Always an Adventure

Our trip to Vienna was a welcome respite from Modra, but Amy and I soon tired of the summer holiday crowds. We had decided to visit the Sisi Museum and the Imperial Rooms in one of the Hapsburg museums, but had not realized that it would be so crowded inside. At one point, we found ourselves crushed between tourists in a narrow hallway with no ventilation, and with no one willing to yield to let us pass by.

We had just completed walking through the rooms that seemed to feature every dinner setting ever purchased in Austria from time immemorial. And one lesson learned: audio guides are a hazard to those without them. Believe you me, we found ourselves the victim of many a protruding elbow as we made our way through the rows and rows of collections. I think every emperor who existed granted some sort of dinnerware to Austria, but, really, how many sets of dinnerware can you admire? They all start to look alike after awhile.

And, we probably would have enjoyed the Imperial Rooms more had we not found ourselves trapped in narrow hallways at the mercy of the speed of the tour guide in the room. We might even have had some compassion for poor Elizabeth who was featured as the forlorn Empress from Bavaria throughout all of the rooms. But I'll admit that it was a bit difficult to sympathize with someone who obviously lived in the lap of luxury and was upset that she couldn't ride her horse alone after her marriage to Ferdinand. I suppose that there are always two sides to a story, but one would think that if one was going to devote an entire museum wing to an Empress, that she would have been reflected in a more positive light, rather than as the constant complainer.

After returning to our room on Saturday night and thoroughly enjoying the solitude, we had decided to take the metro to Stephanplatz and attend mass at St. Stephen's Church in the middle of the square. We knew that we could forget a peaceful walk to the church when we entered the plaza from the metro and immediately spotted 4 tour guides with numbered signs in their hands. 

We somehow managed to force our way into the church, which was filled with tourists who weren't there for the service. One apparently has to pay 4 euro to see the church during non-service hours, but it is free for the taking during Mass times. So, while the priest is saying mass on the altar, scores of people are shuffling through the back of the church to take a peek at the interior. Luckily, the church is long enough that all of this commotion is not that noticeable during the service for those of us in the front pews. 

After Mass, Amy and I felt like we really had had enough of the pushy crowds, so we decided to make our way to the bus station. We easily located the tram stop for our return trip with nearly an hour to spare, much to our relief!

After a couple of stops, it became obvious that we were not following the route on the metro map that we had managed to get at the hotel, and we began to worry. We weren't sure what to do , when suddenly an older man jumped up and started flinging his hands around. It was obvious that the tram driver had taken some sort of detour. Apparently one of the overhead wires has broken and he was forced to take the tram the long way around the city. Since we didn't understand any German, you can only imagine our concern when time kept slipping away to the scheduled departure from Vienna to Bratislava. .

Our concern must have been obvious, because another old man next to me began to tell me some sort of story in German while moving his hands around. I held up the map and showed our destination to a man sitting behind me, and he gestured that I should not be concerned because he was also going to this bus station. He didn't speak English, but his facial expression was enough to ease my fears. Except that he didn't know that we had planned to catch the 1:00 bus back to Bratislava, and the time was getting extremely close.

We finally reached our destination with only a couple of minutes to spare. We decided to take the elevator to save time to the pass-through which is located underground, and we were just hitting the down button when an Indian family decided that they would join us. So we waited while the family, complete with Grandma and a baby in a carriage, all tried to squeeze into the elevator with us. Really, we could have been down the stairs by this point, but we were squashed against the back of the elevator, so there wasn't any escaping.

But, as luck would have us, the doors behind us opened on the ground floor, and we dashed up several sets of stairs, and over to the bus, just as it was arriving. I handed the man my ticket, and he tgestured to me that it needed to be stamped in the office. Something that was NOT mentioned to us, by the way, when we purchased the tickets.

So, we rushed over to the little office, where a very kind man assisted us by stamping the tickets, then we ran back to the bus, boarded, and just about collapsed into our seats.

We arrived in Bratislava just fine, and managed to make our connection to Modra-Harmonia with out any incident. We even walked into town for dinner, back to the little restaurant that serves fabulous Bryndza halusky and pirohy.

And I didn't even complain when I ordered the 'jeden' serving of Cervene vina and the waitress brought the 'dva'. She must have somehow known that I needed the double serving!

(Wine is ordered by volume here. Jeden means 1 in Slovak, and dva means 2, so I had a double serving of Red wine...and it was great!)

Co Je Vikend !!

Ok, so without diacritical markings, I cannot do the title of this blog justice.
"it is the Weekend!!!"

