October Break in Austria

The hills are alive with the smells of würstel and pretzels. For October break we roamed around the cities and countryside of Austria by foot and train and took in its beautiful architecture, rolling hills, music, and the light and healthy traditional foods. The airplane gods were not on our side for the start of this trip as our flight out of Bucharest was delayed for 6 hours. Thankfully our Romanian bank card gets us into a lounge at the airport complete with unlimited chips and drinks so that helped pass the time.

After a late sleep in, we headed out into Vienna and found ourselves at Bitzingers- Würstel & Co. We had the Käsekrainer mit Brot und Senf/Ketchup (cheese-stuffed sausage in a hollowed-out roll with mustard/ketchup) for the very reasonable price of 4.60 euro each. Mike had a beer and I went for the tiny bottle of Moët because it’s not often you can get champagne at a sausage stand. I didn’t think the price could be that high because of the setting but the bill escalated quickly.

Mike really wanted to see an opera at the Vienna State Opera house but I put my foot down when tickets were at least 200 euros for the nosebleed section. Instead, we showed up at 7:00 pm right when the opera was about to start and bought standing room tickets for 10 euro each. This ticket line started over 2 hours before we arrived so by the time we climbed to the top of the opera house, all of the good places to stand were taken. We listened to about 30 minutes of “A Midsummer Nights Dream” while standing bent over at a 90-degree angle to catch a glimpse of the stage. As enjoyable as that was, we left and toured ourselves around the empty opera house hallways and balconies instead.

This is a heavy dinner of traditional Austrian food at Brezl Gwölb. Probably not the best meal to have before standing in awkward positions at the opera. Pictured above are wiener schnitzel, potato salad, lingonberry jam, pinzgauer kasnocken (bread dumplings with cheese), pretzels and a drink called beer.

Quick leg rip around the grounds of the Schönbrunn Palace, the modest holiday home of some former Austrian rulers.

Sacher-torte, peanut/caramel creme brulee, and cappuccinos at Cafe Central in Vienna. The Sacher-torte was invented in 1832 and this one tasted like it was made back then.

The incense-filled air of St. Stephen’s Cathedral in Vienna.

From Vienna, we took the train to Salzburg where we stayed in this Airbnb with an excellent balcony. Pictured above is a view from one of the bridges that is held together by those locks.

Unable to eat more sausages and schnitzel, we went out for delicious Columbian food at Bistro de Marquez before walking up the Kapuzinerberg hill for a view of the Hohensalzburg Fortress pictured above. The next day we visited the fortress and were treated to captions and writing that sounded like they were written by a 3rd grader such as “This was built 1000 years ago” and “This is an old bed”.

Ever heard of Mozart? We never had, but apparently, he used to play here at the Mirabell Palace. We went to see a string quartet concert in the evening and tried not to be distracted by the two men in the row in front of us who kept falling asleep.

Creepy shadows in the crypt at the Salzburg Cathedral

From Salzburg, we hopped on the train again to travel to the town of Hallstatt. We stayed here in Obertraun and from there we were able to walk up some hills and travel on a few cable cars to the 5 Fingers view-point. Pictured above: Walking along a roadside to try to find the trail…a classic Mike and Courtney hiking move.

Pictured above: Sharks and restrooms available, the Glaid Alm guesthouse (which after a long trek there we found it was closed but had beers for sale on the front step), the view from 5 Fingers

Lunch of beer and schnitzel near the 5 fingers with a view of the mountains and cable cars.

Our final day was spent in Hallstatt, very cute but packed with tourists. We only stayed a few hours before taking a boat back to Obertraun and then heading back to Vienna.

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