2014 Munich Day 7

Good bye Austria...hello Munich, Germany.  It rained all night in Salzburg last night.  How did I know?  Lousy night of sleep.  Since we had to walk to the train station from our apartment, I was a bit worried that 2 wet rats would show up to the terminal and they would not let us on the train.  Fortunately, the rain stopped.  I know I slept a bit because at one point I had a nightmarish dream where someone was chasing me down a hall and I started to yell in my sleep...”Help!”, “Help!’, “Help!”.  The last “Help!” woke Denise and she lovingly said to me....”Quit yelling!”.  She then rolled back over and continued howling at the moon.  I could have been killed...and she would just go back to sleep!  Geez....

 

The train ride from Salzburg to Munich took just under 2 hours.  The ride through the green valleys of Austria and Bavaria, Germany was nice.  Lots of little towns with churches at their center amidst large mountains and extremely green valleys.  So beautiful.  We arrived around12:00 PM.  We immediately sought out the tour booths to secure a walking tour of the Rise of the Third Reich.  The train station just happens to be in central Munich and lots of the historical sites are here.  I also booked a hotel about 100 yards from the train station.  It was easily found after we booked our tour.  Even though we arrived at the hotel a bit early, the let us into our room.  Our tour was scheduled to leave around 3:00 PM so we had some time to kill.  I looked at our flights tomorrow to check plane loads.  As a result on what I see on Sunday, I decided that we will not go to Moline, which is the closest airport to  Nauvoo.  Instead, we will probably fly to Houston, Texas and back to St. Louis which will put us in around 8:15 PM.  Our flight to Houston will be almost 12 hours, followed by a 4 hour layover and then a 2 hour flight.  When you factor in 3 hours of getting ready and to the airport in Munich and onto the flight...well you do the math.  It is a very long day.  If all goes well, we will get up Saturday and drive 3 hours to Nauvoo, participate in the ceremony stuff there, then drive 3 hours back to St. Louis.  We’ll then be back up on Sunday and in the St. Louis airport by 6:00 AM to catch flights back to SLC.  If all goes well, we should be in SLC around 1:00 PM.  It makes me tired just typing it.  While I’m on this subject...is flying standby free?  Not when you travel overseas.  To get out of Munich, there is a $100 tax per person to fly out of this airport.  Then if you want to fly Business Class, it is another $130 (at least to Houston from Munich) per person.  All relatively cheap when you think of the full price fare.  But expensive when you think about the fact you may never get to where and when you intend to arrive.

 

Back to our travels. At 2:30 PM we headed back over to the train terminal to join the walking tour.  The tour guide was a funny sort of guy from England.  He had been leading these tours for about 10 years.  We immediately illegally boarded the subway to go to our starting point (I don’t think everyone had a legitimate ticket for this train).  But that did not stop our guide.  We arrived at Merianplatz...a plaza significant to the start of the rise of the Third Reich.  It was fascinating to hear how Hitler rose to power from nothing....an Austrian Artist trying to make a living in Munich.  After almost 3 hours, and I swear 10 miles, we completed our walking tour.  It was a nice tour that brought me up to speed on a lot of interesting historical facts about Germany and World War II.

 

After the tour, we went to a little seafood restaurant just below our hotel window.  It was quite good.  After that, we grabbed a waffle with Gelato placed on it for some desert.  That was great too.  We then came up to our room to prepare ourselves for tomorrows adventure.

 

Our European trip is concluding.  But we have seen so much on this trip.  Great parts of the world here...great people living their ordinary lives like we live ours.   Yea, there are some differences in materials, cultures, etc..  But in the end, it is just people trying to live their lives in a happy way.  I am grateful to have the means and opportunity to have made this wonderful trip.  It will be a great memory for both Denise and I.....

Our apartment in Salzburg....

Train platform in Salzburg where our train to Munchen is to arrive.....

Two hungry travelers find paradise at the Munich train terminal......

Our room in Munich....right across from the train terminal in the downtown area.

