Vienna Photos

Sorry for the delay people, almost forgot that I said I would post my complete album of photos from the Vienna trip. Better late than never right?

Vienna: 02. May 2011 - 09. May 2011

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Vienna Part 3: The Rest

Tobias

When I told my mom that I was going to Vienna she told me I should visit my godfather Tobias who lives there. Last time I saw him I was about 8 or 9 years when he came to Norway to visit us. I wrote him an email and told him I was going on vacation to Vienna and he invited me and Annina over for dinner. It turned out he didn't live that far away from the hotel we where staying at, in fact it was right behind the MuseumsQuartier that we walked past just the previous day. Anyways, the visit was very nice. We had dinner with Tobias and his wife and talked a lot about our past, from the time he met my mom when she was studying in Vienna and until now. It was nice to “catch” up on history and to learn more about what he was doing these days. And I think he enjoyed hearing about my life as well. It was a really nice evening with good food and company. Thank you!

The Hotel

I thought I would write a little bit about the hotel we stayed at the first 3 nights in Vienna. The hotel was called Cordial Theaterhotel Wien and is ranked a four star hotel. Right next to the hotel was a theater, so my guess is that’s were the name comes from. Every room was named after different people from the theater life in Vienna (no clue who the people were) but it was a nice way to do it. The room was nice and came with a double bed, a tiny kitchen and a bathroom. Based on the price I paid I was more than happy with what I got. We didn't spent much time other places in the hotel than the room so I can’t comment on that, but I have taken some photos of the room to show you.

Andrina’s Flat

After our three days in a hotel we moved over to Annina’s friend Andrina. She studies in Vienna and rents a small flat next to the University. (The University is housed in what used to be the main hospital in Vienna). There were actually two other people living in the flat as well with their own room and shared kitchen and toilet. It was really nice of them to let us stay in the spare room (living room) and they even got a hold of a sleeping sofa for the living room so that we didn't have to sleep on the floor :)

The Prater

The Prater is an amusement park of sorts located in Vienna. It has been around for a long time and it’s pretty famous among the locals. It used to be a big park where the Emperor’s went hunting, but then they built The Giant Ferris Wheel and it was opened up to the public. Nowadays it’s filled with different thrill rides, fast food stalls and arcade games. It’s pretty big and you can easily spend a lot of money if you decide to stay the whole day. There are a few attractions that stood out among the rest that I would like to write about.

Firstly the Prater has the world's largest, 117-meter-high chairoplane, the Prater Tower. It was truly amazing to spin around high over the Prater looking out over Vienna. The Giant Ferris Wheel I mentioned earlier is another amazing attraction. We didn't get the chance to go on it, but it truly looks gigantic from the ground. The last attraction I would like to mention is hard to describe so I have included a picture in stead. But what I can say is that it was a lot of fun to go on. A true thrill ride well worth the money!

Popfest

On Sunday evening after I had followed Annina to the train back to Freiburg, Andrina invited me to join her for a free concert called Popfest. The festival actually had been going on for a few days, and this was the last night, but the reason we went was that Andrina wanted to see a band she liked called Ginga. The band was not bad, but also not my favorite style of music. However I still enjoyed them quite a bit. At the concert we met a few of Andrina’s flatmates and after the show they showed us a few underground bars/clubs. They were very different from anything you can find in Norway and it was cool to experience the local Vienna culture from a side I hadn't seen earlier. Thanks so much for bringing me along :) That’s also the end of this post and my visit to Vienna. We had a wonderful time and it’s a city I recommend to everyone!

Vienna Part 2: Food and Drink

Palmenhaus

Andrina showed us this nice cafe that was inside a building that had been a greenhouse earlier. There was still some plants left growing up the walls and around the roof and it made the atmosphere very nice. We had coffee's and I tried the house cake while Annina had Sachertorte

7 Stern Bräu

My godfather Tobias who lives in Vienna and whom I visited (more about that in my last post) and his wife suggested a few different places where we should go to eat and drink in Vienna. 7 Stern Bräu was one of them. It is a fairly large pub with a big main room and several smaller around. In the middle of the pub was the brewery were they made their own beer and around it the bar. It was almost packed the night we went there but we found a table in a corner and sat down to eat.

