Hallstatt and Austrian country

On Tuesday, we took a little break from trains, cities, castles and so on to catch up on sleep and do some local exploring. Davis' step-mom is from a small village named Vocklamarkt near to Salzburg. We stayed with his step-great aunt and spent time more time with Gerhart, who kindly drove us around for the afternoon.

After some coffee and hardy bread smothered in butter, Davis and I explored Vocklamarkt for a bit. Davis had spent several weeks during the summer while in high school here. He remembered parts of it and had interesting stories to go along with being a teenager running amok back in the day.

too cute, couldn't help myself

old protestant church on the hill

view from the hill, isn't it lovely? the catholic church is the center of town

so glad he puts up with all my walking (and other nonsense)

Davis' favorite goulash made by Gerhart

In true Davis-hobbit fashion, after our exploring Davis had a second breakfast of goulash. He claims it is the best in the world. Try as he does, he cannot replicate it's awesomeness. Shortly after, Gerhart came to drive us around. There was a lot of silly road construction in the area. We were going to see more of the Austrian Lake District, Salzkammergut, but made it only to Hallstatt and Attersee. It was fantastically gorgeous! And more reason to return, which our hosts insisted we do so.

so popular is Hallstatt, they put in parking lots with nice views

Hallstatt is a tiny little mining town (and maybe fishing too?) tucked around the rim of a glacier lake. It's popularity has exponentially grown as of recent. Probably due to Rick Steves, which I will have more to say about that later. So funny though to see people consulting Rick Steves guide books for every step they took, including for choosing ice cream flavors. But it doesn't explain the sheer volume of Chinese and Japanese tourist. In fact, Hallstatt is so popular to the Chinese people, they built an identical town in China. If you don't believe me, google it.

it was like disney world. but way better. and they didn't charge 10 bucks for a drink.

freaking cute. and a little crazy.

center of town

Of course we walked around a lot. Way back when Davis and I were dating, we took a trip with his cousin to the Olympic Peninsula of Washington. It too has glacial lakes, very pretty as well. Davis told me about Hallstatt way back then and told me he would take me there one day.  And he did.

view from the cemetery

The thing he remembers most of Hallstatt is the bones. Because ground space was so limited, everyone who could afford to be buried was only allowed a certain span of time in the cemetery before they were dug up. A nice fellow decorated the skulls and kept them with the femurs in this little room. So, we saw the bones.

send us your bones

Then went for a refreshing beverage lake side before heading to back towards Attersee for dinner.

proof we were there. not just stealing images from the internet

how'd you get to be so fine?

stop being so cute, Hallstatt

we played golf too (jk)  just stopped there to look about

could have stayed right there all week

This is the view we enjoyed at dinner. Davis and I both the most delicious buttery fish we have ever put in our faces complimented by beer and a fantastic view. Seriously, it was ridiculous gorgeous with perfect weather.

The next day, we headed to Munich!

Salzburg!

Hello Salzburg. You are truly lovely. In nature, two of my favorite things are mountains and greenery. My little nature loving heart could not have been more thrilled to see this beautiful area complete with old stuff!

We met up with Davis' step-uncle, Gerhart, and did a walking tour of Salzburg. We walked a ton on this trip. I should say that I also love walking.

unicorns, because they are really awesome

We left the train station and walked through Mirabell gardens to get into the famous part of Salzburg. The entrance was guarded by unicorns, always a good choice.

Davis catching up with Gerhart

Hello Salzburg. Complete with castle.

famous pedestrian street

Salzburg has it's charm for sure. However, when you aren't shoppers or good at buying souvenirs, walking through these pedestrian streets with shops becomes a quick affair. Everyone else seemed pretty content shopping, but neither one of us were interested in that. 

Mozart's childhood home

As stated previously, Austrians love their musical heritage. Mozart lived in Salzburg as a kid. This was his house. We didn't go in it because they have a castle too. Castles are cooler than houses. We did try the famous Mozart chocolate they sell in almost any store in Austria. Not bad, Mozart.

Salzburg's Cathedral

I just couldn't and still can't get over how incredibly beautiful their churches are (probably expensive). It makes meeting in a school gym/cafeteria for our local church an interesting experience. Can you imagine if someone time traveled from one of these churches to ours, which did meet in an elementary school. What they would think? It's kinda funny to think about.

old chapel in the old cemetery

Now, to Hohensalzburg! There is the tram option or you can walk up. Of course we walked. It was a good walk. How did they manage those steep hills in the winter with non-modern-grippy-shoes?

the way up

Excellent spot of a castle if you ask me
and it was for it was never conquered until dumb Napoleon

one of the gates

a castle needs be cute too, right?

it's pretty from the top, am i right?

