Day 21 - AT

Cookie says...
Heading back to London this evening but still got time to do a few things and the hit list included a Sound of Music Tour, a cable car up the Untersberg and hanging around town i.e. maybe another time-lapse...

Waiting for the tour dude to arrive

Checked out and the tour operator picked us up from where we were staying and it turned out that we were the only ones doing it and offered to drop us off at the cable car which saved us some time. The tour was good. I can't say I'm a huge fan of the movie (Austrian's deny it musical status and I'm told it's banned due to containing Nazis). Anyway, we saw the stuff around Salzberg that was used or real to the true story as the tour is more about the Von Trapp famil more so than the movie. Also listened to some original recordings including a rendition of Waltzing Matilda which the guide thought was an English folk song. A bit of yank bashing didn't go astray either...

Stopped off for some more strudel too :P

After the tour we went up the mountain in the cable car and then hoofed it to the top up some slippery and steep slopes in the snow. Neat views though and it was nice to be out in the sun in the cold, quite refreshing.

Seems Hasselhoff has his own Aldi stores

Before heading to the airport we stopped in the town to try for some more time-lapse but it wasn't too good so much to Julie's relief, I pulled up stumps. Did a small amout of souviner shopping (a tea towel for me) and grabbed a snack and some hot chocolate. We walked for a fair bit in the freezing cold (sorry Julie - her hands were red from the cold!) and we found a bus to the airport. Made it to the aiport and checked in and waited for the plane.

Flight was ho-hum and after landing in Stanstead, we trained it to Liverpool St Station and for a station at 12 in the night, damn it was busy! Did some more walking and I swear it was Julie's revenge. Found this hotel in Brick Lane and got into the room. Wasn't the best of inns however at 1 in the morning, you don't care where you're sleeping.

I'll tell you something weird though, it feels like I've forgotten something...

Julz says...
Well, Valentie's Day arrived with a distinct lack of any present for me, but I won't hold that against Cookie for too long :)

The Sound of Music tour was great! I was worried at the start about Cookie sleeping through it all, but once he got talking politics with our guide, he was all good. And, as always, strudel lifted his spirits and sustained him through the many Julie Andrews CDs the guide played for us.

Hike up the Untersberg was interesting in a lack of snow gear, but I was quite proud of myself to reach the top and not have fallen in the snow (even though I must have looked incredibly out-of-place). As a non-snowboarder, I can now understand its attraction, as the snow and view was amazing.

Final afternoon in Salzberg and yup, the time-lapse made its 4th consecutive appearance. But, as Cookie stated, it was abandoned in favour of me keeping my fingers safe from frostbite, which I am eternally grateful for. Final strudel and hot chocolate in Salzberg, short trip to the airport, some small child vomitting next to me in the line to check in, and we safely waved goodbye to Austria.

Arrived in London hungry and tired, and had to walk way too far for the next hotel (no Cookie, I didn't plan that on purpose). Please sleep, come and claim me, this much travelling is way to exhausting!

Day 20 - AT

Cookie says...
Busy day planned today. We wanted to check out some festival halls thingie, the catacombs, a panorama museum, some state rooms and the fortress. Managed to nail all of those sites and noticed Placido Domingo's name on a seat in Festival Halls where you pay a fee to ensure first choice for a specific seat for the year. It was a pretty impressive bunch of buildings and wipes the floor with anything Australia thinks it has.

As the camera gear is a bit heavy, we snuck home to get the computer etc and returned to look over the city from near where a lift goes up to a ridge around the back of the old city. Nice angle however it was a bit hazy so not sure how it will look and it was another cold effort. Hope these all turn out. Headed back to our local and this time had some nice garlic soup, schnitzel with ham and cheese between the meet layers and more of a local beer of theirs. You can probably guess what dessert was...

Julie tried plying me with alcohol and I was none the wiser...
check out the alcohol content!