Me and Annina started off with Schnitzel and one of their many home brewed beers. The food was absolutely acceptable being a pub and all. I enjoyed my Schnitzel quite much and my side of potato salad was delicious as well. After we finished eating Andrina, Annina’s friend came and soon we were all trying all the different varieties of beer they had. One tasted like barbecue sauce, another had chili in it and was almost impossible to drink because it was burning your mouth! But my favorite was the beer brewed on hemp. It had a very nice flavor with that hint of hemp in the background that made it especially good.

Café Diglas

This cafè was also suggested to us so we went there to have lunch one day. I had a very interesting meal that I did not expect based on what I ordered on the menu. It was asparagus, chicken and rice with blueberries and caramel sauce. Sounds like a crazy combo I know, but it was actually very good. A positive surprise :) Annina had Kaiserschmarrn which is a light, caramelized pancake chopped in pieces and is also one of the typical dishes from Austria.

Figlmüller

We were told that Figlmüller had the biggest and best Schnitzels in all of Vienna so it goes without saying that we had to check out this rumour and find out if the whispers were true :) There is actually two Figlmüller restaurants, but they are only 50 meters apart and from what I understood they have the same kitchen. As we walked past the first one we could see it was already packed, but the second one had a few tables left so we didn't have to wait.

I ordered the famous Schnitzel while Annina and Andrina ordered Knödel and baked cheese. The food arrived not long after and the rumour turned out to be true, my schnitzel was bigger than the dinner plate it was served on, in fact it was gigantic! It also tasted fantastic and has to be the best schnitzel I have ever eaten. It took all my willpower to finish it and that was still with some help from Annina. Afterwards I was so stuffed but happy :)

Weltcafé

On the last Sunday in Vienna Andrina showed us a nice breakfast place that her friend Carla had suggested that had a Sunday brunch buffet. It was called Weltcafé and looking at the enormous selection of breakfast things to chose from the name fit very well. Of course we had to try everything and we ended up spending at least an hour eating. Yet again I ate so much I was totally stuffed. Then came the desert and magically I fit 3-4 different kinds of deserts as well. It was excellent food and a place I definitely recommend too.

Vienna Part 1: Tourist Attractions

I have finally taken the time to sit down and write about my trip to Vienna with Annina that I did in the beginning of May. I left for Vienna on the second of May and we spent a wonderful week exploring the city and having fun before flying back to Norway the 9th of May. Here is the first of three posts from my trip, titled Tourist Attractions!

St. Stephan's Cathedral 

St. Stephan's Cathedral is probably the most famous church in Vienna and is located smack in the middle of the city centre. You are also allowed to take photos inside which was a nice gesture, since usually churches are very strict on thit point. I would guess it's about the same size as Nidarosdomen in Trondheim for those of you who have been there. There are several tours you can pay to go on inside, and we decided to go up the bell tower also known as the north tower. It is the smaller of the two towers, but has a great view out over Vienna. To get up in the tower we took an incredibly small elevator that took us all the way up to a small viewing area with the great view and the biggest bell. It's a nice church, but it was a bit too touristy for my taste.

Zentralfriedhof - Main Graveyard

The main graveyard in Vienna is a tourist attraction in itself. It is impressively big and here you will find the graves of many famous musicians among other well known people. Among the graves we looked for and found were Beethoven, Schubert and Brahms. In the middle of the graveyard is a large round chapel with a crypt underneath and surprisingly it was free to enter and to look around. There is also a section of the graveyard that is almost completely overgrown and it was a bit spooky to walk among the overgrown graves. Vienna is known for its big funerals and it is considered status to have a big gravestone and a huge party. This was easy to see as we walked around, with one gravestone bigger and more detailed than the previous. Of all the different ones, I found this one in the picture to the right the most original and cool looking!

