was a carved crucifix from the Expressionism period. It was pretty wild looking, reminiscent of “The Scream.” Definitely worth the short stop.

And then… on to the castle. We took the funicular up to the Festung (fortress). What is a funicular? It’s sort of a cross between a railroad and a gondola- basically it’s a train that pulled up the track by a cable.


After reaching the top, we wandered around the outsides of the castle, snapping photos and trying to figure out where we were. We wandered eventually to the gift shop and bought a guidebook. We followed it for a little bit until we found the fortress tour. This was a semi-guided tour where a guide followed the group around while everyone listened to their audioguides. It was interesting history with good views of the town, good views, and a lot of fun. Afterwards we grabbed a pretzel and then found another audioguide place. This one, a private concern not covered by our Salzburg card, was an audioguide to the castle exteriors. It was also good, and really made sure we saw everything. Towards the end we started to get cranky, but a shady, breezy table on the edge of a bastion overlooking the city soon solved that. Beer, bratwurst, mashed potatoes, and a cool seat, really improved my mood. Afterwards we viewed 3 more sets of exhibits inside the fortress: the marionette museum (pretty wacky), a museum dedicated to an Austrian regiment (not particularly interesting to me), and the old state rooms from when the Prince-Archbishop lived in the fortress. These were cool, and included an elaborate stove from 1000 or 1100 or so.


My overall impression of the Festung is that I would not have wanted to attack this castle. First, a set of outer forts. After that, a steep climb up the mountain and three separate gates. While trying to dash between the gates, an invader would have been targeted by arrows from above the whole time. In between the final two gates was a tunnel. Looking up at the ceiling, you could see the holes where boiling oil would have been poured on invaders. After all that, an invader would find themselves in the outer courtyard, with yet another wall before reaching the fortified keep in the center. The fortress was formidable enough that its impregnability was never tested-- Salzburg had high taxes, but the city enjoyed 1000 years of peace. Not even the Thirty Years War, which left much of Europe in ruins, threatened Salzburg.

After our visit to the fortress, we went for a walk on the adjacent Mönchsburg- a beautiful park on Salzburg’s mountain. This mountain is almost completely ringed by cliffs, with only a few staircases or steep switchbacked roads leading down. We walked to the Richterhöhe, one of the secondary forts that surrounded the main castle. The trails were a mix of open woods, and shady, atmospheric lanes between crumbling rock walls and stone bridges. We kept walking for a while until Dorinna announced that she wanted to go shopping. I agreed to go with her, but she convinced me that we should split up. She headed down a stairs back to the city, while I continued along the ridge. I came across the Museum of Modern Art, perched above the city atop an elevator- public transportation down to the city. I kept walking, checking out another excellent view (Humboldt Terrace), before venturing up to Mönchstein Schloss. This is a bed and breakfast extraordinaire. Very classy looking- I would like to spend a night there sometime.


I went a bit farther but as it got late, I retraced my steps and descended the same set of stairs that Dorinna had used earlier. I looked for her briefly on Getreidegasse, then raced back to the hotel to pick up our laundry. I managed to tell the innkeeper: “Meine Frau wird in ein Paar Minutten ankommen. Bitte, sagen Sie sie dass ihr Mann zur Wäscherei ging, und ich komme sofort zurück.” This is German for: “My wife will arrive in a few minutes. Please tell her that her husband went to the Laundromat, and will be right back.” Don’t get the wrong idea- the innkeeper spoke perfect English, and she knew I knew it, but it was fun anway.

With clean clothes and refreshing showers, we departed an evening on the town. We took a quick elevator ride to watch the sun set over the city, before descending again to visit a liquor store on the Getreidegasse. Calling it a liquor store is a little unfair, it was really a tiny smoke-filled bar packed with people. We tried a collection of strong and sweet variations of hazelnut and apricot of liquors. We collected a small bottle of the sweet apricot, and wandered the atmospheric streets until we found a nice-looking restaurant with an outdoor table. I had beef goulash with sour cream and knödel (dumplings). The farther east we traveled in Austria, the more Hungarian influences in the food. We had “new” wine and old wine to wash it down- a very nice dinner.

