Ahhh Vienna

We arrived in Vienna in the rain and on a public holiday. Not a good start! I was not well so I stayed in and went to sleep. After a good night's sleep, I woke feeling much better so headed down to a breakfast of juice, coffee, pork sausages wrapped in cheese and bacon, and scrambled eggs. Not a good idea at all. Obviously, my tummy bug hadn't died overnight and I was straight back to my room. Elizabeth and Keeley headed off to the Schonbrunn Palace while I slept some more. The maid woke me so I headed off to the Palace too. Keeley and Elizabeth had been through the Palace as well as the Zoo by the time I arrived so I took my time walking through and listening to the history with an audio guide. I still don't know much about the Habsburgs but I know a lot more than I did before my visit! The Palace has 1441 rooms but I only wandered through 40 of the most important ones. http://www.guide-to-castles-of-europe.com/schonbrunn-palace.html Very pleased I made the effort to visit while I was in Vienna. I planned to walk up to the Gloriette, but the temperature was dropping quickly so I abandoned that idea in favour of catching the tram back to the hotel.

I ran to catch the tram ( the driver waited for me!) and had an uneventful journey back to the station. Our hotel is maybe 200 metres from the station but do you think I could find it? Of course not! I ended up walking for a half hour before I stopped to ask where I was. Naturally, I had walked in the opposite direction and was told to just go back to the station and go the other way. But somehow, I became hopelessly, completely, utterly lost! I could not even find the railway station and it's bloody huge! I walked down streets and didn't see a soul. God only knows where I was. I ended up seeing a tram line in the distance and headed for that. I hopped on a tram that said it was going to Mariahilfer (I recognised this as the street our hotel was in). I could not believe I was 4 tram stops away from the station. I jumped out at the station and still couldn't find my way! I have completely lost my innate sense of direction! Completely! I blame the anaesthetic I had in July. (He was a Russian anaesthetist!) I think I have been lost in every place we've been so far. I have given up finding my way from the station to our lodgings even when it's 200 metres away, because I have been lost every single time. I can barely believe it myself. I have never been lost anywhere in my whole life before that op!

Relief washed over me as I entered our hotel through the revolving doors, and I have stayed put ever since, only venturing to the cafe downstairs for a bowl of soup. Hopefully I have lost some weight! :-)

Off to Prague tomorrow!

The Schonbrunn Palace- front

Walking through the arched pathways

Schonbrunn Palace- back

Looking skywards at the Schonbrunn Palace

The Gloriette

From the back again

Neptune Fountain at the foot of Schonbrunn Hill

Seagulls in the gardens- well they looked like seagulls!

It was the worst of times, it was the best of times...

We slept in our first morning in Salzburg as we didn't have to be ready for our Ice Caves tour until 12.30pm. I managed to fiddle and fart around the whole morning and do absolutely nothing ( not even write my blog!)- well apart from try to sort out the situation that had arisen at home. So the day was not off to a good start, but I managed to get  downstairs on time. We were collected in a minibus and taken to the big bus which was to transport us to the Ice Caves- the biggest disappointment of my trip so far. I imagined they were caves in a glacier carving its way through a valley floor. How wrong was I!

The bus had to drive part of the way up the mountain, and if that wasn't enough, we then had to walk up a mountain track for half an hour to an interminable ( but actually 3 minute cable car ride) to the restaurant, then another half hour walk to the mouth of the caves. I had had enough by this stage, as I knew I had still to walk down again but was encouraged by our guide Michael that I could manage the cave since I had come this far. I wasn't sure about Elizabeth though as her eyes had exploded like they do occasionally when she overdoes it, and she barely see anything at all. But we did it! I cannot say that we enjoyed it at all- just too much physical pain-1400 steps, some extremely steep and shaky, and all of this in the semi-dark with just weak kerosene lanterns to light our way. Stacey kept saying, "not far now" for about an hour- I don't think I'll ever believe her again. :-) We glimpsed a couple of ice features; a polar bear and an elephant are all I remember seeing as the guide was moving on by the time us tail enders arrived. I was struggling to breathe and I was afraid my throat might close over and I didn't have my medication with me so it was pretty scary. It wasn't until we were on our walk down that Michael explained we were 1775 metres above sea level, and the rarified air made breathing more difficult. On the way down, we had to repeat in reverse the trek on the way up except the cable car was much worse going down as I was crying too hard to count the seconds like I did on the way up. I have to get over my terror of these contraptions and I only know one way! Any other suggestions? I have always been a little scared but not absolutely petrified. The only plus I could think of at the time was that Santorini's steps are going to be a piece of piss in comparison. And I have to admit the views were the most majestic I have ever seen in my entire life, but it's hard to appreciate the view when you are either a) terrified or b) struggling for breath, can't swallow and think you are going to die of asphyxiation or heart attack or both! Anyway, I didn't actually die ( or I wouldn't be writing this right now), but I was actually too exhausted and overwrought to eat ( now THAT doesn't happen often!) so I had a long soak in a hot bath and climbed into bed and sang along with The Sound of Music singalong version until I felt better and fell asleep just after 8.

