Andere espresso, bitte.

The grounds of Schloß Schönbrunn

Vienna is a beautiful town filled with coffee shops, interesting museums and beautiful art galleries. All the buildings are grand and opulent to the point that it almost doesn't feel real. As an example, this is the library. For the girl who liked being in libraries (bit of a geek, as you know), it was quite impressive.

 

There is a film festival going on all summer with a huge screen set up in front of city hall. They show a different concert every night at dusk. There is a huge food court setup with 15-20 different restaurants - anything you could want. The show hasn't started yet but it's packed with people on a Saturday evening and they have piano music playing (My Way and Nights in White Satin). People get their food and spread out in the seating areas and around the park to eat and drink and chat. What is most impressive is that all the food is served on ceramic plates, they give you metal silverware and my beer comes in a real glass. Nothing gets stolen, nothing gets broken. Everyone just behaves.

A friend who had been to Vienna recommended the walk to Kahlenberg - a mountain in the Vienna Woods. From the apartment I was staying in it was about 13 miles roundtrip, which was a great walk despite it being a sunny, sticky 90 degrees out.

Once out of Vienna proper, the walk looked like this. Pretty enough as is, but then there were these breaks in the trees where you could see rolling hills covered with grape vines and all of Vienna below.

Lunch (apple strudel and sekt)

This was a great little bookstore I wandered into (called Shakepeare & Company). They didn't have more than 2 copies of any book and just one of most so it was a great place to browse around and get out of the heat.

 

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Ooh - something shiny!

I am easily distracted when it comes to hearing music and having to find out where it's coming from when I'm wandering around. This happens pretty much daily and it has lead to some fun concerts. This one wins for Most Impressive Backdrop.

 

 

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Now we're getting somewhere!

Slovenia is amazing - love everything about it!

Slovenia has been ruled by Celts, Romans, Venetians, Hapsburgs and they were part of the former Yugoslavia, gaining independence in 1991, so it's this great melange of Mediterranean, Austrian and Eastern European cultures. Menus are a good example of this blend as most menus contain goulash, pizza, fried chops (similar to schnitzel) and lots of polenta and prosciutto (a favorite). All of this is servied with wine from indigenous grapes - the few that I tried were all light bodied with high acidity. They were ok.

Red wine and pizza stop

Evening concert in a square

The capital Ljubljana is a small city full of Baroque and Art Deco architecture. It's center runs along a river and there are cafes and restaurants all along the river banks. Ljubljana means "beloved" which is also what Aimee means so obviously kismet that I made it here at some point.

Metelkova street is an area of abandoned army buildings that have been taken over by street artists and students. It's full of amazing street art, sculptures and mosaic murals. The shoes thrown over the wires is seen all over Ljubljana. Apparently if you spend any time in the city, especially as a student, it's a tradition to throw a pair of shoes over one of the wires before you leave. Given that my sandals blew out in Munich and I'm living with one pair of shoes, I wasn't about to give them up.

At Ljubljana castle

About an hour and a half drive from Ljubljana is the small town of Pirol on the Adriatic coast (drove through a bit of Italy to get there). It's a cute Mediterranean town that reminded me a lot of Genoa. From the top of the city wall, you could see Croatia to the left and Italy to the right. Amazing view!

 

 

I was told Pirol had a great public beach. "Beach" is a bit of a misnomer as it was a concrete boardwalk with multiple wharfs that you could jump off of into the ocean. Not an individual grain of sand to be seen. Jumped in for a bit anyway though, hung out on the concrete for a while and then strolled around town for a bit.

 

 

 

 

I had wanted to go on a white water kayak excursion, but not enough people had signed up (read: no one else signed up) so instead I joined a tour of the Škocjanske caves which are in an UNESCO protected park, which in the end was a worthy alternative. The caves go down 140m to an underground river and are indescribably beautiful. I couldn't take pictures inside, though, so just go see them sometime. Absolutely incredible!

