We leave Dubai at the crack of dawn and fly away to Europe! First stop: Munich, Germany. This flight was empty. Brian took over the four seats in the middle of the plane and made a bed. He slept for the entire five hour flight. I watched Silver Linings Playbook and Django Unchained - both very good. So, halfway through the flight, I order a Heineken. I THOUGHT it was a German beer, but was quickly scolded for my mistake. "WE are a GERMAN airline and don't sell Heineken. Here is your Warsteiner...a GERMAN beer." She then sternly places the beer on my fold down tray, I take a sip, smile at her and she stomps away. It tasted like a Heineken. After Googling, it is from the Netherlands. My bad, grumpy flight attendant.
We land in Munich around Noon and make our way to grab our luggage and go through customs...fifteen minutes! WOOT! Our train to Austria was going to be in three hours. We found the train information desk and there was a train leaving for Austria in twenty minutes. We made the change and hauled ass to the station. The train was two story, so being the touristas that we are, we went up and sat by some old local man who probably wanted to ride in peace, but not on our watch! We plopped our bags down, took up the seats across from him and started snapping photos. "OOOOH...AHHHH. Look!"
We arrive in Salzburg and proceed to rely on Google Maps to assist us in our journey to the hotel. GOOGLE MAPS CAN EAT IT! We ended up on the wrong side of town. We were walking, carrying heavy backpacks, I had to pee, I was starving (which if you know me is a terrible situation) and Google is taking us in circles. Finally, I walked into a hotel, that Google said was where we were supposed to be, and asked the nice girls for some help. They gave me a map and we were on our way. Sidenote: When I came outside of the hotel to show Brian my beautiful, paper, old-school map, he points to his phone saying it was working now and we needed to take a right. NO. EFF GOOGLE. My beautiful, paper, old-school map said we needed to go left. We argued, I won, we went left and made it to Hotel Markus Sittikus. It just jumps out at you, right?
The hotel was boutique-y. Our room had two doors. One that was left unlocked on the outside, which you open and about a foot inside of that door, is the door that locks. It reminded me of a hobbit hole. We booked our excursion for the next morning and decided to grab some food and sight see for a few hours. On the way to "Old Town Salzburg" we found this really cool park Mirabelle Park. Markus Sittikus, the king back in the day, had the park built for his mistress, Mirabelle. Very low profile, right? Here was Brian's favorite part of the park:
After this, we went to dinner, where we dined on...wait for it...PORK. Man, I missed that stuff. Here are some views of the river in Salzburg. It's very beautiful.
The next morning, we were picked up by Max at the hotel. Max was our tour guide for the excursions for the day: Salt Mining and Berchtesgaden tour. He was ADORABLE. He was a little, old, Austrian man with white hair, tiny glasses, a green tweed coat and plaid pants. ADORABLE, I say. Unfortunately, this is the only photo I snapped of his cuteness.
We stopped to pick up six more girls that were joining us on the tour. They were originally from India, but lived in Dubai, so we had some common ground with them. We drove up through Berchtesgaden, which is the city where Hitler stayed during the war. His Eagle's Nest is located here, but was closed for tours because of snow. It is now a restaurant.
Besides this fact, it is one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen. Photos cannot do it justice, but here are a few:
Stiegl Grapefruit Radler. DONE. My search for my favorite beer is over. It is half beer, half grapefruit juice and I love them. AND...do you see that building behind it? That is a 450 year old house, that is a museum, that you can walk around carrying a Stiegl Grapefruit Radler and no one looks at you twice. "Hey, come on in, we trust you."
OK, I am done raving. Here are some pics from the Castle and trick fountains.
We land in Munich around Noon and make our way to grab our luggage and go through customs...fifteen minutes! WOOT! Our train to Austria was going to be in three hours. We found the train information desk and there was a train leaving for Austria in twenty minutes. We made the change and hauled ass to the station. The train was two story, so being the touristas that we are, we went up and sat by some old local man who probably wanted to ride in peace, but not on our watch! We plopped our bags down, took up the seats across from him and started snapping photos. "OOOOH...AHHHH. Look!"
We arrive in Salzburg and proceed to rely on Google Maps to assist us in our journey to the hotel. GOOGLE MAPS CAN EAT IT! We ended up on the wrong side of town. We were walking, carrying heavy backpacks, I had to pee, I was starving (which if you know me is a terrible situation) and Google is taking us in circles. Finally, I walked into a hotel, that Google said was where we were supposed to be, and asked the nice girls for some help. They gave me a map and we were on our way. Sidenote: When I came outside of the hotel to show Brian my beautiful, paper, old-school map, he points to his phone saying it was working now and we needed to take a right. NO. EFF GOOGLE. My beautiful, paper, old-school map said we needed to go left. We argued, I won, we went left and made it to Hotel Markus Sittikus. It just jumps out at you, right?
