Our Bavaria trip - October 2012
We spent the past week touring Austria, Germany and Switzerland and had a great time. We basically had 4 city breaks strung together by trains :). Here are lots of pictures!
Sunday
We arrived at Gatwick a little early, and found no no queues. But better than rushing.
We had a nice plane ride with Tom asleep a lot of it. Boys on one side, K, T and me on the other. K and I played cards and bought a new story telling game. Tom is getting used to sitting in his own seat. Super short passport control, yippee!
Welcome to Vienna!
We got through all the lines and went out to get a car to the hotel. It is our official policy to take a taxi from the airport, 1) to see some of the town, and 2) to save some walking energy for sight seeing after check-in. The taxi cabs are all smaller, so we needed two taxis to get to the hotel. Since collectively our family speaks about a dozen German words, we showed the drivers the hotel name and address on a piece of paper. It didn't work. 10 minutes later we pulled up outside an airport edge hotel in a neighboring town (not Wien) that the drivers nodded emphatically that was correct. It is hard to argue when you don't speak the language. These drivers were both a generation older than us, and did not speak any English. I really thought I had booked a hotel in the city, but I was beginning to doubt. After a few minutes (after we were dropped off and the taxis had raced away) we figured out that we were in a town called Fischerman (or something like that) but at the same address as our Vienna hotel. The clerk at the hotel called us taxi, and this time we made in down to the city and the correct hotel.
Our hotel is in the city center,at al the high-end shopping, and very near (walking distance) to the sites of St. Stephens, the Palace, and museum quarter.
pension versus hotel
When booking our hotels for this trip back in August, I did not understand the meaning of the word Pension. I simply thought it was a name. It turns out that a pension is different from a hotel in that it is not full service, but actually provides pretty much exactly what we needed: 24 hour front desk, free breakfast, nice and simple rooms. They are family run, only a hand full of rooms, and tend to be a little dated. We stayed in one hotel - in Munich - and it was beautiful, and in face felt almost decadent after the pensions by being filled with London bath products and providing turn down service among other things.
Sunday night we spent walking around Vienna, checking out the sites, eating a yummy dinner of traditional food at a restaurant with stuffed heads, birds, boars, paws... all over the place. At 5:30 when we got to the restaurant that had only a few people eating, the host asked if we had a reservation. When we answered no, he sighed saying, "never a good idea." He allowed us a table, but we had to promise to be done at 7pm. We agreed :). After dinner we saw a few more sites, and then took a horse ride around the city.
Not speaking German is difficult in Austria and Germany, but not impossible. We knew how to say hello, good morning, day, night, please and thank you. But that was about it (as it is with Italian and French too). But, unlike in France and Italy when many people speak only their native language, most Germans speak English too. So if you look at someone with a totally blank face after they have said something, most of the time they will then repeat it in English. This is less true of the older population, but our generation and younger seems at least bilingual.
Monday
We had breakfast in the hotel (I mean pension) and then headed out to explore the museum campus walk through the Palace area. We had lunch in restaurant outside of the Spanish riding school which is at the winter Palace. The summer Palace, or Orangery, is out in the countryside. There are horses and carriages everywhere here, and in many spots around Vienna. After resting for awhile we decided to take a ring tram tour of the city. The tram was supposed to be in circle, but I guess we got on the wrong one. We took it 20 min to end of line. At least there was a playground!
Walking home from tram stop it was getting cold as sun was going down. We needed a break from all the scnitzel and sausages, so had Chinese for dinner (best we have had in Europe). Then we did more walking and then out for ice cream. This has been a very typical city break for us, but we have 3 more cities to go.
Tuesday
We had a nice breakfast at the hotel ten out to make our way to the tram. We stopped at the Geox store for W and T, and now all 4 Riley children have the go-to London kids' shoe. I'll try to take a pic of them lined up.
We had flown in to Vienna, but the middle of our trip centered around trains. The Vienna train station is beautiful - plenty of good food, shopping, no security, no passport control and everything looks clean and bright, which we experienced in most of Vienna. You just buy a ticket, get on the train and show your ticket to the conductor once they make it to your carriage. We have about 2 1/2 hours to Salzburg.
We arrived in Salzburg late afternoon. We grabbed a few nuggets while Paul figured out where hotel was. Our Hotel right in centre if town. How amazing is Salzburg!! We thought Vienna was beautiful and it was. It is filled with old and pretty buildings and statues of Mary and Jesus all over. Vienna is dominated by high end shopping on the pedestrian street and the huge palace and museum campus.
