Eurotrip Day 4: Arrival into/exploration of Salzburg (9/18/13)

Woke up early and got to the train station to catch my train to Salzburg. This eurotrip was different than my graduation trip as this time I did not get the euro-rail pass; it turns out if you know your plans, the tickets are cheaper if you buy them ahead of time like a normal plane ticket or something along those lines so that’s what I did for this trip, planned it ahead of time, bought the tickets online and kept to that itinerary. I arrived at the Salzburg Hauptbahnhof and walked in a slight drizzle to the hostel where I checked in and started walking to the old town area.

Beautiful church in central Salzburg near the main city transportation hub.

Old town Salzburg with a modern train rolling in front of it. Little bit of the old with the new.

Old school weather center near the old town. Does it all and looks pretty nice doing it. 

Residenzplatz of old town Salzburg. They were setting up for some festivities as can be seen at the bottom.

Cool statue of Hercules? beating a dragon as part of a fountain. 

The rain picked up so I was forced to get an umbrella from a local CVS type of place. I normally don't like umbrellas as I always have to dodge other people's’ umbrella nibs from poking me in the eyes, but I hate being cold and wet more. Went and explored the Mozart house and birthplace which had a bunch of cool history about Mozart and his family and how he lived.

City of Mozart has a statue to him in the old town. Not a bad guy to claim as your city's child. 

After exploring those places for a little bit, I headed back to the hostel to get into dry clothes. Once dry and comfy, I headed back out to check out the Salzburg cathedral and the Residenzplatz area and the Residence gallery which had some pretty big and amazing rooms, the main one had a banister with metal pegs that when struck each one was a different note which was fun to play with (not sure if I was supposed to but no one stopped me so I took that as an invitation to continue).

Main room of the building. There was a small recital later that night (why the chairs are set up). Most importantly, that stairway's banister across the way was musical; each pillar was a different note and you could strike them to make music. At the end of my tour, I went ahead and tested it out. It was awesome!

One of the ceiling murals in the Residenz house. Insanely pretty.

Winning at mirrors! This place is posh.

One of the many rooms with beautiful furniture, intricate molding, and art everywhere.

Another room, another example of living in luxury.

I waited for someone to pop out of that giant cake for a while :) such an amazing room.

MUSICAL BANISTER!!!! (view of the main room from the other side)

Artistic Door? Forget what this was but it looked really cool so wanted to share it.

After exploring this area, went up to the Hohen Fortress, the symbol of Salzburg. Personally, I loved Salzburg for many reasons, this fortress was one of the top ones; it's kinda cool that this castle on a hill sits above the city and you can see it from everywhere in the city to give you a bearing, AND its just really amazing to be able to look up at any moment and see a castle in the sky.

Climbing the Salzburg Castle. Nice view of the city below. 

Up in the lookout roost and the clouds start coming in. No bueno as this is my only day to really explore the castle. Still an impressive view.

What is going on with the doors in the hillside? I wonder if you can rent those out :)

Cemetery in the old town. One of the prettiest cemeteries I have ever been in. Flowers everywhere (not ones placed on sites, but planted so they live).

I walked around the fortress and went to the view points, which were anticlimactic due to the weather and the rain clouds obstructing what would otherwise be some awesome views I am sure. After having my fill of the fortress, went to the nearby Stieglkeller for some great food and Stiegl beers while enjoying some wonderful views from this hillside restaurant.

After a day of walking around and exploring Mozart's birthplace and the surrounding buildings, I stumbled upon a restaurant for some grub and a drink, right near the funicular up to the castle. 

After finishing up, I went on a pub crawl on my walk back to the hostel, first stopping at zum fidelen affen, which was more of a restaurant, but they let me sit at the bar (they were packed) for a beer before I headed to a nearby Belgian beer bar (Alchimiste Belge) where I had a few of their huge selection of great Belgian beers (I always welcome a break from the normal lager drinking as variety is the spice of life :) ).

Monkey bar, why not? Not monkeys actually in the bar but that's their name. Stopped for ein bier as I went on a pub crawl to check out the places people raved about on the travel sites. This was more of a restaurant, but it was popular. I sat on the corner of the bar as it was the only seat in the house.  

Belgian Alchemist? This is promising. The inside looks like a proper bar so lets give it a look.

