Julie and John’s Excellent Adventure – Part 4 – S is for Salzburg, Salt, Sound of Music and Style

Mozart dinner concert

Salzburg - stylish like a mini Vienna, but in the Alps and home to only around 150,000 people - but it uses everything it has - namely the Sound of Music and Mozart

We arrive to this gorgeous little place mid afternoon and decide to spend the first night at a Mozart concert and dinner - its fantastic, held in a beautifully decorated baroque hall, we are treated to 3 courses and 3 samples of Mozart's operas - complete with live music and entertaining opera singers in period costume before strolling home across the crystal clear river and through the narrow, cobbled streets

Bavarian mountains

Next day we are up early and picked up for our tour of the Salt Mines - Salzburg meaning "salt castle". We head into nearby Germany, into the stunning Bavarian mountains ablaze with all the autumn colours, past Hitler's Eagles Nest and upon arrival we are handed miner's overalls to change into. A train ride, a raft ride on an underground salt lake and all sorts of information on how it is mined don't compare to the best bit - mum, dad and I holding on tight and whizzing down 2 different steep wooden slides!

Sound of Music tour - Von Trapp's house

Mirabell Palace gardens

The afternoon brings the Sound of Music tour..........we get to see the different filming locations of the Von Trapp house, the gazebo, the scenes of Do Re Me and the wedding church in nearby Mondsee.




I wished I had bought either my Ipod or a travel size schnapps when the sing a long started on the bus but Mum enjoyed it!

Beer and chicken at Augustiner

Salzburg fortress

Today we went into St Peter's Church (where they hid from the Nazi's in the movie) and then up to the Salzburg Fortress - with stunning views over the city and surrounds and a few interesting museums on Salzburg's history. Then to the Augustiner Brewery - pure beer brewed by Monks - no preservatives = no hangover so I had 2 and we ate some delicious roast chicken. When you go in, you grab a ceramic stein, pay for your beer and they fill it right out of the keg. When you want a refill, you can rinse it out at a fountain and then get some more! You can also bring your own food into the hall, so its full of locals just meeting up and hanging out - love it :-)

Julie and John’s Excellent Adventure – Part 3 – Wien

It’s 5pm and dark already – winter is definitely on its way. Off the train from Venice we need to change to the U bahn, and then change lines to the Hostel. But – no problem, there are LIFTS, escalators and ramps – life is easy in Vienna

Dinner in the Naschmarkt – right out the front of the hostel, it is endless rows of fresh fruit, vegetables, spices, olives, nougat, pretty much anything you can imagine – then the bars and restaurants. We go for Vietnamese/Thai and get a special room out the back in the grocery store as it is so full – it’s actually nicer than being in a packed restaurant!

Spanish Riding School

Up to enjoy the Hostel’s €3,70 all you can eat breakfast buffet and then to the Spanish Horseriding School performance at the Hofburg palace. I love how it looks like a ballroom, complete with chandeliers until you look down and see the sand on the floor. It is such a grand and elegant city – I would feel perfectly at home here, pity I’m not eligible for a visa. Unless I marry an Austrian……..

The show has many segments, all MC’d in first German, then English – my favourite is when the perfectly trained white Lipizzaner horses perform their exercises that look like dancing and tricks such as standing on their hind legs – with the rider on their back. Amazing – such beautiful creatures

We sightsee the city – the Opera House, Hofburg Palace, St Stephens Dom , H&M, Zara, Museums Quarter…….and decide that it makes sense to eat dinner at around 5pm – the locals are doing it

Schonbrunn Palace

Bit of an adventure the next morning – head to the Hofburg Musik Kapelle to see the Vienna Boys Choir perform – location as confirmed with the ticket sales assistant the previous day. Getting a bit nervous when no one else is waiting 10 minutes prior to the scheduled performance time – then a couple appear and we are reassured – before they phone a friend to find out it is actually being held at another venue (where we collected the tickets from, thanks sales assistant) – they offer us a lift and we rush to their car and speed to the right venue. Only 5 minutes late we have to wait for the first applause break to enter – and the usher upgrades our standing place tickets (that we paid €6 for) to front row seats! We hope that our rescuers didn’t see us being swept down to the front row from their seats…………… fantastic 2 hour  concert of orchestra and choir all in an elegant ballroom of course – we feel slightly underdressed as apparently suits are quite normal here at 11am on a Sunday morning. I love it!