Merianplatz....where our walking tour began!

An old beer hall....Nazi meetings first began here.

A real beer garden....

A new beer hall.....

A weary walker....

This is bike mania here.  I have never almost been hit by so many bikes!

Great day and trip!!!

2014 Austria (Salzburg) Day 6

Salzburg, Day 2.  I finally got a decent nights rest.  Denise stayed up late talking to people and stuff.  But I fell asleep and did not get out of bed until 8:30 AM.  And even then, I let Denise get up first and get ready.  That is pretty rare in our relationship!  After we both got ready, we figured out that our under clothing were going to run a bit short.  So we became clothes washers by washing clothes in the bath room sink.  You should see our bathroom...clothes hanging everywhere!  We hope they will dry before we leave town tomorrow morning.  I feel like a local resident now.

 

After doing some research on city bus lines and such, we decided that we would just walk to the old part of Salzburg town.  We also decided to look for some breakfast along the way.  By the time we left, it was almost 11:30 AM.  As we walked, we came across a SPAR market which are little markets strewn on corners everywhere here.  There we chose a big role and had the lady cut off a nice big piece of pig back (it looked good) and put it on the role with pickles.  We bought some chocolate milk with our sandwich and off we went.  Now my part of the roll was really good.  Denise got the crunchy part...not sure what part of the pig she got!!!  She was not pleased.  I told her she got the chewy part...best deal for her money.  She did not think that was funny.

 

It was a 20 minute walk to Old Salzburg.  It is a touristy place, of course, with lots of people walking around looking into shops and things.  St. Peters church sits in the middle of it all with a number of squares here and there.  Mozart is a hit here.  So you see a few statues and tourist trap places named after him.  We walked through the plazas and on up to a tram car that took you up the steep mountain to the Fortress that overlooks the city.  I thought we could just pay 8 euros to go up and down on the tram and not do the tour stuff.  But during the daytime, you have to pay the 11 euros to do it all.  The tour stuff was pretty good showing us lots of stuff that happened to this fortress.  But the best, of course, is the view over Salzburg and the region round about.  It is so beautiful here even though it has been cloudy and forecasted to rain. 

 

After coming down from the Fortress, we walked along the river and meandered our way back to our apartment.  I decide that I’d go ahead and book our return flights home.  We are trying to get to Moline, Illinois or St. Louis as early as possible.  So even though there is a 9:30 AM flight to Houston with over 70 seats available, I’m putting our names in the Newark flight (which also leaves at 9:30 AM) even though it is appears to be oversold.  If they free up the ‘held’ seats, we will get on.  If that does not work out, at 11:20 AM there is a flight to Washington DC that has 16 seats.  We should get on that which would force us to go to St. Louis.  We prefer Moline since it is an hour’s drive closer than St. Louis.  But beggars cannot be choosers!  We’ll see how it goes.

 

After hanging out in the apartment for an hour or two, we headed out to a Thai place for dinner.  I know...we’re in Austria and we’re eating Thai food.  It just seemed to sound good.  We have had our fair share of Schnitzel and Brat sausages.  We rarely eat Thai.  The food was really good.  But I blew it on my drink order.  You normally HAVE to buy the bottled water in restaurants here.  So when the waiter came over I chose water (with gas...I need the lift me up) and Denise water without gas (she’s a bit gassy already).  Total cost for that...about 5 euros (or $8).  But looking in the menu later, we could have asked for tap water for .50 euro!  I was ticked.  After eating this good food, we wandered over to the train station to check to see if Deutsch Bahn had a ticket machine there.  I read that I could buy this Bayern pass for about 30 euro for two of us to get to Munich from Salzburg.  We used the same ticket to get to the Czech Republic border.  If I could get that ticket, it would save me about 16 euros or more.  This ticket can only be used after 9:00 AM on all regional DB trains.  We found the machine and went ahead and bought the ticket for tomorrow.  When we arrived back to the apartment, I wanted to see the schedule for DB trains.  I became nervous when the schedule of trains going out of Salzburg showed no DB trains.  I started to feel like I messed up by buying this ticket.  Further research on the internet I came to learn that as of December 15, 2013, a train line called Meridian replaced all the regional trains coming to Salzburg.  The Bayern ticket which I bought is still valid on those trains.  So I am golden.  A Meridian train leaves every hour from Salzburg to Munchen (Munich).

