Villach threw a thunder storm for us early this morning! Wow. Extremely loud thunder and very bright lightening!
LONG travel day today!
Stay tuned for our version of “Trains, Planes and Automobiles”!!
Villach – September 2, 2015
OK, Plan B! We have booked a cheap flight from Venice to Kos, the train from Villach to Venice and a hotel/apartment in Kos for the first 2 nights. Leaving tomorrow!!
The migrant issue in Budapest has convinced us to change our plans. We purchased flights from Budapest to Kos for September 14th back in June. These have a “no cancellation policy”. However the scenes we are seeing in Budapest tell us that we don’t want to be there at this time. We feel that the cost of the additional flight will be offset by more inexpensive accommodation and meals in Greece.
Kos, is also experiencing migrant issues, but we understand that they are making their way to Europe as soon as they can. We hope they make it safely to their chosen destination!
I found a geocache today, FINALLY. I was shutout in Krakow and Vienna. I find that Traditional caches here are a great challenge since most of them do not post descriptions or hints in English. While I was logging this one Stu was abandoning me as I was skulking in bushes near a memorial to people lost in WWII.
We came across these loaded bicycles. Earl and Sherron, I am sure you guys traveled much lighter than this, right???
We met Clayton and Ngosa for drinks in the center of town. Great insights into life in Austria and Ngosa’s home country of Zambia. She showed us some video of her with elephants roaming in her yard. Very cool! Maureen Sorokowski you would love it!!
The rain has come to Villach and along with it the temperature has dropped significantly. Time to move south!! A sign 🙂
Villach – September 1, 2015
We are having a quiet day in Villach to day. We decided to do some laundry and found a place a few doors from our hotel. We load up one of their 2 washers and get it going. After that we notice the sign that tells us that it is 7.70 Euros to wash and 6.60 Euros to dry. We rethink our idea to do 2 loads 🙂 14.30 Euros is about $21.50 CAD. It is has been a while since we used a laundromat, I guess we are a bit out of touch. Hahaha.
We wander about this nice little town. It is still very warm so we seek the shady side of the street. The mountains make us feel at home 🙂
The also have have a gorgeous river here, the Drava. It has walkways along most of both sides.
There are interesting statuary in Villach. We see this fellow with a view of the river and lovely church just down the river.
These streets are picturesque but not overrun with tourists. A pace we are quite enjoying 🙂
We are hearing about serious problems with migrants in Hungary. Since Budapest is where we have planned to be in the next week to 10 days, we are re planning this period.
Vienna 2 Villach – August 31, 2015
The train to Villach, Austria leaves at 10:22 from Vienna Hauptbahnhof (Main Train Station). We leave the hotel @ 9:35 to walk to the Metro and arrive at Vienna Hauptbahnhof 20 minutes later. The train is there already so we board and get settled in.
A game of scrabble along the way proves I am unlucky. Again!! 🙁
We start to see some really beautiful scenery out the window of the train. Sorry these are not up to someones standards, but I am sharing anyway 🙂 This is at a place called Unzmarkt.
More Austrian country side. Don’t you see Julia Andrews spinning and singing the “Hills are Alive” right here??
We arrange to meet a former co-worker from the Nortel days, Clayton Cornell, who now lives and works in Villach. 2 years ago Clayton came to Venice to meet us. This time we are in his backyard. He and his wife Ngosa decide we should have dinner at the castle just outside of Villach.
We are up for that. This is the view from the castle down to the city of Villach. There are mountains on each side of this town. A bit reminiscent of home.
The views are beautiful. The dinner is also beautiful.
It is nice to have other company for dinner. We do enjoy each other’s company, but we have only had each other as dinner companions for a month now.
It is nice to share a meal with Clayton and Ngosa!
Vienna 2 Melk and Krems – August 30, 2015
Today we are leaving Vienna for a day trip along the Danube River. We take a train from Vienna to a beautiful little town called Melk.
There is a huge Benedictine Abbey on the top of the hill here. It is stunning!! The views from the Abbey are also stunning as it overlooks the Danube River.
We stroll through the Abbey. Some very cool info on the beginnings of this place. It was founded in 1089 when Leopold II gave one of his castles to Benedictine monks from another abbey.