Salzburg is all old world charm. And the most amazing fortress! We walked all around the charming village, took a steep train ride up the mountain to the castle. Of course I wouldn't let the kids anywhere near the edge! Went back down toured the shopping area, saw Mozart's birthplace and went down to look at the river. For a snack we ate some hot roasted chestnuts that are so popular. We then went over to the restaurant in our hotel for yet another traditional dinner.
Wednesday
We left early on Wednesday morning to get on to the 9:09 to Munich (the trains leave every hour). For some reason our train was cancelled so we decided to take a local train leaving a few minutes after ours was scheduled. We took the first train 4 stops, then needed to transfer to a train that waits for the one we were on. It was rather stressful to hop to the next train. The sign said platform 4 but it was really leaving from 2 in about two minutes! We made it, and I am sure it was entertaining to watch. Vienna train station was beautiful. Salzburg much smaller. No security or passport control in either. Munich station bigger but older. Again no passport control or security. So no Germany stamps in passport :(. Dogs are welcome all over Bavaria. But need to be on leash and have muzzle. They can even go on trains!
We got to Munich and took taxi to hotel. I had a hard time booking Munchen hotel and this one was beautiful but not in city center like we had been in Vienna and Salzburg. We dropped out bags at hotel then took the U to the city center to explore. We walked through all the pedestrian center and had (another!) traditional lunch. Again, lots of high end shopping. Walked some more and then back to hotel taking time to walk through the English garden. We rested a bit then walked to another beer hall. This one had a kids area and it was crazy! British kids are all so well behaved but the German kids were throwing toys everywhere!!! We ate a ton of our usual: beer, sausage, clear soup, Weiner schnitzel and pork roast with crispy skin.
Anyone want to charge the Ipad? Pretty hard when Anjie left the charger and converter in Salzburg. Luckily tech support is always on duty and fixed the error (bought a new cord).
Thursday
We got up early to get a taxi to the central station to get on our sight seeing bus going out to the castles. We had booked the tour through the hotel. Ludwig II is called the "Dream King" and his castles were amazing. Once again the weather was foggy as it has been whole trip but somehow cleared to beautiful blue sky. In the afternoon we had the most incredible views of Neuschwanstein.
Our bus tour guide was fantastic, and during the long day we were learning German and Bavarian history, hearing about Ludwig's love of swans,vases and Wagner. The tour was amazing but a ver long day. We walke around the center center after getting off the bus at 7pm, and hit another bier hall this one owned by Hacker Pschorr.
Friday
We all slept in until 8am. This hotel has awesome black out curtains. We relaxed in the hotel and then I slowly packed as Paul took everyone out to get breakfast at the grocery store. Salami and danish/rolls was what they picked :).
Fall weather in Austria and Germany
We had consulted The Weather Channel before packing, and the weather was supposed to be near 60 nearly the whole trip (cooling down all across Europe on Thursday). But, they didn't take into consideration the fog that is so prevalent here in the fall. It is much closer to40 unless the sun burns off the fog.
Our train to Zurich is 4 1/2 hours but we are looking forward to seeing more of Alps. The castles in mountains were beautiful and we hope to see pretty land on this train. We took the U back to the train station and arrived in record time, so grabbed some coffee and snacks at the station. The train was fun. It was long,but a nice train and even had outlets to use our brand new charger cord. Paul and Tom had a long lunch in the dinning car, and later I took Jack (then subbed him out for Kate to finish his chicken curry.)
Our last country and city - Zurich
This time we walked to hotel as it was not far from the station or city center. After checking in at the hotel and relaxing for a bit, we started our walking tour. It doesn't take long to see the highlights of Zurich, which is good since we had very limited time. Wefollowed the suggested path and saw the Zurich opera house (the opera house from quantum of solace), Lake Zurich, the churches, and of course more shopping. After all of our traditional food this trip, we opted for dinner at McDs. We went to the hotel and watched Bambi in German.
Saturday
We awoke to find it raining :(. We got ready and went down to breakfast. Then we took a tram to the airport. The tram is a 40 minute ride to the airport. At one point halfway in to the trip, we didn't realize everyone had gotten off the tram. We are used to being on trams with few people. One man looked back and said, "you don't speak German, do you? Because they just announced that there are technical difficulties on this tram and we need to move to the one in front." We thanked him and briskly made it to the waiting tram just in time. and we were happy when we saw airplane to make sure we were in the right place. The Swiss Border officer seemed confused with us, but finally decided we were ok. Our flight was just over an hour to Gatwick, then the train and taxi home.
We had a wonderful time exploring new cultures on our half term break.
