Today was interesting. This will likely be a very long blog post. Possibly my favourite, or maybe second favourite day so far. I started by packing my bad and checking out. I’d stayed an extra night in Munich to recover from my food poisoning and feeling much better.
I set off to find my first proper meal in a few days. I visited a supermarket now that they were open again (Munich is pretty serious about closing is grocery stores on a Sunday). I picked exactly what I was feeling like. Apparently it’s called Yaki Soba. I also got a pizza roll I took a few bites from.
I found my train at Munich Hbf Main Train Station and boarded it. I was off to Vienna in Austria. A place I had not visited before. At the time I noted that the train was 2 minutes behind schedule which was a small concern as my connecting train in Salzburg had only a 8 minute transfer window.
The train trip was really delightful. It was a rainy day and I got to hear the splattering of rain drops on the window as the high speed train sped through the farming landscape of southern Germany. Crops were nearly organised wheat and corn in most cases.
My train ended up arriving 9 minutes late at Salzburg. It was 1 minute too late to get to the connecting train. This was not a huge problem. Train tickets in Europe generally cover you for the whole day in case this happens.
I tried to get another seat reservation at the information desk, sadly everything was booked out. This just meant I may have to stand on the next train for 3 hours. Or play musical chairs as people who have reserved a seat disembark between stations.
Given how many people had missed this connecting train I decided to skip the next train to Vienna. I figured it would be too busy on that train possibly having two whole trains worth of people trying to catch up.
Before falling sick, my initial plan was to explore Salzburg as it had a mighty castle I wanted to see. I thought this could be an almighty sight.
I set out, despite the fact it was clearly going to rain. And it most certainly did rain.
I ventured across the bridge of the Salzach River, and walked along the river footpath on my way to the castle called Hohensalzburg Fortress. On the way I saw a pack of pigeons. A rat in amongst them, not visible though in this image.
Hohensalzburg Fortress started development in 1077, but looked a lot different back then. It was mostly a honorary castle is my understanding. Based on my research it never really had the honour of seeing battle or a proper army besieging. The only time that the fortress actually came under siege was during the German Peasants’ War in 1525, when a group of miners, farmers and townspeople tried to oust Prince-Archbishop Matthäus Lang, but failed to take the fortress.
I continued along the walked towards the castle. I found a bridge with a lot of locks on it, similar to that famous bridge in Paris. These locks were all underneath the castle. I stood in the rain picking a lock go photograph. Below are some photos.
After the rain intensified I started to head back to station. My hope was that I would be able to get to Vienna with some time in the afternoon to explore the city. I would only get 1 night in Vienna now that I had to change some plans.
I arrived back at Salzburg train station and boarded my next train. It was a 2:07pm train to Wein Hbf (Vienna). I was sceptical if I would get a seat. I wasn’t able to rebook a reserved seat. I would now be like one of those free-loaders that take others seats.
In short, finding a seat wasn’t too hard at all. Perhaps I overestimated all other trains being on-time. This train had plenty of empty seats available that were all ‘reserved’. Perhaps this indicated that other trains were also late and those poor souls on board were also now missed their connecting train and like me now without a paid reservation.
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Arrival in Vienna
I vastly underestimated how much there is to explore in Vienna. I originally planned two nights which would have probably given me some time to explore. But I only stayed one night due to being sick. There was no other option ahead of me. Missing my train also lost me two hours of daylight today to explore it further. Clearly, I will have to come back. Or maybe ill have to move here for a while.
I checked into my Ibis Hotel really quickly, I left a lot of belongings and decided to start a AllTrails walk around the architecture of the city.
I was first led through an area called the Belvedere, an area which has two baroque palaces. I write this so late in the night I plan to research the word baroque at a later date. It had many fountains, a garden hedge maze among other things.
On my walking tour, I was next led through an area called the Schwarzenbergplatz. There was some wind picking up at this stage and the water from this fountain was blowing onto the pavement.
In this area of town, There was some dancing going on. A group of perhaps 50-100 people were dancing in the street for the afternoon.
Next, I was brought to a place called the Karlsplatz. This plaza had a mighty building in it which I will also have to research at a later date. I was at this stage of my tour beginning to realise I had not allowed enough time to see Vienna in the full. There was so many streets and so many places to explore.
I visited the Vienna State Opera House, or at least in passing. It was starting to get really windy now. People were fleeing before a pending storm. I could see statues bending in the wind behind the Opera House.
As I walked behind the Opera house, I noticed a building which I instantly recognised. It caught my eye immediately. I had not researched it before now and I certainly have not looked it up in the last 5 or 10 years. I am curious as to why this building was immediately I’m my memory. I am not sure where I have seen it before. It was a famous hotel which I knew from somewhere. I have searched its appearance in movies but no movie has come up that I can recall watching. It was the Hotel Sacher.
I googled “famous Vienna hotel in movies” and this hotel came up. But no movie has come up that I have watched. There have been some notable guests. Including Emperor Franz Joseph but also King Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson, Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Prince Rainier III of Monaco and Grace Kelly, President John F. Kennedy and many others.
The wind was starting to take its toll on the city, I saw some branches fly overhead off of trees and a poor pot plant tree had also met its maker.
I next was led to walk past the Hofburg palace, the former imperial palace of the Habsburg dynasty. I shall have to read more about this later as well.
I then followed a street filled with shops that were mostly closed by now. Or empty because the streets were emptying because it was now raining, and getting heavier. I was walking a little more quickly, but still not half done on what I wanted to see. Umbrella’s were up at this stage, but not for long.
I then passed St. Stephen’s Cathedral which was creating some very fast wind in between the buildings.
There were some fine examples everywhere of that the wind was causing for people. Umbrella’s going vertical. Raincoats going over heads.
I darted between buildings and took shelter for a while. I took a quick video of the rain only to capture two people running for it.
I reached the Canal that connects to the Danube and could see down side streets of various other places I had not yet explored.
The weather cleared up and started raining again after some time. I saw sunshine for a moment there at 7:30pm. Only to then have to find shelter again at a door to a building.
On my way home, I bought some Chinese food which was delicious. My first meal since this morning. I saw a bird close to here which was looking like it had also had enough of this thunder storm.
I had now walked 10.5km around Vienna and had really enjoyed it. It was starting to get dark and was now 8:30pm and looking very dark.