The Bavarian Triangle...Continued...

Salzburg...

You can tell that Salzburg is Austrian - it has the same beautiful countryside, mountains, and architecture.  The thing that made Salzburg different for me was the musical and cultural vibe.  The city has so many schools of music, music academies, musical theatres, etc. that it is not surprising to see so many people in the streets carrying all manner of musical instruments. Some familiar, and quite a few unusual ones that we could not identify.

Of course this is also the birthplace of Salzburg's favourite son, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart!  There are many statues of him all over town, and of course, the home where he was born is very popular on the tourist trail.

The old town is small, but has lots of tiny cobblestone alleyways and arches dating back to the 1400's and it is so easy to imagine the horses and carriages clip clopping along them.  Nowadays they are full of shops and restaurants, and with the outdoor lighting look lovely.  You would need a week to explore every one, but we did our best in the 3 days that we were here.

This is also where the movie Sound of Music was made, and I enjoyed the special Sound of Music tour that showed all the places where they filmed the movie, and gave a great insight into what was really true and what was not. One (of many) things the film changed was that the family Von Trapp escaped by walking through the mountains - when the reality is that they simply boarded a train to Italy!! I can see why the producers changed it - not nearly as impressive an ending, is it?

This is one of the castles where the gazebo scenes were filmed.
It's huge...I thought the yellow colour was a bit contemporary.

There are a lot of castles and famous buildings here, including this Abbey.

Abbey overlooking the town, still functioning today
with 19 monks in residence

We took a cruise up and down the river..and one of the things that we thought was interesting was The Lovers Bridge.  It was a pedestrian bridge to the old town...it seemed to have  flowers stuck in the mesh on both sides of the bridge. We walked up to it later, and they weren't flowers at all.

The Lovers Bridge

They are padlocks...they have people's names or initials on them of people they love or dreams they hope to fulfil.  Then they take the key with them as a lucky charm. I wanted to put one up for our 40th Anniversary, but we couldn't find where to buy the padlocks. Sigh...

Each padlock is a dream or wish they hope to fulfil

From behind the scenes:

Some of you have asked about the more practical aspects of our trip. What we are eating, and what sort of accommodation we are staying in, how are we coping with the different currencies?  Borrowing very loosely from the lower rungs of Maslow's Hierachy of Needs:

Shelter:

Bob and I agreed before we set out on this adventure that we were too old to stay in hostels with the young ones, so as long as it had beds and a private bathroom we were set. A bigger priority was that they are close to the railway station, as that is when we have all our baggage to lug. I am booking them on the Internet, where they all look fabulous - but we have found on arrival that this is not necessarily the case.  We have stayed in some really wonderful places, right down to dodgy rooms, or a bathroom that is smaller than my wardrobe at home. Some of them have been nice Hotels, but in dodgy areas - but when we explored further, found that the dodgyness was because of lack of upkeep rather than sinister inhabitants. However, all the places have been clean, and the staff friendly.

The other challenge all travellers have is "the washing".  Before we left I had a look at some hints on the internet about this subject, and took some of the advice on board - and into my suitcase. A few wire coat hangers, some pegs and a length of rope. Have we used any of them? Hell, yeah! Best tips ever! I was able to wash smalls and shirts and tops and hang them around the bathroom on Bob's creatively strung rope!  It did mean the place looked like a Chinese Laundry at times - but when we timed it correctly (straight after housekeeping and before we went out for the day) it worked like a charm; and they were dry by the next morning.

Food:

And what they all have, in various levels of quality, is the Buffet Breakfast! Bob is always on the hunt for bacon and eggs from the buffet, but I want to try the more outrageous things - so Singapore noodles and dumplings for breakfast, and who would have thought of chocolate brownies in amongst the croissants etc.? In Dubai they had all kinds of curry and curry puffs on the breakfast buffet. In Europe it's the usual cereals, hot sausages or bacon, and eggs, lots of different breads, cheeses and cold meats and salads! With various juices and coffee - you can see we have not been suffering.

