A Walk through Vienna and Salzburg - Part 2

Read Part 1 here.
It's only fair to write the trip report of one place before heading to another. We will be going on a vacation to Greece in two weeks and so I should write this one now, right? I say it again on this blog, be jealous! Or not. We might be miserable in our old age for saving so little!!

So, anyway, after walking the lanes of Vienna (and a lot of walk at that since my FIL loves to walk and make everyone else walk with him!!!), admiring its architecture, falling in love with its sculptures, cruising in the canal and enjoying in the parks, we took a train to Salzburg. At this point I should tell you that some Europeans can be very mean. The trains usually have two two-seater rows. I was blatantly refused a seat twice in a packed train by teenage German girls. Now I am a decent looking girl - why would they refuse me a seat next to them!? Your guess is as good as mine. The adults were far more nice, by the way, and this was a two-off incident.

Anyhoo, I tried to focus on the scenery that almost never ended in our 4-hour journey. Austria is actually a mini, cheap Switzerland. The only difference is that in Switzerland the grass is always trimmed because, I think, the residents are fined if they don't maintain it. Austria has fewer rules so probably they don't trim their grass as much. But their huts and hills are equally beautiful. No matter where you go, you will find picture perfect scenery. Seriously, take any turn, no bad spot ever.

I had read that Salzburg is divided into two parts by a river - Old town and New town. We had booked a hotel apartment in the New town, which, upon arrival seemed equally beautiful. Unfortunately the pictures I have from there are all mine, gorging on food and beer.

Oh, beer. The Germans make the best beer in the world. There was this particular Indian restaurant below our hotel that served the yummiest local beer. The second time we went there, the waiter came to us with the menu. The Boy gestured and said hume bus... Before he could complete, the waiter said, haan bus beer chahiye! We felt like such bevadas (drunkards!).

The first day we walked around town and saw the famous old town. It was indeed very pretty. The main lane had such character that I was swept off my feet.

The famous Old Town street of Salzburg

We walked around a lot and just admired the town. There are very few pictures of places without us in the background and so, it's tough to put them up. Nevertheless...

The next day we took a bus to Berchesgaden, Germany which is very close to Salzburg. Our main aim was to cruise a beautiful lake called Konigsee.

St. Bartholoma on Konigsee

One of the most beautiful pictures I've ever taken without
 knowing anything about photography ;)

The lake from the church - this seemed
 like Panong Tso in Ladakh - just as pristine and quite.

Yes, this was nature at its best. But what lay ahead was even more amazing. We hired a car next day to go to a gorge. But as luck would have it, the gorge was closed for the day for some renovation. Thank God we had a car because otherwise switching buses is quite a task in remote villages. We then headed to a waterfall which was not as big but the mist was divine. I've fallen in love with mists from the waterfalls since Niagara - it was one of the most divine experiences of my life.

A picture from the road - told you, scenic, very scenic.

A castle along the road. Unfortunately we were bound by our GPS!!

Gollinger Waterfalls, Austria. Can you spot the couple? I wish I could jump
and reach that spot. It was soo damn romantic!

By the way, we packed yummy vegetable pulao and yoghurt for all of us in tiffins! So everywhere we went it was like a mini picnic. Although I missed trying a variety of foods, this was very important for my in-laws who, although didn't want to eat ghar ka khana, survived on home cooked meals. We packed another pulao the next day and headed to the most beautiful place I've ever seen.

It is called Salzkammergut - the lake district in Austria. The whole stretch is pinned with beautiful lakes and small picturesque villages.That is another reason we hired a car - because we wanted to cover the whole area and stop wherever we wanted. The first stop was Wolfgangsee.

Wolfgangsee

After being mesmerized for the umpteenth time, we headed to the famous village of Hallstat. I can’t describe much in words how I felt there. It was a very touristy village but well, I could see why. Every house was picture perfect. Every spot was picture perfect. It was so, so pretty! I don't know if I could live in a tiny village like that (we walked the whole of it in an hour, I guess) but I could have certainly spent a few more days just admiring each and every corner. Let pictures do the talking for this:

So.

Yes.

Where was I!? Hallstat has that kind of power on you.

Our last day in Salzburg was a rainy day. It rained non-stop for 24 hours. We took a local bus pass and just saw the whole city. Since we took so many excursions, we missed quite a bit in Salzburg itself. But then, we might return. Salzburg was the first city in a hilly region that had a peppy vibe to it. Normally hill stations are boring in the evenings - Switzerland is. But Salzburg was awesome. All our evening were spent in classy restaurants where we went on dates without the in-laws! It was like college all over again. Only this time we were not sneaking out :)

Mirabell Gardens, Salzburg

Rain, rain, carry on!

Mirabel Gardens, Salzburg

A river runs through it - Salzburg

We loved the fair weather and we loved the rain. We loved just about everything in this cute little town. If you want to see one picturesque area in Europe and you don't want to spend a bomb going to Switzerland/Scandinavia, go to Salzburg. You won't regret it.