Vienna

7 July, 2010

Last entry was in Salzburg and we are now about to leave Venice (9-7-2010).  In Salzburg we did laundry but decided to leave right away for Vienna.  Got to the Vienna train station and walked about a mile with our packs in the wrong direction before deciding to return to the train station and lock our packs in the locker.

The Wombat Hostel was full but they recommended another hostel.  The next hostel had room but required a two night stay.  Finally we found Hotel Ibis, a modern high rise hotel for E111.00.  I decided not to include the breakfast buffet for E30 (E10/person) although Laurie wanted to get it.

We went down to the center of town on the subway having purchased 24 hour train passes.  We had already arranged for a night train to Venice the next night.

Vienna is a really huge city that is built in concentric rings.  It originally was the center of the Holy Roman Empire and controlled places like Bohemia, Venice etc.

Our hotel room was on the 9th floor so we could see the endless sea of rooftops in all directions.

Vienna is so packed with monuments that it is hard to get a view of them from the distance.

The empire was both a Christian and a political empire.

Our hotel was just off Mariahilf Strasse which forms the main drag between the West train station, West Bahnhof and downtown.  With our 24 hour passes we took the subway down to St. Stephan's Church which forms the center of the city, although it was being repaired.

We had 3 sausages on the street, one regular and 2 curry although they had a bit too much curry for Laurie and I ended up sharing hers.  (Vienna sausages with curry are pretty much like hot dogs with curry powder dumped over them.)  They served them with brown mustard, sliced, a miniature plastic fork like a toothpick and a piece of bread.

The best way to eat it seemed to be to break off a piece of bread and eat that separately from the sausage.  (Do not try to eat them like a hot dog or a sandwich)

There are a lot of strange customs regarding food etc. here.  We walked around in every widening concentric circles until we got to the royal apartments which was basically the kings palace.

 That night Laurie and I went out at night and left Matt at the hotel.  We first cruised the tram for a little while but the tram from the hotel just seemed to go out in the boonies.  We next went downtown on the subway and cruised around on the tram down there but it was a bit hard to see out of.  What we should have done in Vienna was find out what concert was playing and go get tickets to it at the door.

The trams don't seem to be designed for site seeing that much.  Afterwards we went back to the hotel.

The next day we started out with some pastries for breakfast but we should have sat down and eaten them with some coffee like everyone else because they don't seem to understand coffee to go very well.  After eating the pastries on foot we went to tour the Royal apartments.  The royal apartments started off with the royal silverware and the royal dishes which seemed to go on forever.

The next part of the tour was dedicated to Empress Sisi (Elizabeth 1850-~1890) who was a Bavarian princess who married the emperor when she was 16, had some trouble adjusting to imperial life, sought seclusion, became a phenomenal athlete in horse riding and sword fighting, became increasingly depressed, especially after the murder suicide (or double suicide) of her son and his lover and was finally assassinated by an italian anarchist around 1890.

 The next rooms were the actual royal apartments.  The tour took until 1 PM and our train was not leaving until ~8 PM.

We walked over to the museum section and stopped at a little cafe.  Laurie ordered a coffee to go, she had been getting a caffeine headache.  They gave here about 2 oz. of espresso in a cup for E1.90!

Matt & I decided we wanted to eat at this place but Laurie did not want to eat there after the coffee incident.  I had what amounted to 2 foot long hot dogs with mustard, and bread, Laurie had the cream soup and Matt had another spicy sausage.  I had asked waiter to get Matt an Apfel Seltzer but them Matt decided to go for fruit juice but the waiter misunderstood us and brought me an Apfel Seltzer and Matt a Mango Juice.  We also ordered 2 cappuccino here so we got our caffeine fix.  I pointed to the large cups someone had at the other table and said "What's that?,  We'll have two of those."  Laurie also ordered some Apfel strudel in creme sauce which was like vanilla pudding.  They took a long time bringing the bill and I finally had to ask for it.

Afterwards Matt and Laurie went down to the Museum quarter to use the bathroom (E0,50).  Afterwards we just walked around looking at the buildings and parks.  I saw someone playing guitar in the city park so I played some blues harp as I walked through the park.

 

We walked past the Opera house but they had no more tours for that day.  WE bought a music box with a picture of Sisi on it.  We then walked back to the train station, shopped around a bit before picking up our packs which we had stored in the lockers at the train station.  We stayed at the station until the train arrived.

Salzburg

6 July 2010

We caught a bus to the train station and thought we were going to miss the train but it turned out the train was not coming and a bus was sent to take us.  We almost got off the bus at the wrong stop but a helpful man told us to stay on.  Transferred to a train and then another train, made it to Munich OK.  Got on the train from Munich to Salzburg which should take about 1.5 hours and get us into town by 7 PM.

Made it to Salzburg.  This place seems a bit run down and the people seem a bit shady.  The hotel recommended seemed a bit run down so we went down a couple places.