Fruits at the breakfast buffet

Hot food at the buffet

mmmm, delicious pastries

One disappointment we have found is that in every city and country we have visited, we have come across Burger King, Kentucky Fried Chicken and McDonalds!  Why would they have those, when they have their own traditional foods?  Bob and I are determined to go all around Europe, and not eat in any of them; n matter what, and so far we have not!  Fast food here is all about pastries and great big baguette type rolls with any and every filling you can imagine. Sweet or savoury, the pastries are fabulous and have an endless variety. They seem to have a croissant type consistency, and every combination under the sun. Bob has been eating a "Hot Dog Croissant" which he declares is his favourite, whereas I have enjoyed one or two ;-) plum pastries.   (It's fruit, so it's got to be good for you, right?).

So for those of you that may be thinking that all this exercise may result in my losing a few kilos - this is not the case.  There are way too many great local dishes to sample!

Safety:

There has been no time, or any country that we have visited so far that we have not felt safe.  All people that we have spoken to, or asked directions, or just chilled with - young and old - have made us feel safe; even in the "dodgy" looking places.  

Language:

Everywhere we went, people have had from great to very basic command of English.  Add to that much mimicking and arm waving (Bob) and fact finding and pidgin English (me) we have had no problems.  In the German speaking countries I was able to converse using German and English (or as Bob calls it "bookjack") so it has not been a problem. But for those that don't speak other languages, everyone is patient with tourists, and as long as you are friendly, and respectful of their time, there are no problems.

Personally, I find it amazing how much my German language skills have improved in just 3 weeks. I reckon another month and I would be completely fluent! How is it that I can remember to read and write a language I have not spoken in 40 years, but I can't remember where I put my clean socks in my suitcase yesterday???

Currency:

The trick with all the different currencies is to have just enough. What you don't want is to have heaps of money left after leaving a country and not be able to use it again. Currency exchange places will only change notes - and will not change all currencies either! We have not worried about chasing the best exchange rates - we have just used the local ATM's which gives money in the local currency.  

We judged it pretty well so far, and I only have some Dubai Dhirams to exchange somewhere later. 

Otherwise, the Swiss Franks are all gone, and of course the Euros work across many countries.

So, getting them is not the problem, working out the rates can be tricky. However, as we are not doing much shopping, getting a bargain is not as important to us - yet!

Comfort:

We are delighted with the weather - it has been cool here in Europe - approx 16 - 18 degrees each day.  I know that doesn't sound like much, but it is ideal for getting around on buses and on the streets. When the sun comes out, it's quite hot, and can get uncomfortable when sightseeing - and a nuisance when taking photos.  Autumn is perfect weather for travelling for old folks.  In Singapore and Dubai where it was so hot, 30-35 degrees, but the locals were all saying how lucky we were to come at that time, and not in summer when it was 48 degrees everyday! Horrors!

The only thing that has been making us uncomfortable in Europe, has been the smoking! It seems that everyone smokes here, and they are allowed to smoke everywhere: in the hotels, pubs, restaurants, train stations etc. It's awful. So we have learned to check things out before we go into a restaurant, and walk away if they are smoking. The people themselves think it's so normal, they don't realise that we are not used to it and hate it.  I told someone in Vienna that in Australia, people are not allowed to smoke in restaurants - and they were horrified! They said that would never work in Europe - people wouldn't put up with that kind of censorship! 

And now...concluding the Bavarian Trilogy...

Vienna

Historically, architecturally, culturally - a spectacular town!!  Unfortunately, Vienna was not kind to us - in fact, it was the most difficult cities to navigate so far.  From the start, it did not go well.  As usual I booked us a hotel close to the main train station.  But the main train station is only that by name - the actual station is only used for a few local trains - the rest of it is a building site!  It will be fully working, hopefully at the end of 2015, but they are advertising it already as the Main station.  So the actual station we came in on was miles away - and add to that, they have a 3rd station where we would be leaving from, miles away in the opposite direction! Very confusing for tourists and mighty inconvenient!

So then we get to our hotel, and it is the dodgiest one ever.  Backpackers would be a generous description.  Full of noisy, energetic young people who kept going into each others rooms all night long, and slamming the heavy doors which shook the whole building and rattled the windows!

The beds were like concrete, and the "bathroom" so small we had to scoot sideways to get to the loo!

There was no Hop On-Hop Off bus, but there was a tram. No worries, but where do you get it?  Waste  an hour finding out where to board it and then: no, you can't hop off; it's a straight guided tour around town!  So we had to try to remember where things were so we could find them again.

