Tag Archives: Salzburg

Austria, Croatia, road trips, Slovenia

Ten things I learned on my Aus-cro-slo-aus trip…

I always like to cap off my travel series with a top ten list of things I learned while traveling. Even when I’ve been to places repeatedly, I usually do learn something new on every trip. That was especially true as we visited Croatia overnight for the first time. We had visited there once before, but only for a couple of hours as we took a “joyride” while visiting Trieste, Italy. So, I’ll dispense with the useless palaver, and commence with my list. Here goes.

10. The word “slap” means waterfall, both in Croatian and Slovenian.

As we know, “slap” means something entirely different in English. But when you see it on signs in Croatia and Slovenia, it means you might be in for a beautiful view of something special.

9. Croatia is very friendly to English speakers.

I couldn’t help but notice that Croatia really seems to have embraced visitors who speak English. A lot of Europeans know English, because it’s a very practical language to learn. If one speaks English, he or she can communicate with Americans, Brits, and Aussies, just to name a few. But I was still surprised that so many people in Croatia spoke English so fluently, and many of the signs were also in English.

8. The off season in Croatia and Slovenia means very few crowds, but also a lot of closed businesses.

The Lake Bohinj area was especially empty of tourists, although to be fair, we were there in early November, rather than late October. November 1 seems to be the cut off day for things to close up for the winter.

7. But even though places were closed, the fall colors were fantastic, and there were still some things to do.

We still managed to see and do some things, even if it was harder to find open shops and restaurants. And the trip was so worth it, if only to see the incredible fall colors along with so many lakes and waterfalls.

6. Salzburg is still hopping, even though it’s November.

Of course this isn’t a surprise, but the fact that Salzburg was still in full swing was great, especially after spending time in places where it was so quiet. We managed to do a little shopping and enjoy a very fine meal in a restaurant. I could definitely spend more time in Salzburg, and Austria as a whole.

An interesting and array of sights on our vacation!

5. Wels, Austria is known for its catfish.

I don’t really enjoy eating catfish, but this was something I didn’t know before we visited Wels. In fact, I didn’t even know Wels existed before we took our trip.

4. Sometimes it’s interesting to visit lesser known cities.

I’m truly glad we visited Wels. It’s probably not high on most people’s travel itineraries, but I found it a pleasant place to spend a couple of nights. I wouldn’t mind going back. I’m also glad we visited different places. I’m rather proud that I came up with a plan to visit Plitvice Lakes and Lake Bohinj. And I’m glad I listened to Slovenians in Lake Bled who recommended Lake Bohinj.

3. I need a genuine kit bag for all my stuff.

I typically carry a digital camera, a phone, and my iPad when I tour places. I could have used a better bag, especially when we were hiking. If anything, I could have used a place to put my layers as I stripped them off. I got hot at Plitvice Lakes and ended up having to carry my sweater and hoodie. I also need to bring snacks.

2. The word “jezera” means “lake” in Croatian. And the word “ključ” means “key” in Croatian.

I only learned the word for “key” because the lovely couple at the house we rented used it several times.

And finally, 1. Planning ahead is difficult, especially in the age of COVID-19, but it’s always a good idea to try…

I wish we could have visited the Krka National Park during our time in Croatia, even though it would have been physically challenging. But now we have a reason to go back. I hope we’ll have the opportunity. It’s good that we came back when we did, as COVID-19 has become even more concerning in the past week. I still don’t regret our trip. We had a really great time, in spite of my occasional crankiness and griping.

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Chasing lakes and waterfalls in Aus-cro-slo-aus… part fourteen

And now, we’ve come to the end of my latest series… which I will admit was not long on food and activities, but had plenty of gorgeous scenery and solitude. When I am finished writing this post, I’ll do my usual “ten things I learned post”, but that will probably be done tomorrow, so as not to overwhelm anyone with all the action my travel blog is suddenly getting. 😉

Because we were coming from “high risk” areas– Croatia and Slovenia– we had to upload our vaccination information to officials in Germany. This would absolve us from having to quarantine. But, when we got to the border, they just waved us through, anyway. Maybe because it was Sunday.

Our drive home was mostly uneventful. Salzburg is about six hours or so from where we live, I think… Ray had made it easy to check out. All we had to do, besides take out the trash and make sure we used the toilet brush, was put the 12 euro city tourist tax (three euros per person per night) in the lockbox, along with the key. We got an early start, and, at first, the weather was beautiful.

  • Goodbye to Ray’s house.
  • The sun is shining…
  • One last look at Austria’s beauty…
  • Because all of a sudden, we were crossing the border.
  • But the sun still shone in Germany
  • All the way to the Chiemsee…

The nice weather began to change the further north we went. It got cold and decidedly cloudy, then it was raining. At one point, we tried to stop for lunch, but there was no parking in the parking lot. The spots were all taken up by tractor trailers. We eventually ended up at the very same rest stop where we stopped on the way down to Croatia. On that visit, I wore a surgical face mask, as did a lot of other people. Surgical masks are the rule for all of Germany… except hard assed Bavaria, where people are supposed to wear FFP2s, the tighter fitting “coffee filter” masks. I did have a fresh one in my purse, but I really hate wearing them.

Anyway, we walked into the McDonald’s, which was empty. Evidently, the COVID-19 rules changed again, because the cashier pointed to me and said I needed the heavier mask. That pissed me off, so Bill and I left. I ranted about it on my other blog. We went to Burger King and ate lunch in the car. I spent much of the rest of the drive annoyed, since the heavier masks are obviously not curbing the now soaring infection rate in Germany. People need to be vaccinated. But if they’re going to enforce mask mandates, I wish they’d be consistent about it. And I wish they’d show common sense, particularly toward people who have actually done the responsible thing and gotten the vaccine.

I mean, look at this…

This is in Koln, where Carnival is in full swing.

