Salzburg, Austria {Gondola Ride}

All the boys crammed into the Gondola in Salzburg, Austria. 

This post is a continuation of that one time I crashed "guy's weekend." 

{and . . . It may not be the last time because I had a blast}

After we broke the rules at Neuschwanstein Castle, our big group piled into the borrowed "mom-van" and headed for Salzburg. Now, that is one stunning city! Unfortunately, the weather wasn't exactly cooperating on our first morning in town, so Reece decided we should try to get above the clouds by visiting Untersberg, the highest mountain next to the city. 

About 15 minutes after leaving Salzburg, we pulled into the Untersberg gondola parking lot. The Alps loomed all around us, but heavy clouds interrupted our upward views. We paid 20 Euros per person, pushed ourselves onto a crowded gondola, and silently prayed that the angry clouds would disappear once we reached the summit. A dense white fog obstructed our view for most of the 10-minute gondola ride, but just as we summited, the sun appeared and the sky was the most magnificent shade of blue! Suddenly we felt a burst of energy and a lightness of spirit. It's amazing what a little sunshine can do for  you, eh?!

Schonbrunn Palace, Austria

NOTE: This blog contains more pictures than words.

. . . and of course you will find loads of those annoying jumping pictures. (I really love jumping pictures - if you couldn't already tell - and when Chris and I are 80+ years old, we hope to have a thick album of all the jumps we have made around the world.) We're nerds, but whatever! 

Every year, 2.5 million tourists visit Schonbrunn Palace, and if you have ever been, you understand why the Palace is Vienna's most visited attraction. If you are interested, you can read all about the former Hapsburg 1,441-room summer residence by clicking here.

In short, the history of Schonbrunn goes sort of like this:

1548 - The mayor of Vienna transformed Schonbrunn into an estate.

1569 - the Hapsburg's came into the picture, and of course they acquired the estate and all the land.

Emperor Matthias only used the estate for hunting. . .

. . . sounds like a terrible waste of a palace to me!

The next successor, Emperor Ferdinand II loved hunting too, and he basically just threw huge hunting parties at the estate. 

What in the world is a hunting party?!

1683 -The Turkish army invaded Vienna and they destroyed some of Schonbrunn. 

Sad days. 

1728 - Emperor Charpes VI acquires Schonbrunn, but he only uses it to host shooting parties. 

Like a party where you take lots of shots? Kidding.

Charles VI gifted the Palace to his daughter Marie Theresa (she's pretty famous).

Nice gift from Daddy!

Marie Theresa ushered in a brilliant period in Schonbrunn history. 

Marie Theresa made all sorts of additions and changes, and eventually Schonbrunn was home to over 1500 people. 

Too many people in one place - even if there were 1,441 rooms!

1805-1809 - Napoleon occupied the Palace. 

Franz Joseph was the last to call Schonbrunn home. He died in 1916. 

1996 - Schonbrunn Palace is placed on the UNESCO World Cultural Heritage List.

Now there are just loads of tourists. 

Enjoy our pictures! If you every find yourself in Vienna, you have to see Schonbrunn Palace. Even the boys agreed that it was a sight worth seeing in person.  

The jumping started early. 

Neptune Fountain.

Take the hike up the hill. The views are worth the huffing and puffing!

The Gloriette was used as a meeting place before hunting trips. Now it is a cafe/restaurant.

Reece taught us all sorts of new jumps.

Lana = jumping fail. Chris = terrifying!

Of course there was a Chirstmas Market with live music!

A great brewery that we found in Vienna. 

One last burger for the road. 

St. Stephen's Cathedral at night.

Doesn't this make you want to spend more money?! 

U-bahn -> the train station. Time to say bye bye Vienna! 

"You sure you don't want to stay, Lana." I wish that is what he was saying here!

One more coffee for the "road."

Well, Vienna, it is not goodbye, but rather, until we all meet again. 

