Spotless in Vienna

If you thought Singapore was clean, you ain’t seen nothing yet til you’ve been to Vienna. It was totally spotless and all the buildings have been cleaned til they looked shiny and new even though they were built hundreds of years ago.

One of the many grand buildings of the Habsburg empire

As is our practice by now, we took a guided tour by the tourist office to get a brief overview of the city/ country and also to decide which sites were worth paying to enter.

We visited the Imperial Apartments which I felt was about the same as the State Apartments we visited in Innsbruck, nothing really stood out for me. There were 19 state and private rooms of Emperor Franz Joseph and Empress Elisabeth, aka Sisi which we were allowed to view. In its entirety, it is a whole lot bigger than the one we saw in Innsbruck but because we are only allowed entry to those few places, the things we saw were more or less the same. Most of the apartments today house a range of museums as well as offices, government ministries and the presidential chancellery, so at least they are making full use of the really huge buildings.

We also visited the Sisi Museum which I felt was rather small. There were only six rooms for the public to explore the personality and life of the empress, who was apparently quite the sensation in her day. The exhibits included a copy of the dress she wore at the ball given before her wedding, her jewellery, parasols, fans etc. From the exhibits and write-up, I kinda got the impression that modern day Austria doesn’t like her much, though people back then were probably quite captivated by her. She did look rather pretty from the various portraits of her though she probably suffered from some type of depression. She was probably a bit like Princess Diana, thrust into the life of a monarch from a young age and unable to cope with it.

Beautiful sunset

Other than walking around and doing the usual touristy stuff, one of the more interesting things we did was to watch opera at Wiener Staatsoper. They sell standing tickets for only 6 euro! It was definitely an affordable and easy way to try out opera and see if you enjoy it. I must say people there really dress up for the opera, it was really obvious who were in the cheap seats, or in our case, the standing seats. Of course this doesn’t mean that everyone was lovely, we witnessed this lady who was late in entering but who insisted on getting to her seat though she should have waited til an appropriate break. The usher was helpless and it just goes to show that all the money in the world cannot buy someone manners. It was really horrible for a while cos she just refused to listen and kicked up a fuss. In any case, the opera we caught was Parsifal which was super long, clocking almost five hours in total, and not very accessible. Needless to say, we didn’t stay til the end and left after catching 2 acts (or at least I think it was 2 acts, I could be wrong). Perhaps next time, we should choose a more accessible opera like Carmen or La Boheme and give it another go.

Inside the opera house

On the whole, Austria was pretty enjoyable and it was nice to have that as our last stop before we ventured to Eastern Europe. 

Wandering around the birth place of Mozart

Salzburg is perhaps best known for being the birthplace of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart as well as being the setting of The Sound of Music. The historic centre of the city of Salzburg is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site though honestly I can’t say it appealed much to me, cos I feel that most other old towns in other European cities look similar to it. Ah well, I guess I’m no expert so leave it to them to decide.

The Sound of Music came out in 1965 (when Singapore was kicked out of Malaysia, coincidentally), and after 46 years, there are still Sound of Music tours you can join! Since we weren’t that big fans of the movie, we skipped those tours and instead did a city tour with the tourist office. Can’t say I remember anything specific from the tour but the guide was friendly enough.

Beautiful ceilings in Salzburg Cathedral

We actually wanted to visit the Residenz State Rooms but they were closed for an event which was a major letdown. On hindsight it would probably be the same as any other state apartments but still it would have been nice if we were able to go in. We also visited the Hohensalzburg Castle which has a completely preserved fortress dating from 11^th century. The castle didn’t interest me much thus we left after a short while.

Man on golden ball by Stephan Balkenhol in Kapitelplatz

As Salzburg was the place of Mozart, you can imagine how much they were trying to milk it. Other than visiting his birthplace (we stood outside but didn’t pay to enter since the two of us would probably not be able to identify any works by him) and residence, you can also buy all kinds of items with his name on it like Mozart chocolates, Mozart dolls, Mozart mouse pads, the list goes on. It was quite kitschy actually but also funny at the same time.  

