Blogs from Austria, Europe - page 2
Day Two Vienna:St Stephan, Klosterneuberg and Chor Weidling
Published: May 10th 2012Europe » Austria » Vienna
May 10th 2012
(more pictures will be added to this) I am not sure I like waking at 3am each morning, but it does give one time to blog! Today was incredibly memorable on many levels, starting with our Vienna tour. We began with a walking tour that included the Imperial Palace, Stephansdom, the Mozart House, and variious sites in the central downtown district of Vienna. This also included some free time to explore the sites and to enjoy lunch at a cafe, which was located next to the monument to commemorate the end of the black plague. We then hustled back to our hotel, which was within a few blocks of the central distinct, and headed to the Klosterneuberg Monastary and Stiftkirche. The dark, heavy gothic Stephan's Cathedral and the gold gilded Baroque interior of the the Klosterneuberg ... read more
May 9th 2012
We have had an exhausting but incredible 48 hours of travel! After a 10 hr flight (Lufthansa) from Denver to Frankfurt, we walked from what had to be the entire length of the Frankfurt Airport to our connecting flight to Vienna. While on the connecting plane, several students engaged a young Slovak man in conversstion ( in perfect English, of course!) about the cultures, history, customs, etc. Then, after a short 1 hour flight (and a very unique cheese sandwich that was served on the plane), we arrived in Vienna and met Johan, our tour guide, who was there to greet us and Marcus, our coach driver. (And, by the way, congrats to Lufthansa Airlines for not losing a single bag!) Our students are already in love with Johan, our tour guide, who is quite knowledgeable ... read more
May 9th 2012
We arrived in Vienna around 3pm, and went to the first Wombats hostel we saw. Turns out there's three of them in Vienna, and the closest one on the main strip wasn't the one where we made our reservations. We didn't have to walk too much further to find the right hostel but it was a little off the beaten path. The staff at the Wombats were really friendly and helpful, and could answer almost any question we came up with. It had a bar that served alcohol and snacks, breakfast buffet, a pool table, foosball, a sun terrace, and laundry facilities (which we desperately needed!)I was excited to see that Vienna had a lot of cheap street food, predominately kebab and falafel joints. After getting situated we decided to go exploring, which was suddenly interrupted ... read more
May 8th 2012
Just made it to Vienna this morning. Last few days have been showery and cool but today is warm and sunny. Had a great few days on the Danube still visiting a lot of historical places. Went to the Czech Republic to a small forgotten medievil town called Cesky Krumlov. It was awesome as it is still as it was hundreds of years ago. Also interesting was as soon as you crossed the border from Germany to Czech everything changed. The roads, houses fields, everything was run down and crappy left over from the communist days. Yesterday I climbed up to an old castle ruin in Austria at a place called Durstein. It was the place Richard the Lionhearted was imprisoned back in 1192. Fantastic stuff! I'm still having trouble remembering everything we do as they ... read more
May 4th 2012
Salzburg was absolutely beautiful- think Tahoe meets Marin then double it. We felt pretty satisfied with the one whole day that we spent out there. The train ride on Friday was just incredible with views of the Alps, mountains, and steep cliffs all around us as we moved along a lush green valley with rolling hills, farms, small towns, and vineyards. Painting a picture yet? Saturday morning started out with a couple tasty doughnuts to prep us for a steep hike up Mount Kapuzinerburg, which had a trail that conveniently began a hundred feet or so from our hostel. Speaking of that, we had a room with 9 beds which was an interesting experience. It was cool except for the latecomer that turned on all the lights at 1:00 then 3:00 while 8 other people were ... read more
May 1st 2012
Today was the “photo rally”. Last night we were provided with a series of pictures together with accompanying skill testing questions. The idea being that we would visit the area where the pictures were taken and that would permit us to answer the questions. Bear in mind we are at almost all times moving – quite quickly. Anyway, believing that we only had a few moments with the pictures, Josh whipped out his IPhone to make a quick copy so that we could get a head start on the rally. We were promised “valuable prizes” and didn’t want a poor finish. It appears that the Treffenmeister may have caught on to our plan. Either way, we were allowed to keep our booklet of pictures. We had great plans to use google to figure out the answers, ... read more
Through the Mountains and to the Old Porsche Factory
Published: May 3rd 2012Europe » Austria » Lower Austria » Gmund (Lower Austria)
April 30th 2012
We departed the Salzburg Sheraton and headed south into the alps. We had a full morning of driving. Our principal destination was the The Grossglockner High Alpine Road (Großglockner-Hochalpenstraße). It is a panoramic road in Austria. It ascends Großglockner, Austria's highest mountain. There are a number of hair pin turns on the way to the top – approximately 2500 metres. The pass just recently opened for the season, but there is still plenty of snow on the top. At points the narrow road is lined by up to 10 feet of snow on either side. At the top there is a small visitor centre. We were amazed to see the number of cyclists tackling this gruelling climb. It was truly one of the most exhilarating drives I have ever taken. Josh was delighted to hurl a ... read more
April 29th 2012
Today we left on the official start of our Treffen. Outside the hotel all 12 Porsches were neatly lined up. After a few photos, we headed out to Salzburg. We are driving in two 6 car convoys. I suspect we make quite a scene passing through some of the small towns. Certainly, every boy under 20 turns to watch us pass. Out on the autobahn, we pushed the cars. We were regularly driving at 200-230 km/h. On one stretch, Josh and I hit 290 km/h (about 180 mph). At those speeds, you lose peripheral vision. It was exhilarating and alarming all at once. The car performed flawlessly. This tour is very much about the driving, rather than site seeing. We did stop outside the Neuschwanstein Castle (the icon German castle that inspired Walt Disney), but did ... read more
April 24th 2012
Oh dear god. You know that feeling when you return refreshed and relaxed from a nice long vacation, only to come back to an inbox thirty feet high and a shrill tremulous voice telling you how much needs doing? Well that's kind of where we're at right now. Fortunately, most of the stuff in question is this kind, the kind of mental bookkeeping that ensures when my memory turns to pinkish goo I'll have something to remind me of what I did and where (at least most of it). Course part of it's also jobs, sorting out my social life and class schedules, figuring out what I want to do with my life, and possibly distilling an elixer of eternal life if there's time leftover. Still, the trip was great fun. (Un)fortunately, Jerry Sheridan (our fearless ... read more