Dad's new job - guarding Schonbrunn

Wiener schnitzel and potato salad

A break to try the famous Sacher Torte and then out to Schönbrunn Palace to see how I was meant to live………a tour, complete with interesting insight into the daily lives of the Habsburgs, through 22 of the 1000+ rooms of the palace – one of the loveliest and most elegantly decorated palaces I have seen. The gardens are also extensive and beautiful – particularly stunning now with the autumn leaves in full display. A great restaurant recommendation from an ex-local leads us out the side entrance and into a Viennese style beer hall – the BEST Wiener schnitzel and potato salad I’ve had, plus a cherry schnapps that gets Julie quite happy and in fits of giggles on the metro home

Bratislava Castle

Bratislava city centre

Day 3 we head on an hour train ride to Bratislava, capital of Slovakia. The direction upon arrival was lacking but we manage to find the correct bus to get us into the main part of town.  A beautiful little place of less than ½ million people, lovely old buildings, quirky statues all through the old town and a castle on the hill with impressive views of the city. Would be great to visit in summer when you can arrive via boat on the Twin City Liner along the Danube. 

Vienna – So long, farewell, auf wiedersehn, adieu…………off to Salzburg!

Julie and John’s Excellent Adventure – Part 2 – Venezia.

Italy - I hate it and love it. Mostly hate it.

I hate that the Italian train didn't bother to turn up in Spiez, so we have to get off the Swiss train in Brig and wait an hour for the next train, which is then overbooked and has people siting in the aisles for over 2 hours.

I hate that the minute we leave Switzerland and arrive in Milan to change trains, what we think is a fellow passenger insists on helping with our bags. Too late I remember - this is his job and when we hand over €2 for his trouble, he sits there and pouts and points at the bags and asks for €5.

I hate that upon our 9.30pm arrival in Venice, we go into a restaurant offering a €11,50 "Menu of the Day" only to be told "oh no, you don't want that, it's only little, here have some of the (more expensive) other dishes" and have to ask 3 times before he will tell us the Menu of the Day


I hate that when the ATM Mum is trying to use won't dispense cash, she asks the Money Exchange office if they offer cash withdrawals which they assure her they do and it will cost her no more than an ATM. For €500 cash she gets €595.43 charged to her Travelcard - "bank fees" of course, not commission

I love that you can get perfect, strong coffee instantly and for €1 or less at any little bar

 I love it when they say "prego"

I love seeing families and friends greet each other – ciao! kiss, kiss – ciao! kiss, kiss – you can see and hear the genuine happiness to meet

I hate it when they offer a "free demonstration" and then tell you it will be €5 when you sit down

I love all the amazing gelati

I love that they have fresh fruit and vegetable stalls lining the streets

I hate it when you are patiently waiting your turn at the counter and someone pushes in. They just don't understand queuing

I love the Israeli restaurant we found just near the Guglie vaparetto stop - Gam Gam - AMAZING kosher food - hummus, honeyed carrots with sesame, eggplant, chilli paste, curried egg, chickpeas and celery, sensational mussaka..............get on it

Julie and John’s Excellent Adventure – Part 1 - Schweiz

A 5 hour train trip from Lauterbrunnen to Frankfurt, an overnight stay and a 5.45am train to Frankfurt airport. 7.45am and I am still sitting at the arrival gates……..QF5 landed on time, it was “dispensing” and now it has disappeared off the arrivals board……..oh here they are, the last through the gates after being interrogated by an overzealous immigration officer

Turns out they were lucky to make it over at all – a migraine on the flight to Singapore and possible kidney stones on the flight to Frankfurt nearly stopped the adventure before it even started 

We manage to board the train back to Lauterbrunnen without incident, only a slight hiccup when jetlagged Julie gets a bit lost on the way back from the train toilet, luckily I am onto it and rescue occurs just before we need to change trains. Mum has a slight problem with the “quiet carriage” that we have reserved – it seems it is torture for her to go without speaking for more than a couple of minutes and when she is told to “shhhhhhh” she manages to make even more noise rummaging through her bags and dropping things between the seats

Dad, me and Mum at the top of Schiltorn

We arrive safely to Camping Jungfrau and head to the restaurant for dinner, introduced mum and dad to rosti which was delicious as usual. Unfortunately the pre dinner snacks  became bitter lemon flavoured after mum decided that her overflowing drink was best poured over them.