Found my watering hole if I lived in Salzburg. This place has Belgian beers up the wazoo. Needless to say, this was the majority of my pub crawl.

After this I ended at Die Weisse where I had their dunkel and regular weiss biers. These beers were pretty good and the place was huge and packed. I sat at the bars at all these places and chatted with the bartenders and people next to me while I sat there enjoying these beers. After I finished at Die Weisse, I went back to the hostel and had a beer or 2 with my fellow travelers while watching some UEFA cup match on TV before bed.

Last stop on the way back to the place was Die Weisse. As you can guess, their specialty was wheat beers. So I got a dunkelweisse which was delicious. 

Eurotrip Day 3: Final day in Wien (9/17/13)

After having breakfast in the hostel, I walked to the Naschmarkt Wombat location for the wombat walk, a guided tour walking of old town vienna which was very informative and nice to see the different architecture. Sidenote - I love walking tours when traveling, usually very well put together with engaging people showing you the city they know quite a bit about.

I believe this was a contemporary art museum in the heart of Vienna. I thought the painted vines running down the building and the architecture itself was pretty sweet.

I believe this is the opera house that I visited the night before. Had time to get a picture of it today as yesterday I was rushing to get in line for tickets and couldnt fully appreciate the external facade of the building.

A statue on the corner of 2 roads. These beautiful pieces are all over apparently.

View down a street with the steeple of the church we were walking towards to end the tour.

One of the buildings in the museumplatz area I visited on the first day. There was a lot going on at the top with Apollo carrying his orb and a myriad of other statues above the door.

One of the decorated doorways in the museumplatz area. Where are all these people going? 

Cool statue in the middle of the square. There are people gathering behind it.

There was a military procession/showing welcoming what I think I remember being the Danish president or ambassador. We stayed and watched for a bit before continuing our tour.

Intricate and beautiful statue. 

St. Stephens Cathedral. Our stopping point for the tour. After the tour we grabbed food and then I started my exploration of different areas.

After the tour, a group of us from the tour went to Biesl near St. Stephansplatz for lunch and beers. After that, I went my separate way to explore some local watering holes. First was 12 apostles keller, a cool dive wine bar where I had a Gewurztraminer and an Apostlewein (sweet then sour). I enjoyed this place’s environment as it felt like you were in a dank cellar hanging out and drinking wine from in there; and yes, dank here is meant to be a good thing as it made it seem more authentic and natural without the bad smells that I would normally attribute to dankness. 

The Gewurztraminer I had at Apostelkeller. Gotta try some of the wines as Vienna has a notorious wine growing region NW of the city that I wanted to make it out to but didnt get the chance. 

Inside of the Apostles bar. pretty medieval feeling; gotta love it. 

A wood carving in the dungeon that was Apostelskeller. Great craftsmanship and detail. 

After these wines, I went to Bermuda Brain and Krah Krah for a normal lager beer at each place before taking the train to Einstein cafe where I had a beer (dunkel which was pretty tasty) and a coffee before wandering around the area for a bit.

Another massive and beautiful church (Votive Church), this one was on the way to Einsteins cafe. 

Having a cup of joe in the Einstein cafe, which was right next to Vienna University. Nice area to walk around in.

I then headed to 7 Stern Brau which had many of their own beers (of course I had to try some :) ) I tried their Rauchbier (too smoky for my tastes), hemp beer (tasted like hemp as you can imagine), and an american IPA which was a nice changeup from the lagers i had been drinking all day. I then headed back to the hostel as I had to leave for Salzburg in the morning.

Pretty view as I head back towards the main part of town.

Top of this building had statues galore on top. 

Some of the beers I tried at the 7 Stern Brau brewpub to cap off the long day of walking around/exploring Vienna.

Eurotrip Day 2: Gaining some culture in Vienna (9/16/13)

Woke up to begin my day by walking down to explore the Schonbrunn palace, which was huge and extremely gorgeous (I guess that is redundant since it is a palace). Walked around the grounds just seeing all the different fountains and stumbled upon a zoo that the palace grounds held within itself. Did not go in, but kept walking and eventually found the Gloriette Garten, a nice viewpoint from on top a hill in the middle of the palace grounds.

Approaching the Schloss. Getting excited to be royalty for a day :)

Looking back at the entrance from within the front grounds of the palace. The "front yard" is bigger than most parks in Houston it seems.  

