Showing posts with label Austria. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Austria. Show all posts
Monday, October 17, 2011
Day 31: Salzburg (Oct 17)
Blog post coming soon! Highlights: Sound of Music tour, Mozart's birthplace museum, and a river tour. In the meantime, here are today's pictures.
Sunday, October 16, 2011
Day 30: Salzburg (Oct 16)
Blog post coming soon! Highlights: Rick Steves Old Town Walk and Hohensalzburg Fortress. In the meantime, here are today's pictures.
Saturday, October 15, 2011
Day 29: Hallstatt (Oct 15)
Today's pictures are here on Flickr.
While doing my research in the months before I left, I came to quickly find that I enjoyed the Rick Steves guide books much more than Lonely Planet, Frommers, Fodor's, or any other (though I did consult as many as I could find). It also helped that Rick had a TV series, and a great many of his shows covered cities that I had planned to visit. One of those shows was on Salzburg and its surroundings, and while Halstatt wasn't on the list of places from the Frommer's car trip that got me to Melk, Krems, and Bad Ischl, he liked it enough to devote a segment of that show to the town (which you can watch here, it's only 3 minutes). I saw that episode and said that looks cool enough to spend a day there on my trip through the Salzkammergut.
While doing my research in the months before I left, I came to quickly find that I enjoyed the Rick Steves guide books much more than Lonely Planet, Frommers, Fodor's, or any other (though I did consult as many as I could find). It also helped that Rick had a TV series, and a great many of his shows covered cities that I had planned to visit. One of those shows was on Salzburg and its surroundings, and while Halstatt wasn't on the list of places from the Frommer's car trip that got me to Melk, Krems, and Bad Ischl, he liked it enough to devote a segment of that show to the town (which you can watch here, it's only 3 minutes). I saw that episode and said that looks cool enough to spend a day there on my trip through the Salzkammergut.
Friday, October 14, 2011
Day 28: Bad Ischl (Oct 14)
Today's pictures are here on Flickr.
The only things I knew about Bad Ischl were that the Austrian Emperor had a summer home here for 60 years, and that it was famous for its spas. It’s also further west, towards Salzburg, in what’s known as the Salzkammergut area (roughly translated to “Salt storehouse”), after train transfers in St Poelten (3rd time) and Attnang-Puchheim (1st time). The train to Attnang was delayed by about a half hour while they cleared the track ahead of us; apparently someone got hit by another train further up and they had to bring the police, ambulance, and cleanup crews in before we could get going. Of course my connection had long since left by the time I got there, but I just hopped on the next one going to Bad Ischl, leaving me time to grab lunch from a kebab stand nearby (that was really good – a shwarma sandwich but in a tortilla wrap). The train only made it as far as Ebensee, though, due to construction on the tracks, so we had to disembark from the train and get into a standing-room-only bus to get the rest of the way to Bad Ischl. I had booked a B&B the night before in Mautern, so I found the Tourist Information office and got a map of the town, and she helped me figure out where I needed to go.
The only things I knew about Bad Ischl were that the Austrian Emperor had a summer home here for 60 years, and that it was famous for its spas. It’s also further west, towards Salzburg, in what’s known as the Salzkammergut area (roughly translated to “Salt storehouse”), after train transfers in St Poelten (3rd time) and Attnang-Puchheim (1st time). The train to Attnang was delayed by about a half hour while they cleared the track ahead of us; apparently someone got hit by another train further up and they had to bring the police, ambulance, and cleanup crews in before we could get going. Of course my connection had long since left by the time I got there, but I just hopped on the next one going to Bad Ischl, leaving me time to grab lunch from a kebab stand nearby (that was really good – a shwarma sandwich but in a tortilla wrap). The train only made it as far as Ebensee, though, due to construction on the tracks, so we had to disembark from the train and get into a standing-room-only bus to get the rest of the way to Bad Ischl. I had booked a B&B the night before in Mautern, so I found the Tourist Information office and got a map of the town, and she helped me figure out where I needed to go.
Salzburg details
Two days seems to be enough to cover all that I want to see in Salzburg, though if I had a third day that would be ideal (same as Vienna). However, I still have Munich, Bavaria, and Switzerland to see before my hard deadline of Oct 30 in Zermatt, so I'll have to make do with two days. The two big tourist draws in Salzburg are the Sound of Music and Mozart, so I'll take whatever else I can get.