Julz says...
Another day, another bloody time-lapse! We started out knowing that we had a bit to do before the afternoon, when we would come back to get the stuff that is causing me so much froze-ness. Anyways, the sights were so much better than in Vienna. The fortress was nice, catacombs were quaint and the state rooms were pompous as always.

Festive Halls, although only used for 2 months of the year, is worth every bit of the millions of euros they spent on it. If only our country had the musical history of Austria, I would be in heaven! I seriously considered dragging Cookie to another classical concert, but with tickets almost definately sold out and worth more than I earn in a week, I didn't think I would be that cruel. However, I didn't count on Cookie being that cruel to me - making me freeze through yet another time-lapse. Yup, that puts it at 3 in 3 nights... insanity has definately arrived.

Because both our brains were frozen solid (like the rest of our bodies), we couldn't make a decision about dinner, so we headed back to the fab place from last night. Enjoyed the soup, schnitzel and beer again, and I think Cookie hasn't stopped eating apple strudel since we got here.

Day 19 - AT

Cookie says...
This trip had now officially involved almost all modes of transport excluding boat and hot air balloon. We made good time to get to the train station and boarded for Salzburg. Not a bad journey actually, especially once we'd left what one could only describe as a drab Vienna. It's definitely not a city (in winter at least) that's inspiring so don't know how Beethoven came to pop up here.

Arrival in Salzburg was fairly uneventful and we boarded the bus to go to our hostel. We knew it was a few stops out of town but when the bus kept on going, we discovered we were out in the boonies. In the next town to be exact. It kinda reminded me of New Zealand in an Austrian kinda way but once we found the place, boy what a hostel! It was technically a bed and breakfast but was literally a leading establishment in Austria.

Once we'd offloaded our gear we headed back into town as there was this great looking fortress on a hill that I thought I'd try capturing going from day to night. Actually had fun with people getting in the road of this one - it's amazing how cameras attract people to stand in front of them. Once it was over, we marched around town for about an hour looking for a place for dinner. We ended up bailing and finding a pub in Grodig (our boondocks township). So glad we did this as the tomato soup was soo yummy (think I'm glad Julie let me try some of hers as I had something else), I grabbed what was essentially a mixed grill and Julie picked some schnitzel thing. One of the highlights was the beer. They had some stuff that was potent but was far superior to anything Australia can brew. This was all topped off with some appelstrudel... naturally :)

Julz says...
I am officially in love with train-travel in Austria! We had one of those booths you see in the movies pretty much all to ourselves for the 3hr journey (which, ironically enough, was longer than the flight we took to get to Austria), and so we had space to sprawl Cookies large amount of baggage (yup, he packed more than me!).

Three hours of scenery summed up in one photo

Once in Salzberg, we figured out the buses (no underground here), and caught the somewhat-longer-than-expected bus to the hostel. But it was so worth it! A fab place that beats anything seen previously. We dumped everything but the time-lapse gear and headed back in to capture the castle. However, the only thing I caught was frostbite again, despite consistently walking around this time to maximize body warmth. Why would anyone willingly choose to spend hours taking photos of the same thing?

We then decided to wander around a bit in the city, but neither of us could make a decision about dinner, and so we ended up back near the hotel at the last place we went to - an absolute gem. Best tomato soup and schnitzel ever. If food choice is a competition, I definatley kicked arse with the entree and main decisions, as Cookie spent most of the evening eating my food! Beer was brilliant.

Day 18 - AT

Cookie says...
This mornings mission was to find some big ferris wheel that Julz had read about and I wanted to get to the blue Danube (our family home is Danube Drive). Found the wheel alright... how do you spell tourist trap? And it was in the middle of a theme park that was straight out of the eastern bloc. There were some neat models explaining the history that the wheel and St Stephens (big church in the middle of town) saw including WW2 and invading Turks.

After leaving we found the Danube but it wasn't quite what we expected. Instead of a pleasant river that was blue, it was a fast moving dark mass of water flowing through man made canals.

I've seen cleaner areas in Inala, sorry mum!