A planned trip to Vienna was just what  Amy and I needed to give us a break from bird feathers, smoke and a LOT of noise..  And, the fact that it was pouring rain when we left would have made staying in Modra that much more difficult, even with a winery just down the road.

So, we headed off yesterday after class, and finally figured out how to get a bus from Modra to Bratislava, where we then boarded a bus to Helga's flat.   How happy we were to greet her.

Of course, she made us a fabulous meal and spoiled us last night.  Then, this morning, we headed off to the Bratislava bus station to board a bus to Vienna with Helga's assistance.

Everything was going smoothly until we reached the metro station in Vienna.  Apparently the Red Route, U1, is under construction, so Amy and I just could not figure out how to get to our destination. There were no paper maps, no instructions to be had,  no tellers behind windows to help one with tickets.  We were two people walking around in circles in an underground metro, generally confused and frustrated.

Finally, I spotted a man in a bright yellow vest who was helping a group of 4 purchase tickets.  At least Amy and I had figured out how to do that much!  I flagged the man down, and he was happy to walk us out of the building to a platform outside where we were told to get on tram 68 and take it to the end, then transfer to the red line for the stop near our hotel.

Without this man to help us, I'm sure our feet would hurt even more than they do now!
And, why do they hurt?  Because the map that the hotel gave to us is extremely confusing.  Amy and I pride ourselves on being relatively good map readers.  But we got lost so many times, I gave up counting.

We soon found ourselves laughing as we went through town and noticed that anywhere there was a group of 3 or more huddled together, regardless of nationality, they had a map that they were studying, so obviously, we were not alone!

We enjoyed a great lunch at a side-street cafe.

got lost several times more, took advantage of our metro day passes when we got way off track at one point, then headed back to our hotel.

We are SO enjoying the quiet atmosphere, extremely large and clean room, and I may just take a shower tonight AND tomorrow........... just because I can!!

Despite the luxury of the moment, we will head to mass in town tomorrow, then back to Bratislava and onto Modra tomorrow afternoon.  After all....we've got studying to do!!

Last Day in Vienna

Well, party time is nearly over. Tomorrow we head out of Vienna and should be in Sinking Spring by dinner time, if all goes as planned.

We spent a lot of time on our feet this Trinity Sunday. We walked through a park to attend Mass at a Cathedral in the middle of nowhere. And, then walked back to the hotel where we checked out to move to a hotel nearer the airport so that tomorrow's check in goes smoothly.

So, we packed up and moved all of the luggage to the new hotel, drove the rental car to the airport and dropped it off, got our boarding passes printed for tomorrow, took a fast train into Vienna, walked to Belvedere Palace (which was pretty far), toured the Upper Rooms, filled with fine art, walked into Vienna for dinner, took the tube, transferred to the train station, rode a train into Achau and walked from the station to the hotel.

The weather went back and forth from bright and sunny to cold and rainy to warm and sunny, cooling off for our trip back to the hotel. But, we had ponchos and raincoats so we were able to stay dry.

Our most exciting adventure today was dinner at a cafe in Vienna. We began dinner outside, but when three women decided to light up cigarettes, surrounding us on three sides, we decided to move indoors. And, what a treat that was! Little did we know that there were some entertaining musicians in the restaurant: a woman playing the piano, and an interesting fellow accompanying her on the violin. I've posted a video on my flickr account so that you can see for yourself the excitement of the evening.

As this draws to a close, I've enjoyed having blog followers along for the ride. I hope you enjoyed our adventures as much as we have. Thanks for checking in.

Vienna: From Harried to Heavenly

We decided last night that we would venture out early to Schonbrunn Palace with the car, since we have one, and the place wasn't too far from where we are staying. So, we got up bright and early and were ready to head out at 8:00 when we realized that we were parked in outside in the lot. I'm not sure that the lady who had to move her vehicle was too thrilled with our enthusiasm, but hopefully she was planning an early day as well.

We found the parking lot at the palace empty when we arrived, but the streets were already lined with tour buses and it was obvious that the place would be filling up in no time. We were fortunate to have arrived as the doors opened, otherwise we might have had to wait for a scheduled time in order to enter the palace.

The tour was phenomenal, except when we were stuck between two different tour groups, and were kind of squished in the middle. I think I heard the record amount of languages today supplied by tour guides. At one point, we were stuck in a Japanese tour group, with a French speaking group in front and an Italian group behind. And, let me just say, that none of the people in these groups were very friendly. I can't tell you how many bumps and shoves I got while attempting to work my way via audio guide!