It contains an amazing library. We were not allowed to take photos inside, quite a disapointment. It was unbelievable. We had to exit the Abbey down this spiral staircase.
It goes all the way to the top of the towers and finishes with snakey railings.
We are now boarding the boat for a cruise down the Danube to
another town called Krems. We have heard that this is one of the nicest sections of the Danube. We see this lovely castle alongside the river. It isn’t in ruins, so we feel it being used even today.
There is agriculture along the river too. Narrow terraces line the river. Grapes we are thinking.
It is a very hot day and we see lots of people enjoying the river. A nice little beach here.
Another ruined castle towering over the Danube.
We drop off and pickup some passengers in a little place called Durnstein. It has this beautiful baroque tower and the ruins of a caslte high above it.
We arrive in Krems. One of the first things we see is this. I am posting this to Rob on Stu’s instructions!
It is Sunday and this town is almost closed tight. The streets are deserted and we find it difficult to find a place for a drink. We had planned to have dinner here before heading back to Vienna. Change of plans 🙂
A large goup of elder cyclists goes past us.
Once they are gone, the street is almost deserted.
We head to the train station to head back to Vienna. We will find dinner there. We are reminded that Sundays many many businesses close. Even in Vienna many restaurants are closed as are grocery stores and other shops.
We eat Italian again. We are goulashed and schnitzelled out.
Vienna – August 30, 2015
It is very hot here in Vienna. I think we hit 36c here today. I didn’t sleep great last night due to the heat. We have a fan in our room tonight, so that will be very helpful! We had a full day of trains and boats. We have some great photos to share, but I am feeling too weak to write tonight.
We are leaving Vienna tomorrow for a smaller place called Villach. A former co-worker of mine lives there. We hope to connect with Clayton and his wife for dinner in the next couple of days. We have a 4.5 hour train ride tomorrow, so I will compose our day today. We do have some great photos 🙂
Vienna – August 29, 2015
We are having a tourist free day today. That is, after we go to Vienna Westbahnhof (West Train Station) to purchase tickets for the Wachau Valley trip tomorrow and train tickets to Villach for Monday. We purchase a 24 hour transit pass for all of Vienna’s public transit.
Mission accomplished! We have tickets for both trips! We make our way back to the area our hotel is in.
There is a park nearby that we plan to spend some time in avoiding the weekenders in Vienna 🙂 This park is called the Augarten. It was established in 1614 by Emporer Matthias. It obviously has a long history.
During WWII after the Germans took Vienna they built 2 large concrete towers in this park. They are called Flak Towers. Not pretty structures, they do dominate this park. It is interesting that they are 2 very different looking structures.
From this shot you can see the damage done by the Allies during the war.
We find a spot in an area of the park that has children’s playground
and some picnic tables and no crowds.
We set up our scrabble board and the game is on. It is a trouncing!! Not for me 🙁
We head back towards our hotel as someone needs the bathroom (okay it’s me) It is about 2:30 and we also need a bit of food, so we decide to split, Stu to the grocery store to buy some beer and wine and me to the little coffee/sandwich shop to buy a couple little sandwiches at the little place that Stu bought the great togo coffee yesterday. Simple, right??? NOT. I did not go into the coffee shop yesterday, so I accidentally went into the shop next door. Ordered 2 cordon blues which looked a reasonable size on the picture menu. When I saw what she was about to cook, I tried to stop her, but I guess my “whoa whoa” isn’t translatable in German and she didn’t whoa. So we have 2 monster deep fried schnitzel things!! We give one of them to the girl at the front desk of the hotel. We don’t even finish one between the two of us!
After we eat, another scrabble game spontaneously erupts. I am the victor this time 🙂
Vienna – August 28, 2015 – Evening
We are on our way to find a place for dinner. There is a full moon (or almost). I am trying to take some photos, but the moon doesn’t look as amazing in the photo as it does live! Oh well, imagine a beautiful full moon with a large traffic circle in Vienna, a column dedicated to Admiral Wilhelm von Tegetthoff (prominent naval commanders of the 19th century) in the center, an amusement park behind. The ferris wheel has cars that resemble train cars. Cars, bike, buses and people all scurrying around it.
