Vienna - Week 11

Our train ride to Vienna was smooth and comfortable. The electric trains in this area are clean and quiet, without the clickety-clack of train travel “back in the day.”  Roger says it is due to the fact that the rails are welded together eliminating the joints that caused the noise.  The main train station in Vienna was busy when we arrived, but we followed the picture signs of a bus out to the street and hopped directly aboard a waiting bus going our direction. (We had researched ahead of time which bus to take to our AirBnB.)  We thought the driver would sell us a ticket, but no.  So we and our luggage hopped off the bus, returned to the train station, found a bus ticket machine and, with the help of a cute, young man who spoke English, bought the requisite ticket. He noticed that we were over 65 and made certain we bought the cheaper ones. We left the train station again, found another bus waiting to whisk us to our AirBnB, and within 30 minutes, we were ensconced in our rental, unpacking once again.  I must say that the entire time we were in Vienna, not one person ever asked to see our tickets for buses or metros.  On the other hand, one lady was brought into the main ticket office while we were buying a 7-day transit pass for not having a valid ticket…so they must have some controls in addition to the honor system.

Our rental is in the 6th district, southwest of Vienna’s center.  It is accessed from the sidewalk through an old door which opens into a wide hallway.  At the end of the hallway is another door into a large shady area with trees and hosts.  At the far side of this green space is a small elevator that took us to the 1st floor (in this case, really the 3rd floor, but who’s counting when you have an elevator).  A quick turn to the left onto an open-air hallway led to our apartment with parquet floors, 14’ high ceilings, windows and a balcony overlooking yet another green space below.  Our space is far removed from the noise of the city.   It feels like another world…so quiet and calm.  After unpacking, we left the apartment for a Thai dinner on the street near our apartment (actually very good!) and a little grocery shopping for the next few days.  

We were totally unprepared for our first visit to Vienna.  No Rick Steves to guide us here.  That is to say, there probably is a Rick Steves’ Austria, but we didn’t buy it.  Vienna is overwhelming...it stimulates all the senses at once.  It would take at least a year to see/do everything you might want to see.  To get a handle on how to attack the the endless sightseeing options, we decided a visit to the Tourist Information (TI) Office at the city center.  We hopped a nearby Metro and went into town. The metro system in Vienna is wonderful: it is clean, efficient and feels very safe.

We found the TI center quickly and were fortunate to find a lovely English-speaking Viennese woman who helped orient us to her city.  She advised us not to purchase the “city card” which we had used so successfully in Ljubljana. Rather she unfolded a map and proceeded to circle places that we should see within the center and the outskirts.  She happily informed us that if we ran out of places to see before the end of our stay, we should return and she would add to our list.  She even advised us to buy a 7-day pass for all forms of transportation (bus, metro, trolley) in the city.  That has worked out beautifully.

Our walking tour that first day took us around the beautiful State Opera House, up to St. Stephen’s Cathedral, to the Danube canal (more later on this) and into a warren of tiny streets with shops and restaurants.  There we stopped for a lazy lunch at an outdoor restaurant: die Feinkosterei.  It was phenomenal.  Roger (who is a born risk-taker) tried the Wiener schnitzel again and loved it this time.  This time, there was actually veal encased in the breading.  I’m embarrassed to say that I had a tiny steak smothered in a heavenly chanterelle sauce with potatoes. I haven’t had steak for so many years—it was incredible! So much for my vegetarian dreams.

After lunch, we continued wending our way through the neighborhoods of Vienna on our way to the Hapsburg Winter Palace.  We got lost (you already know what app I will blame for that), but eventually we found the enormous group of buildings that make up the palace. These monarchs had money!!!  We didn’t do tours of the inside, but just enjoyed walking around the ornately carved and decorated buildings.  Tired from our day’s wandering, we found the Metro station and headed home.

The next day, we visited the summer palace.  Again, we did not do tours of the interior.  But the buildings were exquisite…less formal than the winter palace, and the gardens were enormous and enjoyable.  We spent most of our time strolling through the gardens (both formal and wild) and enjoying the pools and fountains.

We visited the Nashmarkt, an open air market of snacks, fresh vegetables, spices, and now meals that has been functioning for 100s of years.  Farmers would bring in crops from their fields and fishermen would sail up the Danube to sell their catches.  It is open every day and on the weekends, it expands to include a flea market.  

