Wien (Vienna)

So with just our luck, we have been hitting many cities right when there is a Euro 2008 soccer game going on in town...ugh. It has not been too bad, but since Vienna is the biggest city in Austria, this place is most impacted by the fans. Luckily we made a reservation on the train from Salzburg to here, otherwise it would have been tight getting a seat, especially with our huge suitcases (we did not pack as light as we maybe could have). All that aside we did get a good first day in Vienna. Our hotel, Hotel Allegro is ok, seems like it was a nice hotel in its day, but it is a bit rundown. Fortunately we were able to get accommodations in Vienna these days, currently there is no availability in the city at all!

Our first sight today was the Schonbrunn Palace; we took the 1 hour Grand Tour of the interior, which was beautiful.  

We also explored the rear gardens, which were immense.

After that we hopped on the Underground (Subway) to the Naschmarkt (Outdoor Market) area to eat at an Asian restaurant that was recommended by our Lonely Planet Austria book called Mr. Lee (I figured it was good luck to go there, since my first employer was a Korean named Mr Lee, who owned a Pizzeria in Centereach, NY where I grew up. I washed dishes by hand at the age of 15 (off the books of course) and ate lots of free pizza, and was able to buy my first drum set (had to throw that story in there ;)). Mr Lees was awesome, you would not know by looking at it (looked almost like a fast food Chinese place), but they had tables outside in the Market area and the food was cheap and awesome. Mr Lee himself was there..all smiles all the time. I had a lime fried chicken and Court at the Satay Chicken and we started with a California salad, which was bean sprouts and Salmon and Yellow Tail sushi...really good.

We then started the Walking Tour (Lonely Planet has a walking tour for every city..sometimes there are blah..but we always hit them). We had to end our walking tour halfway due to the huge Fan Zone for the soccer setup in the center of town; we got our way back to the Sacher Hotel and had Sacher Torte (made famous by this hotel, and sold throughout Austria). It is a chocolate covered chocolate cake (had a hint of orange to it), it was very good, the Wien Malange (coffee with Milk) is also a coffee style (was very much like a cappuccino..very milky) specific to Vienna, this was a great way to end the first day here.

Mozart Balls!

Our second day in Salzburg was good, we took it a little easy as we have been going non-stop. We did a short (unintended) hike in the morning along this path that brought us to a church and past some interesting crucifixion and religious statues (perhaps the stations of the cross). So many churches here, and when you go in they are so beautiful; between the alter, the painted ceilings, the pipe organs (see the picasaweb photos for some examples).

We made a visit to the Hohensalzburg Fortress, which was very interesting (Castles and Fortresses are cool).

 

We stopped at a small cafe near our hotel for dinner (I had the Cordon Bleu; made with pork instead of chicken) and Court had the Turkey Schnitzel (crazy sh*t). Looks like we have another great sunny day ahead, we have an 11am train to Vienna, so getting ready to leave now. Oh and we tired the Mozartkugeln (Mozart Balls), chocolate candies the shape of truffles, not really that great I got to tell you!

Jungfrau Proposal

We are about to embark on our second day in Salzburg, we plan to explore Old Town and check out some of the exquisite shops. It should be a bit quieter today, since the soccer game was last night (Russians and Greeks). The sun is shining, we got a great nights sleep, and the breakfast here at the Bergland was excellent (a good buffet with the usual Cereals, Yogurts, Meats/Cheeses, Eggs (hard boiled), Breads, Coffee/Tea, etc.