The first thing on our list were the Spanish Lipizzaner Horses!!

This is where the stables and the arena are where the famous stallions
live and perform. Not too shabby!

Outside the stables, Bob was chatting to a friend about the training of the horses.

I had been trying for weeks to get tickets for the performance, with no luck! So, the best we could do was to go to their daily training sessions!  And it was fascinating. And what magnificent animals they were. They held their heads up, but looked down - so their posture looked like Seahorses. As you know, what I know about horses could be written in big print on the head of a pin, so I really missed my friend Chris, to explain things to me, although Bob was able to answer most of what I wanted to know.

We were forbidden (yes, they actually said forbidden), to take photos. I guess so the flash wouldn't spook the horses - but I would have loved to show them to you.  The arena alone was magnificent. Looked like a palace with sawdust floors. Chandeliers, frescoes and sawdust - a great combination. Large baroque balconies, where the audience could sit if you're lucky, or stand and watch. There were two barrels in the centre of the arena with red flags on them and the horses were to go through them. I did snap off a quickie, when the horses were being replaced. Those are beautiful frescoes in each square on the roof. Fantastic!

Impressive arena, loved the architecture

The riders (dressed in brown uniforms) put the 6 or 7 horses through their paces in time to the music. Some trotted crossing their legs, others reared up and kicked their back legs out at the same time. Some wouldn't go through the flags and had to be taught to do it - very interesting.  When the horses got tired, their necks started to droop - so the riders got off, and the horses were led away by their handlers and a new lot of horses were brought out.  The performances are all with white horses, but in the training they had a few young grey and dappled ones. I asked Bob why they would bother training them, when the performances only used the white ones - and he said: They'll change to white when they're older. Yeah, right!

It was a great morning watching them - fascinating.  If we couldn't go to a proper performance, then I'm glad we got to see them in training. One of our favourite memories.

Everywhere you look in Vienna are beautiful buildings, statues, fountains and wonderful cobblestone pathways and alleyways that lead through archways under the old buildings! It is a romantic city, with many areas to appreciate the sights. Of course, it is also full of MCG's (Museums, Churches, and Galleries) and it is just a matter of choosing which ones and how many you want to visit.

Of personal interest to us, was the Globe Museum.  Seeing original globes of the world dating back hundreds and thousands of years - including very early celestial globes - and learning how they were made, and how they acquired their knowledge (some of them paid with their lives for that knowledge) was just fascinating!

Early brass globe from the Globe Museum

It didn't have all the countries on it, but it did have the angle of our world!  How they worked that out is way too big for my puny brain to understand.

These are very early celestial globes with orbits of the planets, including the sun and saturn and it's moons.  What sort of brains must these people have had to work this out - in those days! Incredible!

The other exhibition we went to was the Esperanto Exhibition.  As you know, Esperanto was to be the universal language of the entire world.  It was extensively developed and had such a following in the early 1900's that they held the first World Esperanto Congress in 1905 and each year thereafter in a different country. I never knew why it never developed any further.  Academics in various countries spoke it, dictionaries and books were written in Esperanto, and you can still get books today that are written in this language.  It was said that the language was a combination of German, Italian, Hebrew and Russian, among others.  Apparently easy to learn, both grammatically and phonetically.  So why didn't it take off? It was WW2, and Hitler decided that it was a Jewish language, and outlawed it.  But Mussolini, the despot of Italy, didn't outlaw it - he simply killed all those who spoke or supported it. So basically, politics, and jingoistic pride prevented us having a Universal language.  How ironic then, that only a few historically short years later, many countries banded together and agreed to having the same currency - the Euro!  People can still learn Esperanto, I have seen dictionaries, and I have even seen a few books on Amazon that had an Esperanto version! So there must be people out there using it.

One disappointment for us was that after traipsing around the alleyways in Vienna, we finally found what we were looking for.  The Clock Museum.  It was on our "must see" list, and we finally found it late one afternoon down an ancient alley in a centuries' old building. However, once we bought our tickets, got our brochures and were ready to go - we found it was on the top 3 floors of the building - with no lift! I knew that I couldn't go up 5 flights of stairs - especially at the end of a full day of sightseeing, so I volunteered to wait downstairs and let Bob go and enjoy it - and take some photos.  But he was not up to the climb either - so we were really disappointed to miss that one. The organisers said it was one of the oldest buildings in Vienna and they were not allowed to damage the building to install a lift.  (Bob says he will look in every town we're visiting for another clock museum - Good luck!) :-(

So we turned our attention to a completely different exhibition: Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum.