It’s ridiculous. I can’t sit in an empty McDonald’s without being forced to wear a heavy mask, but these fools can party and drink unmasked in huge crowds in Mainz and Cologne! I fear we may be heading for another lockdown soon, which makes me even more glad that we took our trip. As it stands now, James Taylor has postponed his European tour. We have second row tickets to his Frankfurt show, but who knows when it will happen. We still have tickets to see Keb’ Mo’ for a show that was supposed to happen on November 16 (our anniversary) 2020. At this point, it’s been postponed three times, thanks to COVID-19. Maybe we’ll get to see him in May of 2022. This COVID shit really needs to be sorted.

The only other notable thing that happened on the way home was that we passed a van that had a sticker on it that read “Porn casting car”.

And then, we noticed that the driver had drapes with little gold tassels on them in the front seat. Maybe it really is a porn casting car.

After we got home, we unpacked and started doing the laundry. Later, we went to get Arran and Noyzi, who I guess could hear and smell us as we approached. They were so excited! Noyzi was even ecstatic to see Bill. He practically dragged me to the car and was delighted to jump in the back all by himself.

When we got home, we discovered that Arran had a couple of swollen flesh wounds on his ears. And the next day, Noyzi had kennel cough. By Tuesday, Arran was coughing too, although they are both okay now. Fortunately, it was a mild case. It was the first time I have ever dealt with kennel cough, which is usually a mild illness that clears up on its own. Our dogs are usually vaccinated against it, but we stopped giving Arran most vaccines because he’s had mast cell tumors. Noyzi is due for his vaccines next month.

Here are a few final pictures of a few things we brought back with us… I wish I had found a few things to put in the house. Oh well. Maybe on the next trip. Bill has to go to Poland on Monday, and he’ll be gone on our 19th wedding anniversary, which is on Tuesday. I’m sure he’ll get some Bison Grass vodka. Just what we need! 😉 We also got jams, honeys, liqueurs, and gin.

  • Bill will be…
  • eating all of this Croatian cheese on his own…

Well… that about does it for the series. Stay tuned tomorrow, for my super fun “ten things I learned” post. I actually did learn some new things on this trip. It was one of our better ones, and we’ve been on some great trips. I hope we can do it again, soon.

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Chasing lakes and waterfalls in Aus-cro-slo-aus… part thirteen

Our last full day of our trip was probably our most touristy-vacation-esque of our trip. We went to Salzburg and walked around, taking in the sights. Once again, I regret not buying any art, since we passed a few galleries which were closed by the time we departed in the late afternoon. Salzburg is a beautiful city, with lots going on, and a lot of photogenic scenery. We mainly walked around, but we also visited St. Peter’s Abbey and, after Bill lit a candle for his late father, who was a Catholic, we had a very expensive but delicious lunch at Peter, one of the restaurants in St. Peter Stiftskulinarium, which was founded in 803 AD. We didn’t know anything about the restaurant when we visited, but it turned out to be a very successful stop.

Below are some photos from our walk around the city before lunch…

  • We decided to skip the Salzburger Dom, since we’d seen it before.
  • Last time we were in Salzburg, there were many Friesian horses… Not this time.
  • This guy was walking on air.
  • Buskers are pretty common near the Dom. Last time, we ran into a choir of Russian soldiers who made me cry.
  • St. Peter’s Abbey…
  • It’s been a year since Bill lost his father. He was not able to attend the funeral.

Peter is right next to the Abbey. They were decorating it for Christmas and, I have to admit, I was drawn in by how beautiful the restaurant was looking with the Christmas lights, trees, and ornaments. It turned out they have good food, too… for a price. But we didn’t mind, as it was a really nice meal and the only “fancy” one we had on our trip. In fact, we didn’t spend much money on food at all, most days. I wish it showed on my body, but I guess I’d have to give up booze for that to happen…

  • The outdoor area of the restaurant.
  • The entrance.
  • Handy menu.
  • Bill wanted to order a Chateauneuf-du-Pape, but they were out of what he wanted.
  • This was a nice substitute, at 120 euros! That was 20 euros more than the other bottle that they didn’t have.
  • I had a small pickled salmon starter with quinoa and radishes.
  • Bill had burrata with sweet cherry tomatoes.
  • For my main course, I had roasted duck breast with orange sauce and potatoes.
  • Bill had venison with potato dumplings and pureed celery.
  • And dessert for me was a dark chocolate cream.
  • Bill had a lemon meringue tart.
  • Another shot of the dessert.

Peter gets mixed reviews. Some people think it’s an overpriced tourist trap. Personally, I enjoyed it, except for the pop music on the sound system, which didn’t seem to go with the food. Also, we were surprised when we came into the restaurant and the hostess told us we didn’t have to wear masks if we were vaccinated. We weren’t upset about it… just surprised. The restaurant was pretty busy and was doing a brisk business. I had originally wanted to get steak there, but they sold it by the gram and it started at 350 grams, which was way too much food for me. Maybe if Bill and I could have split it. We were happy with what we had, though. The duck was delicious, and Bill always enjoys venison whenever he can get it, since I don’t usually eat it myself. Our bill was about 250 euros, but it was money well spent.

After lunch, we walked around the cemetery, taking notice of how beautiful and ornate the graves were. Some of them had actual well-tended gardens on them. I haven’t even mentioned Mozart, who is everywhere in Salzburg, since it’s where he was born.

And as we came out of the cemetery, we found the Wasserrad, a long running source of power…

It was at about this time that we decided to pick up a few souvenirs, mostly for Bill’s co-workers, who bring us stuff on their travels. I also got a new beer stein for my collection. I now have two from Germany, two from Austria, and one from Switzerland. I tried to talk Bill into getting a hat, like the ones we saw in The Sound of Music. He turned me down.

  • Bill didn’t want one of those hats.
  • I don’t think I’ve ever actually seen anyone playing one of these life size chess games.
  • We have one in our Dorfplatz, but I’ve never seen anyone using it.
  • This young lady, Valentina Marshinoskaya, was playing lovely music, so we bought one of her CDs.

And finally, we decided to visit the Stieglbrau, a restaurant affiliated with the brewery. It also has a Biergarten/Winter solarium for those of us who just come to drink, as Bill and I did… I think it was worth visiting for the views alone! Last time we were in Salzburg, back in May 2012, the restaurant wasn’t open. I don’t remember why.