We spent the past week touring Austria, Germany and Switzerland and had a great time. We basically had 4 city breaks strung together by trains :). Here are lots of pictures!
Sunday
We arrived at Gatwick a little early, and found no no queues. But better than rushing.
We had a nice plane ride with Tom asleep a lot of it. Boys on one side, K, T and me on the other. K and I played cards and bought a new story telling game. Tom is getting used to sitting in his own seat. Super short passport control, yippee!
Welcome to Vienna!
We got through all the lines and went out to get a car to the hotel. It is our official policy to take a taxi from the airport, 1) to see some of the town, and 2) to save some walking energy for sight seeing after check-in. The taxi cabs are all smaller, so we needed two taxis to get to the hotel. Since collectively our family speaks about a dozen German words, we showed the drivers the hotel name and address on a piece of paper. It didn't work. 10 minutes later we pulled up outside an airport edge hotel in a neighboring town (not Wien) that the drivers nodded emphatically that was correct. It is hard to argue when you don't speak the language. These drivers were both a generation older than us, and did not speak any English. I really thought I had booked a hotel in the city, but I was beginning to doubt. After a few minutes (after we were dropped off and the taxis had raced away) we figured out that we were in a town called Fischerman (or something like that) but at the same address as our Vienna hotel. The clerk at the hotel called us taxi, and this time we made in down to the city and the correct hotel.
Our hotel is in the city center,at al the high-end shopping, and very near (walking distance) to the sites of St. Stephens, the Palace, and museum quarter.
pension versus hotel
When booking our hotels for this trip back in August, I did not understand the meaning of the word Pension. I simply thought it was a name. It turns out that a pension is different from a hotel in that it is not full service, but actually provides pretty much exactly what we needed: 24 hour front desk, free breakfast, nice and simple rooms. They are family run, only a hand full of rooms, and tend to be a little dated. We stayed in one hotel - in Munich - and it was beautiful, and in face felt almost decadent after the pensions by being filled with London bath products and providing turn down service among other things.
Sunday night we spent walking around Vienna, checking out the sites, eating a yummy dinner of traditional food at a restaurant with stuffed heads, birds, boars, paws... all over the place. At 5:30 when we got to the restaurant that had only a few people eating, the host asked if we had a reservation. When we answered no, he sighed saying, "never a good idea." He allowed us a table, but we had to promise to be done at 7pm. We agreed :). After dinner we saw a few more sites, and then took a horse ride around the city.
Not speaking German is difficult in Austria and Germany, but not impossible. We knew how to say hello, good morning, day, night, please and thank you. But that was about it (as it is with Italian and French too). But, unlike in France and Italy when many people speak only their native language, most Germans speak English too. So if you look at someone with a totally blank face after they have said something, most of the time they will then repeat it in English. This is less true of the older population, but our generation and younger seems at least bilingual.
Monday
We had breakfast in the hotel (I mean pension) and then headed out to explore the museum campus walk through the Palace area. We had lunch in restaurant outside of the Spanish riding school which is at the winter Palace. The summer Palace, or Orangery, is out in the countryside. There are horses and carriages everywhere here, and in many spots around Vienna. After resting for awhile we decided to take a ring tram tour of the city. The tram was supposed to be in circle, but I guess we got on the wrong one. We took it 20 min to end of line. At least there was a playground!
Walking home from tram stop it was getting cold as sun was going down. We needed a break from all the scnitzel and sausages, so had Chinese for dinner (best we have had in Europe). Then we did more walking and then out for ice cream. This has been a very typical city break for us, but we have 3 more cities to go.
Tuesday
We had a nice breakfast at the hotel ten out to make our way to the tram. We stopped at the Geox store for W and T, and now all 4 Riley children have the go-to London kids' shoe. I'll try to take a pic of them lined up.
We had flown in to Vienna, but the middle of our trip centered around trains. The Vienna train station is beautiful - plenty of good food, shopping, no security, no passport control and everything looks clean and bright, which we experienced in most of Vienna. You just buy a ticket, get on the train and show your ticket to the conductor once they make it to your carriage. We have about 2 1/2 hours to Salzburg.
We arrived in Salzburg late afternoon. We grabbed a few nuggets while Paul figured out where hotel was. Our Hotel right in centre if town. How amazing is Salzburg!! We thought Vienna was beautiful and it was. It is filled with old and pretty buildings and statues of Mary and Jesus all over. Vienna is dominated by high end shopping on the pedestrian street and the huge palace and museum campus.