Of course, way over on the other side of town - but in an interesting fairground.  It was raining and a lot of the rides were not working - otherwise we would have had a go on the big ferris wheel.

This Madame Tussaud's is not as big or comprehensive as the London one, but we enjoyed the experience - and critiquing the figures, of course.  Some of the were really good, some just fun. It was a great way to spend a few hours on a rainy afternoon.

Hey, Albert, I think you got that one wrong, mate.

My favourite...

Michael thought the hat looked good on me..

So, that was the end of our trip to Vienna and Bavaria.  A very lovely part of the world.  Clean, efficient, beautiful, with happy, generous people.  We found great things in each city, enjoyed them all in their own different ways, even Vienna! Guess which one was my favourite?

And now it's time to get back on the train.  Next stop: Budapest, Hungary - the first of the Eastern European Countries we plan to visit.

Till next time...

Innsbruk, Salzburg and Vienna - the Bavarian Trilogy..!

Innsbruk, Austria...

My roots.  This is where my parents, and their ancestors, came from and where I remember living when I was a little girl.  I wanted to show Bob this country so he could finally understand my obsession with mountains. I love hearing the church bells chiming the hour, and seeing the onion shaped clock towers in either gold guilding or copper verdigris! Very picturesque and familiar.

The city has grown remarkably since I was here last, but "die alte stat" or "the old city" is just how I remembered it. And it is by far the nicest, too. 

We went exploring amid the old buildings, and took our favourite - the hop on-hop off bus - to see what Innsbruk had to offer. We were staying at "Di Goldene Krone" hotel (The Golden Crown) which was at the end of the famous "Maria Theresianstrasse," the Main Street in the old town.  So every morning, when we had breakfast, we could look out of the window and see this...

Triumphpforte, built in 1765 by Empress Maria Theresien

It's the Triumphpforte, built in 1765 by Empress Maria Theresien at the end of the street bearing her name. The street has no through traffic, so at night it is full of cafes offering every kind of food.  We ate here where you see the umbrellas. Each cafe has coloured blankets at every chair so you can drape it around you for warmth and still be outside.  I did it - feels cozy!

Lots of cafes, we ate where you can see the umbrellas

As well as the usual Museums, ancient architecture, and art galleries - there were the Winter olympic sporting venues - such as the huge indoor ice skating stadium (easily as big as the MCG said Bob) and the completely crazy downhill skiing venue.  What were they thinking building it - and what were the competitors thinking racing on it? I don't know if you can see in the photo (below), we had to go up there on the rail you can see beside the jump, but if that's not as close to completely vertical as anyone can get, I'll eat my beanie! I watch the downhill racers, and although it looks steep - I never dreamed it was like this! Those striped pink things are spectator seats. 

This is the view of it from the top.

View from the top

Half way down in the rail car

Another thing we both enjoyed was the Bell Museum! I have always loved bells - as those of you who have been in my kitchen can testify - I brought that great big cow bell home from Switzerland last time. Well, we found the bell museum fascinating!  They have been making bells in that same building for 400 years.  We were able to watch them working on a big one - it's really fascinating to think of this great skill being used today just as it was centuries ago. The only difference is the heat source - they now use gas furnaces instead of wood - but they are still using the old moulds and making the new ones in the same time honoured way. Imagine trying to get the right tone!  They use tuning forks to get the right resonance, especially for those churches that have several bells, so that the tunes are perfect. Those of you who are musical will totally understand that - like tuning a piano - but for this tone deaf tourist,  the mind boggles.  We played with various bells in the sound room while we were there to make sure they were all properly tuned in. ;)

Tuning forks for the bells

A couple of the blokes working on a bell....
see the the old moulds on the shelves?

Bob playing with his bells...

