Vienna and Salzburg

To save some time and to hopefully get this blog more up to date, I’m combining Vienna and Salzburg into one post even though we didn’t visit the two cities back to back.
They’re both Austrian cities, though, so it works.
Sam and I instantly loved the architecture in Vienna, but we hated the rain.
In fact, we hated the rain in Salzburg, too.
We’ve had really great weather up until Vienna, but then our luck ran out. The rain didn’t stop for the two days, June 16-17, that we were there.
Because of that, Sam and I feel like we missed out on really walking around Vienna’s city center.
We weren’t, however, stuck in our hotel room both days.
When we arrived, we took a subway to the museum area and saw the natural history museum and the art museum, two gigantic buildings that face one another and are separated by a monument of Maria Theresia, a figurehead of the Hapsburg dynasty.
From the museums we walked by the Austrian Parliament building and then came up to the massive Vienna Rathaus, or city hall.
In German, Rathaus is the name for the city hall.
What a perfect name for the place where politicians meet—Rathaus.
After the Rathaus, we strolled to a former Hapsburg Palace that has now been turned into a library and museum.
With the rain still pouring the next day, we picked some inside activities and took a subway to the middle of town to see the Gothic-styleed Stephansdom, or St. Stephan’s Cathedral, which was built in the 13th century.
The stained-glass windows were stunning, as were the numerous sculptures that lined the hallways of the cathedral.
From there, we took a subway to Schloss Schonbrunn, the summer palace of the Hapsburgs.
The palace has 1,441 rooms, but tours only go through 40 rooms or 22 rooms, depending on how much you want to pay.
We did the 22-room tour and could only imagine what it must have been like to live in a place so big.
After the palace, we went back to the museum area and spent a few hours inside the museum of natural history.
The museum had a very interesting interactive display about how the earth was formed and an impressive rock collection, which included a golden nugget the size of a footstool. There also were numerous rooms full of stuffed animals, though not the cuddly kind. From monkeys and gorillas to birds and reptiles, the museum displayed thousands of animal species.
That night we ate at a Pakistani place frequented by college students—probably because there was no set price, just pay what you want—and then indulged on some sweets from a corner bakery.
Sam ordered a piece of chocolate cake and I had a Napoleon with banana and vanilla crème.
We both concluded the Napoleon was the best.
***
Salzburg is a beautiful city in the Alps, and luckily we got a glimpse of them the second day we were there as the rain finally let up.
We toured the ancient castle that overlooks the city and went into a couple of the many churches that dot the town.
Sam and I both had a better feeling about Salzburg than Vienna, probably because we got to spend some time actually walking the streets of Salzburg.
Even though it’s only a town of about 160,000, there are two large pedestrian-only areas where you’re free to stroll without worrying about oncoming traffic. Small shops and cafes lined the pedestrian-only streets. Some shops were full of jewelry and clothes while others were full of specialty stores selling “Motzart chocolate.” Sam and I didn’t try the chocolate, but figured it tasted the same as all the others… great.
Large parks are everywhere, too, including a nice flower garden surrounding Schloss Mirabell, a former palace that now houses the city’s administrative offices. We walked through the city all day and decided to eat at a Chinese restaurant for dinner. You don’t think of Chinese in a place like Vienna, but we had had enough of Schnitzel.
Because Sam and I were taking the night train to Venice, which left at 1:34 a.m., we spent a couple of hours in a place called Afro Café, which is decked out in retro furniture and has, you guessed it, afros everywhere.
In the city of Mozart’s birthplace, the Afro Café is the last thing you’d expect in Salzburg.
But the service was great, as was the wine, coffee and tea.
Sam and I were glad we came upon it.