The Traveler Travelling: Vienna, Salzburg & Munich

Our story continues in Vienna (or Wien, as all the local maps will inform you)....

We loved Vienna as soon as we arrived.  Tessa and I got our bags quickly and easily and then boarded a comfortable bus shuttle to the city center.  From there, our apartment was just a few blocks away and, although we struggled to pronounce the names of the streets, we didn't have any issues recognizing them when they were in front of us!  Our apartment in Vienna was also our favorite one of the trip, because it was all modern - decked out in sleek grey, white, black and purple with a zen rock garden in the middle of the room and a huge hydraulic skylight.  But it seemed this apartment was just foreshadowing for the rest of our time in Austria in general...everything you wanted to be modern and efficient was modern and efficient, while at the same time you were surrounded by history and charm.


Vienna: Day 1

Unfortunately, we had only one day to do Vienna and if I could change anything about this trip, it would be to have allotted more time to do the city properly - especially because we could also have done day trips to Budapest (yes, it's more than just a George Ezra song) or Prague because they were both pretty close!  So, we started by seeing one of the things on my list, which was St. Stephen's Cathedral.  The difference between the cathedrals in Rome and the ones in Vienna (and later, Munich) was stark.  There was no more gold-bedecked opulence. Instead, the ornamentation was replaced by flying buttresses, hard stone and scenes of torture...in other words, these churches were from the dark ages and it showed!  St. Stephen's Cathedral was no exception and we walked around both inside and outside just to acclimate to the extreme differences in style, only to discover that it resulted in something equally as beautiful, though altogether more dark.  From there, we walked around trying to find another hop-on/hop-off tour for the day and we ended up seeing the Hofburg Palace exterior just by accident on the way, as well as the Vienna State Opera House.  Now, Vienna is known as the City of Music because so many famous composers are from there (Vivaldi, Brahms, Hadyn and even Mozart and Beethoven!) so there were a million people trying to sell us on opera tickets or classical music concerts.  We were actually pretty tempted, but were on a mission, so we skipped it and opted for Schonbrunn Palace instead!  Now, we knew we wouldn't have time to really go inside anything, so instead we walked around the expansive grounds of the palace, taking in the hedge maze, beautiful flowers, statues and a massive fountain in the back!  The day was perfect weather-wise, so we indulged in a long walk around before hopping back on a bus and going back in to town. On our way, we saw the Museum of Military History which was housed in a gorgeous red-brick building and is the oldest museum in Vienna, as well as the Belvidere Palace, home to Prince Eugene, who was an eccentric animal-lover and owned a lion!

 
 
 After we returned to the city center, we got to see the famous Burg Theater and the old University before we decided to take a route that led us outside the city and into the Viennese Woods!  We saw the small, wine-growing village of Grinzing and then drove up a winding route through the woods up Kahlenberg hill, which provided truly stunning views of the city, the vineyards and the Danube River.  This was my favorite part of the day and it was hard to not feel on top of the world when standing at the peak of a big, green hill and surveying the beauty that is Austria.  That's the image that stayed with me as I fell, exhausted, into bed that night.

Salzburg: Day 2

The next morning we walked to the train station and caught our train to Salzburg without issue.  The countryside on the way from Vienna to Salzburg slowly began to become more hilly and by the time we pulled into Salzburg we had a gorgeous mountain towering over the town in full view!  Since we were only there for a few hours, we put our luggage in a locker and hit the city, unburdened and excited to experience some serious Sound of Music stuff!  Again, the hop-on/hop-off tour was our friend, and our extremely enthusiastic bus driver, who spoke very little English, delighted in screaming to us by our new nickname "CHICAGO"!  We got to see some sights within the city, including a really cool bridge completely obscured by locks in the romantic tradition of European cities, the fountain that Maria flips by while singing "I Have Confidence", and some other beautiful architectural things in the city center.  Then we got to all the hot spots, leaving the city behind and going to Leopoldskron Palace which was used during the exterior patio shots of the VonTrapp House, including the scene where Maria and the kids fall out of the boat and into the water.  We also got to see Noonburg Abbey, the glass gazebo in which Rolf and Lisl sing "16 Going on 17" and the house they used for the interior shots of the Captain's home.  The best part was being able to listen to the real story of Gayorg, Maria and the whole VonTrapp family on the audio tour - it was crazy to see how close-to-life the movie actually was!  After a few more hours walking around and seeing some truly stunning nature, we went back to the station to catch our train to Munich.  Now, usually I would skip the re-telling of the train ride, but this was one of my favorite things from the whole trip! The ride to Munich took us through the German Alps and if we weren't being completely blown away by the mountain ranges, there were lakes and amazingly green forests rushing by us outside. The fact that the entire ride happened as the sun set was just the cherry on top!

