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. :)
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