Although this happened back when we were in Interlaken (June 10th), I did not get a chance to write about it yet. As a few of you have known, I planned on proposing to Courtney here in the Alps. I decided to ask her on the opt of Jungfrau 14,000+ feet above sea level. It actually turned out perfectly; I gave our camera to another couple, asking them to snap a photo of us. Courtney turned around for a moment, and I dropped down to one knee and held out a ring. At first she thought I was joking (since the ring was huge...I brought a cubic zirconium to ask with, the real diamond is waiting for us with a jeweler in the diamond district of NY :)). I asked her if she would marry me and (of course) she said yes. The couple (taking our photo) luckily spoke English, they snapped a great photo and the woman started crying. Once I explained to Courtney that I decided to not bring the real diamond on the trip, she understood and agreed it was the best call. It turned out to be the perfect proposal, and how many people captured their proposal on tape? No specific plans yet for the wedding, we will start thinking about that after the trip. Just wanted to share this news with everyone. We are off to enjoy Salzburg, I am going to look for Mozart, I think he is living with John Lennon ;)

The Hills are Alive with Music (Salzburg)

We arrived in Salzburg, Austria this morning at about 11:30am, after a 2 hour train ride from Innsbruck. We are seeing a lot of reserved seats on the trains here in Austria (as opposed to Switzerland). We have been lucky so far without them, in fact today sat in an enclosed 4 seat area (private rooms) on the train and made a friend; Matteus from Vienna, who was in Bern for one of the soccer games. We may meet up with him in Vienna for dinner; he is in the catering business, and told us a lot about living in Austria and Vienna.

As soon as we arrived we had about a 10 minute walk to our hotel Hotel Bergland, which we love so far. Very sheik, and big and clean rooms (also free WiFi, so I can blog again :)). Another great thing about this hotel, is that we were able to sign up immediately for the 2pm Sound of Music tour and the bus picked us up directly from the hotel, which was great. The 4 hour tour (bus tour with various stops), was a lot of fun. Our tour guide Peter was a rip, we thought he was gay, but he is apparently married, he was very funny and a great tour guide. We visited many of the spots used in the filming of the movie, including Mirabell Gardens, at the very end. 

Afterward we were starving, so we hit an Italian place in Old Town called Il Sole, Court had a pizza and I enjoyed a calzone, very good. After that we had a nice stroll down Getreidegasse in Old Town, but most of the shops were closed for the day, so we will be heading back there tomorrow. Lots of cool stores; including an Easter Egg shop with thousands of hand decorated eggs, and a Christmas Store. We are looking forward to a good nights sleep and to see what the breakfast is like here at the Bergland. Auf Wiedersehen!

Innsbruck, Austria (first day)

I want to write a lot more about Interlaken, but since we have been so busy I will tell you about our first day in Innsbruck, Austria while it is fresh in my mind. We took a 7:05am train from Interlaken, Switzerland this morning, which took us via Bern and Zurich to Innsbruck Austria. We got to Innsbruck at about 1:25pm, so it was a pretty long train ride. Luckily our European East rail pass kicked in with no problems (one of the attendants at the Interlaken West train station knew nothing about this pass).

We checked into the Hotel Heimgartl, where our host Margaret checked us in. We had such a great experience at our last hotel, we were already assuming this one would not be as good. It is not bad, we had a hard time just finding available accommodations at a decent price here in Austria due to the soccer tournament, so we are not complaining.

As we have been doing in many of the cities, we start with a recommended walking tour (from the Lonely Planet travel guides) which usually lasts about 1.5 hours. We got caught in some rain, and bought cheap umbrellas, but then it cleared up and turned out to be a nice day. We checked out some of the local gift shops, the Golden Roof, the Hofgarten, St James Cathedral, and of course the excitement of the soccer games buzzing all around town.

We then sat and chilled at a cafe (Invinum) in old town for a couple of hours, to pass the time, as we were meeting our friend Doris (a student/teacher we know here in Innsbruck for a real Austrian dinner). When we met Doris, she brought us to Gast Haus Gruber, she translated the menu for us and made some recommendations. We started with Schhultz Krapfen (spinach and cheese dumplings). And then went on to another traditional Austrian dish (forget the name) with beef, ham, potatoes, onions, and topped with a fried egg; this was really good. Although, I think I should have ordered the pork cordon bleu with fries..saw some people at a nearby table that got this...damn...out-ordered! No the dish I got was really good!  This was served with a salad of cabbage, very similar to Cole Slaw (or sauerkraut) and was very refreshing.

