Ah Vienna. The cultural center of the world during most of the classical era. Of course I'm sure Italy and France would argue this point, but we're in Vienna so we're arguing it's here! We arrived via "Rail Shuttle". The train system here is very advanced. Expensive, but advanced. We had concerns leaving Munich that due to the landmark floods taking place throughout Europe that we wouldn't be able to even get here. The tracks to Salzburg have been shut down due to the flooding and we heard service would be interrupted. But all it did was make us a bit late. The train travel through the countryside in excess of 230km/h in buttery smooth silence.

We arrived and noticed something, all the buildings are old. Not 1960's old, but 1760's old. Like, almost every building looks like it witnessed a time of horse drawn carriages, powder white wigs, and the dramatic fall of the corset. It is quite neat as you feel very connected with history. This is especially true downtown in an area called "The Ring". It is here where the world famous Vienna Opera House is located as well as a number of churches, university, and the museum quarter. It is also where you will find a lot of tourists from literally everywhere. It is a massive tourist district with high end shopping, lots of gelato and schnitzel with loads of patios for sitting and enjoying a coffee or beer, which are both the same price by the way so the choice is truly yours. It seems most people here choose the beer. The buildings are grand and many are being restored all the time. There are an abundance of horse drawn carriages all around this area constantly pulling people everywhere. The horses are just as well dressed as the drivers. The churches here are stunning with some impressive stained glass work. What's really nice to see is the abundance of parks and green space available to anyone who wants to sit. On a Wednesday afternoon these parks were full. They are very well taken care of with loads of bike paths everywhere. It seems that the cyclist has just as much clout on the road as the car for there are almost as many dedicated paths and traffic lights for them as there are for the motorists. Vienna definitely encourages walking and cycling over cars and it shows.

When looking at the amount of festivals taking place it is quite dizzying to take in all the activities. There are a lot! We briefly bumped into Vienna pride by the museum quarter where they had setup mock beaches, and the Bicycle Festival. Yes, a huge festival for urban cyclists. Not douche bag extreme mountain bikers or spandex clad triathletes. Regular urban cyclists. They even had bike polo games under way.

We also had to pay a visit to the Swarovski Wien ("Wien" is how Vienna is pronounced here) store. This is where Swarovski is based after all so they had to have a place that signifies their presence here in Vienna. Luckily they did. The place is a 3 floor store with many items that are not to be found in any store anywhere else. They also had on display many unique art pieces such as crystal encrusted carp and dragons, the wall of crystal panthers, and many over the top fashion statements as well. I lost Anna there for a bit. 

Walking along the Danube river was pleasant. It reminded us that aside from the classical history of Vienna there is a vibrant contemporary art culture here as well. The graffiti artists here take their art very seriously, and it seems the gov't lets them. There are some impressive pieces of art along the river that literally cover all the walls along the river path. This isn't a place you will find a lot of tourists. A number of little cafes and restaurants are located here with mostly locals and artists taking in the scenery and gathering to discuss their art. A number of photo and video shoots seemed to be happening while we were there as well. Vienna has always been a hub of creative thinking and ideas, something that hasn't changed in close to 300 years.

One of the great sites of Vienna that we fell in love with is Schonnbrun Palace. It is truly a palace. Originally commissioned as a hunting lodge in the early 1700's this palace was built to accommodate 1500 comfortably. It is truly massive! This palace has a great history all it's own. It was in this palace where Mozart gave his first concert to the royal family at age 6. It is also where President Kennedy met with the Russian Prime Minister Khrushchev for peace talks in the 60's. Napoleon spent some time here in the early 1800's the two times he conquered Vienna. The palace is truly grand both on the outside and inside. We took a grand tour and had a chance to explore the interior and learn all about it's history and some of the interesting people who lived there and ruled Austria. The rooms are large enough for grand balls and concerts and has seen it's fair share. The detail of all the artwork and construction is exquisite right down to the ornate stoves used to heat each room. Sadly we have no pictures to prove our point, as we were not allowed to take any.

What's even more impressive than the palace are the grounds themselves. As grand as the palace is (oh it's grand) it is a mere spot on the landscape of the grounds that surrounds it. These sprawling gardens go on for several kilometers. Grand fountains, 3 story aviaries for birds, huge sprawling green houses, a labyrinth, hedge mazes, large statues of naked men & women in togas, and loads of paths and flower gardens that just go on and on. We spent a great deal of time here and decided to settle on a bench, read, and become part of the environment. It was truly relaxing and enjoyable. The best part of this all is, if you don't take the tour, the gardens are free to anyone who wants to visit.