 

Well, Salzburg has been what I needed.  We have loved our journey thus far very much.  But this day, today, allowed us\me to slow down a bit and just enjoy the beauty and the fresh air here.  And even though our feet hurt, the rest of our body is refreshed.  Tomorrow is a quick travel day to Munich (2 hour journey).  There we plan to catch a Third Reich Munich Tour from the train station at 3:00 PM.  Our hotel is close to the train station again.  Should be interesting.....Ciao!!!

Photos of our apartment....

Floating Mozart.....he does more than music!

Mozart and his protege....

A man on top of the world?  This is found in one of the main plazas in Old Salzburg.  I have no idea why.....

Fortress....going up

Looking down into Salzburg....

Happy travelers......

They gave me this darn audio device.  But every time I would ask a question, I got no response!  :-). The guy just kept talking....

A gunners mate....and protector of the land!

Ok, even the gunners mate leaves her post for a Water Closet break (lower right corner)....

To my children....your mother wants her grave to look like this year around!!!!

Fortress...coming down

Finally....she shares!

The first diet thing I have found....yes!

Too cold to jump in...nice river flowing through Salzburg.

The Fortress with one of the tall Alps in the background.....

 

2014 Austria (Vienna, Salzburg) Day 5

We stayed in the Sommerhotel last night.  It is a college dorm during school terms and a hotel during the summer, holiday season.  The price was right.  But it was a simple room and only had wifi in lobby areas.  But we did find wifi on our floor so Denise stood there surfing the web while she greeted people coming off the elevator!  Funny....

I ended the previous post by saying that I we found out that the hotel I picked was not by the train station where international trains go. So we asked the young lady at the desk how to get to the right train station.  She whipped a map out and gave me detailed instructions to take the metro or the tram system to get to the station.  So we got up, ate breakfast (the standard faire) then checked out around 9:30 AM.  We headed to the metro.  Once we were ticketed and under ground, we started looking at the signs.  The whole plan that I interpreted was backwards.  I was leaving the location that I thought was my destination.  We asked a man that validated our concerns.  So quickly we reversed our route....and it worked.  So quickly we bought some very expensive train tickets to Salzburg.  But the odd thing was that the tickets did not call out a particular train or loading platform.  So again, the dumb Americans were asking questions.  We eventually found the train that was the next to go through Salzburg and got on it.  It was a 2.5 hour ride to Salzburg from Vienna.  I think our ticket was good for the whole day on any train that went Salzburg's direction.  And, for the first time, this train had wifi the whole trip!  But there was no one to text with in US...all were sleeping.  So I took a nap!

We arrived in Salzburg at 12:50.  This apartment is through airbnb.com....not a hotel.  We were given instructions to walk to the room.  They went like this....go up stairs, turn right, turn left, go straight, cross road, go through park and look for pink house.  I sent the owner a note and asked him to put street names with it.  He did.  Made our 10 minute walk with bags in tow a bit more securing!  The host is on holiday.  So he sent us the lady who cleans the place...her telephone number.  I called her before we left the Vienna train station.  As we came up on the house, she was waiting for us and let us in.  While on the train I researched the Sound of Music tour.  I found out one left at 2:00 PM.  By the time we were free to leave the apartment, it was 1:30.  We grabbed my Ipad with a map loaded and off we went.  We actually found it with 8 minutes to spare.  The hills then became alive with the sounds of music as we toured key sites that were involved in the making of the movie.  It was a great tour as we spent the 1st 1.5 hours going through Salzburg.  We then headed into the mountains for the remaining 2.5 hours.  Oh my goodness....this region of the world is so beautiful.  At one point, we stopped for 55 minutes at the church where their marriage was filmed.  There we had strudel covered in a marvelous cream sauce!  Oh so good.  Once we returned to Salzburg, we walked around the Mirabell Gardens.  We then started our journey home looking for a place for dinner.  We found a cafe that was really, really good....except for the $5 liter of water (no gas).  I say, if it is going to taste that bad, put the gas back in it!  It was gourmet water too!

