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.

A Walk through Vienna and Salzburg - Part 1

This year we decided to visit Austria with the Boy's parents. We chose this country because the older generation loves greenery and mountains more than anything else. We wanted to show them how a foreign country actually looks like since they've just seen Bahrain and our resident country is not the best example of a good-looking phoren destination! And sending them through a group holiday would have meant creamy, greasy Indian food from restaurants that would have raised their cholesterol and blood pressure levels.

So this vacation was a very different one. We booked apartments instead of hotels so that we can do some cooking as well. We took theplas, dals and masalas. Any European country supermarket is like a normal one where you would find everything from onions to tomatoes to eggplant to cauliflower. So we bought our daily veges everyday. Me and MIL divided the chores and the daily cooking thing was a cakewalk. A dishwasher in both our apartments simplified our job further. Plus, me and the Boy usually ate out. So it was just for them.

Anyway, I started with cooking in this post because that was really one unique thing which we did in this trip. Since we plan to travel a lot in life, I think this experience will help us in the years to come when we would prefer home cooked meals while discovering the world. Also, the thrill of cooking in a new kitchen is amazing. The same chores become exciting!

With the menu included in my well-planned itinerary, we stepped into Vienna. The views from the plane were amazing. This country has so much green cover, it's unbelievable. I saw a lot of forest cover from the plane itself.

When you venture into the city, the first thing that strikes you is the great architecture. The first day we visited St. Stephan's Cathedral. The Gothic architecture both in and outside the church was mind-blowing. (We then remembered how we have been to more churches than temples in the last 5 years!) We walked around the square and ate at a Turkish restaurant before retiring in our sweet abode.

St. Stephan's Cathedral - One of the best I've ever seen

Stephan's Cathedral from the outside.
My inability to take pictures can capture only this much!

Oh yes, before going further I would like to tell you about the beautiful house we stayed in. It's called Emperor Sissi's center jewel. It was located about a kilometer away from the city center and was like a home away from home and a very, very pretty one at that. With two bedrooms, 2 baths, fully-equipped kitchen and a typical Vienna neighborhood, we felt like we belonged there. Have a look at this apartment which has a former empress as its theme:

The lovely living area.

One of the bedrooms. The apartment is like a dream home from which
all of us can take inspiration to decorate.

The next morning we hopped on a Hop-on-Hop-off bus and explored the Danube river that flows through Vienna. We took a cruise and admired the beauty. We then went to the Hofburg Palace that has housed some of the most powerful people in the European and Austrian history. The architecture of this mammoth building which is the current residence of the President of Austria as well, was astonishing. Every building in Vienna, be it squares, palaces, hotels, opera house, you name it, is a work of art owing to it's sculptures engraved just about everywhere. The Palace has several museums depicting the life of those who lived in there once. The most famous of them all was this Empress Elisabeth or Sissi (on whom the apartment is themed as well). Her life was quite tragic and probably that's why she was the most remembered.

The writing on the wall.

Commonly seen carriage rides.

A small part of the Hofburg Palace
 (picture taken from Wikipedia since I forgot to click!)

On day three we visited the summer palace of the Habsburg dynasty - the Schönbrunn Palace.We just admired it's architecture from the outside and visited the gardens. Oh, they were so pretty. Later that afternoon we went to Naschmarkt for lunch. We were hunting for an Indian restaurant in the area and even Google maps failed us. Just because we had parents we kept the hunt on and eventually landed at a very neat place. You know, in these countries every one speaks their native language. It's weird how we order in Hindi if we find a Hindi speaking person in a foreign location. Had it been India, we would have ordered in English. All this makes me question our patriotism. But then, that is for another post.

The gardens of the Schonbrunn Palace

I loved every sculpture I saw.

After our tummy was full, we headed to the outskirts of Vienna to see the city from a hill. It was spectacular. We had coffee in the only restaurant there. The place had only one person who was the cook, the cashier and the waiter. Even then he made our coffee with such love! There were four people behind us, but we were his top priority. It is really experiences like these that you remember for life. Small gestures go such a long way.

Vienna from a hilltop

Excellent Public transport in the city

This particular evening we left the parents at home and went to a free open air screening of a ballet! Our main interest was in the food stalls that they had there. I drank to my heart's content because I couldn't in front of my FIL! Although they wouldn't mind, I just couldn't get myself to hold a glass in front of them.We walked the streets at night... alone. It was so blissful.

The Parliament Building - my most favorite in whole of Vienna

Vienna City hall at night - free shows everyday while we were there :)

We had to leave Vienna for Salzburg the next day. I was going to miss my home there. I was going to miss the low rise buildings with beautiful architecture. I was going to miss the many walks we did all across the city... the weather was awesome all throughout. Vienna was kind to us. Little did I know that I would fall in love with the next city more than this one...