  • I enjoyed this beer… Bill had an IPA, and I had a Hefeweizen… and a Naturtueb.
  • A Stolperstein (stumbling stone) commemorating a Holocaust victim.
  • Salzburg is so pretty!

Bill ducked in to a little gourmet shop to get some Stiegl beer, some deer and antelope sausage, and a new beer mug for me. I was really feeling the urge to shop, since so many places in Croatia and Slovenia were closed.

The sun was sinking as we went back to the garage to get the car. Austrians are so civilized, they had a very clean WC there, which I needed to visit. Unfortunately, I almost walked into the men’s room… a couple of locals laughed about that! Then, on the very short drive back to Ray’s house, we were stopped at a light, and some mean spirited jackass on a bike and carrying a skateboard knocked on the window. When I looked up, he shot me the middle finger while wearing a most hateful expression on his face, which is illegal in Germany and, my German friend Susanne says, is also illegal in Austria. Needless to say, I quickly fired back, and hope he fell off his bike and neutered himself. I don’t know why he flipped us– or really, me– off. I had nothing to do with any traffic offenses, since I was sitting in the passenger seat, minding my own business. Asshole.

We decided to relax on our last night on vacation, though if I’m honest, I was really ready to go home. After awhile, it gets tiresome living out of a bag. I also really missed the dogs. So, although we had a good day in Salzburg and could have seen a lot more, I was ready to go back to normal living.

Stay tuned for the last post in this series, part fourteen.

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Chasing lakes and waterfalls in Aus-cro-slo-aus… part twelve

Friday morning, it was time to pack up and leave Slovenia. We were bound for Salzburg, Austria, a town we’ve now stayed in three times, but have only ever visited twice. We usually stop there for an overnight when we go to Slovenia. This time, I decided to book two nights so we could enjoy Salzburg’s marvelous downtown area. By Friday, I was ready to move on, even though there were a lot of things we didn’t have the chance to do in Lake Bohinj.

For instance, we didn’t ride the cable car that goes up Vogel mountain, where there is a ski resort. I expect the ski resort will be doing a lot of business soon. And there were some walks we could have taken, and restaurants we could have tried. I’m actually surprised Lake Bohinj isn’t more of a year round destination, but I’m sure the locals appreciate the break from the tourists. I grew up near Williamsburg, Virginia, so I know what it’s like to deal with tourists in the summer.

The morning of our departure, I got a message from the host at our next accommodations, an apartment that doubles as a music studio. I found this property on Booking.com and was intrigued by it. The guy who owns it is a musician and music producer. Since I’m also a musician of sorts, I thought it would be a fun place to stay. In any case, he needed copies of our passports and COVID-19 vaccine certificates. Bill took photos of the documents and emailed them. Then, we went to our last breakfast at Villa Stare.

The proprietor met us. He’d already set a table for us with a fabulous spread. It turned out we were the only guests, and his breakfast attendant was not there because she had to go see the dentist. He cooked us scrambled eggs, and we enjoyed fruit, breads, coffee, and cold cuts. I was impressed by how beautiful the table looked.

  • It was a nice send off to Austria!

We told our Slovenian host what a good time we had and how beautiful his country is. I hope we can visit Lake Bohinj. It’s such a pretty area… and I really enjoyed being there when it was so quiet, even though we missed out on some of the more touristy activities because they were either closed, or the weather didn’t cooperate. I would definitely go back if the opportunity arises again. Below are some photos from our journey from Slovenia to Austria.

  • I got a kick out of this Austrian tutorial on how to wash your hands.
  • There’s already a lot of snow in Austria!
  • Hohenwerfen Castle is right next to the Autobahn.

Our drive to Austria was uneventful. There were no blood sugar meltdowns. The most exciting thing was crossing the border and Bill remarking that he could barely understand the Austrian border official’s accent. We got to Salzburg about an hour before check in began, so we found the property where we were staying for two nights. The host, Ray, was there. He was easily recognized. The cleaning lady was finishing up cleaning the house, but Ray said the house would be ready in a few minutes. We said it was no problem, since we were going downtown for lunch.

Ray turned out to be a very attentive and helpful host. I liked how he set up checking in and out at his rental. There’s a lockbox on the gate, and he sends the code and other instructions before guests arrive. That way, guests can just let themselves in without having to wait for him to show up. It’s also probably a little bit safer, in the COVID-19 era. Ray’s place is very close to downtown Salzburg, maybe about ten minutes away. We found a parking garage that had typically tiny parking spaces. Kudos to Bill for managing to park our Volvo without a scratch. It wasn’t easy, even with parking assist.

  • Near our accommodations.
  • I really enjoyed this tortellini… it hit the spot!
  • Bill liked his dish, too.
  • We saw this same scene later in the evening when we watched The Sound of Music.

We quickly found an Italian trattoria called La Campana da Enzo. It was kind of a hole in the wall place– tiny, with no frills furnishings, and art for sale on the walls. I kind of wish I’d bought a painting there. I have been wanting to buy some art for our house. But, we just had a rather no frills lunch. Tortellini with a tomato cream sauce for me, and spaghetti with artichokes for Bill, paired with red wine and sparkling water, were our orders of the day. I guess the restaurant had trouble with locals using their toilets in the hall of the building, because to access them, you have to get a key.

The staff at this restaurant were very kind and friendly, even though we arrived just before they take their afternoon pause. There was one other guy in there, and he was telling the trilingual waiter in German about places he’d lived in Germany and France. And he also said the restaurant should offer pizza. But the waiter said that the restaurant was too small for pizza. I found myself nodding, since I’m sure a proper pizza over would make the place unbearably hot. I suddenly realized that’s probably why our old friend Gino in Nagold doesn’t do pizza. His place used to be a bakery, and it’s tiny.

