Saturday morning, we awoke in Munich to the graceful elegance and Disney magic of snow falling outside our window. It had obviously been snowing for a few hours as it had collected on the cars and the footpath on the street below. Even at this early hour, the filthy Turkish district glistened like a freshly laundered, crisp white towel. We ate breakfast, checked out, and headed for the train station bound for Salzburg. Shannon was most displeased that the snowing had ceased by the time we had left the hotel, as she had wanted to frolic in said snow. I advised that the snow stopping was probably the best thing that could have happened as, although snow is beautiful, it collects more than the Pope on a Sunday, and we had a big day planned that did not include any time for costume changes due to drenching.
The train to Salzburg took only a couple of hours, though there was a German couple opposite us in the carriage that couldn't keep their hands off one another. I gave Shannon the laptop so she could watch a girly movie, so all I had to distract myself was iChess (an App on the iPhone), and I suck at iChess. So the few hours seemed to go for quite a while.
Now, we'd only planned from 10am - 5pm (one day) for Salzburg, because our pre-research and popular opinion had advised us that this is a town that doesn't require too much of your time. They weren't wrong. Though you could spend a few days in Salzburg, I wouldn't advise it. Sure, like most medium sized European cities, Salzburg has museums, art galleries, concert halls, and the odd schloss (castle/palace), but Salzburg's are mostly crammed into the same area of town and can be walked around in a couple of hours. Visiting the inside of each of these would take you a few days, but they are EXPENSIVE! Most places command at least an €8 entry fee, and as two poor and weary travelers, this is an expense that we do not like to expend. Still, we think we covered most of the main stuff.
We started off at Mirabell Gardens, made famous by the cult cinematic classic "The Sound of Music" which some of you may have heard of.
The Mirabell Gardens and attached Palace are the backdrop in the "Do-Re-Mi" song scene when the kids are running rampant through town, jumping on stairs, and skipping through the vine tunnel. It looked exactly how it does in the film, except for the lack of intoxicated children, no Julie Andrews, grey skies in the place of glorious blue skies, and the fact that the garden was frozen solid.
From there, we walked past Mozart's house, and then walked up and down the Griesgasse (the main shopping street in Salzburg).
We looked at many souvenirs, including the hilarious "No Kangaroos in Austria" fridge magnet, and then moved on to the Rathaus (City Hall) and Residenzplatz. They had many Christmas markets set up, which we perused, and then we went in search of the Nonnberg Abbey, where the nuns in "The Sound of Music" lived.
Now, I don't want to talk in specifics here, and I don't want to confirm or deny anything. But it might have occurred that on the way to the nunnery, nature called (VERY loudly) for at least one of the two of us. Salzburg does not have many public WCs, and the ones they have are relatively expensive to use. Thus, and I cannot stress this enough, absolutely no nunneries were harmed due to the actions of either of us. However, a stray side street and disused gate, far away from the stair case leading up to the nunnery, and definitely not a part of the holy site in any way, shape or form, may have been tarnished by one of the members of our travel party. Possibly. We checked out the still-untainted Nunnery, and took some pictures in the main entryway.
After this, we walked around the corner to the Hohensalzburg Castle, which gave us some great views over the city.
We then walked back down the mountain, and headed back to the train station for our 5:30pm train to Vienna. The train took less than three hours, and when we arrived, we indulged in the local cuisine at Weiner World & Schnitzel Land. The German name for Vienna is "Wien" (pronounced "Veen"), however, it was impossible to not make "Weener" jokes whenever we saw the name written down (the locals are referred to as "Wieners"). Our hotel was really close to the train station, and so it didn't take long for us to find it.
During our time in Vienna, we visited all the main sights, including Schloss Schonbrunn and Schloss Belvedere (Pictured)
Heldenplatz (Heroes' Square), Hofburg Palace (home of the rulers from the former Hapsburg Dynasty), the Rathaus (Pictured)
The Opera House (Kunsthaus), and Stephansplatz, the place where Austria's main cathedral (the Stephansdom) is located. From visiting all these sites, we learned that Vienna is a beautiful place - but there's not a great deal to do here. The architecture in Vienna, thanks to an intelligent man named Otto Wagner, is greatly influenced by the Art Nouveau style. However, one of the cooler things that I saw in Vienna was the Opera Toilet; a public toilet that plays Opera music 24/7.
