Back in Austria!

 Thursday - March 24, 2022

Today we head to Austria, the last leg(s) of our trip, as our tour ends in Vienna, with us staying there an extra 3 nights before we fly home.  Before we left, we spent time on the hotel's front patio admiring the view of the mountains and the lake.

On the way to Austria, we stopped by the fanciest rest area I've ever seen in my life.  The bathrooms all cost a euro per person, but I have no problem paying the monies for bathrooms when they are this clean.  It was beautiful (the rest area, not the bathrooms 😂).  There was this beautiful skylight that filled the place with  natural lighting and it was themed and adorable.  It was like the Disneyland of rest areas!

We stopped there for about 45 minutes for a bathroom and lunch break.  I've found that in two trips to German speaking Europe (mainly comprised of Germany, Austria and Switzerland among others) that their rest stops are amazing.  They're large, clean, well themed, and they actually have really good food!  We all got bowls of beef and vegetable soup that my mom is still talking about (as she talked about the last beef and vegetable soup she had at a rest stop in Austria for YEARS) and we sat outside because it was so beautiful.  Also, because COVID was still raging at the time.  We ate our soup and then we wandered around the place on foot before we got back onto our bus because this place was so pretty.  Everywhere you look I feel like Maria will come running out and start warbling "the hills are alive..."

I don't generally love long drives - but I loved this drive because the scenery was so fantastic.  I kept taking ugly blurry photos with reflections😂.  

In between Switzerland and Austria is the 4th smallest European Nation: Liechtenstein.  We stopped there for a little under an hour where we explored Vaduz (their very small capital) on foot, then all took a quick coffee (and cake) break.

High atop the hill sits Vaduz Castle, where the Prince's family still lives (though Sue said they lived mainly in Vienna now) so it's not open to the public.  This used to be a backwater little country until they converted to using Swiss francs and all of a sudden they are billionaires. 

statue of a reclining woman by Colombian artist Francisco Botero

We reached Innsbruck in the afternoon with plenty of light left.  We're dropped off at our hotel and given an hour to settle in before we begin our city tour.  Our hotel was small, but super clean, adorable, and located literally just outside the walls of the old city, so it made exploring on our own after dinner super easy.

My mom was really tired and her hip was aching, so she opted out of this one while my dad and I went.  I became completely enamored with Innsbruck, particularly when I found the strudel shop about 5 minutes away from our hotel.

The old town of Innsbruck (the Altstadt) is incredibly well-preserved and looks much the way it did 800 years ago. Except the castle.  That went through reconstruction during the baroque period and is the only thing that looks kind of out of place.  They have hosted the winter Olympics a total of 3 times and it was mentioned many, many, many times.  They're also very proud that for a minute they were the center of the Holy Roman Empire when Maximilian moved the capital from Vienna to Innsbruck in the 1500's.  With the alps in the background, this is a stunningly beautiful place.  Our tour manager Sue said this is one of her favorite place and I can definitely see why.

the Hofsburg on the left with the alps in the background

the golden roof - the roof tiles are copper and was installed to celebrate the wedding of Emperor Maximilian.  This is at one end of the city square and he and his empress can sit on the balcony and preside and observe the city's events.

I couldn't get over how colorful and charming the Altstadt area was - I kept taking photos like I was gonna win money.  No regrets!

On the way back to the hotel Sue pointed out Strudel-Cafe Kroll, and it was love at first sight. I actually dream about going back to Innsbruck to try more strudels.  Unlike at home where we basically only have apple strudel, there are a million kinds in Austria!  Even savory ones.  I could live there for years just trying all the strudels and figuring out which is my favorite.

We had dinner at the hotel restaurant and their strudel...the best one I had on this trip.  Usually I have to smear a bunch of sauce on it because it can be dry, but this was was really delicious!  My parents thought so too and they're not generally fans of strudel.

I think they called this German pancake soup - it was thinly sliced strips of pancakes?  Maybe more of a crepe consistency, and not sweet so it wasn't as weird as I thought it was going to be.

Because my mom had been tired and her hip hurt, she spent the afternoon resting and napping.  She felt better after dinner and we took her into the Aldstadt for an after dinner stroll where we tried to repeat the highlights of what Sue told us.  I...don't know if we were successful though 😂.

After our stroll we went back to our hotel where we showered and got ready for bed.  Tomorrow we head to Salzburg - the ONE place I really really really  wanted to return to.  Yes, I am a heathen American who lurves Sound of Music beyond reason.

A Day in Lucerne

 Wednesday - March 23, 2022

Today we wake up and head down for breakfast before embarking on our tour of Lucerne.  It was...not the best.  Quite frankly, it was better than most included breakfasts in American hotels, but we've gotten used to fancier breakfasts in Europe, so we've been spoiled.  It still had all the necessities - various breads, spreads, yogurts, pastries, hard boiled eggs and some meats.  It's a lot more than I would have available for breakfast at home!  There was plenty of food to fill up - even in the absence of fancy espresso machines or an omelet bar.  We all got on the bus after breakfast to start our day,  The first place we went to was the Jesuit Church along the river, a baroque building that started construction in 1666.  It was gorgeous inside, and it's conveniently located just steps from the Chapel Bridge.

There are numerous bridges connecting the two sides of town, but Chapel Bridge is the most famous.  

Chapel bridge was built in 1365 and is the oldest surviving truss bridge in the world.  It almost burned down in 1993, which destroyed a lot of original paintings that were hundreds of years old - but the bridge was rebuilt and the paintings restored the next year.  The tower in the picture below pre-dates the bridge by 30 years.  It's been used to hold artillery, as a prison, torture chamber, treasury, and municipal archive.  