After the inside tour, we had the opportunity to walk around the beautiful gardens. With the temperature around 70 degrees, we couldn't ask for a better day. There weren't any small spaces to have to share outside. When we left for the car, I was amazed at how many people were scrambling into the grounds. Tour buses were everywhere, and the parking lot that had held just one other car was filled! Good planning on our part.

We drove back to the hotel, and parked the car for the remainder of our stay here. We headed into Vienna via bus for a self-guided tour of the city thanks to Rick Steve's and his book. The place was loaded with people. I don't think that I have ever seen so many people in one place except for the time we went to Dorney Park and they were offering a special deal so the place was filled to capacity. But, Vienna is much larger than Dorney Park, and so exponentially, I can't tell you how many people were there, but the numbers were way too many for me to feel comfortable.

We did see just about every site in the book, though. When we had difficulty finding a place, we just looked for gobs of people, and, sure enough, we'd find what we were looking for.

Sorry to disappoint Nathan, Steve, but I cannot say that we saw any memorials to the Turkish invasion of Vienna, but I do remember reading about it recently. I was still trying to fit all of the history together with Maria Teresia and Ferdinand I and Napolean and Marie Antoinette (who, it turns out, was Maria Teresia's daughter). One thing I can tell you is that Maria Christina was the only daughter of Maria Teresia who was permitted to marry for love, and Ferdinand's wife, "Sissy" complained a lot! I hadn't really given much thought to that until Marty told me that he skipped numbers on the audio tour because he got tired of hearing her complain.

We managed to escape the crowds and found a lovely little restaurant where we could sit outside and enjoy our meal. My picture of the day is what Marty calls his "two favorite things". He clarified that I was #1 on the list, not the beer, just in case you were interested.

After dinner, we were walking to the subway when we heard the most beautiful orchestra playing. We followed the music and ended up in a plaza watching the Vienna Youth Philharmonic orchestra playing outside. We decided to stop in at the cafe across the street so that we could sit outside and hear them play while enjoying a coffee and dessert. The combination was truly heavenly, and made the day a happy memory after all.

Sunny Skies on the way to Vienna

We awoke this morning to blue skies, giving us the opportunity to actually get more than just a glimpse of the beautiful mountains that surround the village of Zell am Ziller. Breakfast involved excitement, once again, by the hotel staff, and the waitress actually shook our hands good-bye when we left. Marty asked the receptionist if they see many Americans and the girl exclaimed, "No! You are our first this year!" I attribute that to the fact that this hotel does not take credit cards and they insist on payment in advance via a bank draft. Not too many Americans would cater to the extra work involved in holding the room. The place is very nice if anyone is ever interested in visiting Zell am Ziller.

Although we knew that we had lots of ground to cover in driving to Vienna, we decided to get out early and attempt to see some of the local sights along the way, prior to picking up the Autobahn and driving into the big city. We stopped at the Museum Tiroler Bauernhofe, which we found with no problem due to excellent sign posts. This is an Open Air Museum very similar to the one that we visited in Slovakia, but this one was located in the countryside rather than near a large city.

The museum is set up with typical Tirolean houses from the Northern, Southern and Eastern areas of Tirol. These are actual houses dating from as early as the 16th century, that were donated to the museum. We were able to rent an English audio guide to help us understand the way of life of Tiroleans. The day was beautiful and the walking was pleasant without the rain. Typical to the area of Southern Tirol, we needed climb up a rather steep grade in order to reach the village. Once again we were surprised to see Stations of the Cross set up along the path to the village. Perhaps there is some connection between the suffering involved climbing up the hill and remembering the suffering that Jesus experienced. Who knows? I definitely have to read up on this when I get home. I can't imagine this would be a coincidence.

After trotting through a lot of houses, we decided to hit the road and stop in nearby Rattenberg. This beautiful village looks like it stepped right out of the Middle Ages. It has been kept up in Medieval style and it has a certain charm about it. Walking through the town was exciting for Marty, as the cobblestone streets were filled with antique cars due to an auto rally being held there today. It was tough dragging him away to view some of the historical sights of the town, but I promised him that I'd be brief and he could look at the cars in his leisure.

We couldn't stay too long because we had a long drive ahead of us. Traffic was pretty busy, since it is Friday, but we arrived at our destination west of the city around 6:00 p.m. We managed to find the hotel quite easily with the help of Garmin Girl.