The staff had their lunches while we finished up our pasta dishes. Then, the well spoken and friendly waiter kicked us out, since the restaurant closes during the afternoon. We didn’t mind, since it was now time to check out our new digs. I think the bill was about 30 euros. Cheap!

  • We had a dedicated parking spot, which was nice.
  • Music studio.
  • Gold record.
  • The kitchen and the shower…
  • are in the same room… The toilet is in a tiny water closet.
  • The TV was enormous! It included Netflix, Amazon Prime, and iTunes.
  • I don’t know how to play a twelve string guitar.
  • Comfortable bed.
  • Beds for…
  • the kids…
  • He had two hot tubs, one on each side of the huge rooftop terrace.
  • The view.
  • This must be his private side of the terrace.
  • Olive trees.
  • There was a sign advising guests not to use that side of the terrace.
  • Ray does a lot of business.
  • I didn’t recognize most of the people, although they were clearly in the business.
  • We ended up watching The Sound of Music on his huge TV.
  • I posted this on Facebook and asked my friends what was wrong with the picture. My German friend immediately got it, and my friend who is fluent in Russian noticed something else.
  • Impressive.
  • I took a closer look for my sound engineer friend.

I suppose we could have gone back to the city for dinner, but we’re old farts now and like to relax at home in the evenings. So we watched The Sound of Music, which I had purchased on iTunes ages ago. I know Austrians probably think it’s a cheesy movie, but I love it. And it was pretty cool to go to Salzburg and see that some of the businesses in the shots of Salzburg in the 1965 film are still there in 2021.

There are a couple of restaurants near Ray’s place, but we were pretty full from lunch and had plenty of snacks. So after we watched Julie Andrews and friends, we watched Dreamgirls. Saturday was to be our fun day in Salzburg. More on that in part thirteen.

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Austria, Croatia, Slovenia, trip planning

Chasing lakes and waterfalls in Aus-cro-slo-aus… part one

So much natural beauty… almost all to ourselves…

I may live to regret titling this particular trip series as I have. At the moment, I’m having trouble coming up with a snappy name for my latest vacation blog series. It might be because my brain is still scrambled by the whirlwind of four countries Bill and I have traversed since October 26th. It could also be because the time has changed. Additionally, I’m still a bit peeved about today’s lunch, which I’ll probably bitch about on my other blog, since I like to keep the travel blog somewhat “PG-rated”.

People who regularly follow this blog may know that Bill and I finally took our 2021 vacation. It was not a small undertaking to plan this trip, or even decide where to go. Gone are the days when we could just choose a destination on a whim. These days, we have to pay attention to COVID-19 rules and regulations, which seem to change daily, as well as infection trends. I feel like I’m back at South Carolina’s Department of Health and Environmental Control, working for the Bureau of Epidemiology, where it was once my job to translate the results of chronic disease trend statistics into laymen’s terms. Thanks to my current career as an “overeducated housewife”, those days are long behind me… or, at least I don’t get paid to do them anymore.

As of about an hour ago, our vacation ended, as we walked into our house and I caught a whiff of the rotting avocado and mozzarella cheese in the refrigerator. At first, I was afraid someone forgot to flush the toilet before we left town! The dogs will be picked up in a couple of hours; hopefully, they are both fine. I sure have missed them… I really mean that, even though taking them with us on trips isn’t exactly easy to do, especially now that we have big Noyzi, and Arran has become a cranky old codger.

So how did I choose a trip to Austria, Croatia, and Slovenia, then back to Austria? At first, it wasn’t in the plans. Originally, I had been looking at going to The Netherlands. I kept getting enticing ads on Facebook, particularly for a very upscale looking property in Zeeland. I must admit that the prospect of enjoying some legal weed was also somewhat appealing. But then I started thinking about how much I’d like to go to France and Belgium, too. I started trying to design an itinerary that would allow us to get the most bang for our bucks and the time Bill got off from work. I kept getting bogged down in and frustrated by minutiae, as I realized that the places I wanted to go weren’t all that convenient to each other. Accommodations were also kind of pricey. And then, I had a sudden flashback to 2015, when our return to Europe was still new and exciting…

Several years ago, when COVID-19 was a mere nightmarish fantasy in the back of a mad scientist’s or Hollywood screenplay writer’s most warped mind, I saw an enticing video on YouTube made by a user who called herself heyannalise. She made entertaining clips about traveling in Europe. Back in May 2015, she made one about her visit to the Krka National Park in Croatia. I was enchanted by the scenery in her video, which I am sharing below…

No… this is not where we went. I tried to get us tickets to the Krka National Park, but was unsuccessful. You have to buy them at least a day in advance, and all of the tickets were sold out for when we were in Croatia and had time to go… We will try to come back for an experience like Annalise had.

Somehow, even though I was enthralled by Annalise’s video, Bill and I never got around to visiting Croatia, even though we’ve now been in Europe for ages… I kept meaning to go, and we did once take a “joyride” to Pula, Croatia while we were visiting Trieste, Italy in May 2016. But we never managed to actually book a real trip there that involved staying overnight. Time moved on from 2015, and I pushed thoughts of Croatia to the back burner, even though my Croatian friend, Boris, who organizes trips to Croatia, kept wanting me to go and blog about the experience. The timing just never seemed to work out for us, or there was somewhere else I wanted to see that was more pressing or convenient.

As I was planning our most recent trip, thinking about France, Belgium, and The Netherlands, I couldn’t help noticing a nagging thought in the back of my head, reminding me how much I had been wanting to visit Croatia to see waterfalls and lakes. Since I managed to nag Bill into taking a lot of days off work, I realized that we finally had enough time to really enjoy ourselves and see a lot, and that meant it made sense to finally take the plunge and go to Croatia. I also knew I could break up the trip into manageable and affordable blocks, and that was a real plus. My days of wanting to drive eight hours straight to cram in life experiences are long done, and I don’t need much encouragement to overspend on fancy hotels. I also have no desire to fly during the age of COVID-19 unless it’s absolutely unavoidable.

