It is snowing like a blizzard in Salzburg!!!

Well,we arrived in Salzburg late last night. It is good to be back in this city. Today, it is snowing like crazy here in Salzburg. We do not see snow like this is Texas so it is really pretty for a change. We have been running around town trying to see as much as we can before we head to Munich tomorrow afternoon. We visited our friend Nadeem who runs the internet café, our artist friend, Igor who was very disappointed as the snow has ruined his mats for his paintings on a busy sales day and we plan on seeing our Italian friend who runs a local Italian restaurant for dinner tonight. I am not ready to leave and I am not sure I will ever be ready to leave. I love this city! But one thing this city is missing is our family and mexican food so I guess we will come home! Tonight, we are going to celebrate New Year’s eve and tomorrow we will spend most of the day here too. Sometime tomorrow afternoon, we will head to Munich as our flight leaves Monday morning at 7:00 a.m. We will try to post more tomorrow. Happy New Year from Salzburg!!

Train 764 to Salzburg

We were able to get a good night’s rest last night so we didn’t wake up as sore as we went to bed. Today was museum day. We were able to go to The Belvedere which is Vienna’s premier museum and saw several Gustav Klimt’s paintings most famous of which is The Kiss. We also went to the modern Leopold museum, the lobby and gift shop of the Mumok and the Architecture Museum. Yes, they have a whole museum dedicated to architecture! Brandon was very happy. Vienna also has a Schnapps museum and a coffee museum, so we see where the Viennese priorities lie. The Architecture museum just so happened to have an exhibit of Australian architect Glenn Murcutt  who is one of Brandon’s favorite architects.

After we had our fill of museums for the day, we returned to yesterdays Café Hawkela for coffee since we enjoyed it so much before. The café was opened in 1911 and run by Leonard and Josephine Hawkela  who ran the café from 1936 up until just a few years ago. It is a legend in Vienna and is known as a local hangout for artist. The owners would even take artwork in payment for food. As a result, the walls are covered in art and still today some of Vienna’s more creative characters are regulars in the cafe. The owners ran the café even into their 90’s until finally Josephine passed away at 91 and the Grandson has taken over. We were able to meet the grandson who couldn’t believe we heard of the cafe from a television show in Texas. We also met a Viennese couple who just moved back to Vienna from Arlington, Texas where they had lived for six years.

Brandon said that the café was his favorite part of Vienna. Mine too!The café culture is a great example of Viennese culture. People from all backgrounds seem to stop their hectic every day life for thirty minutes to sit down and be served really good coffee in a proper cup and saucer on a silver tray, maybe even with a small dessert by a server in jacket and tie, just to visit with a friend or read for a short time before returning to their day. The waiters seem to know the regulars and will even reserve a table around the time they typically arrive just by chance they come in for the day. It is at once formal and relaxed in nature without one ever feeling as they need to be rushed out the door. Combined with the rich tradition that most of the cafes have been open for decades, it is the perfect stage to watch and participate in the Viennese culture.

Train 764 left Vienna at 7:15 p.m. and we were able to just make it onboard right after grabbing a delicious sandwich from a local baker Struck. We are on our way back to Salzburg as we type this entry. It seems like we have been gone a month from Salzburg and six months from Texas. We have a couple of days that we are looking forward to in Salzburg, especially New Year’s eve.

We have arrived in Vienna…and our feet hurt

We made it to Vienna today. We had planned on leaving Budapest at 7am but since we knew we weren’t getting to bed past midnight we opted to sleep in and catch the 9am train here (which means we still only got about 6 hours of sleep).

Budapest was great but being in Vienna is a different world. Everywhere we look there is impressive Viennese architecture, wide pedestrians streets and there are still Christmas lights strung up everywhere.  It is truly an impressive city but we have just been worn out today. Our feet hurt, our backs hurt, everything aches today from several days of nonstop sightseeing and traveling. Even so, we managed to find our way to a pharmacy to buy some ibuprofen (we’re not sure why you have to go to a pharmacy just to buy ibuprofen). We started the day off at a Christmas Market at Schonbrunn Palace (the summer home of the Hapsburgs). After a good lunch and a great experience at Café Hawkela for some coffee we were back to our old selves. We walked (not too quickly) around the pedestrian shopping areas and saw St. Stephansdom cathedral. We also had a great time in the American Bar designed by one of Brandon’s favorite architects in 1908 and still looks great today. Dinner was at Café Sacher with a small bowl of goulash soup and one of their famous deserts. By then, the ibuprofen had worn out and we limped back to our hotel. It is once again approaching midnight and we have so much to see tomorrow but a lot of it will be museums so maybe it will be a little easier on the feet.  We plan on seeing what we can tomorrow and then heading back to our apartment in Salzburg at night so we can get a good night’s rest before New Year’s Eve.