Salzburg is all old world charm. And the most amazing fortress! We walked all around the charming village, took a steep train ride up the mountain to the castle. Of course I wouldn't let the kids anywhere near the edge! Went back down toured the shopping area, saw Mozart's birthplace and went down to look at the river. For a snack we ate some hot roasted chestnuts that are so popular. We then went over to the restaurant in our hotel for yet another traditional dinner.
Wednesday
We left early on Wednesday morning to get on to the 9:09 to Munich (the trains leave every hour). For some reason our train was cancelled so we decided to take a local train leaving a few minutes after ours was scheduled. We took the first train 4 stops, then needed to transfer to a train that waits for the one we were on. It was rather stressful to hop to the next train. The sign said platform 4 but it was really leaving from 2 in about two minutes! We made it, and I am sure it was entertaining to watch. Vienna train station was beautiful. Salzburg much smaller. No security or passport control in either. Munich station bigger but older. Again no passport control or security. So no Germany stamps in passport :(. Dogs are welcome all over Bavaria. But need to be on leash and have muzzle. They can even go on trains!
We got to Munich and took taxi to hotel. I had a hard time booking Munchen hotel and this one was beautiful but not in city center like we had been in Vienna and Salzburg. We dropped out bags at hotel then took the U to the city center to explore. We walked through all the pedestrian center and had (another!) traditional lunch. Again, lots of high end shopping. Walked some more and then back to hotel taking time to walk through the English garden. We rested a bit then walked to another beer hall. This one had a kids area and it was crazy! British kids are all so well behaved but the German kids were throwing toys everywhere!!! We ate a ton of our usual: beer, sausage, clear soup, Weiner schnitzel and pork roast with crispy skin.
Anyone want to charge the Ipad? Pretty hard when Anjie left the charger and converter in Salzburg. Luckily tech support is always on duty and fixed the error (bought a new cord).
Thursday
We got up early to get a taxi to the central station to get on our sight seeing bus going out to the castles. We had booked the tour through the hotel. Ludwig II is called the "Dream King" and his castles were amazing. Once again the weather was foggy as it has been whole trip but somehow cleared to beautiful blue sky. In the afternoon we had the most incredible views of Neuschwanstein.
Our bus tour guide was fantastic, and during the long day we were learning German and Bavarian history, hearing about Ludwig's love of swans,vases and Wagner. The tour was amazing but a ver long day. We walke around the center center after getting off the bus at 7pm, and hit another bier hall this one owned by Hacker Pschorr.
Friday
We all slept in until 8am. This hotel has awesome black out curtains. We relaxed in the hotel and then I slowly packed as Paul took everyone out to get breakfast at the grocery store. Salami and danish/rolls was what they picked :).
Fall weather in Austria and Germany
We had consulted The Weather Channel before packing, and the weather was supposed to be near 60 nearly the whole trip (cooling down all across Europe on Thursday). But, they didn't take into consideration the fog that is so prevalent here in the fall. It is much closer to40 unless the sun burns off the fog.
Our train to Zurich is 4 1/2 hours but we are looking forward to seeing more of Alps. The castles in mountains were beautiful and we hope to see pretty land on this train. We took the U back to the train station and arrived in record time, so grabbed some coffee and snacks at the station. The train was fun. It was long,but a nice train and even had outlets to use our brand new charger cord. Paul and Tom had a long lunch in the dinning car, and later I took Jack (then subbed him out for Kate to finish his chicken curry.)
Our last country and city - Zurich
This time we walked to hotel as it was not far from the station or city center. After checking in at the hotel and relaxing for a bit, we started our walking tour. It doesn't take long to see the highlights of Zurich, which is good since we had very limited time. Wefollowed the suggested path and saw the Zurich opera house (the opera house from quantum of solace), Lake Zurich, the churches, and of course more shopping. After all of our traditional food this trip, we opted for dinner at McDs. We went to the hotel and watched Bambi in German.
Saturday
We awoke to find it raining :(. We got ready and went down to breakfast. Then we took a tram to the airport. The tram is a 40 minute ride to the airport. At one point halfway in to the trip, we didn't realize everyone had gotten off the tram. We are used to being on trams with few people. One man looked back and said, "you don't speak German, do you? Because they just announced that there are technical difficulties on this tram and we need to move to the one in front." We thanked him and briskly made it to the waiting tram just in time. and we were happy when we saw airplane to make sure we were in the right place. The Swiss Border officer seemed confused with us, but finally decided we were ok. Our flight was just over an hour to Gatwick, then the train and taxi home.
We had a wonderful time exploring new cultures on our half term break.
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