The front of the palace from the side. Huge building!

One of the paths of the palace grounds. You can easily forget you are in the middle of a city in here.

Tranquility at its finest! 

A fountain behind the palace with a view of the palace through the trees lining the paths.

I believe this is a green house on the grounds. I did not go in, and not sure if people are even allowed. It is a pretty sweet looking building.

Did I mention I ran across a zoo? This was on the perimeter of the zoo. I didn't think it was possible for polar bears to be cuter than normal; I guess I was bound to be wrong eventually.

An enormous fountain with statues galore all on top.

The back side of the palace. Seems so far away.

Taking a picture of where I came from. Nice views of the city starting to come into view.

Getting closer to the top. This huge park even has a reflection pool in it. What does it not have? (The building pictured has a restaurant in it.)  

View from on top of the hill. With reflection pond and all. 

One of the many fountains on the grounds. There was plenty of ground to cover with fountains and buildings to see.

View from the back quad of Schloss Schonbrunn of the monument on the hill. Must have been nice living here. 

Was a gorgeous day (a little warm) to enjoy this natural beauty before I walked up to the Ottakringer brewery for a tour. I had a couple hours to kill before the next tour, so instead of waiting around for it, I chatted with the bartender working the shop and tried a bunch of their beers before walking to one of the main/famous markets of Vienna, the Brunnenmarkt.

The Ottakringer brewery in western Wien. They had a nice beer garden across the street (not a part of the brewery but had many signs for the brewery's beers) but I wanted to get the beer from the source.

Drinking a beer at the brewery after a long day of walking. Well earned if I do say so myself. 

Austria sure loves their Mozart. More of this guy to come in Salzburg.

It is this long street full of vendors of anything and everything you could be looking for; I was looking for a doner kebab of course (one of my favorite meals to find in europe as they are fast, cheap, delicious, and they allow you to eat on the go as you explore more of the city you are in). After grabbing some food and walking up and down the market taking it all in, I headed back to the hostel where I chilled for a little bit with other travelers and talking with the staff about things to do. They turn me onto the standing room tickets for the opera, so I walk back to the old town center and got in line to get a ticket to see Carmen. The opera house is incredibly beautiful, inside and out, with gold plating all over the place and murals painted on the walls everywhere.

The night's offering. Dont mind if I do. Even if it is SRO, gotta check out this opera house.

I went in before people got there to crowd the photo. Pretty nice no?

Decorated ceiling in the opera house.

View down from the nosebleeds of the first floor coming up from the lobby. Incredibly beautiful.

Some murals in the lobby that you can only see up in the nosebleeds. Winner winner! 

Opera house filling up with orchestra in place. This was before they started the show. I really wish I liked Opera, but alas. I was here more for the experience.

The stage seemed to go back forever (I liked the depth of the stage compared to many of the stages I am used to seeing here in America) with the orchestra sitting on the same level as the people in the orchestra seating area (I now know why it is called that). I could understand the basic storyline and even though I do not like opera, it was a pleasure being able to see part of an Opera in the Vienna Opera house. After the first act, I had about all of the opera this guy can handle, I walked in the rain (the one time I didnt have my rain jacket on me and it pours) to a nearby brewpub, 1516 Brewery. I had their stout, which I enjoyed, their pale which was ok, before ordering something that felt out of place, a Victory Hop Devil. That is right, Victory had exported one of their beers to this random brewpub around the corner from the opera house.

The 1516 stout. This was a nice brewpub in the middle of Wien with a decent beer selection and pub food (for Austrian standards). 

Had some Weiner Schnitzel and potato salad while I enjoyed the beers before heading to the UBahn stop nearby to head home as the rain cancelled the rest of my plans that night. Unfortunately, I didnt have any small bills and the machines were being finicky about accepting my credit cards (I needed a pin which I have never needed with my credit cards before so I was lost/confused and couldnt get my ticket). After creepily loitering around the ubahn station and asking random people “sprechen sie englisch?”, I finally found a couple who helped me out by having enough small change between the 2 of them to break my 50 so I could get home without walking the 3km in the rain. I got back to shower to realize the cleaning person who straightened up the room had taken my towel as it was the same color as theirs. After getting a new one from the front desk (this one was not as soft as mine was - stupid sandpaper towels), i showered and got to bed.