Having already seen the castle Marc opted to stay in the car and wait for us to finish then he would drive to the top to pick us up so we could get back on the road and into Munich in time. So up the hill mum and I power walked, while making our way over sheets of ice on the shady parts of the road. Up the top we checked out the castle from the different view points. Mum enjoyed the castle but due to our time issues did not get a chance to see inside it which she was fine with. After we had finished Marc picked us up in perfect time and we hit the road again.
Back on the Auto Bahn we made it into Munich and collected our visas in plenty of time. Leaving Munich we started to head east towards Salzburg we were staying the night.
On the way to Salzburg we stopped off at Chiemsee lake (the biggest lake in Germany) as it was marked as a point of interest on the map. Not really knowing too much about the location we arrived at Gstadt, parked the car and made a quick decision to jump on the ferry to explore the Islands. By this stage it was pretty late in the afternoon so were not too sure what we would get to see. First stop was the little Island of 'Frauenchiemsee'; small restaurants, houses, a nunnery with a small chapel and bunnies. Most places were still closed as the Island was a summer tourist destination but it was still lovely to stroll around the Island. After an hour the next ferry arrived and we made our way to 'Herrenchiemsee', by this stage it was a little late and the uncompleted King Ludwig 2nd palace was closed but will still got to walk round the outside of the palace, the amazing grounds and the Augustine Monastery which was lovely.
The next ferry arrived and we made our way back to the car, not having purchased a ferry ticket we were not too sure if we needed to pay or not but as no one had asked we assumed we did not need one as it was so late in the day. As we arrived back at Gstadt and departed the ferry we were actually asked for tickets, mum and Marc put their heads down and kept walking, I on the other hand panicked and did not really know what to do so using my very basic German apologized and walked quickly to catch up to Marc and mum who had left me for dead and hoped that the ticket guy would not chase after us (which he didn't).
That night we arrived at Salzburg in the dark and managed to find our couch surfers house which was located down town. After such a massive day we dropped of our bags, went out for a quick bite to eat and had an early night.
Day 11: Unfortunately the weather had changed to wet and rainy, not the best to check out the sites but it could always have been worse. After a little bit of a late start to the day we headed out to see the sites around old town including; St. Peter's Church, cemetery and catacombs. Franziskanerkirche and the Dom. The three churches where all very different which was interesting to see.
After the churches we made our way to the Salzburg Fortress, a small walk up the steep hill we reached the top. The fortress was full of history, we enjoyed the museum and the great views of the city.
\A little cold we decided to head to the Augustiner Mulln for a couple of drinks and warm up. A great beer hall where they only served beer, you could bring your own food or buy it out side (which we did). That evening we were all toured out so just kicked back and ate some dinner at the house.
Day 12: We only had a day and a half in Salzburg so we went on a running tour to see the other sites around town in the morning. We all really enjoyed the run which ended up lasting for 90min, we basically ran a circle around the city checking out the parks and different look out points. Last stop of the run was the abby where Maria von Trapp (sound of music) was going to become a nun.
After the run we packed up then stopped in at the market for some lunch supplies (yummy meats, cheese and sweets) before heading to the salt mines. The salt mines were touristy but fun as we got to dress up as white gnome's and venture into the mine on a little train. In the mine we learnt about how they used to mine the salt and went down 2 wooden slides (the highlight of the tour).
Next we all loaded back into the car for a 3 hour drive to Vienna; the drive went smoothly and enjoyed the change from mountains to rolling hills and farms just on the other side of Salzburg. Arriving in Vienna we grabbed some Mc Donald's for dinner before checking into our hostel where we fluke'd an amazing park right outside the front door of the hostel.
Day 13: The sun was out so we rented some bikes and made our way into the city. Vienna was an amazing city, a lot bigger then any of us expected and loads of fun getting around via the amazing bike lanes everywhere. We managed to see the centre of Vienna then made our way out to Wiener Prater and the Riesenrad. Mum and I went for a ride on a giant swing (loads of fun) then we made our way to see Hundertwasserhaus (famous colorful apartment building). For lunch we stopped in at Duran for some delicious sandwiches which we devoured after ridding around all morning.
After lunch we rode out to the famous Schonbrunn Palace, amazing palace full of history of the Habsburg monarchs. The audio tour took us around the many lavish rooms of the palace and educated us all about the family's history. We all really enjoyed the tour and left with a greater appreciation of the size of Vienna and the super power it used to be in Europe. We also strolled around the palace gardens and enjoyed the crazy sideways trees.
