Christmas in Austria 2016

[Jesus Jones]

More from Hallstatt:

[Jesus Jones]

Back in the historic part of Salzburg, we spent our last 3 days there from Christmas Eve to Boxing Day before venturing on to Vienna.
We did a little shopping around the Xmas market, listened to the bells ringing which started with a few high-pitched rings to the low-down tones in the melody. After Christmas Mass in the Cathedral, we hit the stall for hotdogs and hot chocolate with mulled wine!

[Jesus Jones]

A final wonder around the market for breakfast and lunch.

[Jesus Jones]

For our last day in Salzburg we ate pizza, bought a caffismo Nespresso machine for 69 euro (8k in Thailand) and said farewell to our apartment.

The room was definitely on a slope!





Roman age stairs.



I wasn't imagining it as i slammed the anchors on when approaching the toilet!


Bye bye Salzburg, Hello Vienna!

[david44]

Never seen so little snow in Salzkammergut

If you have access to a vehicle

Bratislava /Pressburg in German the Slovak capital is neaby and the village of Horny Bar which attracts all sorts

More my taste is Mayerling and Neusiedlersee south of Vienna

Klosterleben in Heiligenkreuz in the Vienna woods, Austria

PS was Jeremy Corbyn your waiter in top pic?

[Jesus Jones]

So we bid farewell to Salzburg - which we thoroughly enjoyed, and headed to Vienna by train.

It has been over 20 years since I last caught a train and I can't recall being as relaxing as this was. I find it tough to sleep while flying or travelling as a car passenger, but within 20 mins I was gone. Plenty of room too!

After stocking up the fridge, we headed out for snap!

[Jesus Jones]

Fortunately, our daughter loves walking and not once has she moaned. I often stick her on my shoulders because I feel she must be a little weary, but she never asks.
After scouting around the shopping area and stumbling upon a shoe shop, I have searched high and low for we opted for some street food

[Looper]

Good effort and nice pics. Ta

[Jesus Jones]

We stumbled upon this joint called 'Hungry Guy Steet Food'
I ordered a beef burger and the wife shared fish and chips with my daughter. Again, prepared and served with fag in hand! The order wasn't what we expected either. Both served in a thick pita/kabab style bread. A novel idea for fish and chips. Was blood tasty too!

[Luigi]

Great stuff mate.

My dad took me around Europe on a 2 month road trip when I was 16, and I plan on doing the same, but stretching it to 3 months, with my kid.

This place has now made Ze Map.

[Jesus Jones]

Great stuff mate.

My dad took me around Europe on a 2 month road trip when I was 16, and I plan on doing the same, but stretching it to 3 months, with my kid.

This place has now made Ze Map.

It is a beautiful place, but a pity there hasn't been much snow. Out of the two locations we've stayed putting day trips to one side - as there's much more than the photos I've placed, Salzburg for me was the better. Seven days here in Vienna would've been too much. Glad we opted for Salzburg as our mainstay.

[katie23]

Thanx for the pics, very nice.

Have you explored Stadtpark? Karlsplatz & Karlskirche? There's also a museum near Kaelskirche (free on Sundays, I think). Votivkirche & the platz, Sigmund Freud platz, I think. Votivkirche is a gothic style church, similar to St. Stephen's. You can also try to go to Linz, another city. It's ~1 hr by train frm Vienna, good for a day trip. Or go to Bratislava in Slovakia. Cheers & safe travels!

Addendum: in Vienna, try Schonbrunn palace & zoo, Belvedere Palace & gardens (tho I don't know if gardens are nice in winter). The Prater is a big amusement park, with a big ferris wheel, ifyou're into that.

[kingwilly]

Great trip, was there a reason you chose Austria ? Or just because.

[Jesus Jones]

Great trip, was there a reason you chose Austria? Or just because.

^^ Thanks, We visited many places within Vienna, churches etc. Will post pics when I've been through them.

Always fancied Salzburg from the historical point of view, and I wanted my daughter to experience snow as she seems to have a fascination with it which has stemmed from the Frozen movie. We hoped to ski too but there wasn't enough snow in the area at the time

Between Salzburg and Vienna, we preferred the quaintness of Salzburg where everything was at your doorstep more or less. Just walking around the historic square was interesting in itself compared to the bustling shopping style of Vienna.

No particular reason for our the choice. My wife has visited Czech, Italy and other European countries. Austria was somewhere we both hadn't visited.

As nice as it was, we are not sure we'd go again. Good to be back actually.