Today, we woke up early and actually remembered to have breakfast before we headed off on a bus to Berchtesgaden. I didn't know how I was going to manage it as my legs were cramped from yesterday's exertions and my knee cap had slipped out as well, but I donned walking socks and knee guard and set off. Elizabeth was in no better form as her eyes hadn't recovered overnight, the swelling had actually increased, and she was virtually blind. Talk about the blind leading the blind! :-) She still managed to spot the bus to Berchtesgaden which I had walked straight past. I just don't see things even when I am looking.

The bus took us along the banks of the River Salza ( not sure how to spell it). As we were going upstream, it decreased in width and became the most beautifully coloured babbling brook I have ever seen. Such a beautiful shade of green apparently caused by the salt but it reminded me of copper. We hopped off at Berchtesgaden and found the thermal baths whose recuperative properties are known world-wide, and I sure needed some of those. We signed up for 4 hours during which time I tried every pool: my favourite being the outdoor pool with waterfall, spas, and great huge bubbly things that erupted from the floor of the pool and lasted only for a few minutes during which time you had to try to keep your feet firmly planted and not lose your balance. I loved those! And the waterfall gave a strong shoulder massage and I even managed to hang onto the side and stick my feet under for a foot and calf massage- greatly needed! I finished up with the solegrotte ( fancy dark steam room with twinkly lights like stars on a dark ceiling) and the tepidarium (dry heat like a sauna but not as hot but had hot granite slabs to lie on to further aid my sore muscles. A day of rest and recovery after the most physically challenging day yesterday was just what we needed. Elizabeth's swollen eyes even started to improve though she still wasn't keen for a photo. (Don't worry Samantha, they are a lot better tonight.)

not bad..taken from a moving bus

the view from Berchtesgaden

more view

can't get enough of the snow-capped peaks

more mountains

and now for some beer

more beer

and weiner schnitzel...yumbles

As tempting as it was to leave our togs on, we completely re-dressed before heading off to find some late lunch/early dinner which we did at the local Hofbrauhaus where we drank the local beer (of course!) and ate a huge plate of weiner schnitzel and back on the bus home accompanied by some extremely loud Austrian kids. (We had escaped the thermal baths just as a multitude of them were entering!) We called in at the local shopping centre on the way home to buy a few essentials, had another long bath and washed my salty hair, drank the rest of the peach brandy so we don't have to carry it tomorrow. This seems to be our standard excuse for drinking! It didn't seem alcoholic though because I believe I have typed this faultlessly but there's probably a lot of funny things I've left out. :-) Off to Vienna tomorrow...

The hills are alive....

Up early after a restless night, despite the copious amounts of JB, to a breakfast of scrambled eggs, juice and a cup of tea, which we managed without the attendance of the fire brigade. Off to catch the 8.27 train to Salzburg with no changes of trains! Woohoo! We managed to grab ourselves a first class private cabin which was just luxurious, especially as we had cabin service as well. I did feel like royalty. :-)

The scenery changed from flat lush green fields covered with a thick white frost, to more mountainous wooded areas. The snow-capped peaks rose at crazy angles from the surrounding area- really "sticky-up" and jagged- like nothing we have in Australia- and immediately reminiscent of The Sound of Music landscape, our afternoon tour with Matt.

We were collected from our hotel and delivered to the Panorama Tours Office, where we began the tour with Matt. We had just started watching "The Sound of Music" DVD which refreshed our memories about some of the placed we were about to see in the flesh. We went to the von Trapp house, the lake, the gazebo, the abbey and the amazing church in Mondsee where Maria was married to Georg von Trapp in the movie. It was indescribably beautiful and unchurch-like. We visited two little villages on the lake and had a coffee and cake at Mondsee. I opted for the kaiserschmann wit zwetschkenroster: a delicious eggy pancake with a bowl of forest fruits. Everyone else except Elizabeth had the frauenschuh (shoe of the woman) which was a rich chocolatey biscuit covered with more chocolate- far too rich for me.