That evening we had organized to catch some classical music at a small concert. Not really knowing what to expect as we had purchased the tickets off a guy in the street, we arrived ready for anything. The first surprise was at the coat check, none of us had large coats on only small jackets but for some reason we were not allowed to wear our jackets inside and had to coat check them. I would have been fine with this if the coat check was free but you had to pay per jacket. After a little bit of heated discussion we checked our jackets and all believed we had been scammed (looking back maybe we over reacted a little bit but I still hate paying for something I really don't need). Next we purchased some very expensive drinks before sitting in a room that looked nothing like the room in the picture that was given to us. However after all this the performance was actually really good, we knew most of the Motzart and Strauss that was played and was great to hear the classical music live.
After the show we made our way to the 1516 Brewing company for some American style beer. The beer and bar where both really good. Last stop of the night was a club that we thought would be interesting to check out a place called 'Pratersauna'. The club was certainly interesting, at first we could not find it and walked straight past it thinking it was a public toilet in a dodgy part of town. Once we worked out it was the entrance to the club we made our way in to the old sauna that had been converted to a grungy club. The rest of the night was also interesting unfortunately both DJ's were playing house music which is ok but a bit slow for us as it's not fun to dance to. We patiently waited for the music to improve and manage to get a little drunk but at the end gave up and went back to the hostel.
Day 14: Another fun filled day planned we made our way back into town to check out the Spanish ridding school and the famous Lipizzan stallions. We were all a little tired after such a late night but mum and I loved it! We had standing tickets but still managed to see everything. The horses were stunning and the ridders didn't miss a beat. After the performance we grabbed a quick bite to eat before touring the stables. Marc decided to give the tour a miss but again mum and I had a wonderful time seeing how the horses lived in downtown Vienna.
That afternoon we decided to catch a glimpse of the opera as you could get standing tickets for 3euro each. The opera was amazing, the live orchestra and incredible opera voices was something I had never experienced before. Mum also enjoyed it and Marc actually fell asleep as he said the music was so soothing (yea right).After the Opera we stopped in at Stern Brau, another brew pub where we enjoyed more delicious Austrian food and more beer mmmm
Day 15: Road Trip! We were making our way to the Wachau (Danube) Valley. First a quick stop at Vienna Harley Davidson for dad then we drove out to Melk to check out Melk Abby. Unfortunately we had missed the first tour and decided not to wait around for the next tour which was 2 hours away, So we walked around the grounds and checked out the crazy Baroque church which had no shortage of gold decoration.
Next we continued along the valley seeing all the amazing river towns and rolling hills covered in vines. The weather was overcast and rainy so not too many people out and about which meant lots of places were closed. We did mange to find somewhere to eat which was a little bit expensive but thought we would give it a try. The place was called 'Jamek' and not known at the time is one of the most famous wineries in Austria! Needless to say the food and wine was amazing and we had a lovely afternoon in the traditional Austrian farm house.
The rest of the drive was lovely, our last stop before we headed back to Vienna was Durnstein where we explored the ruins where king richard was held captive. Our favorite part of the runs was the fact that you could climb all over them and explore everything at your own risk which we did and loved it.
The drive back to Vienna only took about an hour, that night we chilled out cooked up some dinner and shared a cheap bottle of wine.
Day 16: Last Day :( Our trip was finally coming to an end, after checking out of the hostel we went for one last walk around the area of our hostel. We even stumbled across Naschmarket where Marc and I went a little crazy and spent a bit too much money of some amazing fruit bar slice and some walnut cheese... which was amazing but we got the guy to cut off way more then we could afford.
All packed up we dropped mum off at the airport just after lunch, it was sad to say goodbye but not too bad as we were going to see her again in only 3 months time!The drive back to Innsbruck went really well, Marc got to drive on the Autobahn one last time and we made it back in good time. After a good night sleep in our own beds we dropped off the hire car with the brilliant idea of running the 5km home. The run back was really enjoyable but hard work after all the food and beer we had consumed. A quick stop at the supermarket we were nearly home when Marc asked me if I had the house keys... yep that's right the house keys were with the car keys at the car rental place! After a rock off Marc ran back to the car rental place and returned home after not a 5km run but 15 km run poor bastard ha ha.
All in all we had an amazing trip with mum and now only had 2 weeks left to enjoy our last few days of ridding before we started the final leg of our trip.
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