Vienna
We arrived in Vienna late on a Thursday afternoon and after settling into our hotel we headed out for some dinner. We stumbled upon a Russian restaurant in the backstreets near the hotel and decided to brave it! We tried our best and managed to order most of our meal in German, however after a bit of confusion about the type of beer on offer, our waitress (who didn’t speak much English) headed off to get the Chef; a huge Russian in his traditional red outfit. This is when Michael discovered Eidelweiss, a delicious wheat beer which is now one of his favourites! Unfortunately there was no separate non-smoking area in the restaurant, but the delicious food and wonderful atmosphere almost made up for it.
On our first full day in Vienna we went to the Schönbrunn Palace; the magnificent Baroque summer residence of the imperial family started in 1695. It was in this palace that the 7 year old Mozart first performed for the royal family. The extensive gardens include several mazes, a zoo and the Gloriette (an arcade at the crest of the hill behind the palace). Michael spent a lot of time trying to photograph
a squirrel and a crow fighting, but could only manage to get the squirrel eating. Never mind. We had lots of childish fun running around the mazes and trying out all of the musical & water puzzles. After watching a number of children’s failed attempts at the “climbing chimes” I decided that I just had to try; several bruised shins later I managed to reach the top and ring the stupid bell... but at least I beat all the kids :-)
Our second day started at the Spanish Riding School in the Hofburg (Imperial Palace in the centre of town) where we saw the beautiful Lipizzaner Stallions perform. The arena itself is spectacular and the horses were even more amazing than I expected. They are so beautiful and powerful. If you know anything about dressage you would have been utterly blown away. Later that day we did a tour of the stables where we could see the stallions up close. I had to walk around with my hands in my pockets so that I wouldn’t be tempted to touch them (to prevent diseases from transferring to the horses). The stables are so clean and beautiful - apparently, in order to
prevent their lovely white horses from turning yellow, each stall is mucked out every hour of every day! Oh and they have 3 beautiful cats whose job it is to keep the stables rat-free but seemed to be sleeping in the sun mostly :-) The tour was also a great opportunity to ask lots of questions, like “So what happens the 95% of Lipizzaners (mares for example) which you breed which don’t make it to the school in Vienna?”, and “You sell them? Really? And how much are they???” :-)
*Kate updates her wish list: Castle, Crossbow, Lipizzaner*
*Michael panics*
After the Lipizanners we explored the Armoury in the Hofburg. We have NEVER seen so many suits of armour and weapons in our lives! We were in heaven! The armour came in all different shapes and sizes; fat, thin, young, old, even one with a very large codpiece (which Michael just HAD to take a picture of). It was so cool!
The next day we were off to Salzburg for Mozart and the Sound of Music!
Salzburg
Early in the morning we caught a three hour train to Salzburg for a day-trip on our way to Munich.
It really is as picturesque as you would imagine. After locking up our luggage at the station we headed off to visit Mozart’s birthplace, which was really just some artist’s wanky “this is what Mozart’s music looks like” exhibit, and an utter waste of time. Thankfully the price also included his residence across the river which contains a very good, informative museum. We then took a funicular up the mountain to the Festung Hohensalzburg; a huge castle dating from the 11th century which overlooks the city and has amazing views of the surrounding countryside; lush green fields dotted with small villages surrounded by majestic snow capped mountains. Totally incredible. It was with wine in hand in one of the castle’s cafes that we decided of all the cities we’d visited so far, this was the one we’d most like to live in (so far anyway) :-)
Munich
After boarding another train late from Salzburg, we arrived around 9pm in Munich and after having a Kebab for dinner we settled into our hotel, falling asleep in the grand wooden bed. It was the next day that we finally hit the wall. After 2 ½ weeks of walking, eating
and half a bottle of wine every day we had finally broken. Dragging ourselves out of bed at around 11am we wandered a little aimlessly around Munich for a few hours getting snippy at each other about trivial things (*Michael got upset because I needed to go to the toilet! seriously*), (*but only because Kate always waits until we’ve left the restaurant before deciding that she needs to go!! and in much of Europe the public toilets cost money!*). We didn’t have breakfast (much to Kate’s dismay) and went straight to lunch where we drank a bottle of wine and ate just about half a pig! mmm... so much crackling.... :-) We also noticed that Munich smelled a lot like New York in summer - like garbage water. It wasn’t just localised near the station where we were staying either, because we walked all they way to the centre of the Old Town and it smelt horrible the whole way. Maybe we just caught Munich on an off day?
Neuschwanstein
On Tuesday we did a day trip to Neuschwanstein Castle, a truly fairytale castle. Construction was begun in 1869 by the reputedly crazy King Ludwig II as
a tribute to the composer Wagner, but was never completed after Ludwig’s death in mysterious circumstances. The rooms which have been completed are adorned with Frescos depicting scenes from the operas of Wagner. The swan - Ludwig’s favourite animal - is a repeating theme throughout the castle. The Castle itself was based on designs created by a famous opera set designer, which certainly shows in the results. Despite the miserable rainy weather, the castle was still beautifully picturesque on its perch in the mountains, and we would recommend it to anyone who is a fan of castles and the like. Most notably, this was the first day in which we didn’t have any alcohol!!!!!!
Three Countries in One Day
Leaving Munich for Luzern we included a detour to the Swarovski Museum in Wattens, Austria, thereby travelling from
Germany to
Austria to
Switzerland all in the one day! Cool!
Wattens - Swarovski Museum
We had to catch a train from Munich to Innsbruck where several Winter Olympics have been held; you can even see one of the Ski Jumps from the train station. We once again locked up our baggage at the
station before catching a further local train to Wattens, and then walking for 20 mins in the rain to get to the museum... but it was worth the walk *Michael goes quiet*. It should be said, some of the exhibits were really just weird (flying shirts and dancing trousers, wtf?), but others were fantastic. Among them is a crystal sphere which you walk into and are surrounded by mirrors and lights; it was like a walk-in kaleidoscope! There is also a section of floor which is pressure activated, lighting up and making sound effects like crystals under your feet.
Feeling very important, we ventured into the VIP lounge (Swarovski members only!) and sat down for a while with some complementary wine. They also gave me a free gift - a pen which has a cylinder of crystals with different coloured lights! After buying a limited edition gecko broach and figurine, I mentioned that it was Michael’s birthday *the big three-five* so they gave him a gift of cufflinks and a tie pin! On the way out I spotted a beautiful snowflake necklace and when we were going to pay for that, Michael made the mistake of pointing out some lovely
hoop earrings (which I then had to buy as well). Poor Michael had to spend most of his birthday at the Swarovski museum buying me presents. *Kill me now*
By the time we arrived in Luzern that afternoon, we had been through 3 countries and had caught 5 trains! Quite a journey!
Austria's Flag
Map of Austria