So I thought I'd have a go at lifting a small one

We also took the shuttle bus to Swarovski World - and as you can imagine, it was an exhibition of the way the crystals are formed, dug out, polished and turned into jewellery. Some of the exhibits were interactive, some fascinating, some very modern and arty - and all were spectacular in their own way.

Bob was interested in the crystals themselves, while I renewed my pact to get creative and make better use of my own collection when I saw the garments and beaded items on display.

Of course, the display ends in the gift shop -as they all do.  I have to confess: I am the worst souvenir buyer in the world!  Really! I like to buy mementos everywhere I go, but am not fond of the tacky mass produced tourist souvenirs that every country sells! You know what I mean, the plastic whatever's with the name of the town on it. (Though I did fancy an unusual and fabulous barrel cheese grinder in Bern, and would have loved to bring that home if it wasn't so big and weighed a tonne).

So I thought, here at Swarovski World, I could buy a few nice pieces to take home.  But no.  Bob was very patient while I tried really hard to find something pretty, yet simple. Most of the jewellery was too "full on" for any of my friends or family to wear, and there was nothing else on offer. So, dear friends, if you have been hoping for an interesting souvenir from my travels, I'm sorry to disappoint you.  In all the countries we've been to - I haven't bought one souvenir. I am just a hopeless shopper - and Bob is no help, he just wants me to get anything as long as I hurry up about it! Sigh...maybe I'll be inspired further down the track....I hope...

While we were here, I surprised Bob by booking a night out with a family of Bavarian entertainers.  It's a local traditional song and dance group consisting of 14 family members! We were picked up at our hotel, and had a great time.  There was much lederhosen slapping dances, other folk dances, some unusual musical instruments, saw violins, and of course, yodelling.

Bavarian entertainers

Check out these horns...Bob says they were at least 12 foot long...

they had a great sound...  The girl is playing the bells...

We were having such a great time...here's a selfie...

And then...next minute...one of the younger girls came on and started to yodel. It was a traditional Austrian folk song, and she had such a clear, sweet voice when she yodelled, that suddenly, I was completely overcome, and burst into tears!  Hearing yodelling like that, and understanding the meaning of the lyrics, touched me so deeply that I cried the whole song through. I don't know why, I certainly didn't expect it.  Bob said he completely understood it.  He said that he felt emotional whenever he hears the Maoris singing in their Pa whenever he goes home to NZ. Either we are turning into a pair of old sooks, or there is a soul connection with your roots that no distance (or years) can break. Interesting thought.

We had such a great time evening - just us, the Family Gundolf, and 200 other tourists!

 Lidlolay-d-hoo?

I could go on for ever about the other interesting places we went to: the fabulous churches, etc.

but I won't. I think I will just wind up this post with an unusual exhibit at the Tyroean Folk Museum. They had so many exhibits, including reconstructed rooms from the pioneers in the 1400's. Hard to believe they could survive the harsh winters way back then. All the furniture and their houses were made and carved of thick wood.  Fabulous carvings and very solid, heavy furniture.

And in every house, there was of course, the heater. The 1400's idea of today's Coonara... The fire was in the bottom and the green ceramic tiles on the outside heated up and radiated even heat throughout the day and night, saving on wood.  Much more efficient than an open fireplace!

1400's heater with ceramic tiles

Here's a fancier one from a rich family who could afford
one in every room.. also circa 1400

But I digress. The unusual exhibit was called "Dirt" And it was about the idea of what is dirty and what is clean?

The family privy...not sure weather the
magazine was for reading...???

The first washing machine; would
clothes washed like this be clean
enough for us today?

The Saturday night family bath

There were lots of comparison exhibits of the time such as...A "dirty" horse stall or a "clean" Doctors office..???

Not that we would want to go back to this, of course...but has the pendulum swung too far the other way? In today's society, kids are not allowed to get dirty, and we have antibacterial everything,  yet more people have serious allergies, and epi-pens are the norm. This exhibition gave us something to think about.

Well, that ended our time in Innsbuk.  I was a bit sad to leave, but it's time to move on and get back on the train.   

Goodbye Innsbruk...Hello Salzburg... 

Till next time...

Swiss Chocolates...Chalets...and Mountains !

Switzerland - the land of chocolate box scenery - mountains, streams and gorgeous chalets with the customary red geraniums hanging over the sides of the balconies.  So beautiful.  It is autumn here and the mountains are green and have no snow.  The rivers are fast flowing glacial water - pristine.