Reasons to Fall in Love with Vienna

I was so excited to finally experience "The City of Dreams" with the man of my dreams. Vienna was not the backdrop of the popular Leonardo DiCaprio Blockbuster film Inception, but it was home to one of the greatest interpreters of dreams, Sigmund Freud.  Ohhh and of course musical prodigies Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Ludwig Van Beethoven, Franz Schubert, Johannes Brahms, Gustav Mahler and Joseph Haydn all worked in Vienna at times in their lives. Pretty cool history, right?!

Ten years ago, mom and I made a mad dash through Vienna, and I remember being impressed with my hurried experience. This time around, I was looking forward to two days of drinking and breathing in the sights and sounds of Europe's most desired holiday destination. 

This will be a quick blog that simple highlights a few of the things that I loved about Vienna. You really have to experience it for yourself, and now I can say from personal experience that you must visit in December. Christmas just seems to come alive in Vienna. 

Why I fell in LOVE with Vienna:

Reece and Chris in front of St. Stephen's Cathedral.

-St. Stephen's Cathedral is beautiful even though it is being restored. It also is in the center of Vienna, so it serves as a great landmark. 

- In Vienna, we met up with Chris' best friend, Reece. It was great to travel with a friend, and since he lives in Europe now, we foresee a few more of these joint trips in the future. 

- The subway system (The U-Bahn) is super easy to figure out, so even though we were staying 6+ miles out of town, it only took about five minutes to get from our hotel to St. Stephens. 

We visited Krah Krah the first evening we arrived in Vienna, and would recommend it. 

- There are several great little pubs in the center of Vienna, and since I was traveling with two dudes, we checked out several of them. They were happy with the beer selection that was available. 

- In 2005, Vienna was ranked (by Economist Intelligence Unit) as the best city to live in for quality of life. In 2011, it was ranked second to Melbourne. It would not take much to make me move to Vienna! I can see why people love the city!

Der Graben (translation - "the trench") Street 

 - Famous Der Graben Street is great to strolling and window shopping. All of the shops are high end, but their window displays are all decked out for the Holidays. I think we must have found ourselves on this street four or five times. 

- The statue (that we are standing in front of) of the Pestsaule is one of the most prominent pieces of sculpture in Vienna, even though the statue was placed there as reminder of the 1679 plague that visited the city. It is beautiful and haunting. 

Beautiful and ancient St. Peter's Church Vienna. 

 - Around every corner, an architectural delight awaits discovery. 

Chris and Reece - just exploring the city.

Yummy food at Bermuda Brau in the city center. 

 - Even though we did not find a juicy burger for lunch in Vienna, we did find a great place called Bermuda Brau. At night, the place turns into a hopping bar, but during the day, traditional Austrian food is served at a reasonable price. 

Our first experience in a Christmas Market - Christkindlemarkt. 

 - I fell in love with the European Christmas Market in Vienna. Vienna's Christkindlemarkt is set against the backdrop of picturesque City Hall. Choirs perform inside City Hall through the Holidays, and the music just spills out onto the market. (beware - this market is packed with tourists)

- I tried hot wine (or Austrian Gluhwein) for the first time at Christkindlemarkt, and I decided that America is missing out on this amazing Christmas tradition. 

Front view of City Hall. 

 - You can find all sorts of gifts at the Holiday Markets. Of course some are homemade, but then there are some that are shipped in from China. Reguardless of where the gifts come from, the markets are a fun Christmas experience. 

-While Christkindlmarkt is Vienna's most recognized Holiday Market, we found a smaller one called Spittelberg that was easier to navigate. There were fewer tourists packed into the same area, and the prices were better on the Spittelberg market.

- There must be around 15+ Christmas markets in Vienna, and I believe we only stumbled upon four or five of them. You could spend a week in Vienna and never run out of Holiday cheer. 

- After I dragged the boys all over Vienna in search of Christmas-market-cheer, we found a great little Tex-Mex place at the end of the Spittelberg market. I cannot remember the name of the restaurant, but we just had one drink in the trendy setting and went in search of a burger. 