By the time I was ready to go to Croatia, I had forgotten where Annalise had actually gone. I went on Google and started searching… and somehow, instead of Krka National Park, I wound up finding the Plitvice Lakes. Now… there is absolutely NOTHING wrong with going to Croatia just to see the Plitvice Lakes. They are stunning and mesmerizing, and you will definitely get plenty of exercise and fill your camera with exquisite photos of magical scenery. But we were down there for four nights, and Krka National Park is only about a 90 minute drive from where we stayed. It would have been nice to combine the two experiences, although now we have a good reason to visit Croatia again and do a LOT more exploring. It really is a beautiful and easy to travel country, especially for English speakers. And… we haven’t been to the coast yet, to see all the towns that tourists flock to during the summer months. We have a good reason to go back to Croatia, now.

Anyway, once I’d decided on Croatia, it was time to plan for a visit somewhere else within proximity. I recalled that while we were visiting Trieste in 2016, we also visited Lake Bled in Slovenia. I remember being totally enchanted by beautiful Lake Bled and the other areas in Slovenia we visited on that trip. I also specifically remembered Slovenians telling Bill and me that we should visit Lake Bohinj, as it was even better than Bled is, and less touristy. Realizing that Bohinj was maybe 4 or 5 hours from the Plitvice Lakes area, I determined that it would be a great second stop on our trip. We could spend another four nights there.

The cities where we chose our visits in Austria were mostly down to being practical. We decided to stop in Wels, Austria on the way down to Croatia because it was about halfway to where our final destination would be, and Bill and I didn’t want to stay in Linz or Passau, which are cities we’ve both already visited. Ditto to our stop in Salzburg. Every time we’ve gone to Slovenia– we also went to Kranjska Gora, Slovenia last year to pick up Noyzi— we’ve stopped in Salzburg, because it’s convenient. It’s also a great town to visit, although on our other two trips, we’ve only spent a night there and neglected to properly enjoy the city.

  • This is the very delicious ham and asparagus meal that I ate in Salzburg in May 2012…

We did take a day trip to Salzburg in May 2012, when we did our very first military hop, and we got to see the city on that trip. But we visited Salzburg from Munich instead of staying there overnight, and that sharply limited our ability to see a lot. I also remember getting caught in a sudden late spring thunderstorm that day, so we ended up ducking back into the restaurant where we had lunch (ham and asparagus with Hollandaise Sauce), and drinking lots of beer and Schnapps! I remember the proprietor was quite pleased with us giving him more business. I think that restaurant has since closed down, which is a pity. We sure enjoyed going there.

Ever since that day trip in 2012, I had been wanting to go back to Salzburg. Russian buskers had made me cry there, and I saw some beautiful Friesian horses… But every time we’ve stayed in Salzburg overnight, we’ve been rushing to or from somewhere else, so this time, I decided we’d spend two nights.

With all of the cities chosen, I went looking for places to stay. Wels, Austria, it turns out, is a very pleasant and attractive city, but it’s not particularly exciting or noteworthy. I noticed they had catfish there. There are museums to see, and the downtown area is nice. But I didn’t find any cute places to rent. Consequently, we ended up booking Hotel Ploberger for two nights, which is supposedly the best hotel in town. I was amused by their very aggressive sales tactics, right on their own Web site. For the other three stops, I booked homes privately managed by hosts I found on Booking.com. Not only was that safer in terms of COVID-19, it was also more convenient. Lake Bohinj and the Plitvice Lakes areas are both chock full of apartments and homes to rent. I would say there are more private residences for renting than hotel rooms, although they do exist. And in Salzburg, I chose to rent a place owned by a musician/music producer. That was mainly because I am myself a musician. I will write a lot more about all of the properties as the series gets underway… and as we were gone for twelve nights, it’s bound to be a long one.

We had a fantastic time on our trip, and I look forward to detailing the blow by blow, even if Bill and I are the only ones who read it. So, now that the introduction is done, on with my blog series on the trip down to Aus-Cro-Slo-Aus. Hope you enjoy the ride.

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Ready, set…

It’s early Sunday morning. We are still in Salzburg, Austria, but we’re already packed up and will probably be on the road to Germany in an hour or so. We have had a marvelous trip, and I am ready to write all about it. I don’t know what time we’ll get home today, since Germany has experienced a large surge in COVID-19 infections since we’ve been gone. I expect we could experience a delay at the border, even though Bill uploaded our vaccine documents to the Robert Bosch Institute (or whatever), proving that we’ve had the shots.

I look forward to having clean laundry and seeing my dogs. I’ve been worried about them while we’ve been gone, but I also know that we would have heard something if they weren’t okay. I look forward to taking a nap with Arran and being goosed in the butt by Noyzi. I do like to take trips, but I also like being at home, where everything is familiar. I suppose my car battery is probably dead, since the Mini hasn’t been started in ages. And hopefully, no one broke in during our absence, but our landlord lives next door and is always home, so I doubt that happened.

So this blog will be waking up very soon…. I look forward to sharing the many photos and stories, hopefully starting today, but definitely starting tomorrow… unless we get wiped out on the Autobahn, or I get arrested for punching out bikers who flip me off (more on that in an upcoming blog post).

Stay tuned!

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Our pandemic dog rescue story… part three

When we take trips, I usually take a lot of photos, even from the car. Before a couple of weeks ago, I had never heard of Kransjka Gora, and had no idea of what we were in for. I did remember how beautiful Lake Bled was and had been wanting to visit Slovenia again. But Bill and I are getting older and it’s hard to drive for seven or eight hours straight, so that means it’s best if we can break up the trip. And, as most Americans know, there’s only so much leave a person can take. When Bill worked for his first company, the pay wasn’t as good, but they were very generous about letting him take time off. His current employer pays very well, but it’s not as easy to go away for longer trips. Not that we’re complaining. Six years ago, when we first came to Germany, I still owed $40,000 on my student loans. I managed to pay them off two years ago, nine years ahead of time!

