Wednesday 16th
September 2009
Emma and Maneesh
shared the 120km journey into Vienna. We headed for a camping ground only to
find a lady informing us it was closed from today (her brochures stated she was
open for a further two weeks) and suggested another camping ground. As we were
programming this in on the navman, she got upset at our engine running, so we
promptly exited-hoping other Austrians we would meet would be friendlier! We checked into Wein West
campground, and headed into Vienna where we bought tickets to an Orchestral
Strauss and Mozart concert and walked around the city viewing the most
impressive big buildings we have seen to date. We saw the Hofenberg Palace, saw
a statue of Mozart and also
watched an Austrian Army Parade. For dinner, we walked to a recommended place
in the Lonely Planet called Schnitzelwirt Schmidt, which had the best schnitzel
ever! James had pork schnitzel, uncrumbed with ham and cheese on top, with a
half a peach on the side and roast potatoes and I had this massive meal
(seriously, people in the restaurant laughed when they saw it placed in front
of me) called Don Carlos-crumbed pork schnitzel with pan-fried ham, mushroom,
tomato, capsicum and onion on top of a bed of rice. Yum! We all had the meat
sweats afterwards.
We ended the day at
theSchoenbrunn Palace for the concert, a beautiful place where we also heard
two opera singers and dancers perform.
Thursday 17th
September 2009
In Vienna early, we
saw more sights including the Plague memorial, St Stephens Cathedral, a
Holocaust memorial (65,000 Austrian Jews were killed during this time), and took
a train out to the Danube River, where we all touched the water and practiced
our Danube Waltz! We also sampled Mozart Chocolates-yummy dark chocolate balls
with pistachio and caramel inside, and went back to the awesome Schnitzelwirt
Schmidt Restaurant for lunch. We
saw the Spanish Horses in training-really disappointing as it was literally
watching them canter around for two hours, rather than the fancy tricks they
have for their shows. We ended the day by strolling around the Nascs Market,
picking up fresh fruit, pasta and pesto.
Friday 18th
September 2009
An early rise as we
were on the road heading to Salzburg at 6.30am. We drove past Salzburg to Werfen, to visit an ice cave. The
cave actually being a labyrinth of caves spanning 40 km long. Amongst the beautiful alps, we first
spotted a beautiful castle on the hill, which was in the backdrop of the movie
“Sound of Music”. A steep climb (21% incline) brought us to the entrance, where
we walked for 20 minutes to a cable car. The cable car was a 3 minute ride,
with little tension on the cable and a very steep climb! The steepest in
Austria! Then we walked a further 15 minutes to the entrance of the ice cave
(approximately 1700 feet). The view was so beautiful we felt the need to break
out into Sound of Music tunes! We had a tour guide take our group through the
770 uphill steps and back again inside the cave, with a few (including myself)
holding carbide lamps. Temperature 0 degrees and the tour took 70 minutes. We saw stalagmites /stalactites and
other beautiful ice formations. The cave was discovered at the beginning of
last century by Anton Posselt, who upon his death, asked to be buried there.
They have an urn in the cave holding his ashes. It was such an awesome tour,
which was another great trip highlight.
We headed downhill to
a restaurant for more schnitzel, and Kaiser beer before Emma drove us to our
campground in Salzburg, called Camp Sam. James was happy to find two four month
old kittens at the campground, with ‘Felix’ the ginger kitten often frequenting
the van. I cooked tea and we played a game of 500-the boys won.
Saturday 19th
September 2009
After a slow start,
and Maneesh deciding to have a ‘down day’ in the van, Emma, James and I headed
into Salzburg, visiting a market for lunch (having German Werst with a Kaiser
roll, apple pretzel and what looked like a chocolate lamington-except with pure
chocolate on the outside and jam running through the middle on our menu today).
We walked up to a Monastery for views over the city, visited where Mozart was
born and the home he had for 7 years of his life, walked through Mirabell
Gardens and St Peters Abbey/Cemetery (where Sound of Music scenes were filmed),
heard Nuns praying at Nonnberg Priory (where the real life Maria married Mr Von
Trapp) and ended the day at the Augustiner Beer Hall. As the Sound of Music
Show was cancelled for the day, we headed back to the van for dinner and then
all back to the beer hall, for another beer in a ceramic stein glass. One litre
of beer costing us 5.60 euro. We taxied home in a Mercedes with a lovely lady
who recommended some places to visit within the lakes district.
Sunday 20th
September 2009
We left Camp Sam at
10am to drive through the Austrian Lakes District, home of 75 different lakes,
set amongst the alps. We stopped
at the second lake to feel the very fresh water and appreciate the
clarity/cleanliness of the lake. Travelling on we stopped on the outskirts of Hallstatt, by
the lake to have lunch. The reflection on the water was amazing. After much
twisting of the girls arms, mine especially, we decided it would be a great
idea to go for a swim, in the freezing water! The boys jumped in, followed very
slowly by the girls, and we left the water happy that we had managed a swim!
We then walked through
the streets of Hallstatt, which had many Austrian style houses and people in
traditional clothing. I even got the chance to see a cow wearing a cow bell. We
visited the Bein Haus (Bone House) which was a ossuary built within the Roman
Catholic church grounds displaying the skulls of 600 people. The skulls had all been decorated,
often including the name of the person, year of death, and some other
decorations such as flowers, leaves, and even serpents. This was done back in
the eighteenth century, mainly out of habit, and was a very unique place to visit!
Leaving Hallstatt we
were excited to follow a river and see trout jumping out of the water, with a
few fisherman doted around. Gutted we didn’t have fishing rods on us!
We camped at
Oberwiotelhof in Abtenau, where James and I cooked dinner and we let off a few
more fireworks…only to discover what an amazing echo the Alps gives to a
fireworks cracker! A win to the boys and to the girls in the game of 500.
Monday 21st
September 2009
We left camp at 8.30am
and drove to the Swarovski Crystal Factory in Tyrol. We all entered thinking we
would learn all about crystals, or how the business has grown, but we were
surprised to find each room had art exhibitions/displays with somewhat bizarre
themes. Our favourite room was shaped like a large dome (designed to be like a
crystal) and you walked into it. It had various light shows, which changed the
colours in the room. After a few
small purchases (this didn’t include the 40,000 Euro crystal chandelier on
display) we headed for Innsbruck and stayed in a camping ground in Vol. We settled down and did a few chores
before heading out for a Weiner Schnitzel and another Weiss beer.
Tuesday 22nd
September 2009
Having an early rise,
we headed for the Bergisel ski jump in Innsbruck, which was used for the 1964
and 1976 Winter Olympics. We were lucky enough to see the some Slovenian ski
jumpers practicing-although because there was no snow, they were landing on
watered down Astroturf. It was amazing to watch, with the jumpers reaching over
100m. We asked them how they start in this sport, with the jumpers saying they
started on 10m jumps, starting as early as nine years old. Brave! After an hour
of this, we said goodbye to Osterreich and headed for Deutschland. We headed
for Munich to pick up Emma’s brother Hamish.