I loved the bridge!  I insisted on returning to it later in the day - but it's not just useful to make your way across the river - it's a lovely place for a stroll to meander through with lots of art to enjoy.  It's also a fun place to people watch.

We continued our city tour and lordy, I've never seen so many luxury watch stores in my LIFE.  Do people even still wear watches?!  I feel like everyone either wears a smart watch or they just check the time using their phone.  Watches I find, are no longer a gauge of someone's income since everyone just has a smart watch with a rubber band on their wrists now.  So how do these stores stay in business?

Another thing there's an abundance of?  Chocolate 😍😍😍

So. Much. Chocolate.  It makes my heart sing.  And my mouth water  And my pants tight.  I discovered Laderach in Lucerne.  Do we have one in South Coast Plaza?  Yes.  Did I know this before I lugged pounds of chocolate home from Switzerland?  Nope. 😑  But no matter - their chocolates are amazing!  While I was in the store, I saw so many locals stop in for a few truffles or little bars - like this is something they regularly do - just a part of their daily routine - to stop at a chocolate shop for a bite of super fancy bougie amazeballs chocolate.  

I purchased many boxes and bags of chocolate - not just for me though - for my friends at home too.  Also, I went to the market (everyone in our tour went there too!) since our tour manager told us to go - they literally had a wall of chocolate that I wish I took a photo of.  She told us to buy Frey chocolates at the market - they are local only and never exported and of amazing quality.  No lies detected my friends.  Frey was hella cheap, and SO GOOD.  I thought I bought a ton.  I did not buy enough (sob).  It was marginally more expensive than Kit Kats and Hersheys, but it completely blows them out of the water.  I can't pick my favorite, but the ones with whole hazelnuts in the chocolate bar was mind blowing. 

After time spent purchasing much chocolate (I was getting a reputation as someone who just threw money at things.  Accurate), we went to Bachmann for a break before we went to Mount Pilatus.  We found some tables, comfortable seats, and drank our coffees while we played on our phones.  It's a measure of how much I was suffering from stick shock that when I heard that our 3 coffees cost 30 CHF (she said 13, but her Engrish was not so good so I thought she said 30), I wordlessly handed my credit card over thinking, oh well, I guess coffees here just cost $10 a pop 😂😭.  It wasn't until I was handed my receipt that I realized that our coffees only cost a little over $4, not $10 🤦.  Woohoo!

After we refreshed ourselves, we met up with the rest of our group going to Pilatus and climbed onto our bus.  It wasn't far - we drove through some residential neighborhoods to reach the gondola.

judgy dragon guarding the gondolas

Like the Haunted Mansion at Disneyland, these do not stop - you gotta just climb in as the gondolas swing by.  They do slow down a lot once they reach the station so people can disembark and a new group can climb in - but they do not stop moving.  The scenery from the gondola was gorgeous!  As we climbed in elevation we start seeing snow.  

There was a station in between about halfway up  - there's an alpine slide you can take there.  We were there too early in the season, but it looked like so much fun!  You then board another gondola - a big one everyone had to cram into  - to head all the way to the peak of Pilatus  

this is the big gondola we all had to cram into

My favorite part of Mt Pilatus?  The Dragon Trail!  We couldn't go all the way through since there was still snow and ice in the mountains - but it was so cool - just caves with phenomenal views!  The people of Lucerne used to believe there were dragons who lived in the mountains - this is how the trail got its name.  There are myths and everything!  

There's a resort up here, and the visitor's center was really nice!  It was very modern, spacious and clean.  There was a coffee bar in there, some fast food, and if you go up the stairs, there was a cafeteria that we ate lunch in.  The food was expensive (like everything else in Switzerland), but it was fine - actually a little better than expected since I had very low expectations.

it was warm enough that the locals brought their own chairs up the mountain so they could get some sun.

We found some seats that were pretty isolated from the others and sat down to eat.  My parents got pasta...in Switzerland...but I got a bratwurst.  One of them got marinara and the other got meat sauce and they mixed the two since they both only wanted a little bit of meat.  Not the best pasta I've ever had, but it was decent.  The bratwurst was fine - not the best wurst I had, but not bad for cafeteria food. 

After eating we wandered around the platform to take in the views before heading back down the mountain.

this is the mid-way point where we get out of the big gondola to get into small individual ones.  See the alpine slide?  Doesn't that look super fun?

Once we return to our hotel, I decide it's time to dig into my stash of chocolate.  

class photo!

We lazed around for a few hours - then decided to go grab food.  I wasn't in a mood for a sit down restaurant.  I just wanted to grab some snacks at the market, watch TV, and relax.  Because we had a late lunch though, we weren't hungry yet, so we walked along the lake heading towards town and watched how the Swiss lived.  It seemed like the whole town was out by the lake - there were people jogging, walking, playing in the playgrounds, there were games of tennis and basketball that we walked by...it was lovely to see people just hanging out alongside the lake.

We ran into more people from our group at the market - it seems like everyone had the same idea - we were already tired from touring and no one wanted a sit down dinner - everyone was buying salads and sandwiches and bread to just eat in their rooms 😂.  

I grabbed a curry wrap (meh) and a salmon sandwich (surprisingly really good!) while my parents grabbed sandwiches and sushi rolls from the deli section and we took the bus back to our hotel.  We ended our night watching TV by streaming from our roku, admiring the lake from the balcony, eating tons of chocolate (me), and packing up since we move hotels the next day.