Thoughts & Reflections

Tag: Austria

Visiting Innsbruck

Of all the places we visited or stopped in during our weeklong tour, Innsbruck was my favorite. We arrived in the early afternoon so there was plenty of time to take in the sights even though we were only staying for the night. Our hotel was very, very conveniently located and after checking in, we headed for the Old Town, just a few minutes’ walk away. One interesting attraction was the fake cherry blossom tree that “grew” outside of the Imperial Palace. It looked real from afar but then one has to realize, a tree would not be blooming outdoors in the middle of December in alpine country.

As the name implies, Old Town is filled with rather old and very charming buildings and streets. One of the most famous attractions is the Goldenes Dachl (Golden Roof), a balcony with roof tiles made of gold-plated copper. It was cloudy that day but the roof still glittered though not as brightly as on a sunny day.

Continuing on, we walked through the old town, crossed a busy street and then we were in the city center. On Maria-Theresien Straße, the main shopping street, there was a Christmas Market but we ignored it for the moment. Instead, we took our guide’s suggestion and headed straight for the shopping mall. We weren’t there to shop at all but to go to the rooftop lounge where one could get a 360° view of the city and the surrounding mountains. The views were spectacular:

After admiring the scenery, we returned to the Old Town for a bit of shopping and browsing. One of the more interesting sights to see were these huge medieval or fairytale figures on display standing in between buildings, on top of entryways or just sitting on windowsills. You can get a sense of their size when you see how tall I am standing next to a knight in shining armor.

Eventually, we made our way towards the Inn River. The river itself is a beautiful aquamarine color and it makes for a very pretty postcard with the brightly painted buildings that stood on the other side.

On our side of the river was another Christmas market and as we strolled through the stalls along the riverbank, dusk was settling in. In the middle of this Christmas Bazaar was a carousel for the kids to ride, and a tree decorated and topped with Swarovski crystals. I admired some of the ornaments for sale but didn’t buy anything; by this point, I was definitely more interested in other sights besides holiday markets.

I admit to being much more engaged in wandering through the local supermarkets and bakeries. Our guide told us that we should pick up something for lunch for our journey the following day. We picked up a few items at a supermarket and later on, we stopped at a small bakery where I bought a glazed croissant (which ended up being part of my lunch) and a box of cookies for home (they were a bit banged up by the time they arrived in New York but still tasty). And oh, there were some very interesting pastries on display in some other shops but we were on our way back to the hotel for dinner and who knew how much food we would eat that night.

That evening, we were on a tight schedule: M and I chose to join in one of the optional tour excursions that would take place after dinner. We went to see Tiroler Abend, a family-run show that highlights Tyrolean music, dancing, and singing (i.e. yodelling that isn’t quite what we see in The Sound of Music). Two of the performer came to pick us up from the hotel and drove us to the restaurant/theater.

There were other tourists there and overall, everyone enjoyed the show. I think a lot of the women in our tour group that came (it was mostly the women, too) enjoyed watching the men dance in traditional Tyrolean folk costumes, which of course included lederhosen. You can actually watch a show in its entirety here (which I think contained everything we saw, though not in the same order). One nice thing was that they would find out from what countries their audience was from, and give a little speech in their native tongues and as an encore, there is a sing-a-long with at least one song from every country.

March 27, 2015
A Morning in Kitzbühel

Apologies for the month-long hiatus; I’ve been struggling with a second bout of illness within a month and unfortunately, I’m still in the midst of recovering from a very painful sinus infection. I’ll try to post a bit more regularly now that the worst of it has passed (I hope).

After a day in Munich, we continued westward and headed right back into Austria once more. Our final destination of the day was Innsbruck but we made a morning stopover first in the ski resort town of Kitzbühel. I’ve never heard of the town before but apparently, it’s renowned for skiing. The only problem with that, as our guide pointed out, was the very mild weather which meant there wasn’t much snow to be had in the mountains for some world-class ski events.

Kitzbühel is a very old town with lots of beautiful, colorful buildings and very narrow streets. Our bus was parked in a lot just on the outskirts of town and we took a stroll into the medieval heart of the city. We had about an hour or so to wander around but nothing in the shops really interested me and overall, it was pretty quiet even for a Monday. It makes me wonder what it must be like to be around during the World Cup ski season.

Stepping out of the medieval town center, the buildings are no less colorful nor boring:

Kate, our tour director, advised us to grab lunch while we were here. We were heading straight for Innsbruck afterwards and there would be no other stops along the way. She suggested a butcher’s shop down the main street but I think most of us ended up at the café right at the meeting point for our departure.

