Spring Break 2008

Hello All! So here it is. Finally my spring break post. I'm going to break it down into 3 parts (because we visited 3 different cities). I've already posted the pictures from our trip up on webshots so you can see them there.

So first is Vienna, Austria! As I said before, we left for Vienna (Wien in German) on the afternoon of Monday the 17th. Luckily, on that particular day, the BVG started running again so it was much easier to get to the airport with the trains running. The flight was short and comfortable. It only took us a little over an hour to arrive. We arrived shortly after 4. The airport is located out of the actual city, so we had to take a subway train into the city. Something funny though...I din't realize how close Vienna is to Bratislava. In the actual airport, we saw several signs show the direction to Bratislava haha. Anyway, the ride was about a 45 minute long ride and put us just north of our hotel. We walked about 15 minutes south to our hotel and checked in. The room was comfortable, but sort of small. The hotel was nice....and they gave us breakfast every morning which was nice. After we settled in, we headed out in the square located next to our hotel and looked for a place to eat. We found a nice restaurant and had a pretty good dinner. After dinner, we just walked around the rest of the square and down some of the streets to then to our hotel.
On the next day, we had a full day of exploration ahead of us. We woke to snow in the morning. Then the sun came out, then it snowed a little more, then the sun came out again while it was snowing and it eventually stopped snowing and became a really nice day. We took a good look at the subway map and headed to the central square in the city called "Stephans Platz." We just walked around the old city looking at old cathedrals and churches, we saw the Holocaust Memorial, the Opera House and the former Imperial buildings of the old Habsburg Imperial Dynasty. We decided to go look for the City Crypt, which contained the remains of the Imperial Habsburg family. It took a while to find, but the crypt was awesome. It contained many members of the former royal family and even the brother of Archduke Franz Ferdinand (the royal family member that was murdered and started WWI). After that we walked around the park next to the Imperial Center and checked out a little bit of the Museum Quarter. We walked to the government district from there and saw the Austrian Parliament building. From there we grabbed some pizza for lunch then found our way to a subway station so that we could head to the face Habsburg Palace known as Schloss Schoenbruenn. There was a nice Easter market at in the courtyard in front of the Schloss. We paid for a self-tour of the Schloss and walked around with hand-held guides for about 40 minutes. Then we went to the back of the Schloss were there was an even larger courtyard filled with Gardens, and a Labyrinth with a maze and a huge Grotto with fountains and high up on a hill was a look out point. We walked up, took some pictures, then took a nice hike back to the bottom. We then headed back to the hotel for some rest before getting some dinner. I took a nap, then we found some dinner in the square again.
The next day, it started off snowing again. We didn't have too too much time, because we need to catch an afternoon train to Salzburg, but we had just enough time to go to the Imperial Treasury. This building held all the family jewels and possessions of the Habsburg Family. From there, we went back to our hotel to grab our stuff and head to the train station. I enjoyed Vienna, because it was a lot different than Berlin. Even though the cities are both very old, it was much more visible in Vienna. Most of the city wasn't destroyed in WWII like Berlin was. The streets are still smaller and the buildings old. Another difference was the language and religion. Although Austria is a German speaking country, there some subtle differences like word placement, or different slang. Also, Vienna and most all of Austria is far more religious and extremely Catholic. Signs of Easter were all over the city. It was a nice visit.

This day, Wednesday, we were traveling to Munich, Germany to continue our vacation. However, I purposely scheduled a brief stop in Salzburg, Austria. Salzburg is a smaller city in Austria. It is located right on the border with Germany and is an Alp town. It too is very old, and in fact was an important city for the Roman Empire (as was most of Germany and Austria). We had about a 3 hour train ride to Salzburg. The ride was nice, we shared a compartment with 4 other people (two of them got off a stops shortly after leaving Vienna). The views from the trains were awesome. The land in Austria is much different than that of Berlin or norther Germany. There are many more hills and mountains. It was easy to see snow capped peaks and some alp mountain ranges as we rode to Salzburg. The ride was comfortable and nice. We arrived at the station and picked up a city map, then walked to the city center. The main station was a mere 15minute walk to the city. Along the way, we took pictures and admired the landscape. Mountains and valleys with snow surrounded the town, as well as the river Danube that ran through the city. High on a mountain face, lay a one of the oldest fortresses in Austria. It looked liked an old white medieval castle. We didn't have enough time to walk up and explore it, but it was amazing to see. We walked through the streets and looked at the markets, the architecture, and the people. More Easter markets were taking place here. The streets in Salzburg were also old and narrow. There were many tourists (mostly Italian). The main church bells started ringing as we were standing in front, admiring. We looked in the church, however services were being held so we didn't disturb them. We walked around the side of the church to find more easter markets and a life-size chess board painted on the street. Two older gentlemen were playing and a small crowd had formed to watch. Then about a million little church-kids came running out of the church past us and into a building on the other side of the square. We continued to walk and looked a fountain on the edge of the square. Then a bird flew by Court's head and she almost was so shocked she started to scream "Jesus Chr..!" but she contained herself, because at the same moment a nun was walking by us. I laughed...hard haha. We walked around a little more, then bought some treats at one of the market stands and made our way back to the train station. We grabbed some dinner at BK, of all places, then waited for our connecting train to Munich.