(Chris and I don't typically crave hamburgers, but we had not had one since moving to Serbia, so we were craving one in a big way. And McDonald's was definitely not on our radar.)

- After a long day of walking and exploring, we stumbled upon a random hole-in-the-wall-bar that seemed to have reasonably priced food and drinks. Once we sat down, Chris opened the menu and discovered that the place served burgers! We had given up on our search for the perfect juicy burger, and we ended up getting one anyway! It was a glorious end to our first day in Vienna. 

A must see in Vienna is Schonbrunn Palace, and we were headed there on day two.

Euro Rail Adventure #1

Vienna, Austria - in the middle of the Holidays - it was one of my dreams, and it was a dream about to come to life!  

Since we had a ride to Budapest, Chris and I decided to hop on the Euro Rail bound for Vienna. Ten years ago, my mom and I had gallivanted around Europe utilizing the Euro Rail as our main mode of transportation. It all seemed so effortless, but then again, I was just following Mom's lead. She was the one checking train schedules, dishing out the cash, wading through language barriers, booking hotels, haggling with greedy taxi drivers, and constantly trying to make the last connecting train. She was in charge, and I was just along for the ride. This time around, Chris and I were in charge of our own adventure. 

We purchased really cheap round trip tickets from Budapest to Vienna, and boarded the train. 

My favorite travel partner - checking for our non-existent seat assignments. 

From what we could tell, there were no "normal-train-seating-type-cars"; every car we passed was a sleeper or private car. So we just picked one. We boarded about 20 minutes before departure, and the car was already packed full. Chris walked the length of the car, and there was only one room with two free seats. We opened the door and greeted our four new travel buddies. Aughhhh, a comfortable seat to call "home" for the three hour trip to Vienna. As we pulled out home made sandwiches and good reading material, I hardly noticed people standing around in the hallway outside of our secluded room. Chris (forever the observant one in our marriage) pulled out his ticket and got all fidgety and anxious. 

"Lana, everyone is looking at that placard on the outside of our door. I cannot see what it says from here, but do you think I should get up and see if maybe our seats are reserved for someone else? I don't see anything on our tickets that says we have to sit anywhere specific. . . . Should I go look?"

"Ohhhh, honey, we are sitting. Don't worry about that silly little placard; read your zombie book and enjoy the ride! Vienna here we come!"

Happy to go to Vienna!

The train pulled out of the station, and Chris let out a little sigh of relief. His book appeared and as he was about to bite into his sandwich, our glass door slid open. 

I should always listen to Chris. He is (almost) always right, and our first Euro Rail adventure was no exception. 

An older couple walked in and produced tickets for our seat numbers. We were completely caught off guard. No one even gave us the option of reserving seats. Do you have to reserve a seat on these trains? Maybe the ticket lady just forgot to give us our seat assignments. Where else were we supposed to go?! We calmly went back and forth with the couple trying to figure out why we did not have seats. In the end, we WERE in their seats, and we were somehow left "seatless." Sadly, we vacated our little glassed in room and tried to find an empty space in the already full hallway. 

Thrown out into the hallway. 

At least we were traveling lite. 

And there were seats built into the wall. It could have been much worse. 

The trip was not nearly as comfortable as it could have been, but really, what are you going to do besides laugh. It was pretty funny having to get up every time someone walked the hallway, rubbing bellies with the heavy train conductor, and enviously watching the sleeping girl who was taking up one seat for her booty and one for her feet. Next time I will listen to Chris when his inquisitive side wants to clarify every little detail. We needed just a little bit of clarity on this trip.

We definitely learned what to ask on our return trip,

and after all, isn't life all about the journey and what you learn along the way??

Three long hours later, we arrived in Vienna. The train station is just beautiful and it was simply a pre cursor to what awaited us in the magical city. 

Ohhh, and there is a MAC store in the train station. I instantly knew that I would love this city.