It wasn’t quite lunchtime just yet and I wasn’t even terribly hungry at that point. The café was pretty packed with people, mostly from my tour group and the other group that ran parallel to ours. I settled on toast with butter and plum marmalade and a cup of Earl Grey. Really light fare but at least I wouldn’t be completely starving.

There were some interesting pastries and chocolates in one of the display counters and while tempting, it was far too early for sweets! I don’t think a slice of cake or torte would last very well on the ride to our hotel.

March 22, 2015
Sightseeing in Salzburg

After two days in Vienna, our tour bid adieu to that city and headed west, arriving in Salzburg around lunchtime. On our ride, our lovely tour director Kate decided to prepare us by playing “The Sound of Music” on the coach DVD player. When we arrived, the hills weren’t alive with the sound of music but they were pretty enough to look at.

Like all other tour groups, we were dropped off close to the bank of the Salzach river. Of the many bridges that span the river, one of which is quite popular with lovers: locks have been chained to both sides of the the Makartsteg bridge:

Once we cross the river, we’re right in the midst of the Old Town. There are a lot of narrow, twisty streets with passageways through buildings that theoretically could be called shortcuts but only if one was familiar with them. As it were, we ended up following our local guide to get from one part of town to the other.

Besides “The Sound of Music”, the other big attraction in Salzburg is the building where Mozart was born. One can’t miss it thanks to the crowds outside as well as the big sign hanging on the building wall: Mozarts Geburtshaus or “Mozart’s birthplace“. The ground floor is home to a supermarket but upstairs is a Mozart museum. We didn’t visit it but I’d like to if I ever get back there.

As one can imagine, there are a ton of Mozart souvenirs for sale in Salzburg. The most famous thing to take home would be the Mozartkugeln, round balls of chocolate-covered marzipan. I was introduced to them years ago by a friend and everywhere one turns, there’s a vendor selling some variety of Mozart balls. Cafe Fürst is the originator of these chocolates so I had to buy a few and see if they taste any better than the mass-produced generic versions I’ve seen on the streets here and back home in specialty shops or markets.

There were a few places on our walking tour of the city that were associated with “The Sound of Music”. One of them was the gardens of Mirabell Palace. It was one of the places featured during the romp around town by the von Trapp children during the “Do Re Mi” musical number.

Another place that was far more recognizable were the catacombs in St. Peter’s Cemetery, where the family hides before Rolf betrays them to his commanders. Our guide told us the actual hiding places were on set but this was the inspiration for the background of that scene in the movie.

After the local tour, we had the rest of the afternoon to ourselves and that meant browsing through the Christmas market. We had the option of meeting back at the bus when we were ready to depart but none of us trusted ourselves to find our way back across the river. We all just ended up at the much easier to find meeting spot (the large Christmas tree) in the middle of the big Christmas market.

February 9, 2015
Vienna: Food Around Town

Austria may be known for schnitzel and its famous cafés but I did not eat nor visit them, respectively. With only two days in Vienna, I was more interested in seeing as many things as possible in under 48 hours. There were a few places to visit on my to-do list and the rest of the time we ended up wandering around the city center.

Here’s a look at my non-traditional meals:

I was on one of the morning flights and it was fortunate that some of the hotel rooms were already available and we could check in. After dropping off our luggage, we took a brief break in the room and plotted our itinerary for the day. It would be lunchtime by the time we headed toward the city center so our main goal was to find somewhere to eat. In my very brief research beforehand, I did find one restaurant that looked interesting and had good reviews but when we got there, we found it was closed. There was a note taped to the door but it was in German so I assumed it was about renovations or some sort of maintenance issue.

So we turned to the handy dandy tablet and scrolled through some online listings (I think it was from TripAdvisor). Where we ended up was Das Heinz. The menu near the door looked promising but the only problem was that the sign said “Closed” though it was already past opening hours. Apparently, they forgot to flip the sign when they opened and when we went in, there were already a few non-empty tables. (The nice lady who served us flipped the sign over after we mentioned it to her.) Anyway, onto the food. M ordered a more traditional dish, the “roasted dumplings” which looked nothing like the dumplings we have here and I ended up choosing one of the daily specials, penne with chorizo and paprika sauce. Both came with a choice of soup or salad and we opted for the latter. I also wanted a hot drink so to no one’s surprise, I ordered a pot of Earl Grey.