At the end of our exploration of the palace we took in some true Viennese culture by watching a show at the palace. In one of the palace's many halls a chamber orchestra was performing as they do every evening. They were a 15 piece orchestra performing pieces by Mozart and Strauss. The performance included opera singing and ballet giving the evening a good mix of entertainment. With no microphones or any amplification it is similar to what a classical performance would have been like in Mozart's time.

Vienna is an incredible place with so much culture and life everywhere. No wonder the UN picked it as the #1 place in the world to live. It's blend of history and contemporary art is exciting to see. Definitely a must see on anyone's travel list.

See you in Prague!

  

We stopped quickly in Munich for a few days before taking off to Vienna. Munich was vibrant, lively city filled with a lot of multiculturalism. We enjoyed the scenery and of course the beer! Who could forget about the beer! At any time of day the old town was packed with massive crowds.

 We also checked out the BMW Welt (Museum). There were two parts to the museum, the showroom where you can pick up your brand new car straight from the factory, as well as marvel at the new cars for BMW, the second part is the actual museum, describing the history of the BMW brand and showcasing their old/new inventions.

The showroom was very much like being at the auto show, but only for BMW, and better since a number of these cars will never make it to North America. Ali fell in love with the latest 118d hatch. All the accoutrements of the 3 series, but smaller and more efficient. Than we saw the Mini section as BMW owns Mini. This is when Anna disappeared for a time. When we caught up with her she was seated in her Mini of choice, "The Baywater" and backup "The Hydepark". Back in Canada they have very different names so I'm hoping we can match them up.

We resisted the urge to buy BMW and Mini souvenirs like luggage and golf clubs, but it was hard. It turns out BMW makes motorbikes as well. They had an extensive display showcasing their motorbikes. They look very different from other motorcycles on the road, still sexy of course, but different.

From the show room we made our way to the actual museum. This is a fascinating building that is any architects dream. Huge walls of thick frosted glass with projections of images all over them. It is practically an art gallery. They did a great job of telling their story here. Turns out BMW started in 1918 building motorcycles well before making cars. The cars didn't come until the 1930's. They displayed many artifacts of their history here in such a creative and modern way that we were truly impressed and blown away by the execution. The interactive displays showcasing engines, their marketing over the years, their creative process and milestones in their designs and history. The best part of course was interacting with all these cars. The Z8 from the late 90's to the 1938 327. But wait!

There's more! BMW also owns Rolls Royce. The Rolls Royce museum is on top of the main one. We

made our way to see the history of one of the premium car brands in the world! We saw the origins of the brand and learned how they managed to get a lady in an elegant nightgown to be on the hood of all their cars, and who she was…scandalous it is!! Everyone from Queen Elizabeth to Winston Churchill have been part of the history of this upscale British brand.

After navigating bike lanes nicer than car lanes back home, a subway and train system that looks like colored spaghetti we can say we managed to have a good time in Munich.

Off to Vienna!



We had so many pictures we had to break this up into two parts! 1150 to be exact.

Our first stop is Landsberg am Lech!

We stopped over in a tiny town called Landsberg. It was a small charming town and it was also the first day the sun had come out to say hello. We took advantage of this by having a few teas and some cake with Mr. Moo in the market square. As always we walked the town and this time around checked out the super high river coursing through it due to the current flooding all over Europe from the heaviest rain fall Germany has seen in 500 years.

Next stop was Rottenbuch. This is one of the smallest towns we were going through. The town's main attraction was the huge Gothic Monastery Church. This church was nothing like the others, it was insane! Built in 1700 and completed in the 1750's. When you see it you'll know why. We couldn’t stop looking in every direction. I think the pictures speak for themselves, but they can only say so much without seeing it in person. There is also a very beautiful cemetery where generations of families would be buried together dating back to the 1800's.

Our final stop was Fussen.