Our first day in Innsbruck has been great, we have seen so much. We have 1 more full day here before we move on to Salzburg (I can hear the sound of music now). Tomorrow we plan to head up the mountain and do a few hours of hiking, weather permitting. (by the way this posting is not getting to the site immediately, as we do not have Internet access at this hotel, which we don't love :)).

Interlaken

We have spent 3 amazing days here in Interlaken (literary meaning; between the lakes), which sits between the Thun and Brienz lakes, which are beautiful. The water is so clean, blue like in the Mediterranean, and clean enough to drink. The train ride from Geneva to Interlaken West (there are 2 train stations in Interlaken West and Ost (East)..about 30 minute walk between them) was nice, but it got really awe inspiring when we passed Bern and came upon the Interlaken area.

As soon as we arrived at the Interlaken West train station we were able to find our way to the hotel, Rugenpark B&B, where Ursula (her and Chris operate it) has taken great care of us. We have been able to buy all of our mountain train passes through her, and she has given us great recommendations for dining. We then took a mountain train (cog wheel) up to Schynige Platte (2068m), where we had an awesome 2 hour hike. And I might as well tell you know, since Court will..she loves the story...on the hike back to the train station I fell full ass in to a puddle of mud. There were a lot of muddy patches...hey I am growing as a hiker ;)

Yesterday we went up to Jungfrau (top of Europe) the highest train station at 3454m. We went through an Ice Palace (tunnels cut through glacier..awesome), we were in snowfall when we reached the highest peak, and had a great time. We met a really nice couple from Belgium (Eddie..and..I forget his wifes name)..great people that kept us company on the train.

Last night we went to Anker (previously Hotel Anker) here in Interlaken. From the outside it just looks like a run down tavern. The place is run by Channet (pronounced schanet [janet]). She is the bomb, the older woman..taking care of all the customers and just super sweet. The food was amazing. Court had a pork chop special and I had a thin chicken cutlet (schnizel style) great portions, great service, great wine..this is our favorite restaurant so far.

I have so much more to blog about, and so many pics. I am uploading some more now to picasa (see slideshow on this page), but I have to get to bed as we have a 7:05am train from Interlaken West to Innsbruck, Austria (via Zurich) in the morning. We may not have internet connectivity from the next hotel, where we are for 2 nights. But I will be snapping lots of photos and will be blogging much more later in the trip. We will definitely have some down time when we are in Bochnia Poland. Ciao for now!

Geneva

We have enjoyed Geneva, yesterday the town was buzzing with soccer fans with one of the Euro 2008 games going on in town (hence the soccer ball atop the Jet d'Eau). The weather is very mild (about 60 deg F) and slightly overcast. The sun broke out a bit this afternoon (our second day) and we enjoyed some beer along the river, not too far from our hotel.

Today we took a trolley tour of Old Town and learned more about some of the areas we had explored yesterday. We went to the bohemian town of Carouge and had some killer deserts and coffee. Yesterday we had the best Fondue I have ever tasted at Cafe du Soleil. Not a lot of places took credit cards, so we converted some more USD to CHF (Swiss Francs) at the train station today. We have our train tickets for tomorrow mornings 3 hour train ride to Interlaken. We are looking forward to heading up to Jungfrau tomorrow morning from Interlaken). Here in Geneva, it is very international, mostly French is spoken. We have been able to get by with English, but have needed interpreters in a few spots along the way. Interlaken is supposed to be an area where German is spoken primarily, so I am brushing up on my phrases tonight. We enjoyed paninis from a local vendor and some wine and treats out on our balcony at the hotel this evening, getting to bed early for tomorrow. Hopefully we will have WiFi in Interlaken, so I can keep blogging, good night!