 

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Train Ride

When the conductor comes around for tickets on the train to Ljubljana, he informs me that I'm on the wrong end of the train so I go walking toward the rear. One thing about this trip is that while I'm traveling by myself, I am never, ever, alone. The train is packed and trekking through the six cars to get to the right part of the train is like working your way through a NYC subway car during rush hour and everyone has a briefcase the size of a refrigerator. After maneuvering around people that are standing in the aisles and shoulder to shoulder in the cafe car, squeezing by folks riding on folding seats on the side of the train, being whacked by falling over luggage and climbing over backpacks, sleeping teenagers, camping gear and a snare drum, I score a first class cabin to myself with this view (which my iPhone camera only does partial justice). Not bad...not bad.

 

 

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A couple days of nothing that exciting

I wasn't all that impressed by Munich and Salzburg so I cut both places short by a day.

Munich was good for a maintenance stop, though - did some laundry, bought some toothpaste. I did do a beer tour which was definitely the highlight. We went around to three different beer gardens. It was a Thursday night and all of them were packed with people having beer and dinner. It's a rule that beer gardens have to allow in outside food so lots of people were picnicking. The group that went on the tour was a really great bunch. We were up until about 2 and most of us hung out at the hotel bar the next night as well. Super fun!

Having a beer with a couple new friends and 5000 Germans

Notice the drunken young thing passed out in the background.

Salzburg

Salzburg was way too crowded and touristy for my liking. Pretty, but all touristy shops and 60€ Sound of Music tours. No thanks. A hike in the mountains would involve renting a car and likely not getting back in time for the latest train out of town so I spent my time reading in cafes and walking around which ended up being nice as there were multiple outdoor concerts going on - one in every square it seemed.

 

 

Lunch spot with a band in the square

This guy was playing a didgeridoo and a drum and bells on his foot all at once. Pretty impressive.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

More unicorns

My hostel was 3 miles from the train station - a nice stroll along the river and through a neighborhood. I arrived about 1:00 to find out that registration isn't open until 5:00. Hostels have published check-in times, but there's always someone around and there is no problem with showing up early and either checking in if a room is available or at least dropping your pack in their luggage room. Here there was no one around. At all. Not even another traveler who might let me drop my bag in their room. It was a little eerie, really. So, I walked back to town and hung out for the afternoon...and walked back in the evening. Definitely earned my daily gelato that day!

Morning reading spot before catching the train

 

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The fucking coolest city ever

Berlin is a fucking cool city. I will forever refer to it as such to make the distinction between it and regular cool cities. I'm staying in Kreutzberg which is dirty, graffiti covered and has an edge that makes you want to stay out and about all night. The people are grungy, tattoo covered and walk around the street with a beer in one hand and a cigarette in the other. No pics as that would have been uncool.

I promise not to show to many pictures of food, but this was the "small" breakfast, which is about 4 times the size of breakfast in Belgium. This was at about 11:00 and my food intake the day before (travel day) had consisted of a peanut butter sandwich, 2 pieces of chocolate (Belgique, bien sûr), yogurt, an apple and 2 beers so breakfast was unceremoniously wolfed down.

Inside of Saint Hedwig's cathedral. It was rebuilt in the 60s after being bombed by the British so it has a much more modern design than the other cathedrals in town (there are a few). I spent about an hour just sitting and reading because it was quiet and cool and peaceful.

Gargoyle storage on the way to the top of the Berlin Dom (above) and view from the top (below).

Berlin is a huge city and there are tons of bikes - everyone uses them to get around so I hired one from the hostel and set out for the day. There are bike lanes which have you going on and off sidewalk and drivers and pedestrians alike are very conscious of the bikes being part of the traffic population, but it is still a bit insane...and a serious amount of fun!

Garden Fairy in Charlottenburg Gardens

I ended up at Schlosse Charlottenburg in the northwest part of town - the palace of the former Prussian rulers of Germany. The building tour was forgettable, but the gardens are beautiful and was my reading spot for a couple hours in the afternoon.

 

Reading spot for the afternoon

For being the capital of Germany, there is an amazing lack of German food. Lots of kabob stands, Greek restaurants, Thai places. Stopped at a cafe during my bike ride and had a delicious brick oven Margherita pie. Best food on the trip so far!

 

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