Christmas markets in Europe and Caribbean cruise (RTW)

[RooFlyer]

That evening, I had dinner at a nice wine bar I spotted with this menu posted outside. Oysters!



Menu inside





Goose terrine, pate en croute, bread and a Grand Cru Riesling.



The Brittany hollow oysters were a big disappointment. Lean and not much sea flavour, as, they say on the menu, they are finished in fresh water.





Then another round of the markets







Will I go the Nutella and waffle?



Nooooo - Nutella and crepe.

 

[RooFlyer]

Next day, it was over to Salzburg by train. A bit apprehensive about this one, with three segments, 2 on DB Strasbourg-Stuttgart-Munich and 1 on the Austrian OBB Munich-Salzburg (thinking about delays/cancellations). As it happened, all went well; a bit of a delay on the first and last legs, but nothing dramatic.



Cold and desolate on the Strasbourg platform. I haven't yet got the hang of trains - that you can turn up abt 10 mins prior and just get on. I'm in airline mode an arrive an hour before (but have some breakfast at the station).



Here's the ride



DB Navigator app continued to work a charm - constantly updating info, times etc.



First class seating -the first leg practically deserted





Wifi continues to be a dead loss

 

[RooFlyer]

The second and third legs were just about packed. I had an Aussie sit next to me for the leg Munich to Salzburg - we both said that each other was the first Aussie we had met on our respective tours. A few breaks in the cloud gave us great views of snow-covered Alps and a few patches along the train tracks, but nothing of consequence was staying.

Pulled into Salzburg Hbf 20 mins late and it was 12 mins walk to my Mercure Salzburg City. A reasonably modern place, 3 levels + ground set in a low rise apartment area, 20 mins walk to the Old town and Dom.





Deluxe room with a ducky little balcony. As usual, aircon on warm and no cooling, so the balcony door and window was open for much of the time!









Small welcome from Accor



But great wifi - 96Mbps

I had dinner at the hotel - very ordinary. A Wiener schnitzel of course. Not a great example of the art.




Couple next to me brought their 4 dogs in with them. Just after they all left, the 4 mutts had a freestyle run around the place for 2 laps.

 

[OZDUCK]

Those oppressively hot hotel rooms and also many shops are really annoying.

 

[RooFlyer]

Salzburg - looked forward very much to going there and it disappointed a bit. Probably the weather more than anything -cold and grey. No snow, which would have improved things. I was expecting more baroque, grand buildings and Mozart everywhere, but no, not really.

Walked from my hotel to the Dom, passing through the Christmas markets there and adjoining Residentzplatz. Daytime is obviously not the best time to visit, but I sussed the lay-out. Not as large as Strasbourg or Cologne obviously and much the same stuff, but more food types, I think.







I'm happy to say that I didn't stop here!



Nor at any of these, for that matter, but at least it would have been a bit local.











If you ever see these 'geodes' of amethyst (the purple mineral), don't buy any. The purple is 'doped' (basically stained) onto the base crystal and I'm not even certain that the base crystal set is natural or created.

The doping is particularly evident on the RH one. Total cough.

 

[RooFlyer]

On to the funicular to get up to Salzburg Fortress. I had bought a Salzburg Card which got me onto public transport and into all the sights I visited and I also got the Salzburg app on my phone which was great for transport options.

Salzburg Card : Salzburg all-inclusive offer

Save money like never before! The Salzburg Card gives you free access to all of Salzburg

www.salzburg.info

Die aktuelle und moderne Fahrplanauskunft mit unserer SalzburgMobil - App. Natürlich kostenlos.



Nice views of the city from the Fortress

 

[RooFlyer]

To be honest, the Hohensalzburg Fortress ("don't call it a castle") was a bit plain. Not much there from the glory days. Various areas were extra to pay for, but I don't know how much as I just flashed the Card on my phone.

The Fortress was begun in the 1000s and added to over the centuries. It looms over the city and is a major attraction. The State Apartments were the most interesting for me, dating from the Middle Ages. But again, mainly just the walls and ceilings decorations remaining



Heater. I think fed fuel by an opening behind, where servants moved within the wall.

 

[Flashback]

If you're still there, this restaurant might be worth trying.

Bärenwirt · Salzburg

maps.app.goo.gl

It's just over the river from Schloss Mirabell and if going from your hotel, about a 20 minute walk.

 

[VPS]

If you're still there, this restaurant might be worth trying.

Bärenwirt · Salzburg

maps.app.goo.gl

It's just over the river from Schloss Mirabell and if going from your hotel, about a 20 minute walk.

Furō – Essen in Salzburg and so was this - vegetarian and at that stage I was craving vegetables and didn't have to worry about fish allergies. Staff were lovely. Lot's of Australian souvenirs given out that night

 

[RooFlyer]

No.. moved on!

Markets pics.













There was a very nice choir carolling

 

[RooFlyer]

Mozart's house - pretty plain inside. Mainly an art gallery.







Mirabelle palace and gardens





Looking back to the Fortress



Some views about the town







Opposite Mozart's house. Thinking where I've seen this before.

 

[RooFlyer]

Next morning, it was on the OBB (Austrian trains) to Vienna. The clouds lifted while I was walking to the station and I got a token glimpse of the mountains around the town.



Salzburg station, like all the ones I've been in so far is modern and easily navigable. A bit parky on the platform. The app had told be of some progressive delays in departure, but only 25 mins late in the end.