While I usually like to take a lot of photos on our trips, I was more preoccupied this time. I didn’t think to take any pictures until we stopped for lunch at a KFC. German KFC is not like American KFC. And American KFC is not like the Kentucky Fried Chicken of my youth, which used to be a lot better than it is now. We decided to stop for chicken, even though it’s not as quick and convenient as other fast food is. I was kind of astonished by the rest stop where we pulled off. It had an amazing assortment of choices, especially for Germany. There was a McDonald’s, a Burger King, a KFC and a Subway!

And right next to the Subway was an enormous “adult” book store, complete with blow up dolls outside the entrance! I didn’t get a chance to take a picture of the erotic book store. I wish I had. In the United States, the adult book stores aren’t quite as prominent as they are in Germany, although I do remember repeatedly passing Club Risque in North Carolina many times as I drove back and forth from Virginia to South Carolina to and from graduate school.

I guess the erotic book stores are intended for the lonely truckers who traverse Germany from all over Europe, especially the East. I notice that they are well catered to in this country. Many rest stops have showers, as well as pay toilets that are clean. Where I come in the States, the rest stops are a little bit nicer than the free ones in Europe, which are really bare bones. But they don’t usually have restaurants (except in the Northeast). In Europe, the rest stops that aren’t just a place to pee have restaurants, fully stocked convenience stores, gas stations, and yes, something for the truckers who need a little distraction from the road.

Lunch was pretty filling. We ate it in the car, mainly due to having Arran with us and because of COVID-19. I watched people going in and out of the restaurant, ignoring the request to exit from the opposite side of the entrance. I also noticed in the ladies room, that someone had dumped pasta all over the bathroom floor. I couldn’t tell if it was cooked or not. It was an odd sight.

  • Now for something different…
  • Many food options at this stop.
  • Too much chicken.

Once we got lunch sorted, we got back on A3 and headed south. I had forgotten how long the drive to Austria by way of Salzburg is. It seems to take forever to cross the border because you have to keep going east. I always enjoy driving over borders, but on this first day of our trip, we were about 90% in Germany before we arrived in Salzburg. We made another quick stop at an excellent rest stop not far from the border so Bill could buy an Austrian vignette (toll sticker). They are required for the Autobahn and you can buy them for ten days at just under 10 euros.

That’s another interesting thing about Europe. Many countries over here either have systems where you either pay for a vignette to use the motorways or you pay tolls. In Switzerland, you buy a sticker for the year and it costs about $40 (40 Swiss Francs or 30 Euros). In other countries, they are for shorter time periods and cost less. Many of the countries that have vignettes also have tolls for when you go through a long mountain pass. Germany is the only country I’ve seen so far where the Autobahn is free. But we don’t know for how much longer it will be free. Of course, you still have to pay 70 cents to use the bathroom at the fancy rest stops. That’s why it’s not at all unusual to see people peeing on trees here. They’re pretty brazen about it, too.

The proprietors at the Haslachmühle B&B had requested that we check in by 6:00pm. We arrived there at about 5:30pm, having driven through Salzburg’s traffic and passed by a guy driving a carriage pulled by two white horses. The horses spooked Arran, who barked and startled us both. I wish I’d had my camera, though. Those horses were a lovely sight.

So… about that B&B. It’s a winner. Getting to it is a little bit tricky, since it’s located on a very narrow “goat trail” type of road. But it’s a very charming place, with six unique rooms and a small free parking lot for guests. The lady in charge, along with her very sweet female dachshund “Luezy” (pronounced as if you were rhyming it with “noisy”), met us as we pulled up. She was quick to check us in and show us to the beautiful room I rented for the night. We stayed in the Room City View, which was just awesome. It had a big bed, a huge balcony that offered a view of the city, and a gorgeous masonry heater. I especially loved how the walls had built in bookshelves loaded with books (in German, of course). It was really unique and lovely. I was sorry we could only stay one night.

  • Crossing the border at last!
  • Nice bed.
  • We had one of these in our very first German house from 07-09. I love masonry heaters!
  • Desk fit for a queen!
  • Bathroom
  • Entry hall of the room.
  • Shower
  • The B&B’s private chapel. The proprietor said she was married there and her kids were baptized there.
  • View from the balcony.
  • To the right.
  • To the left.

We were tired from the drive and still full from lunch, so we had no need for dinner. However, the B&B has a fridge where guests can get wine, beer, or soft drinks, as well as snacks. You just write down what you took and pay on checkout. Our room came with two bottles of water (looked like they came from a Penguin), mini Ritter Sports on the pillows, and three apples. Adding in some crackers and wine, we were pretty much set for the night. I enjoyed watching the sun set over the mountain. We also watched some network TV, which we rarely have the chance to do.

If we had needed food, we could have ordered from Lieferando.at or, if we were feeling determined, driven into town. There aren’t any restaurants near the B&B that I could see.

Breakfast in the morning included the usual buffet spread, with cheeses, cold cuts, fruits, juices, and breads. The proprietor made us coffee and scrambled eggs. While we were eating, Arran started pitching a fit. We hadn’t brought him into the breakfast room. I was very pleased to see that the proprietor didn’t mind Arran’s howling and even said we could bring him into the breakfast room, which we ended up doing. Another couple also had a dog with them and Arran behaved like a perfect gentleman.

After a leisurely breakfast, we loaded up the car and checked out. I would definitely go back to Die Haslachmühle B&B, next time without any canines. However, I am happy to report that they are very welcome there, even if children aren’t (according to Booking.com, anyway). We weren’t even charged extra for Arran. I was expecting a pet fee, so that was a really nice surprise. Below are some more photos from our stop in Salzburg. It really is a beautiful city. I would love to go back and do another tour of it when we don’t have business to attend to.

  • Bill was impressed by the “erotic literature”.
  • Another view as the sun was going down.
  • This doesn’t really do it justice…
  • Gruner Veltliner from the fridge.
  • Morning view of the chapel.
  • I think we could even see the moon.
  • A picture of the old mill house, now a wonderful inn.
  • Old keys.
  • Old door.
  • The breakfast room.
  • Willkommen!
  • Narrow street.
  • We were able to get the SUV through here, but it was a little tight.
  • There’s a rushing river by this inn, which adds to the ambiance.