The hotel was boutique-y. Our room had two doors. One that was left unlocked on the outside, which you open and about a foot inside of that door, is the door that locks. It reminded me of a hobbit hole. We booked our excursion for the next morning and decided to grab some food and sight see for a few hours. On the way to "Old Town Salzburg" we found this really cool park Mirabelle Park. Markus Sittikus, the king back in the day, had the park built for his mistress, Mirabelle. Very low profile, right? Here was Brian's favorite part of the park:
Just kidding, this was. He wanted to feel the grass on his feet, since all we have in Doha is dirt.
Here is a pic of the park in its entirety.
After this, we went to dinner, where we dined on...wait for it...PORK. Man, I missed that stuff. Here are some views of the river in Salzburg. It's very beautiful.
The next morning, we were picked up by Max at the hotel. Max was our tour guide for the excursions for the day: Salt Mining and Berchtesgaden tour. He was ADORABLE. He was a little, old, Austrian man with white hair, tiny glasses, a green tweed coat and plaid pants. ADORABLE, I say. Unfortunately, this is the only photo I snapped of his cuteness.
We stopped to pick up six more girls that were joining us on the tour. They were originally from India, but lived in Dubai, so we had some common ground with them. We drove up through Berchtesgaden, which is the city where Hitler stayed during the war. His Eagle's Nest is located here, but was closed for tours because of snow. It is now a restaurant.
Besides this fact, it is one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen. Photos cannot do it justice, but here are a few:
Overlook to Berchestgaden
The water is green because of all of the limestone from the salt mines.
This was originally Hitler's personal cinema.
The building in the background was Hitler's securities' housing. This bare, flat part in the front is where his house was - then it was blown up.
We then made our way to the salt mine. We all had to put on the overalls and ride the little train down into the mountain. It was freezing down there. Fun facts we learned: Salt is referred to as "white gold" there and Salzburg actually means City of Salt. The word "salary" comes from back in the day when people were paid with salt instead of money.
After the salt mine, we were dropped off in town and decided to make our way back to the hotel to change. It was warming up quickly and we had more stuff to do. We get to the bus stop that will take us to Markus Sittikus' casa, Hellbrunn Castle, and trick fountain tour. I give the driver twenty euro and he gives me a receipt and change. I don't pay attention and hand the money to Brian. Brian looks at me, the receipt and back at me. "He still owes us ten euro." Me - "Well, ask him for it." Brian rolls his eyes. I hate confrontation and wasn't about to confront a non-English speaking Austrian bus driver. Brian goes up there and tries to explain to him what happened. He thinks we only gave him a ten instead of a twenty. He starts rattling off Austrian and flailing his hands at Brian and reluctantly gives him our change. I'm pretty sure if I had been listening better, I could have learned some Austrian swear words.
So, this is the best part of the journey...
Stiegl Grapefruit Radler. DONE. My search for my favorite beer is over. It is half beer, half grapefruit juice and I love them. AND...do you see that building behind it? That is a 450 year old house, that is a museum, that you can walk around carrying a Stiegl Grapefruit Radler and no one looks at you twice. "Hey, come on in, we trust you."
OK, I am done raving. Here are some pics from the Castle and trick fountains.
This table was where Sittikus would host dinner parties. He was quite the drunk and would play tricks on his friends. The seat where the two boys are sitting was his seat, which would stay dry, but the guests seats had hoses in the seat and behind them and would soak you. I willingly volunteered to get doused. It was freezing.
This is about ten feet wide and ten feet tall. It's huge and propelled completely by water. The cranking of the people by the water made so much noise, that he installed a water-powered organ in the back of it to cover the commotion. This guy was obsessed with water.
Another trick fountain.
This one is just downright creepy.
So, obviously you are going to get wet on this tour. Some old man was reaming our tour guide because he got wet. Really, dude?
After this day, I have decided that I'm going to learn German. In Doha, if you have light skin, people always speak to you in English. In Germany and Austria, if you have light skin, they speak to you in German. Then, you look like an asshole just staring at them saying, "English, please?" I hated it. Brian says if I just add an "en" to the end of every word, they will understand. For example: May I please have a beer. Translates: Mayan I pleasen have a beeren? Yeah. He talked like this the entire trip...until we got to Italy, which is a whole other Brian language. :)
That night, we went to dinner, came back to the hotel, Brian smoked a cigar in the courtyard of our hotel and we went to sleep after a long day. Next stop...VENICE!
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