Vienna and Salzburg, Austria

Vienna, Austria!

After 3 nights in Budapest, we hopped on a train Monday morning and 3.5 hours later we were in Vienna! Our routine for arriving in new cities was very simple, we had the directions to our hostels with numbers, address, etc..then we would get a map at the train station/airport and try to find it ourselves. Well Vienna is a huge city and we spent about 10 min trying to just locate the Train Station on the map so we had some sort of idea of our location in the city. Since we couldn´t figure it out, I approached a man selling magazines and asked if he spoke English, he said a little.. so with my huge map of Vienna I asked him, "Where are we (the train station) on the map?" and he replied with just the name of the train station. So I said, well I know that sir, but where on the map are we and I put it in his face and expected him to point somewhere. Then in German he tried to explain to me something and he kept waving his hand in his face. I rephrased my question a few times and still did not get a helpful response...then out of nowhere I awkwardly and very embarrassed-ly realized he was blind, and shoving a huge map in his face was not helping myself nor the situation. I thanked the man and on my way to find another person to bother, also realized that he was selling nude magazines....So after more failed attempts with 2 different taxi drivers, a delivery man and 3 girls on cell phones, we finally put our finger on that damn train station on the map, and I think it was Adam or myself who found it too...the visit was off to a great start.

Then we arrived at Happy Hostel, and we were so happy. Vienna was much colder though and we just wanted to set our bags down and again, our first priority became finding a meal. We had a relaxing evening in Vienna the first night, and we ate some very delicious Chinese food which gave us leftovers for the next day too. Our room had a tv with CNN in English, which was so amazing, altho for 3 days all they talked about was China/Tibet, Barack Obama and Paul McCartney´s divorce, can you believe she only got 50 million?...Either way, German and Hungarian dubbing just wasn´t doing it for us, so we enjoyed it nonetheless.

Our 2nd day in Vienna was incredible. Again, we were blessed with beautiful weather, and by that I just mean the sun decided to join us..to me though, that´s all I really need a little sol for the soul...there were some small flurries in the morning and some clouds on and off.. but those also provided us with some pretty awesome pictures. Our adventure for the day was quite a few hours touring the Schönbrunn Palace, (and on a whim getting Adam´s ear pierced which really only took a total of 10 min to decide, walk into the place, ask some questions, fill out some papers shove the needle in, and get outa there) it was SO NEAT!! (the castle, haha) We briefly walked through the inside of the Palace, pretty much all 50 rooms we saw were accented in gold and Adam was very sneaky and got some secret video of it (you´ll have to watch the Vienna video)...So, here are some fotos, enjoy..

A not so intimidating Palace guard

There it is: The Schönbrunn Palace, check out those clouds

The backside of the Palace and me

They call this the Gloriette... It is in the Palace´s backyard, and it is beautiful

Those clouds

After our foto sesh of the Palace and the Gloriette, Adam and I realized the tickets we bought were valid for the Labyrinth (not an easy word to spell), also in the Palace´s backyard, and of course, we were down. So we got lost in the maze, actually, I got lost, onlookers helped Adam cheat and I wandered around by myself for a bit. Then after the labyrinth we discovered another brilliant European playground with fun mirrors, like the kind at the fair that make you have super long limbs or a really fat body... there were other fun toys that we spent a fair amount of time playing with because, it was very necessary. More fotos...

Adam and the labyrinth....Shortly after he helped me find the end.

Here are those fun mirrors!

"Tracka Man" (My family will understand)

On our way out, 1 last foto of us and the Schönbrunn

On our way out, there were tons of food booths set up, they love their pretzels, cheese, wheat, pizza, plain, salt, chocolate, etc etc etc.. .yummm

Later that night we just went exploring some more and got to see a lot of the city!