Thursday, October 13, 2011
Day 27: Melk, Krems, and Mautern (Oct 13)
Today's pictures are here on Flickr.
The next 3 days will be different from what I’ve done so far – they’re in the Austrian countryside, or at least relatively small towns compared to all the big capital cities I’ve been to so far. The Frommer’s guide book recommended a driving tour from Vienna to Salzburg to Innsbruck, and as I was only going as far as Salzburg I used their ideas for a train tour. And since they aren’t big cities, there’s not as much to do, which is kind of the idea. There will be enough to keep me occupied but not busy.
The next 3 days will be different from what I’ve done so far – they’re in the Austrian countryside, or at least relatively small towns compared to all the big capital cities I’ve been to so far. The Frommer’s guide book recommended a driving tour from Vienna to Salzburg to Innsbruck, and as I was only going as far as Salzburg I used their ideas for a train tour. And since they aren’t big cities, there’s not as much to do, which is kind of the idea. There will be enough to keep me occupied but not busy.
Wachau & Salzkammergut details
So apparently the Danube Valley is called the "Wachau" region. I discovered it while researching Austria, Rick Steves doesn't cover it but Frommer's does, as part of a driving tour that goes from Vienna to Salzburg to Innsbruck. I'm not going that far, but the book does mention some interesting-sounding things to see and do in the Austrian countryside. I decided to make it into three days, one day in the Wachau region of the Danube River not too far from Vienna, and two days further west towards Salzburg in the Lake District or Salzkammergut. Even though they're very different areas, I'm lumping them into one post here for convenience.
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
Day 26: Vienna (Oct. 12)
Today's pictures can be found here on Flickr.
Slept in a bit and went into town to see the Lippizzaner Stallions at the Spanish Riding School. They have a performance this weekend and I was hoping to see some cool stuff at their regular morning practice, but it was mostly just warming up, walking around, and a few things like prancing in place or side stepping, but only occasionally. In the arena, five horses practice for 30 minutes, then they leave and are replaced with five more horses. This goes on for 2-1/2 hours, and people are free to leave when they want. I stayed for a little more than an hour, seeing two full practice sessions.
Slept in a bit and went into town to see the Lippizzaner Stallions at the Spanish Riding School. They have a performance this weekend and I was hoping to see some cool stuff at their regular morning practice, but it was mostly just warming up, walking around, and a few things like prancing in place or side stepping, but only occasionally. In the arena, five horses practice for 30 minutes, then they leave and are replaced with five more horses. This goes on for 2-1/2 hours, and people are free to leave when they want. I stayed for a little more than an hour, seeing two full practice sessions.
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Day 25: Vienna (Oct. 11)
Today's pictures can be found here on Flickr.
The train got in close to 6:30am, and I had already been up for an hour. I knew this was going to be a long day. I was in occasional email contact with my host in Vienna, and rather than get there so early, I left my luggage in a locker and after checking my email and getting some breakfast in the 1st class lounge, I jumped right into my tour of the Vienna sights. I took the metro into town from the Hauptbanhof (main train station) and picked up a ticket for tomorrow’s morning practice of the Lipizzaner Stallions, who train right next to the Hofburg area.
The train got in close to 6:30am, and I had already been up for an hour. I knew this was going to be a long day. I was in occasional email contact with my host in Vienna, and rather than get there so early, I left my luggage in a locker and after checking my email and getting some breakfast in the 1st class lounge, I jumped right into my tour of the Vienna sights. I took the metro into town from the Hauptbanhof (main train station) and picked up a ticket for tomorrow’s morning practice of the Lipizzaner Stallions, who train right next to the Hofburg area.
Monday, October 10, 2011
Vienna details
Now that I've rested and relaxed as much as I can for a couple days in Prague, I'm ready for another trip back on the road and rails. Next up: Vienna.
I've gone northeast-ish from London to Paris, Amsterdam, Cologne, and up to Copenhagen, then south to Berlin and Prague, and now I'm headed west for a while through Austria, Munich and Bavaria.
I've gone northeast-ish from London to Paris, Amsterdam, Cologne, and up to Copenhagen, then south to Berlin and Prague, and now I'm headed west for a while through Austria, Munich and Bavaria.
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Vienna & Salzburg (Oct. 11-17)
Heading west into Austria out of Prague towards Munich, I have come to realize that for the first time on this trip I don't know where I want to stop (Vienna? Salzburg?) or what I want to do. I'll see what the guidebooks have to say.
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