Salzburg
Thursday July 6, 2017
Upon arriving in Salzburg, we were greeted with a beautiful panorama of green mountains, and I could not help but play the Sound of Music soundtrack in my head - apt, because Salzburg is famous for having many of the movie's filming locations.
After checking in, we wandered down the river towards the centre of town, enjoying the magnificent view from the Museum der Moderne. We went to take the lift down to ground level but were shocked when we saw we had to pay a fee! We took the lift anyway and exited through the entrance while the ticket officer was talking to someone; we never looked back.
It's no wonder that the hills in Salzburg are alive with the sound of music, because it is also birthplace to none other than Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. His image can be seen around the city, oddly enough, mostly on chocolate boxes. We walked by the house where he was born, as well as a statue in his honour, before heading to the Salzburg Castle, a stately structure overlooking the whole city. It was interesting to see how the castle had changed over the past thousand years, with extra walls, houses and fortifications being added in response to various threats from warring parties.
We had walked a lot that day, so we headed home for a nap and went out for dinner later. We took a stroll down the river front afterwards, as the evening sun dipped behind the horizon.
Yesterday, we took a train out to Werfen, about an hour south of Salzburg. Werfen also has a magnificent castle with some great views, but we were here for the largest ice caves in the world, the Eisreisenwelt. Nestled in the mountains some 1.6km above sea level, the caves are an almost constant 0C, and span 42km of which only 1km is open to the public. The shuttle to the ticket office arrived immediately as we got off the train, and after a 20m walk, a very quick gondola ride and another 20m walk, we were on top of Werfen and at the entrance to the cave.
Theo regretted forgetting his jumper very quickly. I had brought thermals along, as well as my hoodie, despite the weather outside being 26C. I lent him my hoodie while I put my thermals on, hoping it would be enough to keep the both of us warm. Armed with a kerosene lamp, we entered the caves with the tour guide.
The interior is massive and mostly made of limestone with various pools and columns of ice. There's no light in the caves, natural or electric, which explains the use of the kerosene lamps to navigate. We weren't allowed to take photos but the few of us at the back did so anyway; I don't think the photography impacts the integrity of the caves at all. The ice is a beautiful azure colour, much like what you see in glaciers, and large walls of it exhibit the characteristic banding which gives clues on how old it is. Theo and I were pretty cold by the end of it, but we survived, and it was quite an amazing experience.
We're crossing borders into Germany today, heading north from Salzburg to Munich!
Posted by Jeremy at 7:35am on Thursday July 6, 2017 :: 0 comments :: 
Vienna II
Tuesday July 4, 2017
We returned to Vienna by bus from Budapest, arriving just after noon. I met up with Sandra, whom I hadn't seen in five or so years, and she and her partner took me to Laxenburg, a tiny little township just south of the city. We walked around the castle grounds and had lunch at the cafe, and ice cream as well, then we drove all the way to the northern side of Vienna for some magnificent views of the city. It was nice to see more of the countryside and get away from the tourists.
Yesterday, Theo and I visited the Schonbrunn Palace, one of Vienna's most famous landmarks. We spent a good few hours walking around the gardens and lavish rooms. Though I've seen many palaces in my time here, there were still some things I found interesting, like the lacquer decorations and the porcelain room painted to look like porcelain.
We had some lunch and I got my sachertorte from the original sachertorte cafe, then we took the subway out to Prater Park, an old amusement park where you pay per ride instead of a flat entrance fee. We thought we'd give a few of them a go, and went on a couple of rollercoasters and a thrill house. I highly recommend the Indoor Rollercoaster - it's quite fun!
We returned to the centre of town and climbed to the top of the south tower of St Stephen's Cathedral, which was actually pretty disappointing, then visited Karlskirche and Belvedere Park on our way home. We're still suffering from a bit of a cold, so we had a rest and called it a night after dinner.
Posted by Jeremy at 7:00am on Tuesday July 4, 2017 :: 0 comments ::
Vienna I
Friday June 30, 2017
Vienna has been awesome (every city I've been to is awesome!) We took a walking tour around town to all the major sights of the city, visiting some grand palaces and buildings along the way, as well as some great places to grab some of the city's best cuisine. We ended the day having some classic Austrian schnitzel.
We had an early start the next day to get out to the Wachau Valley, which sits on the Danube River some 70km from Vienna. We rode 24km over the day, biking to various wineries around the area and enjoying the beautiful Austrian countryside. We visited the ruins of a castle where King Richard III of England was held captive, and admired the views of the river and Valley from our vantage point. It was a warm but windy day, but so good to get out and exercise, and I didn't get too drunk and crash either.
We came back to Vienna and had a massive seafood dinner at the Naschtmarkt near our hostel. Theo and I needed to do our laundry so we called it off for the rest of the night while the others continued on to a local bar for a few drinks.
We had some free time this morning, which we spent having some of the famous Viennese coffee and a sachertorte, a chocolate cake with a layer of apricot marmalade. Theo and I also picked up a bunch of antipasti from the Naschtmarkt to takeaway for later, for a very reasonable price.
We're back here by ourselves in a few days, so we weren't too concerned with missing out on things this round. There's a couple of interesting buildings I'd like to revisit and I've got a friend to catch up with as well. Farewell for now Vienna!
Posted by Jeremy at 2:56pm on Friday June 30, 2017 :: 0 comments ::