They're big on Mozart, here.
That night, we dined at an Indian restaurant near our hotel. Upon arrival, I enquired as to whether or not they can make butter chicken - to which the angry restauranteur claimed that "No, you cannot have this here - we are Indian restaurant". You were right, Shweta!
The train to Salzburg took only a couple of hours, though there was a German couple opposite us in the carriage that couldn't keep their hands off one another. I gave Shannon the laptop so she could watch a girly movie, so all I had to distract myself was iChess (an App on the iPhone), and I suck at iChess. So the few hours seemed to go for quite a while.
Now, we'd only planned from 10am - 5pm (one day) for Salzburg, because our pre-research and popular opinion had advised us that this is a town that doesn't require too much of your time. They weren't wrong. Though you could spend a few days in Salzburg, I wouldn't advise it. Sure, like most medium sized European cities, Salzburg has museums, art galleries, concert halls, and the odd schloss (castle/palace), but Salzburg's are mostly crammed into the same area of town and can be walked around in a couple of hours. Visiting the inside of each of these would take you a few days, but they are EXPENSIVE! Most places command at least an €8 entry fee, and as two poor and weary travelers, this is an expense that we do not like to expend. Still, we think we covered most of the main stuff.
We started off at Mirabell Gardens, made famous by the cult cinematic classic "The Sound of Music" which some of you may have heard of.
The Mirabell Gardens and attached Palace are the backdrop in the "Do-Re-Mi" song scene when the kids are running rampant through town, jumping on stairs, and skipping through the vine tunnel. It looked exactly how it does in the film, except for the lack of intoxicated children, no Julie Andrews, grey skies in the place of glorious blue skies, and the fact that the garden was frozen solid.
From there, we walked past Mozart's house, and then walked up and down the Griesgasse (the main shopping street in Salzburg).
We looked at many souvenirs, including the hilarious "No Kangaroos in Austria" fridge magnet, and then moved on to the Rathaus (City Hall) and Residenzplatz. They had many Christmas markets set up, which we perused, and then we went in search of the Nonnberg Abbey, where the nuns in "The Sound of Music" lived.
Now, I don't want to talk in specifics here, and I don't want to confirm or deny anything. But it might have occurred that on the way to the nunnery, nature called (VERY loudly) for at least one of the two of us. Salzburg does not have many public WCs, and the ones they have are relatively expensive to use. Thus, and I cannot stress this enough, absolutely no nunneries were harmed due to the actions of either of us. However, a stray side street and disused gate, far away from the stair case leading up to the nunnery, and definitely not a part of the holy site in any way, shape or form, may have been tarnished by one of the members of our travel party. Possibly. We checked out the still-untainted Nunnery, and took some pictures in the main entryway.
After this, we walked around the corner to the Hohensalzburg Castle, which gave us some great views over the city.
We then walked back down the mountain, and headed back to the train station for our 5:30pm train to Vienna. The train took less than three hours, and when we arrived, we indulged in the local cuisine at Weiner World & Schnitzel Land. The German name for Vienna is "Wien" (pronounced "Veen"), however, it was impossible to not make "Weener" jokes whenever we saw the name written down (the locals are referred to as "Wieners"). Our hotel was really close to the train station, and so it didn't take long for us to find it.
During our time in Vienna, we visited all the main sights, including Schloss Schonbrunn and Schloss Belvedere (Pictured)
Heldenplatz (Heroes' Square), Hofburg Palace (home of the rulers from the former Hapsburg Dynasty), the Rathaus (Pictured)
The Opera House (Kunsthaus), and Stephansplatz, the place where Austria's main cathedral (the Stephansdom) is located. From visiting all these sites, we learned that Vienna is a beautiful place - but there's not a great deal to do here. The architecture in Vienna, thanks to an intelligent man named Otto Wagner, is greatly influenced by the Art Nouveau style. However, one of the cooler things that I saw in Vienna was the Opera Toilet; a public toilet that plays Opera music 24/7.
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| Legendary. |
They're big on Mozart, here.
That night, we dined at an Indian restaurant near our hotel. Upon arrival, I enquired as to whether or not they can make butter chicken - to which the angry restauranteur claimed that "No, you cannot have this here - we are Indian restaurant". You were right, Shweta!
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