The one thing we did enjoy a lot though was the Hellbrunn Trick Fountains. The ticket allows you to enter the palace as well and since we had some time to kill, we went there for a short while. The palace was nothing to write home about but the trick fountains were fantastic. There was a fixed timing to enter the trick fountains and we were had a guide who would explain each item to us. It was a lot of fun and we did get quite wet though not as wet as some others in the group. Its not called trick fountains for no reason, water jets out from all sorts of hidden places and it was quite fun to try to spot where the water pipes were hidden. It’s also quite an amazing feat of engineering since it was all built almost 400 years ago! Definitely a fantastic way to end our stay in Salzburg though we did get a bit wet!

The long and winding road…

That leads to Grossglockner!

Grossglocknerstrasse aka Grossglockner High Alpine Road, the longest and most splendid alpine highway in Europe, and one of the biggest tourist attractions on the continent, was where we drove along on our way from Innsbruck to Salzburg. The Grossglockner High Alpine Road actually leads into the Hohe Tauern National Park, and naturally to Grossglockner, the highest mountain in Austria.

Taking the high road

The road is closed from November to May and since it also leads into a national park, you do have to plan properly if you want to be able to enjoy the sights. We were lucky that they actually opened the road in April so we could make a detour there before arriving at Salzburg. There are restricted hours to drive along the road and we managed to arrive there in time to see some of the sights before we had to leave. We didn’t do any hiking trails as we were pressed for time, we did see some people cycling and wondered how on earth they will be able to leave by the stated time. It was still pretty cold when we were there, so camping also doesn’t really seem to be an option as one could easily freeze to death overnight I think.

One of the more memorable stops we made was at Edelweisspitze, the highest point on the Grossglockner High Alpine Road. Coaches are prohibited on the around 2km Edelweiss Road and actually even cars need to be parked at the car park and you have to make your way up by foot. We didn’t climb all the way cos I felt that it was too far and I was freezing. The scenery was beautiful though and it was a pity that we didn’t have enough time to complete the whole route.

Up in Edelweisspitze

After the adventure of Grossglockner, we arrived at Salzburg pretty late in the evening. We did manage to squeeze in time for a dinner at a beer garden, Augustiner Brau, which we took forever to find. This place has been serving beer since 1622 and given that a 5 litre mug option is available, you get an idea of how much beer one can drink here.

Holds up to 500 seats and lots more beer mugs

As it was pretty dark by the time we reached there, we weren’t sure if we had found the correct place, especially since the entrance was totally non-descript. Luckily a bunch of people spilled out from the door and it appeared we had reached the correct place. Once we got in, we had to walk down a couple of steps before entering what must be the largest indoor dining area I’ve ever seen. What was interesting was that you could actually bring your own food in and just buy the beer, otherwise there were also individual stalls (think something like our food courts), selling various types of food such as sausages, roast chicken, bread etc which you could buy and bring to your table. As for the beer, you could either do self-service, which is cheaper, or pay slightly more and have a waiter bring it over for you. We chose the self-service option, partly because we weren’t sure how to call for a waiter and it seemed like everyone was doing self-service. For self-service, you pay some lady at the counter and she will bring you a mug, after that you bring it over to a guy who will pour the beer straight out of the barrel for you. It was great fun and there were loads of locals just drinking their beer. I can’t remember the price now but it was cheap and the atmosphere was great. A pretty good way to end the day I must say.

Underneath the Golden Roof

Innsbruck was where we weresupposed to meet up with some friends from Singapore who were on their honeymoon, so we were pretty stoked about that. Unfortunately their tour schedule got changed and we couldn’t meet in the end which was a little disappointing.

We visited Schloss Ambras just before we reached Innsbruck. It was originally a medieval castle but Archduke Ferdinand II converted it into a Renaissance castle for his wife, Philippine Welser who was of lower social rank.