We decided to bypass Zurich and go straight to the capital - Berne. What a lovely place, it seems like a little medieval village rather than the capital.  It has lots of lovely centuries old buildings, and public squares where people gather to eat, or drink coffee at the many outdoor cafes.

That seems to be the difference between the other countries we have visited. Singapore and Dubai seemed to be all about the shopping - large shopping malls and many new innovative buildings. Europe is about centuries old buildings, traditions, and lifestyle. While they still shop (obviously), they seem to enjoy more life balancing activities - meeting friends, eating out, pursuing outdoor activities like hiking, riding push bikes everywhere in the summer - even up the mountains -  and skiing, skating and hiking in winter.

We both love the ancient old buildings. Hard to believe some of them are 100's of years older than Australia. When we go into a building that has "built in 1456" written on it, and it's own dress shop or cafe, it makes you wonder about the people who built it and it's original purpose.  History abounds here, and our imaginations are working overtime!

Stunning buildings

One of the things we wanted to do was to go to the "top of Europe," the highest mountain in Europe, the Jungfraujoch. We set out on the train to Interlaken, a lovely little town on the way. It had this huge lake, only tiny on the map, but in reality you could hardly see the other side! Surrounded by large mountains, it was just gorgeous.  Every chalet had a view of the lake, and there were many boats tied up at the private docks and Marina's, as well as ferries to take you to the other side.  This was Bob's favourite place, and he reckons that's where he wants to retire - (this house, like many others had it's own jetty) - this is the house he likes - so as soon as we get home we are going to start buying lucky tattslotto tickets! 

This is Bob's House - after our tattslotto win.

So on we went - and what a big adventure! One train and three different rail cable cars that went up and through the mountains.  Amazing! It took them16 years to dig and blast their way through the mountain to make tunnels and build the rails to take the cable cars.  Even today, it's a 3 hour journey to the top - and everything, and everyone, has to go up that way.

The top of the Jungfrau was certainly worth getting to,
how's this for scenery?

When we got to the top there is a very modern building - right on the edge of the mountain, which is four storeys, and has several viewing places, restaurants, and exhibitions! We had lunch up there, with that amazing view and then explored for a further 3 hours!  

Having lunch at 11,782 feet.

I found the going tough, as I felt dizzy and a bit sickly.  They had warnings about that everywhere, and to report to any of the several first aid stations if you had trouble breathing. Bob was lightheaded and shaky as well, so we just took it easy as we walked miles to see all the fascinating exhibits!  

Braving the minus 8 degrees - a lovely warm day!

One of these was the Ice Palace. These were 2.5 metre tunnels dug right out of the actual permanent glaciers on the mountain. They carved various scenes in the side "rooms" of the glacier, but it was incredible to think that it was so thick and never defrosted.  

Here I am at the Ice Palace

Ice sculptures

This was a bit unsettling because not only was it freezing, the ice was all around - including where you walk, so everyone was afraid of slipping over on the ice. Thankfully, they had good handrails, so we were able to hold on. No one fell over while we were there, not even me - but there were lots of slips and slides! Every now and then you'd hear a screech as someone slid along. 

We went up to the lookouts, but didn't climb on the mountain. No handrails there, and the snow is unstable and slippery.  I can't imagine being allowed to do that in Australia - with all our overprotective safety rules.  No waivers, warnings or anything. You wanna take the chance? OK, then.

We had a wonderful time up there - but we walked our legs off, and it was still a 3 hour journey down the mountain! By the time we got back to our hotel in Berne, we were exhausted, but elated that we had the chance to have this once in a lifetime experience!

Thank goodness for the hand rails!

Our next stop will be Innsbruk, Austria, so we will be back on the train tomorrow.  In the same time it would take us to go from home to Melbourne, we will be in another country with more comforts.

The trains here are wonderful, quiet and they go fast. The Railjets we have been on have gone as fast as 220kph. They have comfortable leather seats that recline and have a foot rest, and tables!  They have waiters to bring you anything you like on the menu to eat or drink, but most of all they are always, always precisely on time!  Which means, of course, that we have to be too, as we know they won't wait.

Our seats on the fast train

Till next time...