Another day, we rode the Metro to the Danube.  Who could visit Vienna and not see the Danube?  You may recall that I mentioned our seeing the Danube Canal on our first day.  The canal’s path is actually the path of the Danube itself in the Middle Ages very near the city center.  But today, the actual Danube River flows farther north in a new path…and it is indeed a deep blue.  The river is moves slowly and very wide.  An island with walking/biking paths, a children’s park and lots of swimmers splits the river into an old and new branches.  It was lovely to escape the busyness of the city, find a shady bench, sit and watch the Danube flow by.  In this area of Vienna is also the Giant Ferris Wheel which we had to see.  Built in 1897, it still goes round and round.  The lady at the TI assured me that it was safe.

One evening we attended a performance of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons at St. Stephen’s Cathedral.  Four violins and one cello entranced the large crowd for precisely one hour.  I think we were all amazed that the young violin soloist could make his finger move so perfectly and at times quickly on his instrument for such a long period of time.  More amazing was the sweetness of the violins.  Violins can be screechy.  I know because I played the violin for a couple of years in elementary school and all the instrument could do for me was screech.  (user error?)  We did do a half-day wine/dinner tour in Vienna.  We drove outside the city to find acres of vineyards.  We tasted at 3 wineries, the last also served dinner.  A delightful afternoon with a very international crowd.  We represented the U.S., an Israeli couple, a New Zealand couple and a couple from Holland. Quite a fun group.

This ends our 2022 summer adventure.  We fly home early tomorrow morning.  A couple of you have asked if we tired of traveling.  In truth, cities wear me out after awhile.  But I could hop from small town to small town forever I think.  Still we are looking forward to returning to friends and family.  For those of you who stuck with us through the 11 weeks, you deserve gold medals.  It has been fun having you with us.

Villach, Austria - Week 10

Villach was an unplanned treat.  We struggled to find efficient rail transportation from Lake Bled to Vienna.  A change of trains was required in Villach with very little time to change platforms—like 3 minutes or several hours (not fun with our luggage).  Originally, we planned to return to Ljubljana for a few nights thinking we could find a direct train from there.  But when we checked train schedules, that didn’t work either. So we opted at the last minute to stay in Villach, ensuring we could make a direct trip to Vienna at the end of our stay.  That turned out to be a brilliant decision because we fell in love with Villach.

Two reasons may explain our passion for Villach:

1.  It’s a charming human-scale town of 60,000 people many of whom (because there was some sort of weeklong festival) were running around in lederhosen and drindls.  

2.  We booked a room overlooking the river at a hotel for our 4-night stay.  It included a breakfast buffet that was out of this world.  Once we ate breakfast, we didn’t need anything else to eat that day.  Saved a lot of money.  In the evenings, we shared a glass of wine, a slice of cheese and bread in our room. I can’t tell if we lost weight because we skipped so many meals or if we gained weight because of all the food we ate at breakfast.  When we return home, our scales will let us know.

This is just a sampling of the food.  You’re probably getting hungry about now!  There were egg dishes, cappuccinos, sweet rolls, juices, champagne on the weekend—I could go on and on.  One morning at breakfast on the terrace, we met a wonderful couple from Brisbane.  As it turns out, their daughter and our son were in the Physics program together at the University of Brisbane in the early 2000s.  They both remember one another.  Small world!

We arrived in Villach by direct train from Lake Bled.  Others on our train, missed their connection to Vienna because the train ran about 10 minutes late.  We checked into our hotel early and took off to explore the town and have a bite to eat for dinner.  Roger had Wiener Schnitzel “cordon bleu” (in this case, heavily breaded, fried ham and cheese).  No veal or if there was, it was paper thin and he couldn’t find it.  I had a spicy pasta dish with chunks of heavily breaded fried lamb.  I know: it doesn’t sound good to me either in retrospect, but I was dealing with a menu in German.  After our meal, neither of us wanted to look at anything breaded and fried ever again.  We waddled back across the river to our hotel, stopping at the Tourist Office en route.  Villach is on the Drau River—not the crystal clear water of Lake Bled.  In fact, it was pretty brown.  Yet people were kayaking on it and having fun.  And there are pedestrian and bike paths that go for 100 miles along each side of the river in both directions.  Another unexpected treat…each night from our hotel room, we could see a water fountain show reminiscent of the water show at the Bellagio, on a smaller scale of course. On Friday night, the show was accompanied by laser lights, singing and music.  Such fun!