We ended the evening with one final adventure. We walked on a bike path along the Salzach River. It was nice at first, but then got spooky as we walked farther from the old town and the crowds of people dwindled and then disappeared. We walked beyond our destination, and had to backtrack through more empty streets before reaching the Augustiner Brauhaus. The Brauhaus is in fact run by Augustiner monks, but it seemed pretty empty. We walked inside through empty halls, past empty food stands, and empty cavernous halls. I was beginning to wonder if the place was a dud, when we came to a large biergarten filled with 200-300 people. We had arrived!

Austria Vacation Log: Day 9, The City of Salzburg

(Note: As I stated previously, I didn't own a digital camera when we made our trip to Austria. Unless otherwise credited, the photos in these entries were taken by other people. Right-click on the image to find the web site where I found them.)

We slept in, and barely made it to breakfast in time. That was the only slow part of the day, however. We started by taking a round-about way to the Old City via the medieval Steingasse street- very atmospheric and medieval. We walked back along the river on a bike path and then over to Mozartplatz to buy our Salzburg cards. The Salzburg card is a fairly pricy (€29/each) tourist pass that gives you free admission to basically everything, including public transportation. We priced it out after our trip and we barely broke even. More importantly, we didn’t hesitate to step into any attraction that looked interesting- since it was already paid for. There were a couple of times when we ignored the guidebook’s advice, which really paid off.

The first example of this was the Residenz- the palace of the Prince-Archbishop of Salzburg. It was filled with very beautiful rooms and furniture. At one point during the audioguide, the narrator explained “Mozart gave us his first public concert in this room.” I instantly got goosebumps all over my arms. I went to show Dorinna and she had the same. The Residenz turned out to be our favorite attraction in the Old City.

Leaving the Residenz, we started to follow the walking tour in the Rick Steve’s guidebook. The Dom (cathedral) was pretty interesting. Two angels holding a crown helped make up the façade.

In the square in front of the cathedral is a statue of the Virgin Mary. When viewed at the correct angle, the angels appear to be crowning Mary.


The Dom was still busy with mass, so we walked past it and out into a big square with a giant chessboard.

I thought to watch for a few minutes, and ended up staying over an hour, while Dorinna patiently shopped for souvenirs. It was hot in the sun, but street musicians were playing classical Mozart behind me, and the ebb and flow of the game was fascinating. I thought black had a much better board position, but white rallied, and soon black was playing for a stalemate. Dorinna returned with a chocolate-covered doughnut-shaped pastry, as white finally won the game.

Continuing the walking tour, we entered the very peaceful and tranquil St. Peter’s Cemetery. The cemetery abuts the cliffs of the Mönchsberg, the giant mountain that fills the center of the city. Hidden in the cliffs are a series of “catacombs”- small caves were hermits would go to pray and escape the bustle of the city. Old stone stairways ascended to the chambers and chapels built into the rock.

We broke for lunch at a small bakery. We sampled a series of Austrian sweets- a lemon crem brulee pie, a chocolate tube-shaped pastry filled with cream, and a cream puff. It still amazes me that we didn’t gain weight in Austria, but the constant all-day walking apparently made up for the four major food groups that I consumed- pork, cake, cheese, and alcohol.

After lunch we visited the interior of the Dom, and two other churches, before making a walk down the crowded the hectic Getreidegasse. This is a narrow street filled with small shops, each identified by a wrought iron sign hanging overhead. Even the McDonald’s has a wrought iron sign. Also on the street was the Mozart Gerburtshaus- the house where he was born. The small museum inside was very under whelming. Even for a Mozart fanatic such as myself, the only thing that interested me was Mozart’s first violin. We had heard that the Mozart Wohnhaus across the river, where he lived as an older child, was more interesting, but that wasn’t very interesting either. It was quite a relief to get home and showered.

We ate dinner at a local café. I filled up with pork and mushrooms with gravy in a bread bowl, along with a salad and beer. After dinner, we ambled over to the Mirabell Palace and Gardens.

We wandered around looking at the flower beds, hedges, and fountains. There is even a dwarf garden- filled with life-size statues of dwarves who worked for the Prince-Archbishop. As the sun set, we went into the palace to catch a concert. We heard three Mozart pieces- a string quartet, a piano sonata, and a violin concerto. The concert concluded with a Haydn encore. A wonderful and memorable way to end a very long day.