Gardens at Schloss Ambras

Armouries

The castle is famous for its collection of armouries, with armours from the 15^th century which originally belonged to Emperor Maximilian I and Archduke Sigismund. The Spanish Hall was pretty amazing and I could totally imagine holding fancy banquets there. The Wunderkammer (Gallery of Wonders) was quirkily interesting. It was like a form of after dinner entertainment to show off a room full of artifacts from all over the world. There was also a room full of portraits, but I didn’t really like them and the staff kept staring at us as if we would make off with one of the paintings. We saw couples taking wedding photos in the grounds, and it was fun to see them posing. One of them had a wooden frame which the photographer used to create some interesting photos. Pretty fun to watch.

Miniature all carved out of wood

Highly decorated safe

Grand hall

The town of Innsbruck didn’t have much that really interested us, so we took a walking tour, organized by the tourist office to learn more about its history. Innsbruck is most famous for its Goldenes Dachl, the golden roof on top of a three storey balcony. It is made up of 2657 glided copper tiles and was built to serve as a court box during the reign of Emperor Maximilian I. Itwas probably really awesome back in the day but it honestly didn’t do much foreither of us. There were some guys dressed up in traditional Austrian costumes having a stag party while we were there which was pretty entertaining to watch.

The "Golden Roof"!!!
A gold roof, thats all folks!

We also visited the Imperial Apartments which were pretty impressive. The Austrian Empire was pretty powerful back in the day and the Imperial Apartments was a showcase of that power. The Giant Hall, so named due to the series of paintings of Hercules, was a magnificent festival and ceremony hall in the alpine region. Portraits of Maria Theresa’s 16 children hung in the Giant Hall, to demonstrate the fertility and political power of her regency. Unusually, the paintings are hung by birth order, and not by sons first, which was probably quite modern in its time. Since women were expected to give birth and it was their duty (not the men’s) to ensure the lineage continued, having 16 children was considered quite a feat. The ImperialApartments owe its present appearance to Maria Theresa, with the rococo façade,the chapel and state rooms all reflecting her sense of taste.

No photos, no photos!
Sneaked in one...

We also went for a short day tripout to Swarovski Kristallwelten which was just a short drive outside of Innsbruck. It was designed by Andre Heller in 1995 and the Entrance Hall has the largest crystal ever cut, 310,000 carats in total, on display. The Crystal Dome which has a total of 595 mirrors, was quite a surreal experience. Within the gallery, there were mini crystal monuments by Swarovski of the world’s wonders, it looked interesting but nothing really stood out. There was also a rather nice park outside which was probably great fun for families with kids, too bad most of the stuff is really only for children otherwise we would have had quite a good time playing. We honestly expected more out of this place, but in the end it felt like an excuse for a glorified warehouse selling Swarovski, probably not worth making the trip there unless you are a big big fan.

Christmas trees and jelly fish made of crystals

After the beauty of Tschagguns,Innsbruck was a bit of a disappointment but we managed to get quite a lot of laundry done, which was a good thing afterall I guess. Hopefully the birthplace of Mozart would be much better.

Tscha… what?

Tschagguns, a little village in the Montafon valley was where we decided to go see if the hills are indeed alive with the sound of music. It is one of those little towns where it seemed everybody knew everybody. We had dinner at a restaurant one night and the waitresses were just chatting with everybody! It kind of felt like we were intruding on some big dinner party, but nonetheless we enjoyed ourselves.

Spectacular hiking trails

Beautiful place to see the alps
(much cheaper than Switzerland)

Great food!

The weather was great when we were there so we managed to do some hiking as we had planned. Since it wasn’t peak season yet, there weren’t many tourists around and we had the trails more or less to ourselves. As Tschagguns was such a little town, we felt really safe even when we were walking around with no one else around. The downside is that there were very few restaurants/ cafes where we could stop and take a break. All in all, a very pretty town to get some fresh mountain air before heading back to a big city again.  

Unobstructed views of greenery

Free alpine water