We passed this sausage stand after lunch. I think it would’ve been tempting to grab food here but it’s hard to want to eat outside in the middle of December. I also wasn’t in the mood for meat right after getting off a plane. But there were plenty of other chances for hot dogs or wursts:

Dinner that night was provided as part of our tour. We went to Stadt Park Bräu where there was a small menu of items we could choose from for our group meal. I went for the fish dish: grilled pike perch, with parsley potatoes, vegetables and herb butter. There was a soup or salad starter that the waiter forgot to bring me but given how many plates of salad were unfinished, that might not have been a bad thing (the soup was pumpkin, which I’m not a fan of in general). The fish was pretty good (the other options were beef or a vegetable dish) and I ate most of it.

And when it came time for dessert, the famed Austrian dish won hands down:

The following day’s meals were less exciting, though lunch was more tasty than dinner.

In Spain, I had paella in a hotel. In Vienna, I had it at a fast-food seafood chain called Nordsee. And for the record, it was damn tasty, possibly even more so than the slightly more authentic version in Valencia. Quick and cheap, it made for a very satisfying meal. I was tempted by the fish and chips at the takeout side window but I’m easily drawn in by paella since I never have enough of it normally.

Dinner was far more mundane. Our hotel was conveniently located near a shopping mall (with free WiFi) so we ended up grocery shopping and downloading email and apps (hello travel apps and Google Translate). Since neither of us really knew what we wanted for dinner, I was all for eating at this tiny Asian shop called Rakki Delicious next to the supermarket. It was quick and cheap (under 10 Euros!) and while I wanted more veggies than was in my bento box, it did help sate my fruit and veggie cravings just a bit. And this being Europe, I wasn’t expecting it to taste the same as it would back home so lower expectations definitely helped.

And here’s a parting shot of more traditional Viennese fare:

Ah Demel. I miss your old shop back at the Plaza Food Hall and wish you’d reopen again. This original shop is a lot smaller than I expected though it offers quite a selection of cakes. Alas, none of them really appealed to me; the strawberry shortcake was my favorite but unfortunately for me, it wasn’t the season for it!

February 1, 2015
Vienna: Holiday Sights and Sounds

This is a very late write-up but given that I’m home today thanks to the blizzard that blew in yesterday, I’m finally taking the time to post up some pictures of a holiday trip last month. A friend and I went travelling mid-December, joining a week-long escorted tour of some of Europe’s wonderful Christmas markets. Everyone was arriving at different times and from far flung locales but we were all to meet in Vienna, where the tour would begin.

My friend M arrived two days ahead of me and scoped out much of the city so when I got there, she was already somewhat familiar with mass transit and some of the areas we would end up walking through.

(This is the Donaukanal, or the “Little Danube” canal.)

Despite the large number of grand buildings that populate the city, in actuality, Vienna seems very small. It’s pretty manageable to get from one part of town to another, provided one can read maps carefully. I’m usually pretty good at that but this trip caught me by surprise and given the unending amount of projects I’ve been on at work for the last few months, I hadn’t had time to do any preparations. So I was very glad to just follow M around for the two days we were in town.

Our tour director, Kate, was going to take us to the largest Christmas market in Vienna our first night but we just stumbled upon it ourselves in the afternoon. It’s located in the park in front of the grand Town Hall, with the stalls spread out across the grounds. The two of us skirted around it and saved walking through for the evening, which made it look even more enchanting with all the holiday decorations lit up. There are plenty of Christmas markets around town; I think we ended up walking through a half dozen or so, possibly more. Since many of the stalls sold very similar items across all the markets, I freely admit to becoming bored of them after the first two days. Fortunately, there were variations as we traveled to other cities and countries so it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be.

(Yes, those are cupcakes in the tree. There were other trees lit up and decorated with other fun objects, such as hearts, toys, and bows.)

A night of Christmas holiday shopping was followed in the morning with a tour of the fabulous Schönbrunn Palace. We were there bright and early, when the Palace is opened only for tour groups before general admission. I’m glad we decided to visit the Palace with our group since it allowed us better access to see the grand rooms and fine furniture on a more intimate scale. Wandering from room to room sometimes meant standing in a very narrow corridor and it helped that we weren’t surrounded by a crowd of people trying to jostle and get past us.

And the grounds are absolutely stunning. I’ve seen them on television while watching concerts with the Vienna Philharmonic and it was nice to be able to take in the view in person. There wasn’t enough time to go all the way up the hill in the gardens but we did climb it for a bit and was rewarded with a panorama of the city in the background.

And then we returned to the city where we looked at some ancient ruins and more grand buildings. Not as fancy but definitely charming enough to catch one’s eye was the shop where Pinocchio sat outside, ready to take a photo with passersby. The shop sells a wide variety of wooden clocks with illustrations that wouldn’t look out of place in a Disney film.

January 27, 2015