This place is on the top of a hill and we have a beautiful view of the city of Vienna from our room. Actually, our room is large enough for us to have brought the entire family, with one masterbed, a twin, a baby port-a-crib and a sleeper sofa. It is on the top floor, which seems to have been a trend for this trip. There wasn't one place where we didn't have to lug our suitcases up several flights of stairs. I find it amusing that one must put the room key into a lock and turn it in order to use the lights in the place. Not a bad idea!

We strolled down the street to a local Heurigen restaurant, also known as "new wine" bar. What fun that was to experience. We were directed downstairs where we were met by the woman in charge, a lovely, exuberant local who spoke English like a pro. There were foods in a case, like the deli, and you could choose what you wanted, and everything was weighed. You paid by the pound. So, I had a Spinach strudel with sheep cheese and Marty had roasted pork, a huge dumpling and sauerkraut. Then, we took our food upstairs, and outside at a table and we were able to order from a rather extensive wine list, all wines made locally by friends of the owner. We chose to eat outside at a table and enjoy the beautiful view of the city. And, we only had to walk a few houses back to our hotel. Can't beat that!

Internet is available here only in the public lobby so Marty is reading up on possible sights for us to visit tomorrow in Vienna while I write this and post my photos. Can't wait to see what adventures await us!

Zell am Ziller & the Geisler Trail

First of all, let me wish a very Happy Anniversary to Jim & Heather. Hope you were able to do something special today.

Marty and I were enjoying a fabulous breakfast in our hotel when we suddenly found ourselves being the center of attention of the staff. We received an introduction from one of the employees who seemed quite impressed that we were from America. She actually spoke excellent English.

Suddenly, the waitress was all excited, asking if we were from America (in German), and when we said yes, she became very animated and began a long one-way conversation in German, then she pulled out her cell phone and began calling people to give them the news. We weren't quite sure why our presence would be that exciting, but hey, we'll take exuberant Austrians over crabby ones any day!

I have been meaning to mention our surprise at the religious devotion of the Europeans that we have encountered in Slovaki and Austria. In Slovakia, there were Crucifixes adorning the walls of the Penzions where we stayed, and it is no different here in Austria. Pentecost was a two day celebration (which I thought was a great idea), and we had arrived on Monday in Salzburg to find most places closed due to this religious holiday.

Today, Marty and I set off on a hike to the Church of Maria Rast, and, once again, were surprised when we began the ascent up the hill, to suddenly find shrines to the Stations of the Cross along the trail. Scattered among the Stations were Grottos dug into the cliffs, with religious statues behind screens. It was kind of strange to find these religious reminders along a path that was originally along a gold-mining section of town.

So, we hiked up the trail in the pouring rain, but the end results were definitely worth the effort. The inside of the church is breathtakingly beautiful, and the vistas from the top showed the town of Zell am Ziller, although it was slightly foggy due to the rain. The trip down the hill took very little effort on our part, although we were really quite wet by the time we reached town.

Marty and I spent the rest of the day exploring the trails around the town, which imbedded us right into the locals, walking past some very frisky goats and cute little bunnies.

Our hotel here is very cozy, although the room numbering is definitely interesting. Our room is number 110, and we are on the top floor, which is the third floor, and we must ascend 6 flights of stairs to get to our room.
So, between walking up and down to our room, and hiking about town, our tootsies could use a break. And our jackets need some drying time!

Castles & Waterfalls

After another wonderful breakfast, we said our good byes to the Bloberger Hof, (a word that Marty really enjoyed saying). The staff at this Guesthouse was friendly and they were wonderful hosts. We opted to have dinner in house and we were treated to a delightful meal out on the terrace, complete with espresso and Apple Strudel for Marty and Nougat Creme Brulee for me. Yummy!

So, this morning, we set out on our way to the town of Zell am Ziller an alpine village nestled deep in the mountains of Tirol.

Our drive was filled with scenic adventures along the way. We stopped at the little town of Golling, where we explored the Golling Wasserfalle by a foot path through the woods. Getting to this point was certainly interesting, traveling down narrow country roads to reach our destination. On the way to the foot path, we passed a little church, St. Nikolaus, built in that area because this saint was devoted to water, and the town depended upon this waterfall to keep the mills running. This waterfall has been a favorite of many romantic painters and it is certainly easy to see why.

