Thursday, April 19, 2012

Today was the last day in Vienna.  We packed stuff in again today and again my feet hurt! Haha.  This morning we headed to the Treasury where a ton of the Hapsburg dynasty's treasure is on display.  After lunch we went to the museum that has a bunch of old old musical instruments including Mozart's father's violin. 

Peridot and diamond brooch with the order of the golden fleece symbol

The largest emerald in the world, according to the museum. The entire thing is an emerald, not just the top. 

Bösendorfer piano that was designed for a world fair. 

Ancient Greek reliefs 

We have a 4:30 AM taxi pickup tomorrow to get us to the airport on time for our flight at 7 back through Paris then to SFO.  I'm not looking forward to being on a plane that long but I am looking forward to being home.

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

First full day in Vienna.  We figured out the subway system last night and bought 2, 24hr tickets.  We headed to Schoenbrunn palace which was the summer home of the Hapsburgs.  Its like a mini Versailles but with better colors and not so completely over the top. Its still ridiculous but I found it much more tasteful. 

Sumo-San enjoying the view from the fountain in the "back yard" 

The gloriette from the front

We climbed up to the Gloriette which was built to commemorate some conquest or other. After coming back to the hotel and napping for a couple of hours we headed out for some dinner and more seeing stuff. 

Nate really enjoying his soup. 

It was a beautiful evening. A bit cool but much warmer than the few days prior. I can't get enough of these domed buildings and the sky here. They're the natural history museum and one of the art museums.

Fewer other tourists meant I could pose in front of Mozart. He doesn't have a bird on his head this time

Rahthouse again at night. 

We walked through an interesting museum this evening all about music and how its made, how we hear, how sound it transmitted etc. It was a lot of fun except for the high school kids making a mess of everything. Guess they've figured out its open late and they can come in after school.

Tomorrow is our last day here and last day of vacation before we fly home.  We're hoping to see a few final things in the city then turn in early since our flight out of Vienna is a 7 AM local time. UGH. 

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

We arrived in Vienna after an uneventful train ride from Salzburg. Got a taxi and found our hotel fairly easily.

I'm feeling pretty warn out and ready to come home but the skies cleared up and it was a cold but beautiful day here in Vienna.  The city itself is bustling but way more beautiful than Munich so I'm ok so far.

We wandered around a bit in the old town to orientate ourselves to things. Tomorrow we're heading to Schonbrunn palace outside the city a bit. Its just a 10 min subway ride but it was the "summer retreat" for the royal family.

Rathaus - What they call the city council or govt offices

One of the museums here in Vienna. I couldn't get enough of the sky though..

Mozart statue with a bird on his head. Everyone's a critic!

Beautiful Vienna streets. 

Nate wants to see the treasury and there is a music museum we'll have to hit up as well. Only 2 more days of vacation then home on Friday.

So much video to edit when we get home too!

night night!

Monday, April 16, 2012

Sound of Music tour today! It was so fun despite the constant rain.  We booked a small minivan type tour and ended up having her all to ourselves because there were no other passengers. She is an English woman, from England, so we had no communication issues at all and had a blast roaming around the countryside.

We saw the buildings and areas they used in the movie but the real home of the Von Trap's is now a guest house and looks nothing like the one in the movie. The interior scenes of the house were all a set that was destroyed.

House that was used for balcony and outside shots in the movie.  The gazebo used to be to the left but its since been moved. 

Sound of Music gazebo

Church where Maria and Georg got married in the movie. NOT the church the real couple got married in. 

Fountain where they danced around and learned to sing... "Do a dear.. a female dear"

Statues where the kids mimicked the poses. I had to do the same.

This evening we had a great time up at the fortress on the mountain. We had dinner first then a Mozart chamber concert. We were in the second row. So intimate and the performance was nearly spotless. Really a beautiful experience.

We're off tomorrow to Vienna which is our last stop before heading back home on Friday.  I'm ready to go home but still looking forward to Vienna.

