Thursday, November 28th - Thanksgiving Day
After being gone a month, Nick finally got back (it felt like FOREVER!) and we immediately drove six long hours up to Vienna. Nick's a trooper! He'd been traveling for 3 days at that point!
After quickly unloading and getting settled at the Schonnbrunn trend Hotel, we hopped on the subway and headed to the Christmas market.
We were greeted by poles and benches covered in yarn.
Somehow the yarn and lighting make it seem like it was warm, but it really wasn't.
It was a whopping 25 degrees outside, but we had waffles covered in powdered sugar to warm our hearts:) We also scarfed down some yummy gnocchi with poppy seeds, rye bread covered in cheese and hot chocolate. Just to recap - we ate bread covered in sugar, pasta, bread covered in cheese and liquid chocolate for about 30 Euro. Be forewarned - you will gain weight and lose money in Austria.
Friday, November 29th
After a good long sleep, we headed back into the downtown area for round 2 of Vienna. We took the Rick Steves walking tour.
We spent about 2 minutes outside in the freezing temperatures before ducking into a warm cafe. This is no ordinary cafe. This is Cafe Sacher; they're known for their chocolate cake with apricot jam filling.
The cake actually was just okay, but their coffee was delicious!
The word for whip cream is schlagober. That's fun to say!
Nick decided to order the pate. After waiting almost an hour, we realized they had forgotten the order. Right when we were about to give up, they brought it out. It was worth the wait! This sounds strange, but I really love pate and foui gras.
We ventured back out into the cold...
This building is the Albertinaplatz. The sculpture canopy is known as the "diving board" by critics.
We saw several devils or furry evil creatures around Vienna. They're called Krampus. In Austria, the Krampus' accompany St. Nick. He's a creature that punishes the naughty children, while St. Nicholas gives presents to the good kids.
We then headed down the Karntner Strasse (KAYRNT-ner SHTRAH-seh) to St. Stephen's Cathedral. This street was great for people watching, but it was mostly shops, shops, and more shops.
St. Stephen's marks the center of Vienna.
Of course we had to do a few jumping photos!
I think I've pretty much given up on doing jumping photos. I'll let Nick stick to them. :) Haha!
We got a little off track, but found our way back to the self-guided walk here at St. Peter's church. I think these candles are supposed to be for prayers, but we lit one for ourselves. Haha!
Nick playing, "how close can I get to the pigeon before it moves."
I don't know if I've seen so many pigeons on a statue.
As we strolled down the Kohlmarkt, we passed in front of Demel. It's a chocolate shop with edible window displays. Nick walked by this window and commented at how ugly the model and dress was. He changed his mind after he found out that it was edible. :)
We found the Hofburg Palace! It's amazing to think how much history happened here. This was the center of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire.
One more jumping photo to keep Nick entertained and warm. :)
The four grand statues in the background are Hercules wrestling with his great challenges.
We walked inside the courtyard to the Hofburg Palace. These are the Imperial Apartments, and behind us was the New Palace.
Haldenplatz and the Parliament in the background.
Before heading over to the Schonbrunn Palace (Hofburg summer home) we walked through yet another Christmas market.
Apparently, Schinkenfleckerl is a dish with pasta, meat, and cabbage. It sure looks fun to say. :)
These baked potatoes looked amazing!
We walked back to the metro station, and got to pass by the Opera House again.
Nick pretending to run after the tram :)
Do you need the green, purple or red line? Vienna's metro system is so simple and easy.
Our first peak at the Schonbrunn palace.
Nick's face after I told him we were going on a 30 minute tour of the palace. :)
Our tour included visiting 40 of the 1441 rooms in the Palace. Marie Terese had 16 children while she ruled the Empire. She avoided war by marrying her children off to other countries. Maybe that's where the saying "make love not war" started. :)
I snuck a few photos of the inside even though I wasn't supposed to.
After taking the tour, I realized I was starving. Luckily, there was another Christmas market just outside the Palace. I had pasta, and a potato mix. It was delicious!
They also had some delicious non-alcoholic gluevein. It sure helped on cold days.
Standing in the garden looking back at the Palace and Vienna city line.
The ducks were actually standing on ice.
The gardens had a zoo. We spotted a few animals on our way back to our hotel.
Nick informed me that he loves green houses. So random!
Next we grabbed our things, and drove the longest 2 hours over to Salzburg from Vienna. We were both exhausted from walking around all day.
We stayed at the Sheraton Fuschlee just 20 minutes outside of Salzburg. (Once in a lifetime experience)
We didn't waste any time before we were out the door and headed into Salzburg to explore the Christmas market.
The Christmas market in Salzburg is far better than any other Christmas market I've ever been to. It's located in the Old Town surrounded by churches.
You could buy anything and everything.
Our first purchase of the night was a warm pretzel with butter in the middle. Yum. Nick reaaaallly wanted a baked potato, so we went searching for one. It was the best decision he could have made. It was so good, I forgot to even get a picture of it.
What should we eat after just having had a huge pretzel and a baked potato?? A waffle of course!
Yum.
Tis the season... to stuff your face at a Christmas market. That's how that saying goes, right??