From Golling we drove to Werfern where we decided to ride the funicular to the top of the cliff and tour the Burg Hohenwerfen fortress/castle, which was erected in the 11th century. We were happy to have the option for an English audioguide, although we were required to stay with the group under the direction of the German guide. The tour began in the chapel, which offered some interesting sights. My favorite was the hand extending from the pulpit, holding a crucifix. One's first inclination was to wonder if it was there to warn the congregation of the sermon, but the guide explained that this was a symbol that this chapel was a Catholic Chapel, as this was built following the Catholic Protestant wars.

Marty's favorite from the chapel was the painting of the Bishop holding a fish. Marty is sure that this man was so proud of the fish that he caught, that he hired someone to paint him holding it, and he put it on display in the chapel for all to see. Of course, that is a fisherman's viewpoint. Personally, I don't think I would have given it much thought.

When I planned this trip, I decided to fore-go my fears and have Marty drive the scenic route to our destination. This required driving on a road that was imbedded into the side of a cliff. I did have to keep reminding him to keep his eyes on the road, as he is always tempted to look at the view while he is driving, making the journey extremely stressful for me. This reminds me of that Mr. Potato head commercial where Mrs. Potato head ends up losing her mouth on the way down the hill in the car with Mr. Potato head. Just for the record, I kept my mouth shut...probably from shear fear!

This drive offered a spectacular view of the Krimml Wasserfalle, the highest one of its kind in all of Europe (1, 247 ft.) It has three cascading tiers. We parked and walked to two levels, but I decided against climbing to the top since the elevation was not being kind to my asthma, and I feel the beauty of a waterfall is at the bottom. In the long run, we were able to see the waterfall in its entirety as we stopped at vistas on our climb up the mountain.

At one of the viewpoints, we were startled to hear a cow bell, and when we turned around, there was a group of cows, all with bells tied to their necks, getting into line behind one lead cow who was mooing her head off. Must have been time to head back for dinner.

Our drive took us to the top of the mountain, and then we had to descend down the very curvy, narrow roads to the valley. We arrived at our hotel just as the heavens decided to break open with pouring rain. Thank God that it waited until we had reached our destination!

Once at our hotel, it was obvious that there were not many patrons in house. The woman who runs the place does not speak a word of English and she had to call her son, Karl to help us check in. Karl was interested in our last name, Geisler, as it is a local name. Marty explained that his gr. grandfather, Josef Geisler was born in this town.
Karl was quite impressed with that fact. And I think that Jo Ann was right on the money with her blog comment regarding Marty's hat. He must look so great in it because he is of Austrian decent! And, when we saw a local farmer wearing the same hat, Marty felt right at home.

Salzburg: Mozart for Dummies

Today was a great day, despite the sudden rainstorms that seemed to sneak up on us. But we were prepared for wet weather, so it didn't dampen our spirits.

We decided to get up early, and after a delicious and hearty breakfast here at our Penzion, we headed into Salzburg on the bus and began our day at the home where Mozart was born. Despite the fact that Rick Steves had given this site a thumbs down in his review, Marty and I loved it. The place was filled with the history of the family, and the displays were made up so that one actually enjoyed reading about the family. We learned a lot about Mozart of which I had never been aware. Mozart's father, Leopold, had written a book, "Treatise on the Fundamental Principles of Playing the Violin", and they actually had copies of the books from the late 1700's, in several different languages.

Leopold was described as being a devoted husband and father, and I enjoyed reading many of his letters that he wrote to his wife when he traveled with his prodigy son. When Mozart married and had his own son, Leopold wrote, "The child is, indeed, very agreeable, exceptionally friendly and he laughs as soon as someone speaks to him." He then goes on to bemoan the fact that his grandson, Carl, was being plagued by teething problems. I couldn't help but think of Finn while reading these comments. Perhaps there will be a music prodigy among us!

We then toured some more of the sights in the city, and one in particular, the Old Residence, was once again given a poor review by Rick Steves. Marty and I thought this was the best tour of the day! So glad that we decided to ignore the advice and venture out to these places for our own interest. You will see for yourself by the photos.

Marty bought himself a new hat, and I'm sure that you will enjoy seeing the many photos of him sporting it today. You'll have to excuse his appearance...he apparently ran out of clean clothes. But, I remedied that situation when I found out that we could easily have a load of laundry done here at our Penzion for a reasonable sum.

You will get a peak of the Mirabell gardens, where the Sound of Music featured a few scenes. And, we also walked through the cemetery that inspired the scene in that movie as well. We saw, from a distance, the actual nunnery where Maria would have lived, and that is actually the place where she married her husband, unlike the cathedral in the movie.

We decided to spend the evening here at our Penzion, and we plan to eat dinner on the premises, as we are quite tuckered out from all of the excitement today.