Very few people speak English in Villach which surprised us because in Slovenia nearly everyone did.  In fact, in both Croatia and Slovenia, English is a required second language and students are required to take a third language of their choosing.  This is such a contrast to U.S. and (I guess, Austrian) schools.  Fortunately, the lady in the Tourist Information Office spoke a little English and more importantly, handed us a “Tour the City” pamphlet in English.  We decided to begin the tour the next morning after breakfast.  It took us all day.

The following day, we planned to rent bikes and ride along the river to a nearby lake.  But the bike rental fellow said the bike path was on roads for much of the way.  I am nervous riding a bike near fast-moving cars, so we decided to take the little commuter train to the lake (Faak Am See) instead.  There are about 6 lakes and a hot springs area all within biking distance of Villach if you are braver than I am.  Lots of people were biking along the roads.  Faak Am See has clear aquamarine water (like Lake Louise or Banff) with houses and cabins dotting the perimeter.  In the center is a small island with a resort on one edge.  We took a boat to the island and walked around it on a wooded trail.  

The last day in Villach, the festival was in full swing…lots of eating, drinking (beer, of course), dancing and singing.  Roger has a pair of sweat-stained lederhosen from the 1960s that he should have worn if he had brought them…they still fit.  But they are not as stylish as what the newer generation wears.

After a short time, we became uncomfortable in the crowds—no one wore a mask except us. So we opted for a walk along the river.  It turned into a very long walk down one side to a distant bridge and returning on the other.  Good for Roger’s FitBit goals!  

After our 4th night at the hotel and our 4th huge buffet breakfast, we boarded our direct train to Vienna (4.5 hours), the final stop on our 2022 summer getaway.

Lake Bled, Slovenia - weeks 9

We made a smooth transition by train from Ljubljana to Lesce Bled (about an hour) and then by bus to Lake Bled, our next destination. The bus trip should have taken 15 minutes, but due to heavy traffic, took an hour too.  This area is in the Julian Alps and we expected cool weather.  However, Europe’s heat wave caught up with us here.  The first few days were in the mid-90s with pretty high humidity.  We focused our explorations in the cool mornings and spent afternoons in the apartment.  By late week, temperatures dropped into the mid- to high-80s…much more comfortable for all-day sightseeing.

Our AirBnB was just 10 minutes from the bus stop and 20 minutes to town.  We checked in early (about noon), got unpacked and then walked to town for a Thai lunch and a little exploring.  The lake is a beautiful blue, aquamarine color with a 3.5 mile walking/bicycle path around it.  Surrounding the lake are hotels, villas, restaurants and natural areas—a little more developed than we expected. There were no car-free areas and it seemed congested.  It felt like Tahoe…with lots of European visitors. 

Our compact apartment was on the first floor, maybe 400 sq feet, a dorm-room-size refrigerator, no microwave or coffeemaker.  But it did have a 2-burner cooktop and access to Netflix on the 52” TV!  We watched the new season of Virgin River while we were there.  

Our first full day, we took a bus to larger (7 miles around) Lake Bohinj just 18 miles away through picturesque, lush countryside and tiny villages.  We hoped it would be less peopled and it was, although only marginally so.  I expected pine and fir forests.  Instead, the forests around Lake Bohinj and Lake Bled are largely hardwood, deciduous trees with only a smattering of conifers.  Even though this is the “alps,” the elevation here is under 2,000 feet.  First we hiked to Savica waterfall (520 steps up), unique in the world as the water flow splits from underground streams and appears to spout directly out of the rock.  Then we walked around Lake Bohinj, getting off-track several times as we followed maps.me.  We definitely got in our 10,000 steps in addition to climbing many, many “floors” for the day on Roger’s FitBit.  We exceeded his fitness goal and he said he would have to readjust his goals upward as a result.  Hmmm!  

Our bus trip back to Bled was remarkable in that the driver was having a bad day.  A woman tried to get on when we did, but he wouldn’t let her on—a language barrier prevents our knowing more.  We think she wanted to go somewhere that he didn’t want to go OR that her method of payment (a card of some sort) was not acceptable.  We left her standing angrily at the stop.  At the next stop, a group of 22 French scouts (who spoke no Slovenian) with huge backpacks tried to board the bus.  Initially the driver (who spoke no French) said no (we think because there were so many of them), but then he relented.  He asked the first one how many tickets he wanted to buy.  The scout indicated with 2 fingers on each hand, indicating 22 scouts, but the driver thought he meant 4 and sold him 4 tickets.  When the 5th scout tried to get on, another “discussion” arose (with little understanding on either side) about how much more money was owed and who was going to pay.  Once everyone was on board, we all had to show our tickets before we could proceed.  About 20 minutes later, with backpacks and scouts stacked everywhere, we headed off.  It reminded us a little of that scene in one of the Raiders of the Lost Ark movies when Harrison Ford threw the bad guy off the blimp and told the other passengers it was because he didn’t have a ticket.