Schönbrunn Palace

Schönbrunn Palace is probably the most famous tourist attraction in Vienna. Here the famous Habsburg family lived for several hundred years while they ruled Austria and the countries around. Now the Palace is a museum with tours of the rooms that are still kept as they were when the castle was used up to the beginning of the 20th century. Every room had it's own purpose and is filled with fine furniture and art on the walls. It was actually very impressive to walk from room to room and learn about their purpose and to look at the way of life these people had. Among the rooms was the room where the young Mozart jumped on the Empress's lap and gave her a kiss after performing for her one of his many classical pieces.

Behind the palace is a gigantic garden so big it actually takes hours to walk around. We walked around looking at sculptures and fountains before making our way to the opposite end. Here the Habsburgs had built a lookout that had an absolutely fantastic view of the garden and the palace in the distance. In the middle of the garden is the biggest fountain with a small pond and some big statues that made for a great photo spot. The Vienna zoo is also located in this garden but we decided not to go there. I have to say I was very impressed with the palace and the palace grounds. Be sure to check out my complete photo album in a later post.

Museum of Fine Arts

Vienna is a city with extremely many museums so we had to decide which ones we had time to visit and which ones were actually interesting. After a few tips (thanks Tobias!) we ended up going to the Museum of Fine Arts. This building like most buildings in Vienna looked old and majestic. The outside looked impressive enough, but the inside was even more impressive. Right inside the entrance was a big room with three big staircases and in the roof was a hole to the rooms above. It's hard to explain how it looked, but it's definitely worth the visit. The first floor covered art from the oldest civilizations, the Egyptians, Greeks and Romans to mention a few. And wow what a collection. There was so many different artifacts and objects it was hard to believe one museum could own all of it.

Then we got to the second floor and here there was room after room with famous painting from people like Rembrandt, Raphael, Rubens and Dürer. The rooms just never ended and personally I have never been to a museum with so many paintings, although Annina told me that the Louvre has more. The coolest part? Photography allowed in almost the whole building! In the third floor there was an equally impressive coin and money collection with rare coins dating back to before the Roman period. Some of pure gold! Normally I am not the biggest fan of fine arts, but I have to say this was a very interesting place.

Schatzkammer - Treasury Chamber

The "Schatzkammer" or Treasury Chamber in English is yet another museum in Vienna. Here some of the Habsburg jewels and other Imperial treasures are stored and displayed. Crowns, scepters, fine clothes and other ornaments in gold, silver and other valuable metals are shown as you walk through the many rooms. Some very impressive and expensive looking items were on display and I think these photos will illustrate what I am talking about. It became clear that the Habsburg family was as powerful and rich as many of the other royal families throughout Europe. Most of the paintings and other artifacts in the Museum of Fine Arts was collected by them as well and they are a big reason Vienna is such a rich cultural city.

Third visit in Freiburg

It’s time to update my travel blog again. After a long hiatus I have finally something new to write about, a new visit to the wonderful town of Freiburg in southwest Germany. I arrived on Monday evening and on Tuesday I and my girlfriend Annina went to a new swimming place which had just opened. It is located in a city called Titisee-Neustadt not far from the village Hinterzarten that I visited last time. The swimming place is called Badeparadies Schwarzwald and is divided into three, one big building with slides, one big Laguna with palms and a sauna area. Unfortunately the slides were closes the day we were there, but the rest was still very nice. The palm oasis as it was called was a big pool with sun chairs around it and palms spread throughout the building. There was a bar in the pool, and you could sit on chairs that were under water and have a cocktail or a beer. It was very classy and cool. Unfortunately I was not allowed to take any photos. The sauna area was also very nice. There were 4-5 different saunas that you could sit in and a room with cold water to cool yourself of. We spent the day swimming, relaxing, eating and overall feeling like we were staying in a luxury hotel.