Sunday, April 15, 2012

Got to the train station in plenty of time. Train ride was uneventful except for one screeching halt just after we started to move that made me think we were going to plow into another train ahead of us.

Salzburg is beautiful. Its been raining all day but that's ok.  This town lives off of the memory and music of Mozart.  We walked around in the old town quite a bit after checking in at the hotel. Cute shops and restaurants all pawning Mozart related stuff.

Still we saw some pretty cool things. We did the tour through Mozart's residence. Some replicas of the original instruments he composed on.  The house was 50% destroyed in WWII but some original things remained. Its worth seeing if you're in Salzburg.

We have an 8 am pickup at our Hotel for the Sound of Music tour then we have dinner and a Mozart (of course) concert up at the fortress on the hill. It will be another long day but I'm really looking forward to it.

The yellow / gold house is where Mozart was born

Mozart rubber duckies.... hahaha

CREEPY statue outside one of the churches. 

Yes this hot dog is preparing itself to be eaten... 

Off to go find some non sausage shaped dinner. I think we are wursted out for now...

Saturday April 14, 2012

Last day in Munich.  We slept in after all that beer yesterday. I wondered why my eyes were puffy. haha. More water today for sure. 

We headed to the Alte Pinakothek art museum. The guy at the ticket counter was frustrating. He took my 20 Euro then remembered he hadn't printed out the tickets for the people in front of us so did that, then turned back to us and said ok so 2 people will be 16 euro not remembering that I had already paid him.  After several rounds of somewhat polite arguing he finally gave us the tickets and said he would have to pay for it out of his pocket if he were short changed. I wanted to ask for my money back and make sure of that but I didn't.  Arrogant man wasn't paying attention and tries to make me out to be a crook. Not a good way to start the day. 

Anyway… we saw some cool things. I didn't take many pictures as pictures of pictures didn't sound that exciting and I was still reeling from the grumpy butt downstairs. There were a couple of Rembrants that were interesting. Mostly everything was biblical portrayals and that gets old quick. 

We wandered around town a bit more and managed not to spend any more huge chunks of money.  I was craving a good American style burger for lunch so we headed back to the Hard Rock Cafe where we had popped in the day before to buy John a pin since the collects them. We ate there today and boy was it good. 

Unfortunately we didn't time things right to see the Glochenschpeil (sp?) in action but I did zoom in on it a bit. 

Walked around some more, saw a couple old churches including one that was done up in Rococo style. I'd never heard of it before. Its out of the world ornate. UGLY but captivating. 

We went to the train station and bought our one way tickets to Salzburg for tomorrow morning.  I'm looking forward to going back to Austria. Munich is fun but its a big bustling city. Salzburg is a city as well but I'm hoping for more of a relaxed feel and a hotel that is not so loud and with crappy internet service you have to pay for.

Friday, April 13, 2012

(Finally have internet so posting notes from the past couple of days) 

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Our first full day in Munich. We went to the palace where the Wittlesbach family ruled Bavaria for centuries.  The house has been turned into a museum showcasing not only the royal dwelling areas, when they weren't at their other castles, but also a large selection of their huge collection of paintings, porcelain and statues. Poor Ludwig II didn't like this palace much so he had to build all the others in the Alps as well.  

The ancestry hall was one of the coolest things. There were portraits of people in the Wittlesbach family line way back to 818 BC. How did they know what they looked like? We couldn't tell when they were painted or by whom. A couple of interesting points though. Each image was hastily cut out of the hanging frames during WWII to preserve them. They were stored somewhere away from the city until after the war was over.   Also, according to the tree the Wittlesbach family claim to the throne goes back to Charlemagne in Rome. Who knows if that's true but interesting.

Statue in the courtyard. He's holding Medusa's head. 

I don't remember who this is supposed to be but the shadows were cool. 

