Vienna
Brad and I were excited to plan a trip to Austria to visit the many Christmas markets, or Christkindlmarkt. We had an early flight into Vienna and took the S7 train to the main train station in city centre. We stayed at the Starlight Suiten on Salzgries which was modern, spacious and allowed us to walk everywhere. We started with lunch at Trzesniewski’s which served little open faced sandwiches.
After lunch, we climbed the stairs of the south tower of the beautiful St. Stephen’s Cathedral and had great views of the city before exploring the stalls of the Christmas market around Stephansplatz.
We checked out Votivkirche which is really spectacular, although had a strange advertisement for Nescafe featuring George Clooney on the front. I was in awe of how intricate and detailed both churches were.
We spent some time in the Freud Museum which is where he lived and practiced for some time. It was nice to thaw out a bit inside and see and hear about the space and Freud’s story, but I wasn’t overly impressed. We ended our first day with the Christkindlmarkt on Rathausplatz. This market was huge with so many stalls. And I could not get over how beautiful the town hall was with all of the lights.
Brad is a huge fan of ice skating and the ice skating here will be really tough to beat. It was like a lazy river of ice skating, including round abouts and one ways! It was way more fun than just skating around in a circle on a typical ice rink.
We enjoyed so much yumminess from the different stalls – pretzels, spaetzle, gluhwein, and chimney cakes. On the walk back to the hotel, we checked out another Christmas Market at Maria Theresa Square.
Thursday morning started with a run before hitting up Cafe Diglas for breakfast. The travel guides we had read commented on how few places took cash along with the unfriendly waitstaff in cafes – both we found to be true. It also mentioned how people don’t respect the queue which was also true and something we have learned to appreciate in England. We walked around the grounds and gardens at the Belvedere along with the Belvedere Christmas market. They had these really need animal head sculptures placed around the lake.
One of our favorite markets was one we randomly stumbled upon at Karlsplatz, not far from the Belvedere. They had great little bar areas decorated for Christmas and more individual artisans than other markets.
From a suggestion from Karen’s friends, we went to Naschmarkt and bought some bread and cheese to enjoy later in the hotel room. Dinner was at Augustinerkeller and included wiener schnitzel and Sachertorte. We had enough time after dinner to go back to Rathausplatz for another round of ice skating for Brad and some shopping for me.
Friday morning before heading to the train station, we had breakfast at Frauenhuber. All of the breakfasts we had in Vienna were really great! We had extra time to kill at the train station which is fine since things tend to take just a little bit longer. It’s funny how in the US, you can be on autopilot, but here it takes time to figure out new things, like catching the right train. We were a little confused on our train leaving on platform 8 between A and C when other destinations were leaving on the same platform between C and E. Once we were fairly certain we were on the right train, our next lesson came with seat assignments. We did not reserve specific seats and had to ask a fellow passenger to explain the processes to us. We learned the small lit panel near the seat number indicated the seat was reserved by showing that person’s destination. So we found two empty seats and settled in for the 2.5 hour train ride to Salzburg. I have come to love traveling by train – it’s nearly always on time, efficient, comfortable and free from traffic.
Salzburg
When deciding what cities we would visit, so many people were raving about Salzburg. Once we got off the train and were walking to the hotel, we didn’t understand all the hype, but soon discovered how fantastic and charming the town is. We fell in love with the views of the mountains and all of the small little cut through walkways all over.
It was considerably smaller than Vienna and made it easier to get our bearings. We were staying at Hotel Neutor which had some mixed reviews online. It worked for us as we spent little time in the room, but it was a little outdated and not as nice as the hotel in Vienna. It also included a walk through the tunnel to get to/from town. It was safe and had a pedestrian walkway. With well over 10 miles of walking a day (not including any running we did), we opted to take the funicular to the top of the Festung Hohensalzburg instead of walking. Once at the top, there was a lot to explore and gave us fantastic panoramic views of the city and mountains. And of course there was another Christmas Market. Just like Vienna, they seemed to be tucked away all over the town. We enjoyed several glasses of yummy and warm gluhwein while enjoying the sunset and the twinkly lights below.
It seemed considerably colder in Salzburg and after a few hours outside, we were happy to grab dinner and thaw out at Sternbrau. Their pretzels were the best we had and I had to try the Salzburger Nockerl. I was glad I tried it, but wasn’t a huge fan and wouldn’t get it again.
We got a run in Saturday morning before grabbing breakfast at Cafe Tomaselli. I love running in a new place as there’s so much to look at and since it’s all new, the time usually goes by fast. Despite the unfriendly waiters, I loved the Austrian cafes and could have sat there all day drinking coffee if I could. Cafe Tomaselli actually had the nicest waiter we had on our trip. It was also my first time trying cafe melange which is coffee, steamed milk, milk foam and whipped cream. I wish I had tried it sooner because it was amazing! Salzburg is famous for being where a lot of The Sound of Music was filmed. We explored Mirabell Gardens which were beautiful, even in the winter, and where some of the songs in the movie were filmed.
Even with the short days, we were enjoying the sunshiney weather and walked to the Steigl Brewery for a tour. The guided tour in English wasn’t until later so we chose for the self-guided tour. With your admission, it also included 3 “tastings” of beer after the tour (which were about 6 ounces each) and a Steigl beer mug. The brewery tour was really well done and both Brad and I felt it was better than the Guinness tour.
After the brewery, we enjoyed the last bit of daylight by walking around the river area with a chimney cake and roasted chestnuts.
We found an empty table at the bar at Sternbrau Lounge for some pre-dinner drinks. Upon arriving into town, we were able to secure a reservation for our last night in Salzburg at St. Peter Skifskeller, Europe’s oldest restaurant founded in 803. The dinner and location were both fantastic! We finished the night with some hot chocolate and Christmas cookies from the Christmas market.
Sunday was our last day of vacation and started with breakfast at Cafe Bazar which was just a short walk to the other side of the river. We enjoyed another great breakfast before walking around the Christmas markets on the way back to the hotel. It was so empty compared to the crowds the prior evening. We caught the #10 bus to the airport which conveniently picked up right outside the hotel. It was an amazing trip and the perfect get away to see some of Europe during the holiday season. We are extremely fortunate for the opportunity to travel and I am certain to not take it for granted – trying to really slow down and enjoy it all.
On Your Right 