Two-Step To The Next Step

Friday, September 18, 2015

Great end to a rough start

On Monday we had reservations for a small group bike tour from Vienna to Wachau Vally. I was really looking forward to getting out of the city to explore some of Austria's rural towns and family run wineries.

The day started out a bit grey and on the chilly side but we came prepared with our puffer jackets and ponchos. It wasn't until after the hour train ride to Krems the showers started. The "small" group bike tour of 18 turned into 16 after one girl felt uncomfortable riding. After less then a mile ride and 20 minutes of standing in the rain we were told by our guide that her and her husband decided to head back to Vienna and we would continue the trip without them.

The bike trip was a leisurely paced 14 mile ride with our first stop in the medieval village of Durnstein. We had about an hour in town and given the option to stroll around the charming cobblestone village or take a 15 minute hike up to the ruins of Kuenringer Castle, where King Richard the Lionheart was imprisioned in 1192. Up at the top was a gorgeous panoramic view of town and the Danube river. Before hopping back on our bike we quickly stopped to try the famed apricot schnapps - which was incredibly delicious and tasted more like fruit juice... dangerous!

Our next stop was our first winery and lunch. Our plates overflowed with sausages, pork steak, potatoes salad, green salad, cranberry sauce and rolls with jam.

The next winery was only a quick 10 minute ride away. It was actually closed for the season but the owner of the tour company knows the family that runs this winery and they give them a set of keys to open only for this bike tour. Here we tried another 4 varieties of wine before making our journey across the river to our last stop.

To get across the river we had to use the local boat taxi. The boat is powered by the rivers current - only using a cable wire that spans across the length of the water and the boats rudder.

We made it back into Krems around 6:30 to catch to the 7pm train back into Vienna.

Looking back on this day trip I can't complain about the rain in the morning, grey sky's or chilly temperatures - indeed it would have been so much more beautiful with clears sky's but if we had stayed in Vienna on this nasty day we probably would have spent most of our time indoors.

Wednesday, September 16, 2015

Vienna - airbnb front door and coca-cola pictures

I Finally Planned Something

And it didn't got horribly wrong either.

Well that's sort of true. Ashley had given herself a little planner's fatigue and asked me to handle Vienna. This happened while we were in South Carolina and, thanks to our friend Ina, I was able to schedule two days of sightseeing and the third day was a biking wine tour near Krems (Ashley will post on this later as she found that one). What I wasn't expecting was the extra time we would have our first afternoon in the city.

The trip from Budapest to Vienna was the only travel we didn't book ahead of time. This was due to the fact that you couldn't get an e-ticket for trains leaving Budapest. Our plan was to buy the tickets when we arrived on our first day in Budapest. As we went along on our journey news of the migrant situation became to pop up and we realized that we may not be able to take the train as rail travel was being suspended intermittently.

The situation was escalating while we were in Florence - about a week before we were planning on arriving in Vienna. We decided to quickly buy tickets for a bus line to take us from Budapest to Vienna. The next day Ashley was reading some reviews and let's just say it seemed like a bad idea to use the OrangeWays bus company. We were in a bit of a pickle and now the roads were being blocked as well. Ashley did some research and found a private car to take us to Vienna. This was the single most expensive thing we have done on the trip, but 100% worth it. When we got to the border we cruised right through like going in the EZ Pass line back home. There were about 10 -15 barrack tents and guards everywhere. There were also a large number of people being detained. It was an odd contrast to see as we were in a hired car.

Wow, that was a lot of background that didn't really demonstrate my planning. The whole point for all of that rambling was that we got into Vienna at 1 so we had a whole afternoon I hadn't accounted for. We went to grab a bite along the Pedestrian walkway near our AirBnB and while there I thought we could walk to Belvedere Palace. Belvedere was a sight that we didn't quite have time for in my itinerary so this worked out perfectly... or so I thought. The walk was much further than I thought but that was fine on the way there. The palace was beautiful and the property immense. We walked the entire grounds and were able to see some traditional Austrian dancing. When it was time to head back we were both tired and I tried to figure out the public transportation. Every city has been so different and it is hard to understand where you are supposed to buy tickets, how long they last, etc in each place. We couldn't five out the tram so we had to hoof it again and that was really far. Eventually we made it to the Karlsplatz Ubahn and took the subway home. The day ended tired, a little annoyed, and with a box of cereal for dinner. A rough start for sure.