You could spend a month here and not run out of things to do, mountains to climb, or hikes to explore. It is also the gateway welcoming you to the Bavarian Alps! We were excited as it was the closest to home we have felt since we left. Fussen is the last stop on the Romantic Road, and that is a great way to end it all. Why is Fussen so well known? Well for the castles of course. This is the home of Neuschwanstein Castle, the castle that Walt Disney modeled Disney World/Castle after. The castle was commissioned by King Ludwig II, he was nicknamed the mad king for his need to commission everything on a grand scale. You can fit an entire village inside the castle and still have room for parking, its that big. The second castle was Hohenschwangau which was built by King Ludwig II father Maximilian II. It wasn’t as grand as the previous castle but just as impressive. The views were to die for.

With our two discount cards that the hotel gave us we tried to see what we could do for free. Oh boy did that work out well! We did a luge run that was awesome minus the kids that were eager to run you off the track. The other fun thing we did was the chair lift to the top of one of the Alps. We were carried 1134 meters where we got an amazing view of the German alps. Anna might have been screaming half of the way up. On the top of the mountain we met some mountain goats. One of these horned and hairy pagan looking creatures was out to get us for simply looking at his goatly women. They all have beards so how were we supposed to know?

Our trip was an amazing discovery that showed us what we already knew, Europeans know how to live. They take the time to live their lives and enjoy themselves. This is something us Canadians can definitely do more of and minimize those work hours.

Cheers!



"Ve are on zee rhote" said the non Germans in a fake German accent.

Our Europe adventure was a last minute decision and in no way planned at all, so we leaned on all our friends for information. The Romantic Road was suggested by my friend Shawna and boy does she need my hugs and kisses!

"Romantic Road? What is that?" said the native Germany couple we met on a taxi ride in Chiang Mai, Thailand.

It is 385 km long road with 28 tiny cities, towns and villages that have been kept up from the 11th century. How did they not know? Seems barbaric!

Picture ref: http://www.guide-to-bavaria.com/en/Romantic-Road-Map.html

Here is our 6 nights, 7 days adventure.

First stop, Wurzburg!

Our first quick stop was a town called Wurzburg. It had a river running through it, dominated by the massive castle of Marienberg. It had majestic little wine hubs all over but it felt a little bit too commercial for us. We only stayed long enough to enjoy a local artist and buy his cds.

Next stop, Rothenburg ob der Tauber.

Can you say love at first sight? Because we fell head over heels with this tiny walled city.  Walled City? Yes, there is a huge medieval wall that surrounds the entire city, this means you have to enter through one of four gates that horses used to use. Driving was tricky as it was only made large enough for carriages and people. The entire city is outfitted in cobble stones and the "newer" buildings were built in the 1500's.

We stayed at an amazing little restaurant, yes restaurant. They just opened 6 rooms above the restaurant and were amazing. They are brand new, and completely charming. The staff was super helpful and the breakfast delightful, not to mention the great dinner.

We explored the city day and night. Oh did we mention that this whole trip it was never above 7 degrees and it rained constantly. I guess we forgot to add that part. This little town is super famous for it's Christmas Market, and they don’t disappoint. They had at least 5 huge Christmas stores that put our one in Banff to shame, TO SHAME I SAY! It was in the beginning of June and we just kept wishing it would snow and Christmas would show itself. Most of the Christmas traditions comes from this town, not to mention all the decorations and cuckoo clocks, which are all hand made of course. They were amazing, the hand made art pieces, hand carved with music, singing animals, amazing beer steins. Anna was in tears half of the day.

One exciting thing we did was the Night Wachman Tour (that again our friend Shawna recommended). It was an authentic, hilarious night tour of the town. Describing everything from its history in the dark ages, to the family that still lives in the same building since 1600's and of course why going to hell is actually a good idea.

Following is our stop in Dinkelsbuhl, yes DINKELS.

A town similar to Rothenburg complete with the wall and towers. We walked the wall of the town which took about 2 hrs and it was incredible. The town was much more colourful and amazingly green. One point we got lost and a 5' old German man helped us out. We tried to explain to him we didn’t speak any German, but he didn’t mind talking to us the whole way.

There were of course a few others little towns we stopped in. Each charming in their own way. We saw so many churches, historic buildings and all the beer gardens on the way. We were driving in a VW Golf which was a very fun car. Driving the winding roads made us reminisce of Australia and New Zealand. Only change was that the drivers in Germany are amazing, and follow the rules except of course when on the Autobahn. Autobahn, what a great invention, go as fast as you want; we thought we were until we had everyone passing us at 180-200km/hr. We've never been so afraid to drive slow in our lives, it was GREAT! 

Next Stops Landsberg am Lech, Rottenbuch, and of course the famous Fussen!