We continued our walk into town where we checked out a little more of the city then headed back to the hostel to have a nana nap and get the time-lapse gear.

Mikey, we found a cute outfit for you!

After setting up the computer and camera, we sat chatting, joking and watching the strange looks we and the camera were getting. It was a little cool so it was good to find somewhere for dinner (Wiener Schnitzel and beaf Stroganof - yum). Crashed at the hostel and worked out what we had to do to train it to Salzburg.

Julz says...
Ok, so I admit, the large ferris wheel that overlooked the city was a bit of a dive - but I figured it just re-inforced our view that Vienna really isn't that nice (especially in winter). However, Peter's quest to find the Danube (all bright as beautiful as the waltz claims) was just as uninspiring, so I figure we were pretty even.

We wandered around town for a few hours and then headed back for the camera gear (and a small sleep). Cookie assures me the time-lapses are worth it, but my first experience of one is freezing my butt off outside some whopping great big church getting strange looks from the locals. After the first hour of frostbite, I started asking myself if I was actually insane! Thankfully, we are heading to Salzberg tomorrow, and so we should be able to see what a nice-looking town in Austria is like!

Cookie says it's character building, it's FRICKEN FREEZING!!!

Day 17 - AT

Cookie says...
Woke early and stepped out into Vienna. First thoughts were that we were in Adelaide as everything was closed. Soon discovered that every second person smokes and spits in the street. Also noted that the base of trees in the streetscape are canine lavatories.

First up we headed towards some palace and walked around it through the big (but devoid of life) gardens however it was still a popular location for the locals and tourists alike. Locals were jogging or hiking (with walking sticks of all things - turns out it's called Nordic hiking) through the grounds and tourists were being tourists doing touristy things on a tour.

Next we made our way back into town via tram and underground (it's a quick small network here) and found a monument to Beethoven that Julie was looking for. We saw a nice, big church in our travels and decided to do a sunset time-lapse tomorrow and then for lunch it was a case of when in Rome so we had beef goulash and sacher sausages. Quite simple meals but very nice.

Time for some time-lapsing!

As with my last European trip it was time for some culture. This time we watched a ten piece band with some dancing and singing which was alright.

Me riding on their tram system

Julz says...
First place to visit today was Schloss Schonbrunn palace, and after walking through the large gardens (albeit not as pretty as in summer), we headed into the centre of town.

A garden palace in winter (very colourful and inspiring hey!)

We were stopped by some local concert ticket sellers, and after examining the selection, we decided to treat ourselves to a classical Vienna concert, featuring all the greats (Mozart, Beethoven and Strauss).

Lunch was in a quaint little cafe with traditional Austrian food and warmth for Cookie (who had discovered rather quickly that he hadn't packed as much warm gear as he should have). Headed home for a snooze (via some big arse random church), and then back in for the concert, which was fantastic. Quality classical musical is not hard to find here, especially when you have only the best musicians from the Vienna symphonic orchestra teamed with fabulous opera singers and ballet dancers. Although Cookie claimed he was only bravely sitting through it for my benefit, I know deep down he enjoyed it and appreciated the cultural experience.

From the concert

Oh, and I didn't realise how stupid Cookie can be! (see 'I am a tram' image inserted above)...

Day 16 - AT

Cookie says...
Pretty simple day. Woke early and trained it to Luton Airport where we boarded our flight and landed in Vienna, Austria in the arvo. After finding our hostel we had dinner at a Turkish place on the same block and had a quiet night in planning our assult on the town tomorrow

Julz says...
First day of holidays and after Cookie complained about the size of the bathroom, we were off and racing. Its interesting travelling with someone who actually talks to drunk random strangers on the train.

The flight was delayed but after figuring out the Vienna underground train system, we found the hotel ok. Cookie is such a gentleman, and let me drag my own suitcase across the interesting Vienna pavement (yup, I have waited 6 months for a boyfriend like this). Oh well, maybe he will make up for it tomorrow...