On the road Vienna to Munich

Here's a short little video accompaniment to our trip back to Munich on August 11, 2013

I didn't record all of our stops along the way, but they were all welcoming. They were all busy serving travelers, truckers and holiday people like us. All the toilets are clean and inviting and the food stores are wafting great smells into the parking lots. Great shops with everything you need to snack on, drink, read etc.

Did you know that in Germany for instance they have built-in machines that automatically clean toilet seats?? Or that they had those central parking meters in Berlin 8 years before Chicago? Or that cities, even small ones like Munich have giant electric billboards that list the parking garages nearby and update how many spaces each has free? They are way ahead of the USA in several areas of useful technology. Ten years ago in my Hertz rentals the Nav system warned me of crashes or roadworks up ahead and offered to guide me around them with no delay.

Vienna to Munich

Our favorite breakfast (fruhstuck) place, the Opera Cafe, opens later on Sunday and we wanted to be on the road by that time so we ordered room service breakfast in the hotel and will renew our acquaintance with the OC sometime in the not too distant future. This way we could get on the road by 10 a.m for the drive to Munich. A room in the Admiral was waiting for us. 435 Km or approximately 285 miles lay between, but it would all be rolling hills or mountain views along the way and silky smooth (though speed-limited in Austria) Autobahns were waiting.

We took our Continental breakfast out onto the sunny terrace high above Mahlerstrasse. Just as we had Vienna after Bayreuth to take the sting out of parting, now we had Munich to take the sting out of leaving Vienna behind. We know we will be back there.

We would take our leave of one of our favorite hotels, the Grand Hotel Vienna....

The car was brought from the garage and the luggage loaded aboard. Carol set the Navigation to Kohlstrasse, Munchen and we were off.

Another beautiful drive. Carol doesn't like taking photos through car windshields and I have both hands on the wheel so I can't either but we passed through some scenic countryside once we had climbed up out of Vienna.

We stop several times. We use the super-clean bathrooms and tip the person responsible 50 cents. We grab a cup of always good espresso and I get a chance to take a stroll and have a cigarette before getting back into the car to eat up a few more miles.

We were lucky to find a rest stop called Mondsee while still in Austria . The timing was right for more coffee and a smoke and a stretch of the legs for me.

Carol takes a photo as we park at Mondsee rest-stop. You can get gas (benzine), visit a cleaner bathroom than you are used to when driving, eat a fine meal that doesn't come in a bag, walk in a garden, gaze at some mountains and then get back in your car refreshed.

The license plate tells me that the car is registered in Aschaffenberg (AB). All the German cars have identifiers such as this. They all start with the letter D for Deutschesland.

More miles to go before we would be welcomed in Germany by a lack of speed limit signs (hooray!) and the Jaguar could rejoice. Big fast comfortable car.

Being Sunday there were plenty of drivers out and about and being August, plenty of orange cones defining roadworks in progress  but we roll with the punches. We pass by our beloved Salzburg and know we are getting close to Germany. Before long we are in the southern outskirts of Munich and smiling big happy smiles as we know what awaits....

The Admiral and a car at rest and a driver ready for some German beer!

Cafe Mozart

After a brief stop at the venerable Cafe Hawelka for espresso we walked back to our hotel to freshen up and change for dinner. Cafe Mozart was the choice as it was so close and as it was a warm night we could sit outdoors and watch Vienna go by in the dark....

A long drive to Munich tomorrow so time to pack and sleep.....

Next blog location?

After we leave Vienna and re-visit Munich and fly home the next blog location will be the city of San Francisco, California.

Lots of sea in that one. Meals on camera and not a schnitzel in sight! Hills! Cable cars! Boat trips! Fourth of July fireworks! and lots more Exclamation Marks !!!!!

Don't miss it, unless you have something better to do.

Norris

St Stephen's Cathedral

Once off the boat after such an enjoyable cruise we decided to visit the cathedral on the way back towards the hotel. We walked as it wasn't far.

The streets aren't ugly.

Next-interior shots of the cathedral....

Beautiful-and it gave us lots of decorating ideas for our living room at home.

Although I appear in the Guinness Book of records under the heading "World's least religious man"
and also under "World's greatest lover of Guinness" I must confess to a love of visiting churches and cathedrals. They are certainly places where one escapes the outside world and finds the soul being soothed by the architecture and the vast cool quiet space. A lot of love and care has been expressed in their building and most people upon entering show some respect for the space and the atmosphere created therein.

A quick look inside.....

More boat!

Soon we were out in more open waters........

Up ahead were some fine buildings on the right bank of the river. Note the wind turbine...always good to see people harnessing the power of the wind to make electricity. Germany is rich in wind farms.

Austria may be following suit.

Quirky buildings

The spiky building with the red and white mast houses two revolving restaurants. The tower is the Donau Turm and stands (all day, never time for a lie-down) 827 ft tall. It's the tallest building in Austria.

Wow! 

Halfway through the cruise some people on the upper deck got off and so we now had a table to ourselves and somewhere to put a beer, so I got one and suddenly the cruise was at least ten times better!

Ok, now the video portion of the cruise..........

Vienna Boat Tour

Here are some river cruise ships but these are the live-aboard variety which tour the great rivers of Europe. We were on a local cruise ship so much shorter and more utilitarian. There was a bar and hot food served though, with waiters working the upper deck which is where we had to be.

We beat the boat by taking a train back to near Stephansdom and told the ticket clerk our story (in English). As our ticket now had the wrong embarkation landing on it she came down to the ship when it docked and spoke to the officer at the gangway and smoothed everything out for us. We thanked her profusely. We found seats on the top deck as we wanted the fresh air in our faces and as it was packed up there the best we could find were bench seats facing outwards. Many other people were at the tables where waiters were serving beer and hot fast food (burgers, sausages,schnitzels and fries etc)

This is the landing where we joined the boat. The boat ties up next to this barge for access.

The boat landing is by this bridge which one finds by walking from the Graben towards the river. There is a U Bahn station and tram stop there too.

On the boat I would be taking video and photographs so some things I miss in video get covered by the still camera and hopefully vice-versa. They are vacation shots and there was never any thought of publishing them on the Web.

We saw from the water things we would not normally see walking the streets or on a tour bus. There was a great deal of graffiti but much of it was so elaborate that it must not be discouraged. Few simple furtive spray-can signatures here, as you will see.

We chose a round-trip tour which meant we started in the heart of the city and returned here but in-between there would be some open water and wide-open spaces to enjoy away from the city. This shot above shows the modern landing we left from.

This beautiful ship is permanently moored as a restaurant I imagine from the big windows. Nice.

This huge barge is a bar/restaurant with sun decks and a swimming pool. Permanently moored here. 

A river walk/bicycle path

Another restaurant we will seek out next time in Vienna.

More to come, including video...........