This hotel was E 119 for three people but they accepted cash only.  Luckily we had a enough cash.  The room was nice and clean but we had hoped to stay two days and we were only able to get the room for one night.  We decided to walk around a bit and went to the "Alt Stadt" or old town, found a place to eat. I had venison stew, Matt had goulash (beef stew) and Laurie had salmon ravioli.  I had a pretzel but I remembered last time I was in Munich they charged for the pretzels.  I figured they were free this time and so I had part of another pretzel.  Nope, E 1.50 per pretzel.  Total meal was E 40.00.

Neuschwanstein

5 July 2010

The next day we walked to the train station and got a coffee.  Packed up and checked out of the hotel and put our packs into the locker at the train station.  Took the bus to Neuschwanstein.  The tickets are no longer sold at the castle but in town below Hohenschwangau.

We thought the Neuschwantstein tour would be best for us since the complete tour required a two hour break between Hohenschwangau and Neuschwantstein.

Laurie, Matt and I hiked up to Neuschwanstein, then Matt and I walked around to Marien Brukke or Marien's Bridge which spans the chasm between Neuswanstein castle and the next mountain.  This makes a great photo site.

We walked back in time to take a few more photos outside before going in for our tour in English.  It seemed more complete than I remembered it and everybody really enjoyed the tour.

It certainly is an impressive structure of late 19th century engineering built in the pattern of a medieval castle (actually modeled after the Wartburg to some extent).  Unlike Disney's creations, Ludwig's castle is built of stone/concrete instead of fiberglass.  It took 14 wood carvers 4 years to make Ludwig's bed.

Rothenburg ab der Tauber

4 July 2010

The next day we planned on staying in Rothenburg until noon.  Just about every corner in Rothenburg is like a medieval post card picture.

We walked to the garden and saw a guy playing flute and selling CD's.

We went to the crime museum.  The crime museum upset Matt because of the instruments of torture.

We then took the train to Munchen to Buchloe and then from Buchloe to Fussen.  Made it to Fussen around 8 PM walked past the expensive hotels.  Had a little trouble orienting ourselves to the Rick Steve's map but finally found Gasthof Krone which was only E69-.  Had to share the bathroom and shower with everyone on the floor.

We went out for supper and I had the Schnitzel Cordon Bleu with cheese and ham inside and fried potatoes, Laurie had the fish (pike) with boiled potatoes and creamed saurkraut, Matt had the leg of pork with saurkraut and a type of dressing sliced like bread.

It was a real good filling meal but around midnight I got an upset stomach and felt a bit Woozy the next day.

The Rhein Valley and Rothenburg

3 July 2010

We went with Matt the next day to Deutches Eck and climbed to the top.

Checked out of the hotel. The breakfast had cheese, sliced meat & sausages, bread, hard rolls, jelly, cereal, very nice Fruestuck und cafe creme. Got checked out & went to the boat that left at 9 AM. This part of the Rhein has the highest density of castles on the Rhein

 many scenic churches and fachwerk Hauser

 and many famous vineyards. Wine is more popular in this region than beer and was actually cheaper than pop or water. Laurie got a wine on the boat & Matt & I had coke.

It was very hot, we had sunscreen but I am worried I will get badly sun burnt out on the water. We are now at km 560.

Our goal was to reach Rothenburg ab der Tauber by the end of the day. To get to Rothenburg we first had to get off the cruise ship at Bachrach which was a very pleasant medieval village that reminded me of Rothenburg (even though they are far apart). 

We did not stay there though. It was extremely hot and we only had a little water left. The train took us first to Mainz. We weren’t sure if we could get to Rothenburg that day. Next we went from Mainz to Frankfurt then a quick change at Frankfurt to Wurzburg. Wurzburg is beginning to be at a little higher altitude.

There had been a fire on the track and the train to the next city, Steinach, was delayed. There isn’t a big train that goes just to Rothenburg. Everyone has to go first to Steinach and it was starting to get late. We actually got on the wrong train and got off again at the last minute after asking some people if this was the right train.

Finally we got the train to Steinach which had no air conditioning. We had to wait a while for the train to Rothenburg. It finally came, a nice air conditioned train.

At Rothenburg we first tried to get a room at the hotel by the train station but they said the only room they had was in the loft with no air conditioning for E120 so we tried the next place. By now we each had 3 big packs, each a shoulder bag and another grocery sized bag of stuff so it was getting a bit much to carry on and off the trains and to carry around searching for a Hotel. We went to the next Hotel. The people were more polite and it cost E90 for 3 people, the rooms were very nice with shower and toilet in the room, free breakfast consisted of sliced meats & cheeses, hard rolls, jellys, yogurt, cereal coffee & creme, juice, hardboiled eggs in an egg holder etc. 

That night we walked through Rothenburg taking pictures. We were in time to catch the end of the night watch, a presentation in English about the history of Rothenburg including some of the legends.

Afterwards we went to an ice cream shop. Laurie got the Jamaica sunday, Matt got the chocolate with nuts and I had fruit with sherbet. It tasted really good after our hot day. I took a shower before bed to cool off. I decided I needed to start carrying two water bottles with us.