Munich: Day 3

Now Munich was our last stop, so we can totally be forgive for taking it easy on our final day of the trip.  In fact, we slept in and had delicious bakery products for a long and languid breakfast before we even attempted to see anything.  Once we did, we just sort of walked aimlessly, though it did lead us past the Isar river and to the beautiful - if imposing - Parliament Building!  Finally, we made it to the Glockenspeil, which was the highlight of the the city for me.  The Glockenspeil was actually built on in the early 1800s and rings every day at noon and 5pm while acting out an elaborate story with life-size figures high in the air.  It was built onto the Neues Rathaus or New Town Hall which was originally constructed in the mid 1800's by what I can only assume was a very emo dude! However, the structure is huge and very, very beautiful.  From there, dear Tessa lead us to the Hofbrauhaus, where we wiled away the afternoon, drinking beer (or fancy Pear Bourbon if you're me) and eating traditional fare like pork with crackling, pretzels and apple strudel!  Overall, it was a lazy day, but also a perfect way to end the trip.  Once we got back to Edinburgh, I showed Tessa around a bit and we hit some sites even I hadn't seen before - like climbing up Calton Hill and doing the Whisky Experience!

The trip was an amazing opportunity and I was so happy to have Tessa (and Heather) with me on the journey. I got to see some truly spectacular things and I'm so grateful to everyone who was a part of that - including the people I stayed with, the random strangers I met along the way, and my friends and family who stayed in contact with me even while green with envy. :)

The Traveler Travelling: Rome

Roma!  Italia! The Big Olive!

Day 1
Picking up where we left off...Heather, Tessa and I had just arrived from our long, but beautiful train ride through the north of Italy and arrived in Rome. (No, it doesn't ever get old to say "...and arrived in Rome", even after a few weeks!)  We found our way to the new airbnb accommodation. We opted to rent an entire flat for Rome since we were originally going to be staying there for 4 nights.  The place was beautiful!  Easy to get to, in a quiet neighborhood, but still close to the major transport lines and the Vatican.  We dropped our stuff, marveled at how lucky we were to be staying in an apartment with high ceilings, three comfy beds, a little patio and an orange tree outside before we jetted off.  It was already 6 pm by the time we went out, but we couldn't wait to see some of the city!

We hopped on the A Line and headed toward the Barberini stop and the Trevi Fountain.  After coming up from the underground, we fiddled around with our maps like complete tourist losers and then walked in the opposite direction and found a Hard Rock Cafe, of all things!  We turned around and eventually figured out (mostly due to Heather's good map-reading skills) how to get to the Trevi Fountain.  Even under construction is was amazing.  They had drained all of the water and some of the statues were being repaired, but because the water was gone, they had built a pathway over the fountain itself, and we got to see some of the work much closer than we would have if it had been wholly intact.  From there we tried and succeeded in finding the Spanish Steps.  At this point, the sun was going down in earnest and we decided to climb the steps where we were rewarded with a truly spectacular view of Rome at sunset!  We stood and chatted there for awhile before hopping on at the Spagna stop and going back to our neighborhood for food.

Our host had graciously included a local map for key things like groceries and atms, but the best part was all the restaurant and food places he highlighted for us.  We decided to hit up Bella Napoli for our first tastes of Roman food.  I've got to be honest with you, that was one of the best dinners, atmosphere-wise that I've ever had!  We sat down at the table at 7:30 and didn't leave for home until 11:30.  It was truly an experience and the food (we all ordered pizza that first night) was delicious!  We also split a bottle of wine and were gifted with champagne to start and lemonchello with cookies to finish off our dinner by the waiter who made the entire night amazing.  He was an older Italian man, but he clearly loved food and loved seeing us in there.  We laughed, drank ate and were merry and felt very at home in Rome right away!



Day 2

We woke up early the next day and full of purpose!  Heather had the genius idea to book tickets for the Vatican in advance, so we set our tour for 2 in the afternoon and prepared to see as much before and after that as possible.  The best way to do that, in our minds, was to buy a ticket for the Hop-on/Hop-off tour which would get us around the city quick and stop at all the places we wanted to see.  We were super right about that (and most things, really, come to think of it! ;)  After walking to the Vatican in the morning to get one of these tours, we kind of stumbled upon St. Peter's Basilica, which was just as stunning as it seems in all the movies and TV shows.  The courtyard area is expansive and you can see of the angels on top of the columns that extend like a warm embrace from the church.  We stood around there in awe for awhile, before we found a tour.  We rode the entire route first in order to get a sense for where everything in the city was and just caught drive-by glimpses of things like the Colosseum and the Piazza Venezia.