Good night from Vienna…

Bye, Budapest…

 

We are currently in our room packing our bags because we are off to Vienna tomorrow morning. Our train leaves Budapest at 9:10 a.m. I do not think I have ever seen Brandon so sad to leave a city. He is sitting on the seat by the window just staring at the chain bridge. Budapest is a beautiful city. Although most of the country is pretty poor, some of the architecture is amazing and the city is unlike anywhere we have ever been before. Today, we visited Parliament, Fisherman’s Bastion, Matyas Church, St. Stephen’s Basilica, the famous Gerbeaud Café for a traditional Hungarian meal and Castle Hill. We also walked up the famous Vaci Utca and visited the Christmas Market. We will miss Budapest but are excited to see Vienna.

We have had a long day so we better get some rest. We will post more tomorrow. Goodnight!

We have arrived in Budapest!

We are currently sitting in our hotel room about to go to sleep for the evening. We are exhausted as we left Salzburg bright and early this morning. After a six hour train ride, we arrived in Budapest, Hungary shortly after noon. Budapest is different from anything we have seen before mainly because it remained a communist country for so long. There are areas of great wealth and great poverty but the people seem very friendly. The buildings in the area we are staying in are quite impressive and we have a stunning view from our hotel window.

This is our view:

We have limited internet access right now because it is super expensive at our hotel and they charge by the hour so we will post pictures when we can.

A day in Salzburg…

12-26-2011

We are back in our apartment and are packing our bags to go to Budapest tomorrow morning. Our train leaves at 7:00 a.m. and arrives in Budapest slightly before 1:00 p.m. We are excited to see a new city and enter a new country as we have never been there before. We get around really easily in Austria because although we are not fluent in German, we know a lot of words and can ask very basic questions so we do not really have any problems communicating with people who do not speak English. We do not speak any Hungarian however so it will be interesting to see how well we get around. We like challenges and adventures so it should be fun. After Budapest, we are going to Vienna, Austria and then back to Sazlburg for New Years or Silvester as they call it.

I am so glad that we are coming back to Sazlburg because I love this city. It has so much history, Mozart was born here and they have a thriving classical music culture. The city is so romantic with detailed buildings surrounded by mountains and let’s not forget the big white castle overlooking the city. The local residents are very direct and may even seem too serious but once you greet them with a big smile they open their hearts, try to get to know who you are and make you feel right at home. And they do not forget you. Our friends in Salzburg are very smart, educated people who have created their lives with a lot of hard work. Brandon and I have made many friends in this city who make us feel right at home. Of all of the places that I have traveled, Salzburg is truly the most special to me. Perhaps it is because I was able to study abroad as a student at the local University or maybe because the apartment that we rent allows us to experience the city on a new level as we are able to cook meals and see local residents come and go to work. Perhaps it is a combination of all of the things listed above but it has truly captured a piece of my heart.

We took a lot of pictures today as we walked around the city. Here are a few:

As I said before, Salzburg is known for its classical music culture as Mozart was born and raised here. Below is a picture of the Mozart's Geburtshaus (Mozart’s Birth House). Mozart lived in this house as a child with his family.

We walked around the city today. Here are a few pictures:

For lunch, we ate at here:

They have really yummy Goulash soup. It is spicy and full of flavor. Goulash Soup is a traditional Austrian soup.

This is another one of our favorite places in Salzburg. They even visited this restaurant on the Amazing race the season they traveled to Salzburg.

More pictures from the city:

I took this picture for Jill. You could go shopping here:

Below are pictures from an outdoor market area. On some days it includes a farmer’s market but every day there are sandwich, meat and bread vendors.

We will post more later…

Mehr Pictures!

Entrance to St. Wolfgansee – These are pictures from our Lake and Mountain tour.

 

Breakfast at Mozart Café – Salzburg

When you order coffee in Salzburg, this is what you get. A little pot of coffee that holds 3 cups, coffee flavored cream, water, sugar and a little piece of chocolate.

Breakfast included eggs and toast with butter and marmalade with a small glass of orange juice.

Our server, this year and last year.

Pictures!

We haven’t had a chance to upload pictures so we will do our best to catch up with this post.

Our hotel in Munich Le Meridien Munich

 

Outside the Christmas Market at the Englischer Garten.

 

Our apartment in Salzburg

This is the internet café that we go to when we are in Salzburg. Here is the picture of our friend Nadeem.

Here is the crowd of people who have spilled out of a local schnapps producer. Austrians love their schnapps!

Below is one of our favorite cafes, Schatx Konditorei

Austrians love to dress well. Here are a couple of examples of random people on the street.

Afro Cafe

Salzburg Christmas Market

We bought a painting from this guy last year and returned this year to buy another painting for Kelly’s office. He was an extremely nice guy. He has asked Brandon to help him design an entrance to his studio. Woohoo Brandon’s first job in Salzburg.

Silent Night Chapel – Oberndorf, Austria

Midnight Mass at the Cathedral in Salzburg

We will post more when as soon as possible.