Part of the museum quarter

Stephensdom Church

Boy in front of the Viennese Boys Choir School...2nd best in the world(?) I think


Adam tried so long for the perfect shot, I gave up after a few..anyways, I forget what this place is called, it was golden and pretty though

Vienna treated us well, unfortunately, I don´t feel like we gave ourselves enough time, to enjoy the city or to get to know it. A highlight of the stay there was a dinner recommendation by our hostel.. We were sent to a little Ma and Pa joint around the corner from our hostel that is owned by a Viennese woman and her American husband, from good ol Cali! He was a real character, I think we maybe got 20 words in with him, but he told us lots of stories about nor cal (woo woo represent) and so cal and his highschool and his camping trips and his sisters friend and this and that and we were kept entertained the whole night by shots of apple shnapps on the house and a visit from 2 regulars of Gary and Inge´s restaurante.. 2 very intoxicated Austrians made conversation with us and we were lucky enough to have 1 of them invite himself to sit down next to me, and for 45 minutes ask Adam about 15 times if he was Jewish because of his hair... and then he would reply that he was Jewish also and that he was only 52 years old and the night ended (before his wife called looking for him for the 5th time) with him putting his arm around me and telling Adam´s video camera that he loved me. I´m not sure what it is, I am drawn to old people..especially as dance partners...but I do believe, over some shnitzel and schpatzel, that Michel and I had a moment. (Just go watch Adam´s video and you tell me if there were sparks or not)....We slept great that night, our faces were wind burned and our feet were going to fall off (mine anyways)............

Then before we knew it, we were on yet another train ride, this time through the musical hills of

Salzburg, Austria!

Salzburg is a very quaint, very adorable Austrian pueblo. We could´ve walked around the whole place in a few hours but instead we were very relaxed, and leisurely explored the city. Salzburg is famous for 2 main things: Mozart´s birthplace/residence and for its rolling green hills that are alive with The Sound of Music...based on a true story, it was here in Salzburg that the VonTrapp family lived, played and sang and here where the musical film was shot. The first day Adam and I, naturally, did our own exploring, which of course includes lots of hiking up hills to get to cool looking buildings/castles/churches, and for breath taking views of the city. We had our afternoon coffee (we tried to find Mozart´s cafe but were too cold to continue searching) and didn´t stay up too late that night because we had a special early morning planned out the next day...

Cute, colorful Salzburg

There he is... Amadeus, in his hometown.... Salzburg has just capitalized on his name and they sell these things called: Mozart Balls.. they are chocolate/marzipan ball shaped candies and they have nothing to do with Mozart.. they just put his name on them. I got 2 of Mozart´s balls for my mom. (which I´m sending home with Mark and Patty by the way, you´ll be getting them soon!)

We stayed at a youth hostel, most known for being pretty much themed the sound of music, with the movie playing at various times during the day..upon recommendation, we reserved tickets for the Sound of Music tour through our hostel as well.... I haven´t seen this movie since I was 7 or 8 maybe and I most likely was very uninterested in it at the time, and Adam was in the same boat as me, so.. we didn´t get a chance to watch the movie before the tour which made it a little difficult to get as excited as everyone else to see THE gazebo or the lake.. however, as overpriced and dorky as the tour was (you have to see Adam´s video..our guide was amazing) , we had a really fun time.. they played the soundtrack throughout the bus ride, we saw some incredible scenery and there was a bar on the bus...that is where Adam and I discovered a very delicious brew called Stiegl (Salzburger´s very own)...anyways, enjoy these fotos, maybe you´ll be able to recognize some of these places!

I guess we´re just big dorks too!!

Mirabell Gardens.. the kids danced around the fountain in a scene, Do-Ray-Me perhaps? Anyways, that is the Festung fortress in the background, we hiked all the way up the hill and got denied entrance, but we still got a pretty cool view of Salzburg.

Remember that canoe scene??!!! I didn´t either but everyone on our bus did!! They showed us the clip, it is actually pretty cool, but this is the lake where all the kids tipped over!

And of course, the wedding scene, they were married here.... Although this church is in a town 45 minutes or so outside of Salzburg. We finished our tour with a warming Goulash soup meal and some Apfel strudel to top things off. Again, go watch Adam´s video!

to watch the video....CLICK HERE: http://adamprimack.blogspot.com

The rest of the day was spent warming up in our hostel, some rummy of course, and a few more Stiegl beers at our hostel´s bar...then the next day, we packed our bags and we were headed to our final destination....