We finally arrived back to the flat excited to FaceTime everyone....but no internet!  It was working when we left but not when we returned.  I started hunting down the owner...who is on holiday himself.  He eventually called me back.  Turns out that he owns the apartment above this one and that is where the router is.  So, with Martin's permission, I went upstairs and knocked on the door.  A young guy came to the door and between our hand motions and common words, we came to terms...he plugged the router back in.  All is well....maybe I will sleep better tonight!

Our 'hotel' in Wien (Vienna).....

This is what I do when the internet is slow on a train......

Austria....pictures do not do the beauty here....

The hills are alive with the Sound of Music....a famous moment in the movie used this gazebo.

Another Sound of Music location......

A square that had a church where the Captain married Maria....in the movie only.  We ate struddle in the Cafe Braun...to the left.

Before.....

After.....

Austria is beautiful...but not half as beautiful as this woman I found and took to dinner!

Wolfgang Lake.....so much beauty in this area!

2014 Czech Republic, Slovakia, Austria (Vienna) Day 4

After a wonderful evening with the Kavan family last night, we woke up to a wonderful breakfast prepared by Ivana and Pavel.  Meats, cheeses, cereals, yogurts, breads, Danish like pasteries and juices .  A buffet.  So good.  After eating and showering, we walked around their beautiful yard.  They had just put a pond/swimming pool in.  It had a couple of fish in it.  So nice.  They live in a forest area.  Wonderful place for hiking, mountain biking, etc.  After leaving their home, Pavel and Michal took us to a famous old church in the village nearby, to a site where some large caves are found and where rock climbers scale rocks.  We followed that up with a trip into downtown Brno walking around the plazas there and admiring the architecture.  At lunch time, we found a sidewalk cafe and had a nice meal.  The food is quite reasonable although Psvel insists on paying for everything...which we do not let him.  After lunch we headed to Pavel's business.  It is a 3-story building with a number of small offices.  He has about 10 people who work for him, including his wife and future daughter-in-law.  When we arrived we met all the employees and then went into a conference room where Ivana had a very yummy Czech sandwich prepared with other treats.  We were so full from lunch but ate a few things to be good guests.  We are so full...so well fed.  After that, we hugged goodbye and headed to Slovakia with Michal.  It was about a 1.5 hour ride to the capital city.  There we went down to the Danub river to just hang out awhile.  It was cool and very nice.  After driving around the city, we headed to Vienna which was only 40 miles away.  We found the train station and our hotel.  So we are good to go for tomorrow.  We will not see much of Vienna.  We plan to have a lazy morning before we grab a train to Salzburg.  I hope the trip starts to mellow in my mind so that I can sleep better.  We shall see.

The visit with the Kavans will be etched in our hearts forever.  Denise and I will be finding a nice gift to send to them to say thank you for their kindness soon.

Denise and I just went for a walk in Vienna.  We decided to walk over to the train station.  Good thing we did.  It turns out that no trains leave from this station to go towards Salzburg.  It sounds like we get to figure the metro or Trams system out quickly to get to another station across Vienna.  Another sleepless night!

Until tomorrow......

Ivanna, Michal, and Pavel

Back of their home...what a beautiful backyard it is.

Front of house....

Church in village...

Inside of the church.  Beautiful art on ceilings....

Cave and rock climbing wall...

Downtown Brno....

Eating lunch near downtown square....

Entering Slovakia.....

Slovakian friend...mother was not pleased that I was taking his picture.

Danub River....

Denise and Michal resting by the river....