[Jesus Jones]

My first decent night's sleep since my body clock recorrected itself, and I was looking forward to breakfast!

It has to be said, for the daily cost of the rooms, the breakfast on offer was pretty lame. Most average Thai hotels outdo this place even with its western offerings. We're staying in the junior suite, but the place in Salzburg 750euro 5 x nights (City Center Apartments) was much better than this.

Salzburg


Breakfast in Vienna!





Coffee tasted sweeter than some crappy Thai places!






Standard rate prices.
The coffee was truly awful. Despite all the excitment over coffee in Austria, thus far it has been mediocre, even some of the exclusive places!

[Jesus Jones]

After breakfast, we headed out for an early stroll. My daughter was fascinated by the trams and asked if they had schlond poofaas (exhausts, if you haven't watched Barbie's Dream House). We walked around some of the narrow cobbled streets taking a few snapshot and jumped on a tour tram shortly after.
I believe this stone talks about a place/house of the Gestapo where many Austrians died and the ruins left behind? My German isn't great.












Just for the record, I am crap at photography and all these are snapshots with my iPhone. The wife took proper shot with her camera and most of mine was video.

[Dillinger]

great thread JJ.

ive always fancied St Petersburg myself. Do us a favour and do us a trip report from there next Chrimbo mate

[Jesus Jones]

After a guided tour on the tram which lasted about 30 mins, we headed into town again to do a little shopping and find a place to eat. I was very impressed with my 4-year-old who had walked a total of 120km over the last 5 days or so, give or take the odd shoulder ride.

We eventually landed on a place called "Heindl's Schmarren & Palatschinkenkuchl". We hit the cellar as upstairs was packed. It was conveniently next to a sexy lingerie shop, hubba hubba!

[Jesus Jones]

After lunch, we headed back to the hotel to freshen up before a night-walk around the shopping area. Much more interesting at this time for our daughter. There were plenty of places selling hot cocoa and mulled wine for a quick warm up here and there. My hints at the various lingerie stores we passed didn't work either. Besides, Agent Provocateur was stupidly expensive!

[katie23]

Thnx for the pics. Good to see Vienna again. I stayed there for a short time, makes me feel nostalgic. I liked the Gluhwein (mulled wine) they sold in xmas markets, and the brezeln (pretzels)! Most of your pics are from the first district, which is touristy and very expensive. In Kaentnerstrasse (maybe you passed by that street), there were lots of shops - H&M, Zara & Intimissimi, which is a lingerie shop. Didn't buy there, since their stuff was so pricey, but they were nice! Lol. I lived in an outer district w/ a lot of Turks. During Sat, I would try to shop before the Turkish moms did, or else, they would finish all the produce since they had lots of kids! One of the first phrases I learned auf Deutsch: Ein kebab, bitte. Mit alles. Scharf ein bisschen. (One kebab, pls. With everything. Chili powder only a little). Cheers & tnx for bringing back good memories!

[Jesus Jones]

^Yes, we did pass there, and I bought a couple of cheap shirts from H&M as it happens. Real man size in XL! Intimissmi had some tasty stuff which we purchased from at the Salzburg. As you mention, quite pricey in places. I'm not sure of the place you named but I'm guessing it's where Gucci and Hermes are situated.

[katie23]

^probably. I didn't shop at Gucci or Hermes, too far above my level! Kaentnerstrasse is abig street in the city center, one of those streets that radiate from Stephansplatz and I think opens into the Opera house and the 'ring'. There was a nearby Starbucks near the Opera, don't know if it's still there. I liked the fish & chips (take-away) from a stall of Nordsee. Would buy there while walking along the 1st district. I sometimes went to church in Votivkirche, as they had an English-language mass, officiated by a very nice British priest. I would guess that you saw the Parliament, the Rathaus, theatre, Uni of Vienna - they're all beside each other. And the museums - kunsthistorisches & naturhistorisches museum! It's a great place. I didn't go to Salzburg (and now I regret it), but I did go to Linz and Bratislava. Thnx for the memories.

[fishlocker]

Jesus, Jones that church is huge compared to what I recently found in Pakse Laos. Surely it must be humbling to the average souls as they have passed throughout time. Good heavens, a green sent for your time to post your vacation photographs for us to enjoy.

[Chico]

Great pics and thread

[Jesus Jones]

Tnx ^^
For our final day in Vienna, we explored St.Stephen's Cathedral taking the elevator to the rooftop, during the walk there we stumbled upon this old Church. There was quite a long queue waiting when we arrived at St. Stephen's but the power of the church organs during morning mass made it worth the wait.