Day 2 was perfect and after a late breakfast with my friend Daniela we headed up to Schilthorn – beautiful views, James Bond, paragliders over the alps and lunch in the revolving restaurant

Luzern

Day 3 my friend Christine drove us to Luzern over the amazing Brunig Pass and we explored the beautiful city. Crystal clear river running under two ornate bridges that are hundreds of years old. An old city wall that you can climb on and walk through the guard towers, with views down to Lake Lucerne and over the city.

Bern

Day 4 we caught the train to Bern, visited the Einstein Museum, the Zytlogge (quite disappointing display when the clock struck 2pm, slightly better at 5pm), the bear pits and the Bern Munster. Nearly got run over by a bus that quietly snuck up behind us when we were walking down the main street. Am dealing with constant questions – highlights include “What latitude are we at?”, “How do I know if I’m writing in lower case?”, “What happens when it snows?”.  Have discovered a new love for coffee with schnapps.

Mum and I at the top of Jungfrau

Ski chic Johnno

Day 5 up at 6am to get the 6.59am train up to Jungfraujoch. 2 trains, 3000m and 2 hours later we are on the Top of Europe. Absolutely STUNNING views all around, snow everywhere and the sun is shining. Dad finds the ice palace hard going, he shuffles along clutching the rail but makes it out still upright. Mum on the other hand has no fear……..we head out to the platform in the snow and despite repeated warnings to hold on to the rail she manages to fall flat on her bum while taking ANOTHER photo – she has managed to take 512 now – in THREE DAYS. No time lost though, before I can stop laughing she is back up and taking more photos

View from dinner at Beatenberg

Day 6 and we head into the village to get the cable car up to Grutschalp intending to walk the Murren loop. They have decided to close it for the week so we end up on a packed bus to Stechelberg and squashed into a cable car that dangles above the valley floor on the way up to Gimmelwald. Lunch at the Eiger hotel in Murren with the snowy Alps right in front of us and nice, although quite steep, downhill walk back to Gimmelwald. Cable car down to Stechelberg and a nice walk along the valley floor to the Trummelbach Falls. By this time dad has had enough and starts questioning my timings……..apparently my standard answer of “oh about 10 minutes” isn’t cutting it when it turns out to be a bit longer……..and he is not happy about the many stairs inside the falls that I accidentally forgot to mention…….

Day 7 – a sad goodbye to Lauterbrunnen and 5 train changes to Italy await……….oh and apparently the Italian train didn’t turn up (welcome to Italy) so we have to make an extra stop, wait for an hour and change all our reservations to hopefully now arrive in Venice around 9pm……………

Back to the real world

8 months already...........what have I done..............

Joel, Mandz, me and Daniela on the way to Lauterbrunnen

Not spent more than 5 nights in one place and routinely gone through 4 countries in one day, most of the time remembering to order coffee in the correct language


Made some of the most amazing friends I could imagine

6 weeks of training trip - some of the best and worst days of my life

Wachau Valley grape grazing

5 North Loops (Paris - Amsterdam - Berlin - Prague - Vienna - Munich) - highlights including Jo making me goulash in berlin, prague pub crawl, vienna grape grazing, taking 21 pax to the amsterdam sex show, the look on someones face the first time they see the Eiffel Tower

6 West Loops and 6 amazing pinxtos crawls (Paris - Lauterbrunnen - Nice - Barcelona - Madrid - San Sebastian)

9 South Loops and too many disgraceful nights at the Red Garter (Munich - Venice - Rome - Florence - Nice - Lauterbrunnen)

Ronda, Spain

1 Iberian Adventure (Madrid - Seville - Lagos - Tarifa - Granada) and the discovery that YES, I can act like a 22 year old again

Italian Autogrills - quite gourmet!

4 serious crushes

A serious amount of 1 litre steins and pork knuckles

1,525,397 Autogrills




2 hours of ridiculousness by the Italian police resutling in me having to scrape together 2000 euros in cash (including borrowing from passengers) or all of us spending the night at the police station...........

normal life is going to seem so boring!!!

B is for Barcelona

View from Gaudi's Parc Guell

Gaudi's Parc Guell

Gaudi's Parc Guell

2 days off in Spain, where it is still sunny and 28 degrees whilst snow has started in northern Europe? Sure!