     

When we returned to the Basilica and Vatican area, we discovered that we were actually early for our tour and so had a quick lunch of delicious pasta right outside the Vatican.  Once we got inside, we were hit repeatedly over the head by a sense of history and amazement. The collection of old world treasures amassed within the Vatican is no secret, but to see it all up close, to touch some of it, to walk the halls and pour over the galleries...it was indescribable.  My favorite room was probably the one decorated with old maps, hand painted with deep blues and highlighted in gold, featuring spitting sea monsters and land masses that don't exist anymore!  Plus, although the Sistine Chapel is the most famous of the painted ceilings, there were many more inside that were truly stunning.  The Sistine Chapel is the furthest thing from the entrance, so you can see everything as you're walking toward it.  One of my favorite things about Rome is that nothing failed to live up to expectations.  The Chapel was truly beautiful and standing under the painting of God and Adam was crazy!  (Also, sneaking pictures was crazy - I was afraid that I would be thrown out of the Vatican!)  We stood there for a good 10-15 minutes, our necks craned back and mouths agape, as we tried to take in every inch of the elaborate scenes painted all around us.  I was humbled to be surrounded by years of work in one man's life and just marveled at the detail with which the entire chapel was done.

We left the Vatican around 3:30 and headed back into the city again to see some of the ancient things.  Our first stop was the Colosseum, mostly because I was obsessed with it!  We got there with plenty of daylight left and were able to walk around the outside, see some of the forum area and just take our time thinking about all of the gladiators and slaves who lost their lives within those walls.  Standing in the shadows of the Colosseum, with our sandalled feet hitting the same dusty rocks and grass that people 2,000 years ago walked over was like being hurled forcibly backward in time!  We walked up from the Colosseum up past the beautiful garden-like area where the Forum ruins are and to the front of the Piazza Venezia (the massive white building with the man being pulled by four horses in a chariot).  We ogled all of these things and then headed back to our neighborhood to try another of the suggested restaurants left by our host.  This time, we walked to Sole & Luna, where we were early for dinner at 7 pm! lol  I kid you not, this was the best food I think I've ever eaten.  I ordered ricotta and spinach ravioli, Heather got carbonara with bacon and Tessa got spaghetti with clams.  The pasta was SO fresh and delicious I was salivating with every bite!  It's safe to say that we slept very, very well that night.

 
 

 

Day 3

We let ourselves sleep in a bit that Sunday.  We were exhausted from all the non-stop walking and, in my case at least, a bit overwhelmed by all of the beauty around us!  So we walked back to the Basilica, planning to do the Hop-on/Hop-off tour again to see the places we missed.  When we got to the Basilica, however, we were treated to a courtyard full of people.  They were using a video-projector to show the service going on inside the church and there were masses of people outside enjoying it.  We stayed for a bit, but then got our bus to head to the Piazza Navona!   This open-air courtyard features three really magnificent fountains and is enclosed on one side by a towering, blindingly white church, St. Agnes of Agone.  We could go inside so we did, experiencing just one of many examples of the ornate decorative style of Roman churches!  A painted ceiling, cavernous altar space and interior archways seem to be just some of the repeated motifs that never got old!

 

From the Piazza Navona, we walked through a few other piazza to get to the Pantheon. Everything felt very relaxed and we were met with a number of Sunday markets going on as we passed.  Then, suddenly, we turned a corner and the Pantheon reared up to our right out of nowhere!  Inside, the domed ceiling provided ample light with which to see the multiple altars and icons and even the famous painter Raphael's tomb!  We stopped for some gelato on the way out and then walked toward the city center again in order to catch one of our tour buses.

 

 We hopped on and went to the famous church, St. Maria Maggiore which was one of the most holy and stunning places I've ever set foot in!  The opulence was overwhelming, from the golden painted ceiling, to the multiple stained glass windows and tiled floor.  Every inch was set up as a tribute to God and that kind of devotion was hard to be unaffected by.  After sitting there and thanking my lucky stars for a few minutes, we got back on the bus and went to Circus Massimo which was another arena that the gladiators sometimes fought in.  On that day there seemed to be a huge kid's tournament of capture the flag, which was pretty much the same thing, I think.  It got very heated, at least!  We stayed to root for the yellow team for awhile, but then kept walking toward the Tiber river and the little island that sits in it, called the Isola Tiberina.  We mostly just sat by the water, enjoyed the market and rested our feet under the bridges that cut across the Tiber.  It was a great way to end our Roman holiday and we went home happy and relaxed.  Heather would leave us to return to Nice (and the pressures of homework) while Tessa and I continued the adventure with Vienna as our next stop!