Of course my favorite room was the Music Room. The furniture and musical instruments in the room belonged to King Max I, crazy Ludwig's father. He ruled as elector from 1799-1806 then as king from 1806 -1825. 

The Spinet piano and harp were beautiful!

For lunch we had to experience the Hofbrau House.  The place is friggen huge and the beers are even huger! I drank 2 liters of beer.  Not all in one sitting of course but still! I am going to need to run so many miles when I get home to work off all this food and beer! 

The beer is as big as my head!

In our drunken state we tried on traditional German clothes and spent too much money on them! I have a dirndl and Nate has liederhosen.  Someone needs to have an Octoberfest party so we have an excuse to wear them. hahah.

After an afternoon nap we headed out again to get more beer and heavy food at another brewery.  

Sumo-San enjoyed the sauerkraut especially.

Thursday April 12, 2012

We left beautiful Rothenburg this morning after walking around once more. the clouds had lifted and i was a spectacular morning. Such a cute little town. I could spend a week in this little town alone.

Rothenburg Square

Rothenburg street

I love the leaning house at the end right behind the fountain

We headed toward Munich with a planned stop in Dachau, the first concentration camp.

It was an emotional experience to say the least. Dachau was the first camp and one that was used as a model for the much larger ones in Poland.  A somber experience but well worth seeing and remembering.

Dachau. The center area is the roll call area. 

The camp was originally designed to hold 6,000 inmates plus staff, guards etc. At the peak there were 46 - 48 thousand people imprisoned there.

Artists memorial to groups held in the concentration camp signified by their colored patches.

Artists memorial portraying the suffering of the prisoners

Barracks were built to house 200 prisoners in each building.  There were 2000 in each. This is a replica of the type of beds they slept in and only personal space they had. 

Crematorium. Victims were sometimes hanged in front of them then burned

It was an emotional day. We drove the rest of the way into Munich and returned the rental car.  We'll be traveling by train the rest of the trip.  Two days here in Munich then on to Salzburg and Vienna before we fly home.

The hotel here in Munich is just ok. Internet connection is spotty and the room is clean but sparse. We're right near the train station though so that will make Sunday's trip easy.

We're hoping to see some museums and more palaces while we're here in addition to drinking lots of beer or course.

Wednesday April 11, 2012

We left Austria behind this morning but only for a few days more. We'll be going back when we head to Salzburg and Vienna next week.

Today we drove back into Germany to Rothenburg. There are two Rothenburg's on the map but this one is the smaller one still in Bavaria called Rothenburg ob der Tauber. Its a medieval little town with a rich history.  History and sausages...

Window of a shop in Rothenburg. Nate wanted to eat them all.

Rothenburg was saved during WWII because it had been a tourist destination for centuries and one of the American generals learned abut it from his mother who had visited here before the war. She took home a painting from Rothenburg and he had heard about the town ever since he was a child.

Sunset over Rothenburg

At least that's the story the nightwatchman told us on the nightwatchman tour. If you ever come here, be sure and save the energy to do the one hour nightwatchman tour. He's hilarious and tells many good stories about the town.

Everyone else just stood next to him. I had to do something different... :) 

Having a copy of Rick Steves' Germany book in your hand when you walk into Annaliese Friese's German gift shop is a good idea as well. She recognized it and reminded us that we get 10% off all purchases with the book in hand.  She's a little old lady who speaks pretty good English. She's had the shop for decades and has a big photo of her with Rick Steves behind the counter. She's quite chatty too and pulled out her old copy of one of his first Europe travel guides with Rick and her photographed from 20 years ago at least. She made sure we knew that she took good care of him when he came to Germany and treated him like a mother. :) So cute.

We bought a couple things in her store, had one shipped home for a gift for mom & dad, and Nate walked out with the other one his head.  We're going to need a bigger hat tree.

I wish we had another day in this town but we are off to Munich tomorrow for 3 nights. On the way we'll be stopping at Dachau which was one of the concentration camps. I'm sure it will be depressing but still looking forward to seeing it.