We keep to the right to find the street with restaurants. We find a place very shortly Zina’s, and find ourselves a table on the sidewalk patio.
A young man brings us English menus. He is followed up by a woman he later identifies as his Mom. We ask the origin of the food. Moma or Zina says “Oriental”. I assume that we both look very confused by her answer and she elaborates by saying Lebanese and Syrian. Interesting, we would never consider Lebanon and Syria as Oriental. We passed another middle eastern restaurant on our walk today and they also described themselves as Oriental??? We are confused 🙂
We order an assortment of starters as this is the recommendation for first timers. Clockwise from the top left we have humus, a zucchini dish, mini calzone, prawns (wrapped thin strips of crispy dough DELICIOUS!!), a spinach dish and a pesto sauce. All accompanied by a selection of breads. Excellent!!
On our way home we see this. It says 4,187 cyclists today and 664,194 for 2015. It has a bicycle pump at the base. I have no idea how they count the cyslists, but have noticed that there are lots of them in Vienna, not as many as Amsterdam, but lots. Amsterdam is actually dangerous place to walk because of the cyclists! 🙂
Vienna – August 28, 2015
We pack up our stuff and hop on the metro to take us across town to our new digs. This one is too far out and only has one decent restaurant within walking distance. We have eaten there already and there is a rule written by Greg Ross about never eating the same place twice! So we move 🙂
We find the new place after quite a hike. It is a very warm day already in Vienna. We are not complaining. We would much rather have the warmth than the cold and rain that we had the last day in Krakow.
Settled in we’re off for more adventures. We have schnitzel left over from dinner that we need to eat for breakfast.
Not far from our new hotel there is a square with a cafe and also public seating. Stu pops in for coffee to go and we sit in the square eating the schnitzel and drinking some very nice coffee.
We use the hop on hop off as transportation. Very hot inside, however the upper deck has a clear roof and will be hot as well. Stu is soaked!
We get off the bus and walk a bit and find a very nice spot. It is shady, lots of public seating and food vendors. We choose “Happy Noodles” 🙂 After we begin eating we notice “Crazy Noodles” on the other side of the entrance to the Metro. We begin to question our decision ……
Oh well, we are quite impressed with our 6 Euro lunch.
We top it off with Zitrone gelato from the Italian gelato place right behind us. This spot is great! Cheap food and all the people watching entertainment you could hope for.
We wander about the Old Town making our way to the Tourist Info office. There is an excursion to some smaller places along the Danube’s Wachau valley that we would like to go on. The young lady in the office is very helpful. We will do this on Sunday!
This is what Rick Steves says about this trip
We then find a spot for a great cold beer and decide that we need another park day tomorrow. A quiet park away from crowds of tourists, a game of scrabble and a picnic. That scrabble game has been quite bulky to lug around, but it does give us lots of fun 🙂 That’s the plan for tomorrow.
We saw a park across from this beautiful church with these orange chairs for people to use. This might be the place!
We spot these hot little numbers from the bus 🙂
As we are walking back to our hotel we see this place. It looks like a modern condo built on a heritage building. A glass box in the sky. I hope they have AC for a day like today!
Vienna – August 27, 2015
Off we go to the city center to resume our Hop On Hop Off Tour. We have decided to go to the Hapsburg Museum.
There are sooo many large beautiful buildings we have trouble finding the correct one. After a couple of tries we are in the right place.
We view the china section first. WOW!! We are not china aficionados or even really interested in it. The displays are unbelievable! The ultimate in Opulence!
The beginnings of towel art. These are napkins that are a meter square and folded very intricately. Can you imagine doing this for an intimate dinner party of 150!??!
We take a break for a bite to eat then continue to the Hapsburg Apartments in the palace. There is a lot of information about Empress Elizabeth and Emperor Franz Joseph. They live a life much different from all of us 🙂
We wander about Vienna’s “Old Town”. Beautiful statues everywhere and nothing that we can read about them. The maps we have don’t mention most of them. Inconsequential I guess 🙂
We are moving hotels tomorrow to one located closer to the city center. Less time walking to and fro.