The Best of Europe Day 11
The Best of Europe
Day 11 Tuesday September 16, 2003 - Vienna
Alarm at 6 AM, luggage out by 6:30 and early breakfast of our usual but with fresh fruit!!! Bus left at 7:30 AM.
It seems that Jurgen is having more difficulty packing the luggage these days. We then found out that one of the porters did not show up for work and Jurgen had to organize and pack.
Everyone was again on time for this departure, but later in the day it was the first time anyone was even a little late. Everyone has been very prompt.
As we left Innsbruck, the day was another special one for the sun was again shining. Otmar told us this is a rarity for this portion of Europe to have so many nice days in a row.
We will go across Austria to Wien, Vienna. We were on the freeway, making good time, but like everywhere in the world, there are construction spots. We are on the A1, the first freeway built across the Alps, in the 1960s.
Today, Austria is a transit country, with so many vehicles (trucks) coming and going to southern, western, eastern and northern Europe, carrying a wide variety of goods. Trucks are prohibited from traveling on the roads at night and on Sundays.
As we travel east on the Inn River Valley, we see their wide variety of industry - including glass works, skis, tech equipment, agriculture and silver mines.
Otmar called in our lunch order to the Biergarden in Berchtesgaden. He collected 18 Euros that would pay for the meal for Gennie and me. As we drove east, we went past crumbling castles and tiny churches nestling below mountain peaks.
At Lofer we stopped and had a brief 30 minute rest stop. The community is well maintained and has quaint little stores. The backdrop to the town is a panorama of unbelievable mountain scenery, portrayed in most Austrian postcards.
We then crossed into a small portion of Germany and the Bavarian Alps in route to Alpine Berchtesgaden in the beautiful National Park. This area was very popular with Hitler and his administrators because of its scenic beauty in these mountains and high meadows. These winding roads are very good; Hitler had these originally built to the recreation areas.
Once we arrived at Berchtesgaden we went directly to the Biergarden where we sat down and have our weisswurst, a white sausage made with veal, parsley and a little lemon juice and cooked by being steamed in large bowls of boiling water.
One eats these by splitting them open length wise and peeling back the casings. They are traditionally eaten with a beer, large soft pretzels and a heavy sweet mustard.
This was just a snack as these sausages are always eaten before the bell tolls twelve. After lunch we were able to walk around the town that has real shops with actual German people shopping in this local area.
We left at 11:50 and are on our long drive across Austria to Vienna. We followed the Inn River as it flows to the Danube.
Farmers are picking corn and preparing the fields for winter. We also noticed that the leaves on the trees are just beginning to change, very early this year due to the dry weather this summer.
At two we stopped for a short rest stop and coffee break at another Rosenbergers, a highway stop east of Linz, overlooking the River Enns. While others ate, we took a walk and I talked to another Trafalgar group from French Canada.
After 30 minutes, we were on our way to Vienna, a city of 1.5 million people. Austria has a total of 8 million, so the largest percentage live in the capital city and these people are a major influence on the history and culture of Central Europe.
What is noteworthy as we drive east are the huge farms and large farm houses. They are called 4 sided houses and are built in four sections in a square with a large courtyard in the middle.
We arrived in Vienna at the Dorint AM Europaplatz by 4:15 and to expedite things, I brought our luggage to the room. We have a little room with limited ventilation and no air conditioning.
We needed to shower, dress up a bit and be out of the room at 5:30 to go to central Vienna and have dinner on our own. We were driven to the downtown area, given some suggestions about dinner and told to be back by 7:40 to go on the optional.
Gennie and I found an internet place, again these are limited, sent out the last journal and then did some other work with her University of Phoenix and CSU materials.
By 7:30 we were at the bus, and we had a short tour of the city at night fall, quite nice and then we went to the Liechtenstein Palace to hear the Vienna Palace Concert. This was a wonderful concert of Viennese classical music including some of the most famous works of Johann Strauss and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
These pieces were performed by some of the most highly acclaimed soloists and dancers in Austria. At the intermission a glass of champagne was included. We returned to our hotel by 10:15 and finished the journal.
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