Gaudi's Parc Guell

1^st day I’m up early for Spain time (where you stay up all night, get up about 10am and then siesta in the afternoon) and head up to Gaudi’s Parc Guell. Not sure what to expect, I am super impressed – an amazing view over the whole city down to the sparkling water, taking in the Sagrada Familia and Mont Juic. The park itself is beautiful, look outs, palm trees, playgrounds, cafes, benches and random quirky buildings and mosaics – many designed by Mr Gaudi himself. People are everywhere socialising, enjoying the sun and exploring. Next time I am taking a picnic and a few more hours!

Then an afternoon at the beach………..so beautiful. There is nothing quite like laying on the sand, feeling the sun on my skin and listening to the waves crash in, it makes me feel so happy and peaceful. Every 10 seconds a different person walks past saying “cerveza, beer, cold beer, cola, fanta” or “mojito, fresh mojito, very good mojito” or “massage, massaje” – even “you smoke weed, hashish”………something for everyone

Flamenco

Meet some passengers for a tapas and flamenco evening. Flamenco is AMAZING. The rhythms, feet stomping, movement, singing and dancing with so much passion…………then we feast on Iberian ham, cheese, olives, patatas bravas (chunks of lightly fried potato with a spicy tomato mayonnaise), grilled capsicums, mushrooms and calamari – all washed down with jugs of sangria - of course

Day 2 and back at the beach for another afternoon of bliss. Best gelati yet on the walk back to the metro – violet, coffee with sugared almonds and crema catalana – other flavours include mojito, rose & raspberry, apple crumble………..delicious

Barcelona Catedral

Barcelona Catedral – an impressive church with a special little garden in the middle – palm trees, a pond, fountain and even geese – a beautiful oasis where I am drawn to the chapel of Santa Anna after a dream I had the night before

View from Mont Juic

A quick trip up to Mont Juic to find that a whole afternoon is needed to explore the beautiful gardens, castle and views over the city – and the Magic Fountain with its apparently spectacular light show stops running at the end of September. So these are on the list for next time……………….

You continue to charm me Barcelona - I think I may be falling in love

Two days in paradise

Two weeks ago it was 9 degrees and promising snow in Lauterbrunnen, Swiss Alps and now it is a brilliantly sunny 23 degrees.  After a much needed 12 hours sleep (I always sleep so well here, must be the pure mountain air) I head down to Stechelberg at the end of the valley with my local friend to take an easy 1 hour walk to a tiny little village, Trachsellauenen. Well she said it was easy……..flat in fact. It’s ALL uphill!!!

Trachsellauenen - cows coming down for the winter

We make it and rewards await – plates of cheese disguised as dishes - raclette and kaseschnitte – delicious. Then a procession of cows coming down the mountain – a once yearly event when they are brought back from the summer fields down to the sheds for winter, they parade past with floral headdresses – cows and owners alike!

I am invited back to my friends parents’ house for dinner and we laugh all night, even though my German and Swiss German are quite different, we manage to understand and they feed me delicious homemade schnapps – the bottle is engraved with the word “gift” – because it is so nice I ask? No – “gift” in Swiss German means poison!!

All kitted up to paraglide

I'm next!

Next day I have booked in to go paragliding. WHY?! I am up early and waiting in the chilly morning air at 8am and we are picked up and taken to Interlaken, then driven up to the dizzying heights of Beatenberg for take-off.  We pick a pilot – mine tells me it is his first week – NOT funny I say!! It is his eleventh year.

Coming in to land..........view over Interlaken

They spread out the chutes and strap us in and then we have to run down a very steep hill and then wooooshhhhhh – we are going up up up and £&(*£&%)*&”£)%!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I squeeze my eyes shut tight and then can’t bear to open them……..I take a few photos and open my eyes halfway and OH MY GOD IT’S A LONG WAY DOWN. Shut them again and say ok is it time to go down now……………next thing we are landing – I have done it!!!! Next year I will try again and open my eyes………….

Brienzersee - yes really that blue

The afternoon is spent safely on the water, cruising on the Brienzersee from Interlaken to Brienz and back. It is SO beautiful out on the eerily blue and still water, with the green and sometimes snow capped mountains soaring on either side and sun beaming down. We work on our tans and have lunch in Brienz at a gorgeous little restaurant overlooking the lake and mountains. By the end of the day I can’t stop smiling J