Vienna... a classy city!

Before visiting Vienna, I had images in my mind of opera houses, museums, charming beautiful buildings, and quaint streets.  Vienna was all these things, minus a certain charm and quaint streets (it was mostly huge boulevards).  I was a bit disappointed with the city since I had such high hopes.  I felt it to be a bit too imperial and impersonal for my tastes.  The buildings were pretty grand, ornately decorated, and HUGE.  I also found them to all look the same.  The problem with travelling so much is that you start to become jaded about certain places/things ... ie. "oh that waterfall is nothing compared to the one in Iceland" ... "those mountains aren't as high as the ones in Austria" ... "these beaches aren't as nice as the ones in the Philippines" ... I found myself a bit biased due to all the great cities I've been to, so Vienna didn't blow me away.

Hofburg Palace

Nonetheless, it was a nice place and I do not regret spending time there.  We saw a beautiful cathedral (St. Stephen's), a fantastic art museum (Kunsthistorisches Museum), and an excellent collection of famous paintings by Gustav Klimt (no photos allowed!) at Belvedere Palace.  I didn't know much about Klimt before this, but I can definitely say he's one of my top artists now - look out, Monet!

At the Kunsthistorisches Museum

St. Stephen's

View of Vienna from the top of St. Stephen's

During our time in Vienna we had some great eating experiences.  We tried the famous "Wiener schnitzel" which tasted exactly like nonna's fettine.  Not even joking.  We also visited a famous place called Cafe Central, where many intellectuals came to hang out ever since it opened in 1876.  I had some delicious apple strudel with vanilla sauce there.  In Vienna we also tried the famous "Sacher Torte" which is basically a rich chocolate cake with apricot filling between layers.

Wiener Schnitzel... aka nonna's fettine!

Apple strudel... mmm!

Hanging out with new friends and enjoying some Sacher Torte!

Since we were spending New Year's in Vienna, we decided to go to where all the action was... down near the cathedral and Hofburg Palace (where the royals lived).  We met some nice people from Korea, Japan, and Australia at our guesthouse and we all hung out on New Year's Eve watching an outdoor concert and waited for the countdown to 2013.

On New Year's Day, we headed to City Hall to watch a live broadcasting of the symphony playing the famous New Year's Day concert on a big screen.  Despite my slight disappointment with Vienna, I enjoyed the place and was happy to have experienced New Year's there.

Innsbruck... welcome to the mountains!

After a short stay in Salzburg, we took the train through the mountains to Innsbruck.  I found Innsbruck to be a charming little town with an "Old Town" area full of lots of cozy pubs, cobblestone streets, and great mountain views.

Golden Roof in Old Town Square

We didn't have a lot of luck with the weather when we first arrived.  It was overcast and rainy the first full day we were there.  We decided to take the cable car up the mountain to the "Alpenzoo" which we didn't have high hopes for.  After we failed to see one beaver at the beaver exhibit (first one after the entrance), and then couldn't see snakes or other critters due to hibernation, we were worried that we wouldn't see anything.  Fortunately, we kept going through and saw a bunch of interesting alpine animals - wolves, lynx, ibex, bears, etc.  The zoo had an open concept and none of the animals seemed like they were caged in.  They had lots of space to roam, and pretty natural conditions.  We ended up being impressed with the zoo after all!

At the Alpenzoo

After leaving the zoo, we got a glimpse of the beautiful mountain views as some clouds finally cleared.  However, it didn't last long.  The next day we planned to go further up the mountain so we really hoped that we would be able to see SOMETHING!

Finally starting to clear up...

On our second full day in Innsbruck it was cloudy again, but the weather said it would be sunny.  We decided to fork over the money to go almost to the very top of the mountain by cable car.  The very top of the mountain had ski runs reserved only for experts, so we went to the second-highest stop called Seegrube on the Nordkette mountain.  The cable car was packed and we waited a lonnngg time surrounded by hardcore Austrian skiers and snowboarders with all their gear.  Miraculously, when we finally got our turn to go up, things started to clear, fast!  When we got to Seegrube most of the clouds had cleared and we had amazing views of Innsbruck surrounded by mountains.

What a view!

It wasn't as expensive as we thought to buy a ski pass and rent gear.  We ended up having beautiful weather and a fun time skiing!  It was only my third time skiing so I stuck to the easy slopes.  It was still a lot of fun, and the view was the best one I've ever seen... incredible!  They had deck chairs out facing the mountain view so people could just sit down and enjoy the scenery.

Skiing at Nordkette

Goodbye Innsbruck!

Another beautiful city, and on to the next... Vienna!

Salzburg... the hills are alive!

From Prague we took a bus/train combo to Salzburg, Austria.  Salzburg was a pleasant little town with cute shops, beautiful churches, a fortress overlooking the city, and a ridiculous about of Mozart and Sound of Music paraphernalia.  Our guesthouse played "The Sound of Music" every night on the TV.  Mozart was on everything... we even visited his birthplace.

Mozart everything...

Mozart's birthplace

Since we only had 1 day in Salzburg, we decided to cut costs and make the most out of our time by giving ourselves a free self-guided audio tour.  We downloaded Rick Steves' podcasts to our ipods and walked around the city, listening to the history of the place.  At the top of Salzburg Fortress was a beautiful view of Salzburg.

View from the fortress

Even though we didn't get to spend a lot of time there, I think it was a nice town that was worth a stop.  It also gave us a small taste of the beautiful mountain scenery that we would further see in Austria.  Next stop, Innsbruck!