By late morning, we were heading south to Slovenia, which isn’t that far from Salzburg. I think it was about a three hour drive. I managed to get a few pictures of castles from the side of the Autobahn… again impressive sights. We really should come down and actually visit sometime. We had a chance to tour Salzburg when we did our very first Space A hop from the USA back in 2012, but that was just a day trip that we took from Munich. We had a great time, but it wasn’t long enough. Time to look into visiting again. We’ve been to Salzburg three times and still haven’t done the Sound of Music tour. 😉

More on the drive to Slovenia in the next post.

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Winding down in an hourlong Stau… coming home

Sunday morning, we got up and packed the Mini with all of our stuff.  After a nice breakfast, we checked out and headed toward Austria with plans to spend one night in Salzburg on the way home.  I was actually looking forward to going to Salzburg.  We were there once in 2012, when we took our very first military hop to Europe.  I ended up getting us a blind booking on Germanwings.  We flew from Cologne to Munich, spent a couple of days there, then took a day trip to Salzburg.  I remember wishing we’d based in Salzburg instead of Munich because I thought the town was so pretty.

We plugged in the GPS and decided to drive through Klagenfurt, Austria to see if it’s worth a future visit.  The drive out of Slovenia to Klagenfurt was rather scary, because it involved driving through some very steep Alpine passes.  Poor Bill had his foot on the brake the whole time and was kind of freaking out, especially when we got to the Austrian side of the border.  Incidentally, there was a passport check, though the border patrol seemed to wave through anyone with Austrian plates.

We drove around Klagenfurt, but weren’t inspired to park and walk around for awhile.  That doesn’t mean it’s not a nice town.  It just means we were a bit tired and on a Sunday morning, things were looking pretty dead there.  I was curious about it because when we did our first hop, I was looking at potential blind booking cities and Klagenfurt was among them.  The pictures I’d seen of Klagenfurt made it look like a nice town.  In retrospect, it’s a good thing we didn’t stop.  Just after we left Klagenfurt, the GPS added an hour to our travel time.

“What the hell?!” Bill exclaimed as he checked the GPS, which I consider the bane of our existence.  Apparently, there’s some major construction going on in the tunnels and they have one shut down.  Since it’s the main route north and many people were heading that way, we were pretty much forced to endure yet another stressful traffic jam.  I entertained us with old Kenny Rogers songs on the iPod. I don’t need to describe what it’s like to sit in a traffic jam for an hour, though being on a mountain while driving a stick definitely made it more tiring.  I saw lots of guys casually doing their business on the side of the road, too.  😀

By the time we got to Salzburg, it was mid afternoon.  Bill and I were both exhausted and a bit exasperated as we pulled into Haus Arenberg for the night.  Any thoughts we had of walking into the city disappeared, especially when the sky clouded up and it started to rain.  But we did enjoy a couple of nice beers out on the patio and listened to some fun German folk music on TV while sipping Slovenian wine and eating chips and cookies.

We also watched an interesting reality show about horsey people in their 40s and 50s looking for love.  Since I grew up around horses, that was pretty interesting for me, even if I didn’t understand everything.  We probably should have gone ahead and gotten German cable TV again.

Yesterday morning, we loaded up again and headed into Germany.  We were prepared for another delay at the border, since we saw one the week prior on our way to Austria.  German authorities were checking passports.  In fact, on Sunday, they were checking passports and there was a twenty-five minute delay getting across the border.  But yesterday, it was pretty smooth sailing.  I was even pleasantly surprised by the usually perpetually backed up A8.

Bill picked up the boys while I did the laundry and cleaned up some old food we neglected to toss out before we left.  I heard a smoke detector chirping, as they usually seem to do after we’ve been on a trip.  We changed the battery.  I wrote some hotel reviews and am pretty much done blogging about this trip.  We had a wonderful time and I truly hope we have another chance to visit Slovenia.  If we make it to Croatia during our time here, I will definitely make a point of spending a couple of days there in a different area.  It really is a cool place.

I already miss the views…  This was from our balcony in Salzburg after a rain storm.

 

Stay tuned for my ten things I learned post.  I think it will be fun to write!  I don’t know when our next trip will be, though I’m definitely prioritizing Ireland and Berlin, two places I must see before we move out of Europe.  I don’t know when that will be, so we need to take those trips sooner rather than later.

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Repost of my 2012 Space A trip report… Part two

Our very first military hop to Europe! Part 2… places we saw– part one

May 29, 2012 (Updated May 30, 2012)

The Bottom Line Our travels in Europe.

For part one, click here.

Our blind booking…

After enjoying a tasty German Sunday evening repast and Kolsch beers at a Kolsch brewery, Bill and I went to the lobby in the Ibis and completed our blind booking flight. I was hoping we’d end up somewhere exotic or interesting, but it turned out we got a flight to Munich.

I wasn’t that disappointed about going to Munich. Munich is a fun town and I hadn’t been there with Bill, except to stay overnight before an early flight to Oslo. As soon as I started looking for Munich hotels online, I realized that our cheap flight would lead to high hotel prices! But thanks to that trip in 2009, we knew of a good hotel. It happened to be at the Munich airport. At first I was reluctant to book a stay at the Hotel Kempinski because I wanted to be in Munich. But then it occurred to Bill that we had an early flight back to Cologne on Thursday and being in an airport hotel would be convenient. Plus, we also knew that the Munich airport is awesomely populated with conveniences. So we booked our expensive Munich room, confident we’d be happy with our choice.

Monday morning

We enjoyed a typical German breakfast at the Ibis, included in our rate. All in all, I was pretty happy with the Ibis. The room was tiny, but had a nice hot shower, a flatscreen TV, and free Internet in the lobby. The bed wasn’t the best, but I was so tired, it didn’t matter.

Since our flight to Munich wasn’t until the afternoon, Bill and I strolled around Cologne’s old town. Right next to the train station stands the city’s very impressive cathedral. We walked inside and I was awestruck by its vastness. Bill was overtaken by how beautiful everything was. I always get a kick at the ease he gets moved by beautiful places and Cologne’s cathedral is definitely beautiful.