Our next stop was Munich (München in German). The train from Salzburg to Munich was much shorter, only about an hour and a half. We had regular seating this time instead of a compartment. It was ok, except there was this family with two kids that kept fighting and were completely out of control. So Court and I just donned our iPods and that took care of the problem. We arrived in Munich at about 8:30. The travel office was closed in the train station, and we couldn't find any street or subway maps to help us find the street our hotel was on. So we just decided to take a cab. Funny thing was, that our street was actually right next to the train station and our cab ride lasted a whole 30 seconds (still cost us 3 Euro). We checked in and settled into the room. The room was nice, and was much bigger than the last. However instead of one big bed, they gave us two twin beds and just pushed them together. They also provided breakfast in the morning and the stay wasn't that bad.
On the first day, Thursday, the day also started off a bit snowy but then the sun came out in full force and it was a gorgeous day....for a little while. We figured out the map and subway plans and headed off to the English Garden. The English Garden is the "Central Park" of Munich. Its filled with fields, and paths, and trees, and there is a giant lake/pond in the center. In the center, you can find many beergardens full of people and bustling and lots of people in paddle boats out on the lake. There were a few people strolling through the park, or on the bikes, or with their dogs the day we went. Also during the summer, there is a "man-made wave rider" where you can try surfing located next to the creak that runs through the entire park. We went to find it, and found the waterfall and it was really beautiful. Then in the blink of an eye, the sun ducked behind some clouds and it literally started snowing like crazy. It looked like a blizzard. I took a few pics and you can see them online. We then wandered around some more trying to find a subway station and get ourselves orientated. From there we headed back to the hotel quickly then went to the BMW Museum.
The Museum was actually under construction, but located across the street was the main BMW showroom and exhibition. This building was huge and had multiple floors. It displayed the latest BMW technology, as well as all its car models, motorcyles, and F1 car. We spent a lot of time here and I took tons of pictures. It was definately one of the highlights of the trip. Across the street was the the BMW headquarters and the main BMW factory. Both buildings were huge and you can see them in pictures I took. After that we wondered around the neighborhood for a little while, before heading to one of the main tourist attractions. For dinner, and our next stop, was the Hofbrauhaus. This is the probably the most famous brew house in Germany. It has been around for centuries and hosts one of the largest tents during Oktoberfest. We ate in the traditional beer hall and had the traditional Munich meal - Weisswurst (White bratwurst) mit Senf und Pretzeln (with mustard and a pretzel). We also had the traditional Hofbrau home brew beer. It was delicious and came in the famous tall 1 litre mugs. The experience was similar to that in Hamburg, and probably would have been more fun if the band was playing and it was outside during summertime, but it was still enjoyable.
So that pretty much concluded that day. The next day we went to the Altesmuseum which housed old renaissance and reformation paintings and artwork. This was a nice museum that we spent about an hour at. After that we headed over to the Olympic Park (Olympiapark). This is a huge area, turned park, that was the main site for the 1972 Olympic Games held in Munich. On the site is an indoor soccerfield, a hockey rink, an events theatre (kinda like a civic center), a pool, and the main soccer stadium. We were able to tour and walk around the soccer stadium for a little while and even saw where the olympic flame was kept burning the games. Also on site now, is an aquarium and the main tv tower in Munich (called Olympia Tower). With in the tower is a small museum for rock music, a rotating restaurant, and two observation decks. One of the observation decks is indoors, the other is outside. We took the long ride up to see the view. Up there we got some pretty good pictures (despite the wet windows form the rain) from both observation decks. We also checked out the little museum and wanted to have dinner at the museum. Unfortunately they here taking a break and weren't serving dinner so we just got something to drink then left. After that we made our way back towards our hotel and got dinner at nice Italian restaurant. The food was very good and the service was nice too.
The next morning we got up for breakfast, then headed to the train station to catch a train to the subway. The Munich airport is another airport that is located quite a ways outside the city. It was about a 45 minute ride. We arrived at the airport and checked in with no problems and a good chunk of time to spare. I read the paper and Court read some of Harry Potter (im trying to get her addicted like I am). The flight was short and comfortable. We tried to work on some of the word games and puzzels and stuff in the paper, but I eventually gave up haha.

Overall, the break was amazing and a lot of fun. We had no real problems and the weather was great for most of the trip. I was glad that I had the opportunity to spend it with Courtney and that we got to see some of the best places in Europe together. It will be hard to top.