The lake from the Sound of Music

The gazebo

The von Trapp house

Salzberg Castle

Little house on the banks of Lake Mondsee

Inside the church at Mondsee

Very strange but beautiful church

Back to our hotel for a full 4 course Austrian dinner of carpaccio (raw meat thinly sliced), a salty soup with dumplings, turkey schnitzel and apple strudel accompanied by a mango bellini and a local rose. It was quite late by the time we managed to crawl under our doonas.

Munich

Three trains to Munich via Steinach and Wurzburg. We met an Aussie living in Wurzburg who informed us we were going the long way if we were going to Munich. He then explained we could have caught the train south from Steinach and saved ourselves an hour of travel. Ah well, that's life and we do love the trains! We arrived in Munich and proceeded to the taxi rank with the idea of catching a cab, but made the mistake of telling the cab driver where we wanted to go BEFORE we got into the cab. He told us the Atlas Residence was not 2 minutes straight down the road! I wish I could find him again! It was NOT straight down the road, and actually none of the THREE Atlas Hotels were straight down the road. We actually trudged to the other two before finally finding the right one!  Lorelle and Kiryn were already there (of course) as Kiryn actually knew where it was. I hadn't bothered listening to directions because I had the intention of catching a cab!

We settled into our room which had a separate double bedroom for Elizabeth and me, and a divan for Keeley. It had a kitchen with a stove, an oven, a microwave, a dishwasher AND a full-sized fridge! Keeley was in heaven. She couldn't wait to cook! We headed down to the LIDL supermarket and stocked up on supplies. I think we went a little overboard as everything looked so yummy and so cheap! Bought a bottle of Jim Beam, two bottles of champagne, and a bottle of Californian Zinfandel for less than 20 euro. Bargain! Also bought ham, cheese, eggs, bread, milk, juice, and fruit salad and ice-cream. Keeley cooked a meal of scrambled eggs with capsicum, mushrooms, tomatoes, and cheese on toast. We all agreed it was a meal fit for a king! We were all exhausted so were asleep as soon as our heads hit the pillow.

We slept late which was great as we needed a catch up on sleep, and were able to make our own cuppa and breakfast. Keeley cooked French toast which caused the room to fill with smoke so we opened all the windows even though it was 1 degree outside. It soon dissipated but the concierge came up to tell us the smoke alarm had gone off three times and we needed to leave our door open as well which we did. I was tempted to tell him if suitable cooking equipment were provided, it may prevent the alarm going off but I didn't. I had to go to Lorelle's room to borrow a couple of cups and knives as we only had one of each. Lorelle and Kiryn had decided to change plans and head off for the salt mines today so I took their kettle too as ours wouldn't work.

Keeley headed down to do all of our washing while Elizabeth and I prepared ourselves for the search for the Holy Grail- either a new suitcase or to get her wheel fixed. It was a fruitless exercise; exercise being the operative word as we walked MILES in search of Mister Minit only to be told he couldn't fix it! We then started looking for a new one, scales in hand. We found two likely candidates but Elizabeth couldn't decide and decided to discontinue the search until tomorrow. I was half dead on my feet so we bought some tuna and rolls for lunch and headed back to our suite for an afternoon nap.

Stacey arrived in from Neuschwanstein ( the castle that Disney based his castle on) asking for volunteers for the Science and Technology Museum. She promised me a cab so, even though my feet were killing me, I agreed. I must have got a second wind because we ended up walking to the hop on-hop off bus, doing the full tour before deciding to walk to Marienplatz ( St Mary's Square) - the centre of the old town which we had just glimpsed from the bus. On the way, we spied the Karstadt Sports store where Stacey bought me a pair of walking sticks ( the other option was a wheelchair!) and a pair of special socks which are purported to delay the symptoms of fatigue, forward regeneration and stabilise muscles, joints and tendons. Let's hope they work as they were 29.95 euro reduced from 44.95.  Just the thought of them must have spurred me on as I was walking with a spring in my step, also I was keen to find the Hofbrauhaus ( the only reason I came to Munich! ) We did find a fruit stall with HUGE mangoes for 1.79 and strawberries for one euro, as well as some delicious seedless mandarins. We then hopped in a bike rickshaw and asked him to take us to the Hofbrauhaus which he did for 6 euro- bargain!

At the Hofbrauhaus, we were greeted with music from the oompahpah band and the cacophony of 2000 voices all talking at once. We eventually managed to find a seat, then all we had to do was get the attention of a waiter. We ordered a beer if you could call it that ( the most beer I have ever seen in one glass!) and the beer cheese with "music" plate. The music comes much later. :-) We managed to cab it back to dinner cooked by famous chef Keeley. Pasta in a delicious sauce with mangoes and ice-cream for dessert accompanied by 2 bottles of champagne and a bottle of Zinfandel! Superb! We then had a quick game of bloody mary ( Elizabeth mounted a very strong challenge) before hitting the sack, thoroughly worn out ( and a little tipsy!)