Austria Vacation Log: Day 8, Trains to Salzburg

Most of today was spent traveling to Salzburg. We walked to the train station in Reutte and found the ticket window closed. Someone else was there waiting, and I used my German to find out that we could buy tickets on the train:
“Wissen Sie wo wir Fahrkarten kaufen können?”
“Im Zug.”

The first train of the day took us to Garmish-Partenkirchen, former host of the Winter Olympics, and a place I visited on my first visit to Germany two years ago. Our original plan was to take a second train to Innsbruck, and a third train to Salzburg, but our conductor gave us another option. This option added another two hours to our trip, but saved us about 70 dollars. I’m not sure it was worth it- we ended up on two more slow trains and a bus, and actually had lunch back in München (White bratwurst sandwich with a cheese pretzel). We were very hot, tired, and cranky when we finally arrived in Salzburg (English link) in mid-afternoon. The walk to the hotel felt like a long way, but it was probably under a mile. The hotel (English link) itself had a big crowd inside, but the innkeeper Silvia asked our name and handed us our keys in 10 seconds flat.


After a shower and short rest, we set out across the river and into the old town.

The courtyards and narrow streets felt crowded, but that was really just our mood. We recognized this, and took immediate steps to correct it. When we arrived at the Café Tomaselli (German link), we ascended a little spiral staircase to an upstairs deck. We grabbed an table on a terrace overlooking a square and relaxed with glasses of white wine. Ahhh! Great people watching from up here- apparently Salzburg is a real shopping destination for the rich and famous of Europe. There are enough woman walking the cobblestone streets in stiletto heels to rival Italy.

Finally relaxed, we wandered up to the base of the castle and found the Weisses Kreutz (English link) restaurant (it means “White Cross” in English).


We got an outside table in an ivy covered porch. We had peppers stuffed with herb cream cheese for an appetizer. For the main course, I had a Baltic Grill plate: different kinds of meats in various spicy sauces. No, I have no idea what I was eating. Yes, it was fantastic. A mug of the local brew, Steigl Heller, saved me from the spice. After the meal we had a Yugoslavian plum cordial, and then a beautiful walk home through what was quickly becoming our favorite city in Europe.

Austria Vacation Log: Day 7, The Ruins of Reutte

We slept in, and it felt great! Our German friends were back in Germany, and we were by ourselves for the rest of the trip (the digital cameras went back to Germany with our friends, so I’ll be relying on Internet photos for the rest of my commentary). We had a light breakfast of Müsli, cheese, and bread, packed some light bags, and left the Goldener Hirsch hotel (German link) for the day’s adventures.

We walked through the town of Reutte(English link), heading for the surrounding mountains. The town itself was cute and charming, but with a surprisingly large amount of traffic that diminished it somewhat. We walked a mile or two out of town until we found the correct path leading up to the Ehrenberg “Klause”.

This was the first part of the Ehrenberg Fortress Ensemble (English link), a set of four castles outside of town. The first of these was a large fortified building that guarded the pass into Reute. Next year there will be a big museum here- for now it is a restored castle with empty rooms, and a small gift shop. We had thought that we heard thunder as we walked up from town, and as we left the Klause it started to rain. Our rain jackets were safely back in our hotel room, naturally. They didn’t sell umbrellas, but they had some in the lost-and-found, so we borrowed one for the day. The rain stopped a few minutes later, and we climbed through humidity to Burguine Ehrenberg.

This ruined 13th century castle guarded the town, and played a role in both the Thirty Years War (stopping the Swedish advance), and the Spanish War of Succession. Just as we made it to the ruins, the rain started in earnest. For the next hour we took refuge under an intact archway, eating some snacks and writing in our journals. As this was the first rain of our trip, we couldn’t complain. During periods when the rain lightened, we went out and explored the ruined towers, walls, and arches. After checking out every nook and cranny, we descended down to a small col, and tried to decide what to do next. We were uncertain about the weather, but we eventually decided to make the steep climb up to “Festung Schlosskopf” (mountaintop fortress).

When Bavarian invaders overran in the early 1700s, the townspeople dragged some cannons to the top of this mountain and used them to pound the castle below. A few years later, 1733, they built a real castle here. We had snacks and water at the top, just as the sun finally came out. We enjoyed the sunny ruins, the views of Reutte below us, and the cool damp tunnels underneath. One of the underground tunnels had a large area to turn around a loaded wagon. Pretty cool. We took a roundabout way back down, and debated a trip to Fort Claudia, the fourth castle on the other side of the valley. We eventually opted out, and took some scenic trails back down to the town, following a pleasant brook.