We walked around Cologne and I took pictures of graffiti. For some reason, I have a knack for finding stuff. On the other hand, Germans post a lot of goofy stuff on signposts and walls. That afternoon, we took a train to the Cologne airport. Bill was upset because Germanwings never sent me a confirmation for our flight. We went to the counter and the ticket agent found my reservation with no trouble. We dropped off our bags and had lunch at a German Argentinian chain restaurant called Mareda. Its speciality is beef, but I’m not usually impressed by German beef, so I ordered Wienerschnitzel. Bill had goulash. We both enjoyed the free wifi in the airport. Free wifi is apparently a rarity in Germany!

Our flight to Munich was quick, painless, and peaceful. It lasted about 40 minutes. The most memorable thing about it was the sight of a young guy walking around with a t-shirt depicting a naked picture of Claudia Schiffer.

We landed in Munich and checked into the Kempinski, where a very elegant man gave us the full tour of our expensive five star room. The Kempinski was even more lux than I remembered it. The huge flatscreen television had British channels; the bathroom was huge; and the Internet was not free. The Kempinski is a business hotel, though, so that’s not surprising.

That first night, I didn’t feel like going into Munich, so we headed to the Airbrau restaurant/brewery and drank some very tasty wheat beers. I was pretty fascinated by the people watching. I saw a vast array of interesting fashion choices, including one swarthy looking man wearing a t-shirt that said “I’m what Willis was talking about.” I had to wonder if the man even knew what famous television program his shirt was referring to… Those of us who grew up in the 80s certainly know!

Tuesday

The next morning, we went to McDonalds for breakfast because we didn’t feel like paying 30 euros for a hotel breakfast. I was amazed by the fact that the McDonalds had kiosks where people could order their food from a computer. It was sort of like a self checkout for fast food. I don’t tend to enjoy McDonalds that much anymore, but I had to admit the quality of the breakfast was pretty good and at seven euros for both of us, cheap.

After breakfast, we took the train into Munich and visited my favorite German gourmet store, Dallmayr, before touring the Residenz museum. Bill had never been there and I wanted to show it off to him. Imagine my surprise when I saw jars of Bone Sucking Sauce on sale for about $10. Bone Sucking Sauce is made right here in North Carolina.

Next, we went to the Residenz. I had been before, but had only seen the crown jewels/treasury. We purchased combo tickets and toured the whole museum. By the time we were done, it was time for lunch. We made our way to the Hofbrauhaus. Bill was sure it would be touristy and crowded, but it really wasn’t. We had mas krugs of fine German brew and enjoyed some very yummy German cuisine. One of Bill’s favorite German meals is roasted chicken. That’s what he had, along with potato salad. I had a wurst with sauerkraut. I let Bill eat the cabbage, though.

We wandered around Munich until evening and checked out the Farmer’s Market, which had a very handy public pay bathroom. I made use of that, needing to get rid of some of the two liters of beer I drank at the Hofbrauhaus. Then we climbed a very tall church tower, which helped burn off more beer and offered a gorgeous view of the city. We got to the top in time to see the glockenspiel show, then climbed down and visited a couple of churches, one of which had an atheist message stenciled/graffitied on the side of it. We went into one church that was having high mass and stood in the back, trying to be inconspicuous. Sweet Bill was overcome with emotion again, so we left quietly and went looking for dinner.

I was getting pretty tired of German food, so we stopped at an Italian trattoria I had visited on one of my day trips to Munich. Bill and I enjoyed pasta, wine, coffee, tiramisu, and people watching. We were the only Americans in there. I recognized one of the waiters, who I think actually might have owned the place. Last time I was there, he laughed when I tried to say “schtimpt”… meaning he could keep the change. I probably still haven’t gotten it right.

Wednesday

We started Wednesday with breakfast at an Italian cafe and deep conversation. We had plans to visit Salzburg, which was included as a stop on our three day German railpass, even though it’s in Austria. I had never been to Salzburg. Bill had been once in the late 80s. But I have seen The Sound of Music many times, so I knew I was in for a treat!

We took the train from the Munich airport to the main train station, then switched trains to go to Salzburg. It took a couple of hours traveling through beautiful countryside to get to our destination. When we arrived, it was about 1:30 pm. We walked toward the centrum and stopped for lunch at a charming family owned restaurant where we enjoyed Austrian beer and some local specialties. I had green and white asparagus with Hollandaise sauce, ham, and potatoes. Bill had roasted pork, I think. I remember two big dumplings.

After lunch, we wandered to the centrum and I was awestruck by how beautiful Salzburg is. We passed the building where the composer of “Silent Night” was born, then crossed the river into the old town. We toured the cathedral and saw some beautiful horse drawn carriages. We were about to move on when a female driver approached with a couple of gorgeous black stallions. If I had to guess, I’d say maybe they were Friesians (I was a horse geek as a kid). I stood there captivated for several minutes by these beautiful steeds, wishing I still had horses in my life.

I was drawn away from the horses by the sound of music. A quartet of four Russian Cossack soldiers were singing folk songs, accompanied by accordion. Now it was my turn to be moved to tears. After listening for a few minutes, I had to buy one of their CDs. Then we walked up the hill toward the Stiegl Brewery. I wish we had been there earlier; maybe we could have taken a tour! I was suddenly wishing we had booked a room in Salzburg instead of Munich.

As it was, we had to leave quickly because a storm was rolling in. We managed to get to the same restaurant where we had lunch before the sky opened. The man who owned the restaurant was delighted to welcome us back for beer and schnapps! He said the schnapps would make the hair on my arms stand on end, but it was actually not bad at all. Just tasted a little like minty gin.

On the way to the train station, I needed to make a pit stop. Fortunately, there was a shopping mall where peeing was free. We also ran into a group of ladies engaged in a “hen party”. I think it was in honor of someone’s 50th birthday… We will have to go back to Salzburg for a closer look sometime soon!

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