After a sound night's sleep, we awoke refreshed. Stacey came up for breakfast which was scheduled for 7.30 but we still hadn't washed up from last night so first things first. She thought she'd cook the sausages first to create a little fat to cook the eggs. After our experience with cooking breakfast yesterday, we opened the windows and the door, but apparently not wide enough, because next thing we know, five fire trucks have pulled up outside our hotel. Stacey ordered me to get dressed in case the hotel had to be evacuated. At no stage did we think it was us who had caused the fracas until seven hunky German firemen entered our room ( well only 5 could fit in, the other two stayed in the hall) and found the cause of the fire alarm- 4 slightly burnt sausages. I tried to take a photo as we thought no one would believe us but I was shaking too much! The chief said we didn't need to cook them any more- they were done- and Stacey and I just smiled sheepishly offering profuse apologies. I eventually said it was lucky I wasn't cooking as there would have been a real fire and Stacey explained I was a terrible cook! I just hope we don't get charged a call-out fee!

Well that was our excitement for the day! We ate a delicious breakfast ( not burnt at all!) before heading off on our various itineraries. Stacey to Berchtesgaden, Elizabeth to the hop on- hop off bus and Keeley and me to the Dachau Memorial Tour. We arrived early, checked where we had to meet, and then I had to head off to find a toilet. I eventually found one on the other side of the station called Rail and Fresh- really professional- and I had to pay 1 euro into a machine to gain entry. At this stage I would have paid whatever they asked. The "music" had started! I eventually made it back to find the tour group waiting for me. How embarrassing!

We trained it to Marienplatz, then changed trains to Dachau, then bussed it to the Concentration Camp. The group all introduced themselves. Lots of people from Texas, a few from Brazil and Holland, and 2 other Aussies- Scott from Sydney who's travelling Europe on his own for 4 months- he's off to Salzburg on Monday and Rowan from Melbourne who's off to Dublin via Zurich and Birmingham! A very friendly group. The sisters from Texas travel a lot together as one of them is a dog show judge and is invited to different countries to judge. Our guide Stefan was a political studies student and really knew his history. I learnt so much that I didn't know; probably more than Keeley as she has been reading up on it and knew a lot. Dachau was the first concentration camp established in 1933 for the containment of political prisoners and was originally supervised by the Bavarian Police Force, but after one month Himmler decided to put the black shirts, the SS in charge, and from thereon,  things got tougher. The camp was designed to house 4000 prisoners but at liberation in 1945, there were more than 32000. These were under guard by only 150 SS officers. I learnt lots of other very interesting facts but have just been told in no uncertain terms by my roommates that no one wants a history lesson! :-(

Keeley and her knight in shining armour

Rothenburg street

Snowballs

Keeley with a nutcracker man

O Christmas tree!

Christmas pyramids

My teddy bear!

More teddy bears...

Keeley and her teddy bear at the Christmas museum in Rothenburg

The building where the Munich Treaty was signed in 1938... not worth the paper it was written on.

The fire-trucks that attended our sausages

The fire-chief with Stacey

More fire-trucks

The tower that comes alive at 11am, 12 noon and 5pm.

The prisoners barracks at Dachau. There were 2 rows with 16 in each row. The road lined with poplars between them was named the Road to Freedom by the SS Guards

A sculpture to the memory of all those who died here at Dachau

Done in 1968, this represented all of the types of prisoners except gypsies, homosexuals, and criminals.

One of the towers at Dachau

We bought a cooked chook and chips for dinner, but ended up eating them as soon as we got back. We actually ended up with 3 times more chips than we wanted but didn't have the heart to tell him! We are still eating chips and drinking Jim Beam and coke, just so we don't have to carry it tomorrow. Another excuse for drinking!  Well now I have to go and pack- the part I hate the most about this trip is packing. I wish I had a handmaiden to pack for me. Then I could travel like Real Royalty! :-)

Just photos

The Atomium in Brussels

Train bridge in Luxembourg

View from inside the Casemates

The Casemates inside the Bock

The ruins of the church in Bacharach

The Posthof in Bacharach

The spiral staircase. The central newel post was carved out of a single piece of timber. This was the HQ of the Knights Templar.

View from our room, looking upstream on the Rhine.

Part of Castle Stahleck where we stayed

Elizabeth on the gondola we took to the top- vineyards underneath

The forest we walked through to get to the chairlift

Keeley on the chairlift swinging her legs!

View across the Rhine from our picnic spot in St Goar