Back in civilization, we had pastries and coffee at a small bakery and then meandered through the shops. I bought two German books and Dorinna bought a German Yahtzee pad.

The day ended with a relaxing dinner at Hotel Zum Mohre. I had Tyrolean cheese soup, and Wildererpfandl- different cuts of venison, wild mushrooms, and gravy served over spätzel. Of course, I washed it down with a local beer- Kaiser Helles. We ate at a wonderful outside table on a one-lane cobbled street. It would have been absolutely perfect, except for that cars the drove down every minute or so. Bleah. As it was, it was still pretty nice, and the food was fabulous.

Austria Vacation Log: Day 6, Hike Through the Alps

We woke up fairly early, packed up and went downstairs to breakfast: meats, cheese, breads, and coffee. Before our main hike, we took a short walk through an alpine flower garden. It was quite impressive, with what seemed like every flower in the Alps, each individually labeled. We had to drag Dorinna out of there.

Blumengarten (photo credit: Daniel Hernández)

The hike started with a long and seemingly never-ending climb to a tall alpine pass called the Öfapaß. The entire hike was above tree line, so the views were continuous. And what views- cliffs and jagged peaks were in every direction.

On the trail (photo credit: Dieter Glauß)
Looking down at our Hut (photo credit: Daniel Hernández)
Mountains (photo credit: Dieter Glauß)

Michaela at the top of the pass (photo credit: Daniel Hernández)

At the top of the pass we took a short break before dropping down to another valley- the Schweizertor. This valley was a simply outstanding notch with sheer cliffs on both sides.

View down to the Schweizertor (photo credit: Dieter Glauß)

The notch led to Switzerland. I wanted to visit a new country, and it was a short flat walk, so we did. We only took a few steps across the border, but shot a lot of pictures and watched some rock climbers on the Swiss side. It was nice to visit the homeland of the Ruhs, if only for 10 minutes.

Me at the Swiss border (photo credit: Dieter Glauß)

Wall of the Schweizertor (photo credit: Daniel Hernández)
Customs house at the Swiss-Austrian border (photo credit: Dieter Glauß)

Back with the main group we climbed another 1000 feet to another pass, Verajöchli. Here we ate a true german-style lunch: salami, different sausages, cheeses, and breads. Around us we watched gliders and paragliders coasting around the mountain peaks. After the extended break we headed down, down, down a mountain valley to the Lünar See, a large reservoir.

Lünar See (photo credit: Daniel Hernández)

We walked clockwise around it to the tram station. On a day I was less tired, I would have liked the steep, exposed descent, but I was getting tired, and it was getting late.

Dorinna, myself, and Dieter at the lake (photo credit: Michaela Glauß)

Daniel and Theresia (photo credit: Dieter Glauß)

We packed into the tram like sardines with several dozen other people, all of whom desperately needed showers (including us). The tram plummeted straight down the cliff side, giving us nice views and getting us down mercifully quickly.

Tram descent (photo credit: Dieter Glauß)

We waited a few minutes before the absolute chaos that was the bus leaving. We managed to jam-pack in for the scenic ride down to the town of Bludenz. Once we got there, Dieter and Daniel went to fetch the cars- 2 more bus rides as one of the trains had been washed out from the recent floods. The rest of us sat down in a quiet shaded café and had ice cream and a “new” white wine. Dorinna bought some shoes and I bought her a wildflower book. By then the cars had returned, and we said our goodbyes to Dieter and Michaela, as they headed home.

Daniel and Theresia gave us a ride to our next destination- Reutte. The ride should have been fairly short, but unfortunately the floods had washed out the main highway as well. We took a long loop back through Germany. We arrived at the hotel at around 8:30, dropped our packs in the room, and went back downstairs for a quick dinner. For the second time during our trip, we ate dinner inside. It turned out to also be the last time we ate inside, which gives you an idea of the weather that we were blessed with. After the meal, they headed back to München to get ready for their vacation to Florida, while we headed upstairs to shower and then collapse. A long but spectacular day!