Blogs from Austria, Europe - page 295

From 34 degrees on the coast to 10 degrees in the mountains... We had the heating on for two nights and Grace caught a cold. Hope Lake Garda is better. We drove over the Grossglockner Hochaplenstrasse, 40km of twisting hairpins rising to 2500metres with fantastic views of snowcapped mountains and fat tourists photographing each other. Standard procedure upon seeing a fantastic sight: one person turns their back on it and smiles, the other peers through a 1cm window at the view to make sure it is largely obscured by the first person. Press button and leave. Austria is completely spotless, someone must come out at night and brush the grass. The churchyard here in St Johann has a bike rack, a vending machine for candles and three recycling bins by the entrance. Cows with bells on, ... read more

Hi All, Our trip to Salzburg has gone very well so far. We stopped off at the Swarovski Crystal factory in Innsbruk on the way here. It was a futuristic artistic version of crystal formation. Didn't learn very much but felt very cultured by the end. The shop was the most interesting though. Arrival in Salzburg was hectic and typically European wild driving on narrow streets with pedestrians, bikes, cars and buses all competing for the same 3 ft of space. Our friendly on board navigator insisted we could drive down a one way to reach our hotel. We finally had to gag her and find it ourselves; fortunately double parking is a way of life here. Our hotel is just across the river from the old city of Salzburg. The streets of Salzburg actually do ... read more

The rain caught up with us again today. Perfect for touring a castle. We were fortunate that we went luging yesterday as you can't do that in the rain. Castle touring however is an all weather activity. Neuschwenstein Castle was a fairtytale like structure rising from the top of a mountain. It was never completed as a functioning castle as King Ludwig (it's creator) died before it was completed. It was stormed by tourists within six weeks of his death in the 1800's and it has belonged to the tourists ever since. The bavarian folks work hard to bleed every Euro out of this disorganized lot of invaders but alas they have succumbed to the invasion and now welcome them with open arms and open tills. The castle itself although very beautiful is still a sad ... read more

Wow, what a great day. It began waking up to sunshine streaming in the windows after a rainy day yesterday. Just laying and relaxing under these huge down quilts on crisp line dried sheets was a little bit of heaven. Breakfast included in the hotel was a mouthwatering buffet of Austrian delights. My day was already made when there were 4 slices of walnut bread that tasted just like my Grandma used to make for me every Christmas. I ate 2 of them and my boys ate the other two. We headed off to a luge run at one of the ski hills here in the area. It is a 4000 ft. concrete track that you ride a small sled down at typical break neck speeds. It was exhilarating to fly around the curves and zip ... read more

Planning to go to Vienna the beginning of September - any suggestions on what to do? I will be staying there for about 3 days...is this enough time? Any infos are greatly appreciated.... read more