Time for redemption. The first full day would be mine. We woke up had some cereal and headed off to the subway I dug into research and decided it was best to buy a 72 hour ticket and it turned out that the Public transport was incredibly easy and efficient. A mixture of trams, subways and buses that run frequently and can get you close to almost everything. We arrived at Stephanplatz to see Stepansdom and there was a service going on. This was cool to see and the choir was beautiful, but it created a slight hiccup in my plan. We were unable to go into the catacombs or walk around the main nave. No problem... we headed up the the North Tower in the elevator (great call Ina) and took in the sights of the city. I always love seeing a city from a higher vantage point.

After Stepansdom, we took a stroll up Kartner Strausse, the main shopping area, before heading into the House Der Musik. This was a very interesting museum that covered Vienna's musical history, the famous musicians that were born or came to live in the city, as well as sound itself. Interesting and random all at once. Once finished we continued up the street until we hit the Opera House.

Opera house:

We decided it was time to eat and grabbed a Riesen Hot Dog kit Kasekrainer, another solid reco from Ina that didn't disappoint. We listened to the Rick Steves podcast we downloaded (great call Lawrie) while waiting in line and eating it provided some interesting information about the area.

After eating we took a stroll around the Opera House and looked in the Hotel Sachre where they invented the SachreTort (a chocolate cake with Apricot filling inside). The Line wasn't too long but it seemed like a tourist trap and we weren't quite ready for dessert. Instead we continued our stroll to check out the Albertina and grabbed a seat at the Hawelka Cafe. Ashley had a Melange and I had an Einspanner. Both were delicious and we figured we should get an Apfelstrudel too. After about an hour we decided to head home.

I know you are probably thinking this really wasn't a lot of planning, and you're correct, but the real test was dinner. Both Ina and Lawrie said that if we had time we needed to make it out to a Heuringer. These places are restaurants on the outside of town connected to vineyards. They sell there wines and have traditional Austrian food. We were also there for harvest season which meant lots of Sturm (a fresh wine that is consumed fairly quickly after pressing and only available this time of year). I was dead set of getting to one of these places, but picking one and figuring out the travel to get there was intimidating. Thankfully everything went off without a hitch, our meal was amazing and the setting even better.

I still had another day I was responsible for, but I was able to rest easy on that Sunday night... I didn't F up anything. Not bad :)

1st full day in Vienna - snaps from September 13th, 2015 from Ashley Habeck on Vimeo.

Budapest wine festival? Why not!

Before we left for our Europe trip an old co-worker sent me a link of festivals taking place in Budapest during the month of September. We would be in town for 2 - Budapest International Wine Festival and the Street Food Show & Fozdefesz Craft Beer Festival. We had planned on going to both but unfortunately the weather didn't hold up on the day of the craft beer festival so we skipped it.

The International Wine Festival was a short walk over the chain bridge into the Buda side.

From there we made our way up to Buda Castle where the festival was talking place. We could have paid 6 euros to take a 2 minute train ride up but we decided to make the hike.

We were a little early to the festival so we took a walk over to Fisherman's Bastion (Designed in neo-gothic and neo-romanesque. Built between the 1895-1902. The 7 towers represent the 7 Magyar tribes that settles in the Carpathian Basin in 896. The bastion takes its name from the group of fisherman that were responsible for defending this stretch of the city walls in the Middle Ages).

This was a great place for panoramic views of the city.

TIP: Not sure what side of Budapest you're on (Buda or Pest)? Just remember if you can look down to the other side of the city you're on Buda side.

Wine time yet?

The clock struck 2pm and the festival opened its doors. Enterance fee was $9 euros which included a wine glass, wine tote, access to the terraces in Buda Castle and free admission into the Budapest History Museum.

The festival showcased more than 200 wine cellars from 15 countries. The location of the festival was stunning - on one side you had Buda Castle and on the other side was the panoramic view of Budapest.

Over the next few hour we sipped on wine and had some great snacks. My favorite was a toasted pretzel in the shape of an ice cream cone with sausages, bacon, cheese, and crunchy onions in top.