We returned to the apartment hot and sweaty after our 16-mile walk, looking forward to a shower, a soft chair and something to eat.  Instead, we found the lock to our apartment had been damaged—our key just turned around and around without undoing the lock.  Rog had his iPhone, but our reservation with AirBnB had been made on my iPhone which was in the apartment, so we had no way to contact our host.  Also, we didn’t have access to the apartment’s wi-fi.  So we gave the situation a think.  Soon our Czech neighbors appeared and said we could use their wi-fi.  We then connected with AirBnB through a chat asking them to contact our host for help.  They refused saying we had to send passport photos or some other government ID so they were sure it was us.  But all this was locked in the apartment.  Finally, I was able to contact our host by contacting him on Roger’s iPhone for information about a future reservation.  He understood the problem and said he would be right there with a locksmith.  Unfortunately, he was in Ljubljana and it took a couple of hours for him and the locksmith to arrive and do what was necessary to let us in.  New keys in hand, we entered our apartment at 9 pm.  A very busy day.

The next day, we took an e-bike trip to nearby Vintgar Gorge.  The e-bike part of the trip and the walk through the gorge were fantastic.  However, no one told us that there was a very steep trail out of the gorge and back to our e-bikes at the end…although we might have deduced that if we had thought about it long enough.  On our way back from the gorge, we biked around the upper part of Lake Bled, returning our bikes to the tour company about 4 hours after we picked them up.  

We returned to the apartment for a shower and lunch.  We tried our key in the lock and found that someone had jammed a toothpick into the lock and broken it off.  It was clear now that someone was sabotaging the lock.  Once again, however, only Roger had his cell phone.  I didn’t take mine because I reasoned that this situation couldn’t happen two times in a row, right?????  And I hate to carry my phonhe with me everywhere.  We were able to connect with our host much faster this time (after all, we figured out how to get around AirBnB the day before, so we could do it again).  Our poor host drove up from Ljubljana and had a locksmith remove the toothpick while we had lunch in town.  He explained that other owners of apartments in the complex didn’t like that he was using his as a vacation rental.  He suspected who the culprit was and had a friendly discussion with him about the “old people” who spent 4 hours sitting on the floor two days in a row waiting to get into the apartment.  He guilted them into leaving us alone for the rest of our stay.  I don’t know if future younger visitors will be so lucky.  Sometimes it pays to be old.

The following days, we climbed to the castle perched high above Lake Bled.  It is my idea of a perfect castle—well defensible simply by its position and with lots of fun room and spaces.  My favorite castle so far.  We swam in the lake—the water is crystal clear, deep and pleasantly cool.  We walked the part of the lakeside path that we hadn’t done on the e-bikes, explored the little town and treated ourselves to Lake Bled’s famous cream cake.  To our relief, the keys opened the apartment door for the rest of the week.  

On day 7, we packed up, took the bus back to Lesce Bled and boarded the train to Austria.  It was crowded with scouts due to a jamboree.  (That’s probably where the scouts on the bus from Bohinj were heading eventually.)  The conductor took pity on us (probably because we are old!) and let us sit in 1st class—very comfortable.  Our destination is Villach, a town of 60,000 jam-packed with Austrian flavor.  The scouts remained on the train for a later stop.  Maybe we’ll meet up with them in Vienna.

Ljubljana - Week 8

Ljubljana (280,000 population) enchanted us from the very start.  It’s a beautiful city—compact and dedicated to being green (both in terms of trees and plants which are everywhere and ecologically).  The city sits on both sides of a bend in the Ljubljanska River with coffees shops, restaurants and stores lining a promenade along the river.  It’s relatively quiet during the day.  But it comes alive at night with locals and tourists walking the promenade, stopping for dinner or a coffee or an ice cream…enjoying one another and chatting the night away.  

