The Macz: Hearts warmed by Austria

What a delight it was to spend seven full days in Austria, firstly at Vienna – cold Vienna, then at a small alpine village – even colder, a day in Salzburg famous for The Sound of Music and more, and one night at Innsbruck. Each region is distinctive, each city has its own personality, and all are wonderful! As with our account of Prague, this posting is largely photographic (but only a selection of Anne’s 400 photos and Bob’s 200 taken during our week’s stay!)

By the time we got to Vienna, a weather system dubbed Tropical Rainstorm Gonzales, had brought heavy rain, snow and cold temperatures of eight to ten degrees to much of Europe. These events shocked our biological temperature control systems within a few hours of emerging from our hotel – notwithstanding five layers of thermal-ware, gloves, beanies etc. We went on a Hop-on Hop-off bus, guided walking tours, and our own random routes around town. Vienna is a grand city with majestic buildings around every corner, a legacy from the time of the Austrian empire and the reign of the Hapsburg’s. You know it’s a grand city when the size of the buildings means you can’t fit them all on one photo!

Our noses ran, our eyes went red....even our teeth hurt when we breathed in the cold air!

Views of the main cathedral.....unable to be captured in one photo

In front of the Hapsburg's summer palace. It was so cold we made only a quick visit

On the balcony of the palace....Bob and Anne receive applause from the gathered crowds.........

Around this corner, a palace....around the next, a gold trimmed statute.

City streets

Vienna was the home of Mozart, the Strauss family and many others, so music was a strong theme. Concerts were held daily in churches, theatres and palaces. These street performers were pretty good also

Even the teddy bears were waltzing!

Ah yes, its all chocolate!!!

We often use the Booking.com website to organize our accommodation – usually picking a place somewhat at random or on the basis of client reviews. We were delighted to find that our searching took us to a village region called Gosau – which turned out to be even colder than Vienna. However, we were too enchanted by the scenery to pay attention to temperature trivia – the soaring, snow-clad, mountains – picture-perfect alpine villages – horses and cows grazing green fields – the chill, still lakes, clusters of residual snow-falls along the roadsides … We stayed for two nights in a warm apartment overlooking the valley, snowy peaks and frosty pastures, and spent one day on an extended lake-side walk.

Scenes in an around the village of Gosau

Views from the window of our apartment. Yes, that is frost on the ground (below)

Our walk around Lake Gosau was a day of chill beauty.

The steep mountain walls and the angle of the winter sun mean that one side of the lake doesn't receive direct sunshine. We were walking along frosted ground at midday. Solidified snow lay on the ground in many places

Cold but still smiling

Reflections doubled the beauty

Note the temperature and the time of day

We also visited Hallstatt, a small village fitted precariously between a lake and the mountains that plunge to its edges. A fascinating (though macabre) consequence of ‘living on the edge’ is that, over the centuries, there was just not enough flat ground in which to bury the newly dead. The people managed this by exhuming previously interred bodies (after ten or twenty years), cleaning up the skeleton a bit, and placing it in an orderly stack with everyone else’s skulls and femurs in a ‘charnel house’. You may have come across this term in novels or history books. Hallstatt is also fascinating in other ways!

The beauty of Hallstadt. It is a major tourist attraction and has been listed in the worlds ten most beautiful sites. Arriving at the official end of the summer season meant less crowds, but also less services. We would have enjoyed a ferry ride but they stopped for the season the day before we arrived

Swan Lake

What a peaceful place to be buried (above). It was the people below who had to move out to make room!

Salzburg was a surprise for us and a city we really enjoyed. Music, music, music! Not in the streets as such, but historically, from its most famous sons, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Hadyn, Schubert etc, all the way through to The Sound of Music movie of the sixties. On our second night at Salzburg we attended a performance of Mozart’s ‘The Magic Flute’. To sit in the theatre with its intricately painted ceiling and sculptured cherubs was indeed an enjoyable experience.

Salzburg from above Viewed from the castle (below)

Buildings line each side of the river. Padlocks on bridges are seen across Europe, used a symbol between lovers. Selling padlocks would be a lucrative business, judging by the number we've seen

The beautiful gardens of the Mirabell palace....and they even have unicorns there

Too cold for some ...

There are many formal tours of the Sound of Music sights. Anne went on a quick visit to the major places (while Bob did other things of greater interest to him). The movie was shot in different parts of Salzburg and the surrounding areas and as it was interesting to see how it was all put together

Doh, a deer, a female deer.........

And to more cultured things. A statue of Mozart in his home town

It would be beautiful to see Christmas celebrated in Europe and decorations were just appearing. This shop was totally dedicated to selling Christmas decoration (hanging eggs featured largely)

Finally, we headed further west, to Innsbruck. This is too is a fascinating place – a large city located between alpine ranges, all whitened anew from the recent snow falls. We stayed at a ‘holiday paradise’ (Ferienparadies) a few km from Innsbruck where we were snug in a barrel – a creatively-designed cabin – beautifully warm and experiential!

On the way to Innsbruck. While it would have been a treat to have seen snow falling, we would not have wanted to drive in such unfamiliar conditions

The holiday park where we stayed, with barrels (below) and Bob in a barrel

Scenes from Innsbruck

Bob's mother's family seem to be doing alright after going to Austria instead of Australia

We awoke early on our last morning and went for a walk at daybreak, Its amazing to think that this year we have seen the sun come up over both the desert and over ice covered mountains!