We headed back to our car. You have to cross the Salzach River to get back into the New Town. We enjoyed this view as we crossed the bridge, Staats Brucke, lit with Christmas lights.
We stopped at this cute restaurant because it had a fox on it. At first Nick thought he would try and get a real dinner, but later decided he was too full. So we kept eating desserts instead. :)
Nick had this concoction that was a specialty at this restaurant. It took 25 minutes to make.
I had apple strudel! It was so good!
When the desserts were brought out, there were two old couples sitting nearby that motioned for us to give them our desserts as a joke. We all started laughing. One of the women looked directly at Nick and said something in German. Nick just started laughing and said, "Yeah!!" They all just stared at Nick. I looked at him and said, "I think they think you speak German." He looked at me and smiled, and said, "I don't!" Haha!
We couldn't stop laughing!!! Instead of Nick just explaining that he didn't speak German to them, he just pretended that he did. I still can't stop laughing!
We walked outside after stuffing ourselves to find Krampus!! I finally found one! He was nice enough to stop and take a photo with me.
I don't think this tradition would go over well in the States.
Saturday, November 30th
That night it snowed! It was beautiful to wake up to this view.
We walked down the road from the Sheraton to their sister hotel. They had a little Christmas market set up inside. They also had a fancy cigar bar, and a balcony with a beautiful view of the Fuschlee lake.
I couldn't resist.... Wrapping my self in fur with a beautiful view of the lake? Yes, please!!
I'll take some hot cocoa too!! :) Talk about heaven!!!
Nick wanted to have a snowball fight with me. Mmmm...no thanks. I'm busy wrapping myself in fur. :)
Smoky Cigar Bar.
After taking it easy at the hotel, we headed back into Salzburg. There were hoards of people!
Nick's smiling on the outside, but screaming on the inside. He LOVES crowds. :/
We started out by heading up to the castle via funicular.
We had the best view of the town.
Our favorite part inside the Christmas market was the puppet room. Here's Nick in The Sound of Music.
The castle was also pretty crowded so we came back down and started part of the Rick Steves self guided walk through town.
Does this place look familiar? A set was made to look like this graveyard in The Sound of Music. This is where the Von Trapp family hid from the Nazi's.
Outside the graveyard is one of the oldest restaurants in Europe.
I was more amused that they had a chandelier with baby shoes in the entryway. So random!
We had heard that Salzburg was the birthplace of Mozart. We were expecting to hear a lot of classical music. Apparently, that mostly happens from May to October. We stepped inside St. Peters and were surprised to hear a quartet practicing. It was beautiful with the acoustics of the church.
We continued on and had to take a break and get another warm pretzel. :) Yummy!
After walking around the Old Town I finally found Mozart's birthplace. It should have been obvious when we first walked past it because there were tons of Asian people outside taking pictures of it.
At this point, it was about 25 degrees and the sun was going down. It was beautiful but Nick was starting to freeze and have a meltdown.
We quickly walked over to the Mirabell Gardens where part of the Sound of Music was filmed.
We rushed through the crowds to get back to our car and head back to our warm hotel that just happened to have an amazing steam sauna. Sounded so good when we were freezing!
After warming up, Nick found a fondue place nearby online. We drove to the end of a dark road, to a hotel that nearly looked abandoned. After about 10 minutes we found the entrance and were welcomed with the warm smell of deliciousness. The fondue was THE BEST fondue I've ever had. Hands down.
And then we had to order chocolate fondue too!
This was one of the most magical experiences I'd ever had. We felt like we were eating gourmet food in someones home. They even had a cat that would roam around. My kind of place!
You can see the kitty on his bed in the background above the oven.
Here's a few pics of the restaurant as soon as you step out the door.
This might explain why it was so hard to find the place. The lights were covered in snow!
Sunday, December 1st.
A view from our room the last morning...
After a delicious breakfast at our hotel, we started to make our way back home.
But first, we had to take a detour to do a Salt Mine Tour!
They made us put these rags over our clothes to do the tour. Nick thought it was so we didn't get any salt on our clothes. I tried to assure him that was not the reason, but I didn't want to tell him why...
We started the tour by riding a train into the mountain!
All aboard!!
We had no seat belt or helmets, and this thing was surprisingly fast. Only in Europe!!
Our first stop we got to taste the salt.
Then we got to slide down a slide! That's why we needed the extra clothes!!
Then we actually crossed over into Germany underground from Austria.
They also let us lick the ceiling. Yep, tasted like salt. :) I felt like I was in a salty version of Charlie and the Chocolate factory. I guess we could call it, Nick and the Salt Factory.
After getting to ride in a boat across a little lake inside the mountain (yes, you read that right), we were greeted by another Krampus!! He was going around and spanking all of the women because we'd been naughty. Definitely would not go over well in the States!
We passed back into Austria.
Supposedly the salt mines were haunted. While one of the miners was digging, he actually found a skeleton of a man. Yikes! I would have quit right then and there.
As we were leaving the tour guide informed us that the mines will likely not exist in 100 years because the mountain is compressing. Glad we got to see it while we could! And glad it didn't collapse on us while we were there.
The salt mine was a great way to finish off our quick trip of Austria.
I must say, even though it was freezing cold, I would highly recommend visiting Salzburg. It's one of my favorite cities so far.