No cars are allowed in the city center, but there are lots of pedestrians, bicycles, scooters and such.  Also they run a free electric shuttle (like a large golf cart) to get disabled or older people around.  There are lots of bridges to cross from one side of the river to the other, so good connectivity. Ljubljanans are very serious about recycling.  They have 4 categories: organic waste, paper, glass and packaging.  It’s really easy to separate into those categories…and the “drop boxes” for the items are conveniently located on every block.  It is all free except for non-recycled stuff—you pay for that, as it should be. The water is great and free drinking water fountains (and bathrooms) are everywhere.  Under the drinking spigots are bowls for pets.  The city has received numerous international awards for being pet, pedestrian, bicycle-friendly, as well as green.  While tourism is important in Ljubljana, it is also the largest city and the capital city of Slovenia.  Crowning the town is a fairytale castle, flags waving.  It’s such a lovely place!

We found our AirBnB quickly and moved right in.  Anybody interested can check out our place: River View Apartment in the Historic City Center.  It was without a doubt the best place we have stayed as yet in terms of location, comfort, kitchen supplies, bathroom—everything was super nice.  While it didn’t have a/c, the old stone building was cool inside and we had fans.  We opened the windows to cool air when we returned each evening from our day’s activities.  See view from our window below.  The boxes in the foreground are the recycling bins which connect to huge receptacles underground.

The highlights of our week in Ljubljana are several.  On the day after our arrival, we experienced the Open Kitchen.  Dozens of restaurants set up booths in a square near the farmer’s market and provide every kind of food imaginable, from Argentine steaks to Spanish paella to Thai fried noodles to African stews.  All this was complimented with wine and beer booths as well as dessert options.  We were in “hog heaven” as it were.  We sampled several dishes, sharing each other’s plates.  This happens every Friday throughout the summer from 10 am to 9 pm…a really nice tradition.  We should think about organizing something similar in our various home cities.  (Open kitchen and farmer’s market pictured below.)

Then we decided to buy a tourist card that gave us free entrance to several attractions.  Of course, Roger wanted to get in as many of the attractions as he could within the 24-hour time limit.  First we took a guided city walking tour, which included a funicular ride up to the castle.  Next, we took a tourist train, exploring sites a little farther than we could go on foot.  Finally, we took a river boat cruise along the river just before sunset.  The next morning, we picked up bicycles at the Tourist Information Center (still on the card because we were still within our 24 hours) and rode to the huge city park, finally finding the bicycle trail that encircled the entire city.  The 20-mile trail is called the Trail of Remembrance and Comradeship.  It is essentially a bike and walking path through overhanging trees, gardens and parks.  In WWII, the city was surrounded with barbed wire by the Axis powers to prevent partisans from leaving (we were assured that they got out anyway)—the trail reflects where the barbed wire used to be.  While we crossed car roads in places, usually there were no roads in sight. It was a wonderful 2 days “living on the card.”  Pictures below are our boat ride down the river, overview of city from castle, and bike ride.

A couple of days later, we had a walking food tour where we tried the local foods.  Our first stop featured fried sardines and another even smaller fish.  The latter were like small potato chips even with the heads, bones and all…crunchy.  We took more care with the sardines by removing the little skeletons.  Both were good.  Next we had a charcuterie plate of ham, prosciutto, olives and cheese followed by a traditional Slovenian goulash with 3 meats instead of one.  We were told that one the meats had to be wild.  Ours was beef, lamb and wild boar…they couldn’t find a bear that day.  The next stop was traditional sausage with horseradish and mustard sauces and bread.  Finally, we had a local dessert…a choice of chocolate or white cake.  It was a great way to spend the afternoon.  At each stop, local wines were paired with the food (of course!).  I’m getting a little tired of processed foods like prosciutto and sausage, but the local guides assure us that they don’t use nitrites and other chemicals.  This food actually comes from the farm.

Finally, we spent a day walking around Tivoli Park, a beautiful 1,200 acre park extending right into the heart of the city.  It was formed in the 1800s by combining the grounds of several mansions.  There are treed paths crisscrossing the hillsides of the park and we got lost several times.  But fortunately, with Roger’s maps.me (ugh!) app, we found our way home.  As a treat for all our hard work, we had an iced coffee just outside of the park.  It was the “best ever” iced coffee, in the words of our grandson.

Interspersed with all this activity, we managed a few days of quiet to read, cook and wash clothes.  It was a heavenly week.  We love Ljubljana.