After receiving an informative but quick tour of the castle, we made our way across the crest of the hill through the forest. You can see parts of the wall and different views of Salzburg.

why do i always make my neck crooked in pictures?!

After our lovely stroll and vista viewings, we headed down and spent the rest of the afternoon drinking in beer gardens.

I apparently drink the slowest

happy boy at Stiegl, a favorite of his

this thing was heavy. and good.

And what better thing to do after you've eaten and drank beer... eat and drink more! We finished out our time in Salzburg at Mullner Brau beer garden at the Augustinian Monastery. And by the way, the weather was perfect for the rest of the trip.

Vienna-2

I know y'all are so eager for more! And you are in luck. Because I am a ding-dong, I pulled a muscle in my back last night picking up Ingrid. Therefore, going into work today would have been impossible. Ever tried to move a pregnant woman with an epidural with a bad back? I haven't tried and decided that I probably shouldn't. I feel bad about it but I gave Davis a pretty good show of how long it would have taken me to just bend down and put the baby on the monitor.  Just so you know, it IS a good idea to use your legs for lifting not your back.

So day two in Vienna!

a golden Strauss, Austrians love their music heritage

We went to the park across the street from our hotel to see this golden guy. Davis remembers having a picnic here years ago with his step-family. Davis and I both love classical music. It was fun to be in a culture that embraces it everywhere. Although, it seemed a lot of people just turned on the radio to American top 100 station, irregardless of age. We listened so some HORRIBLE music with some people just because it was American. Since we rarely listen to popular music, I couldn't believe how incredible terrible lyrically and musically it was. It always makes me wonder if life imitates art or the art imitates life. Either way, popular music today does not speak highly of either one. But that is a total side note.

Schobrunn Palace

We spent Sunday morning touring the ginormous summer/country side getaway of the Hapsburgs. It's really in the city but at one point it was just a hunting lodge until Maria Theresa took over. I found it funny all her daughters were Maria something. I don't know if that was a ego thing or tradition or totally normal. Despite the weather, we also toured their gardens. Davis and I both really love gardens. We were more excited to wander around outside than inside. Inside was mostly tribute to Maria Theresa, the infamous Sissi (who really just seemed odd and vain), and the hard working Franz Joseph--- and their fancy decor. By the way, the gardens are free except for the zoo, green house, and hedge maze.

from the balcony, gardens behind

fancy water fountain

opposite end now, hair up from walking

View of the palace and Vienna. See St. Stephen's Cathedral? Yeah, it's cool.

funky awesome tree growing.

they, like Davis, were obsessed with Roman ruins.
they had these built in the garden to look like ruins

Roses working on making a tunnel

After walking nearly every path, we headed back into town. Davis needed to eat some Wiener Schnitzel when in Wien! It was huge and yummy. And of course, beer with every meal!

discreet photos means mouth full and
head cut off

back into St. Stephen's

Being that we were around the corner from St. Stephen's, we popped back in. There was less people and still just as epic.

Sacher torte at Hotel Sacher

Not that a giant schnitzel wasn't filling enough, we decided to pack in the famous sacher torte  with some coffee. By the way, coffee there is amazing. You pretty much can only get lattes as a basic coffee, no complaints here. This chocolate and apricot cake is famous and good, although people complain it is dry. It is a tad dry by some standards but it was still delicious. Can't go wrong with three of my favorite things: coffee, fruit, and chocolate.

Stuffed to the brim and the sun starting to peak out, we walked around even more. With the festival over, the tents were mostly taken down and less people lurking about.

Opera house

 This is the Vienna opera house. They show the current performance on the screen out front. There was a large crowd sitting there watching. One day, when we go back to Vienna and don't have to pack like vagabonds, we would like to go to the opera here.

Rathaus/government stuff from the Volksgarten

epic statues on everything make life more epic

the Theater

Austrian banners on the Rathaus

Rathaus means council house. But generally considering how corrupt most government activity is (in my opinion), Rat house works just fine in my mind.

epic statues//modern EU signs

perhaps the home of giant?

 The following pictures are mostly from in and around the Hofburg, the palace in Vienna.

I love old buildings. Personally, I think most modern architecture is rather ugly. Especially from the 70s, which seems like all of the science buildings on campus were from then. Davis and I always had to learn in ugly buildings. Again side note.

view from our room

So thus concludes Vienna. Monday morning we caught a high speed train to Salzburg.