VIENNA BOUND

It was snowing as we made our way to Prague Central Station and we gave our last Czech coins to a homeless man along the way. That may have been a mistake if we needed to pee at the station! The train was comfortable and we had a UK couple sitting behind us. When the conductor came along, of course, the poms had misplaced their tickets. We know that fearful feeling but luckily had not felt it for a while. Ruthie and I were proud of how all our planning and preparation was paying off. She had brainwashed me into the 5 P’s haha. Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance thanks to Sarah’s mantra.

The first thing I noticed when getting off the train in Vienna, Europe’s centre for classical music was the wind chill factor. Funny how 0 degrees with wind can feel as cold as minus 16. We set off exploring Vienna city in the afternoon and our wanders found us on the banks of the Danube river. I’m not going to mention all the churches, palaces and land marks we saw but it’s incredibly historical. The architecture of the buildings is a mix of Gothic, Baroque and Art Nouveau . I’m left wondering how some of these buildings were erected so long ago without modern day techniques and equipment. The intricacy of the ornaments high up on the buildings are amazing. When you consider that no one gets up high and personal with these ornaments, you wonder why but I guess it was a sign of the times. Very different to the concrete jungles that are built these days. The other thing that struck me around all these landmarks, was the Westernisation around them. Some of the streets were like walking down Rodeo Drive as all the big brands were there. Unfortunately, the Spanish dancing horses are not scheduled to perform while we are here but we did see the arena and where they are stabled. A trip to Vienna would not be complete without an original Weiner Schnitzel so we enjoyed this on our way back to the hotel in a restaurant set up in what looked like was once an air raid shelter.

We are really enjoying the Eurail part of our adventure. It’s exciting not knowing where you might be going the next day and then booking things on the fly. I don’t know how travellers might have done this in the past without WiFi and internet. We had a Flexi Eurail pass for 5 days of travel so to fit more locations in, we were paying directly for the shorter, cheaper trips and keeping our Eurail pass for the longer more expensive journeys. A Viennese coffee and slice of Apple Strudel finished off our time in Vienna nicely.

SALZBURG

Ruthie needed to live out her Sound of Music fantasy so it was off to Salzburg. We caught a free seating train where initially we couldn’t sit together. Salzburg was a quick one night stopover so we had to make the most of it. As our hotel room was not ready for a couple of hours, we ditched our luggage and set off walking. Salzburg was made famous by Mozart long before the Sound of Music. Our first stop was Mozarts birth place and then his house! The town is synonymous with classic music, baroque architecture, towering spires, usually picture perfect gardens (for us all covered with snow) and jaw dropping views. I found it really easy to navigate, just meandering along the river Salzach. That was until we started climbing the stairs to the fortress! My iPhone told me we had climbed 35 flights of stairs. The rewarding views were well worth it. The funicular railway back to the bottom was much easier. It was only on the way back to the hotel that we found that the lift to the modern museum at the top of the cliffs would put you on the same level as the fortress, making it a much easier walk to the fortress. Oh well, it was a great workout for the legs.

Ruthie enjoyed standing at the same gates Maria (Sound of Music) had stood with the children at Mirabell Palace and the pond they sang Doh Ray Me around in Mirabellgarten, but the tunnel hedge they ran through was under snow. The fountain Maria dips her hand in at Residents Platz was frozen. We walked the streets that her and the children rode in the horse and carriage at MozartPlatz (UNESCO listed old town). Once we climbed the hill to the Fortress we were at Nonnberg Abbey and the gates the children had spoken to the Nuns through when they came looking for Maria. A visit to the museum and then down we came again The St Peters cemetery was amazing to walk through. The snow covered graves held so much history. This is the cemetery the scene where they hide from the Nazi’s is based on. Without singing like Maria we headed back over MozartSteg footbridge and our hotel. Yes, I think Ruthie well and truly had her Sound of Music fix and would love to come back to see all the sights in the Summer.