On the way to Badeparadies Schwarzwald we drove past a local tourist attraction. I had seen it before when going to Hinterzarten with the train, but this time we were driving a car and could stop and get a better photo. It is a statue of a deer atop a cliff overlooking the road.

On Wednesday while Annina was at work I walked around in Freiburg and up to the lookout tower located on a small hill in the city. I took a lot of new photos, but I won’t write that much about it since I already covered this during my first visit in Freiburg. Take a look in the photo album in the bottom of this post to see the photos.

On Thursday me and Annina went out for breakfast in a nice café called Aspekt. We had a monster breakfast called “Europe” which was meant for two people, but it could easily suit 3 or 4. We were both really stuffed afterwards!

Annina had to work the whole Friday, so I went with Annina’s mom and brother on a trip to a small piece of land they owned with cherry trees. It is full spring now in Freiburg and the cherry trees were all covered in white flowers. On the way there we also drove past a few castles! The piece of land is located south of Freiburg towards the Swiss border and you could see both Switzerland and France in the distance. The landscape was so beautiful with the white cherry trees and wine yards covering the hillsides! On the way back we drove over the Rhien River and into France to go food shopping. We also bought ice-cream and ate it while looking out over the river.

As the sun was going down we stopped at a place just west of Freiburg with amazing views of the surrounding landscape. It was a lookout atop a hill with vineyards all along the hillside. The road was small and narrow, but it was very cool to drive up and to look out over the fields, small villages and France in the distance. I took a picture of a map to try and show you the places we visited.

On the weekend I went with Annina to visit her family. On Saturday we went to a city called Baden-Baden about two hours drive north of Freiburg. One of Annina’s aunt’s lives there and a lot of her family on her father’s side were gathered there this day. They had a wonderful house and we spent the day playing billiard and walking in the woods surrounding it. In the evening we watched old movies from when Annina’s dad was young that her grandfather had filmed with an old video camera.

On Sunday we drove further to a small village called Münklingen where Annina’s grandmother lives. She was celebrating her birthday and most of Annina’s family on her mother’s side was gathered there. We had a wonderful lunch in the local restaurant and walked a nice walk around the village. In the end of the day we visited Annina’s uncle who has just opened his own massage practice where he lives in Rutesheim. I met a lot of people during this weekend and they were all nice and friendly.

Basel:

On Wednesday I and Annina went for a day trip to Switzerland and the city of Basel which is located just over the border from Germany. We drove to a town just outside of Basel, parked there and took the train into the city centre. Basel is a nice city with many cool looking buildings. The city is split by the Rhien River which flows through Basel. We walked around for a while before visiting the Pfarramt Münster, a church right next to the river. Here we climbed up into one of the two church towers and had a great view of Basel. Be sure to check out the photo album for more photos!

Basel: 06. April 2011

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We also visited a museum called the Museum Tinguely. Tinguely was a man who is famous for creating funny machines from scrap metal and other junk that have no purpose. It was a very cool museum and you could try all the different machines. Tinguely created a very unique type of art! We also visited a monument called Dreiländereck. It marks the corner where the border of Germany, Switzerland and France all collide. Although the real border was a few meters out in the Rhien River you could almost stand with one foot and a hand in all three countries!

In the evening after we were back in Freiburg we went to a cinema who had something called “pay after”. Basically they showed a random new movie and then you decided afterwards how much you wanted to pay based on how much you liked the movie. The movie we watched was called “Mother and Child”, an American drama. It was dubbed to Germany so it was a bit harder to understand everything, but I think I got the main plot!

That ends this post and my third visit to Freiburg. I had wonderful weather with temperatures from 15 to 25 degrees C and it was sad to come back to cold Norway where the snow is still found in many places! My next trip will be to Vienna in Austria in the beginning of May. Be sure to check out my blog then if you are interested in reading about that adventure!

Freiburg 3: 28. March 2011 - 07. April 2011

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