The OBB app (like the DB one) had a lot in it - films, games, newspapers (PressReader) and you could order stuff on line, to your seat. This time, I went 'Business' which is a step up from First and, in retrospect, not worth it. Only benefit seemed to be you get private sub-cabins; I was in a 4, but there were also singles.



As luck would have it, in my cabin were 2 young blokes (20s) happily and noisily playing their videogames and playing stuff on their phones, without earpieces. I manged to find a single seat elsewhere until the next stop, when they got off.

Wifi was good at the stations but again, a dead loss on the journey.



A very extensive paper menu as well.



Map in the app



It was 3 hours to Vienna and the day cleared as we went on. Typical countryside



About 30 mins out of Vienna, some snow appeared! But this was about the sum total of it.

 

[RooFlyer]

At Vienna, I had booked an 'executive' room at the Novotel at the Hauptbanhof, and this turned out to be a good choice. Can get onto the metro from here and a direct service to the airport when I need to fly out. Executive rooms on the 18th floor (top one of accommodation) - nice views, quiet and a free minibar!! Very fast WIFI - 120Mbps. The hotel has a LOT of families staying - so the Exec floor was again, a good choice. Lifts weren't too busy.











They didn't exactly go all-out with the Accor welcome gift!


Another advantage of being at the main station is that there are lots of shops, including an Aldi. I was so short of fruit & veg that I bought a litre of fruit & veg vitamin/juice and damn near skulled it.

As usual, the room was hot, and this time the window only opened via a tilt. However an angel at reception found me a pedestal fan which made all the difference.

 

[RooFlyer]

Time to explore. I bought a 48hr Vienna City Card which got me on public transport and discounts on all the attractions I was likely to go to. It also showed about 200 of the city sights, with maps, routes and details. Allowed me to plan the next day in detail.

Vienna public transport ticket | Vienna City Card

Explore Vienna with a single ticket! | 24/48/72h Public transport, Sightseeing & 200+ Discounts with Vienna City Card: ✓ Metro. ✓ Bus. ✓ Tram. ✓ S-Bahn.

www.viennacitycard.at

Tonight, it was just a few markets. I got off the Metro at Volkstheatre station and happened to go down a laneway to a market tucked away at MuseumsQuartier.



Not a good start!



Hightailed it across to one of the main markets at Maria-Theresian Platz, next to the Natural Science museum. This was more like it.







And some nice food stalls - this had slices of meatloaf with mustard, gerkins etc in a fresh 'kaiser' bun. Very nice.





Kept walking across to the Hofburg, orienting myself and recalling my last visit, probably 20 years ago. More tomorrow.



Next stop were the Rathaus markets. I knew that these would probably not be a highlight, but had to see. @tdimdad had marked my card and more choosy tomorrow.

One the way - Rathaus in the distance.



Austrian Parliament

 

[RooFlyer]

The Rathaus markets were beyond heaving; I was a bit worried about pickpockets. There were several VERY long lines for something which i didn't understand. I walked around the periphery only, but its a gorgeous location.





The Rathaus (Town Hall) is relatively young by Viennese standards, built in the 1870s-80s.



I would have liked to stay until it was dark, but not much point and I was very, very tired. Not much sleep the night before, so started the walk back.

Austrian Parliament again. I looked this up on Wikipedia, and the Austrian system of government. Quite devolved. But also learned about the lingering effects of Austria's participation in WW2 and the extent to which it was a willing collaborator with the naz_s, as opposed to a victim of them. Apparently the 'victim' myth continued through to the 1960s and even later. Besides Hitler's own origins, the Austrian government was up to its neck in willing participation with the naz_s.

 

[SYD]

For those playing at home. Avoid Vienna on weekends this time of year.

Thursday night the Rathaus markets were busy but not manic and certainly picturesque!



Friday was cold but managed to do a full city self-guided walking tour to tick off most of the main sights. BUT then went out on Saturday and the entire central area was just heaving with people and tour groups! Just insanely busy. Chatting to a local in a bar, they said “we don’t go into town on weekends this time of year and it gets worse the closer to Christmas”!

 

[SYD]

This time, I went 'Business' which is a step up from First and, in retrospect, not worth it. Only benefit seemed to be you get private sub-cabins; I was in a 4, but there were also singles.

View attachment 418827

What was the luggage story situation with Business? I ascertain zero so went with WESTBahn from MUC to Salzburg in whY.

We ended up driving Salzburg to VIE. The scenery on the way to and at Hellstat was pretty spectacular.

 

[RooFlyer]

What was the luggage story situation with Business? I ascertain zero so went with WESTBahn from MUC to Salzburg in whY.

I forgot to mention. Virtually no checked-bag type luggage storage in Business, except precariously on the racks above (I manged to shove mine underneath a magazine rack in the carriage foyer). Definitely catering for 'business-people', not tourists. No need to go whY - First has good luggage storage areas .

Friday was cold but managed to do a full city self-guided walking tour to tick off most of the main sights. BUT then went out on Saturday and the entire central area was just heaving with people and tour groups! Just insanely busy. Chatting to a local in a bar, they said “we don’t go into town on weekends this time of year and it gets worse the closer to Christmas”!

Yep, busy today (Sunday) too. Markets at lunchtime not as bad as yesterday, though. Also forgot to mention - the metro yesterday was as packed as you'd ever want to travel on, afternoon and evening; not pleasant. Good today though.

 

[SYD]

I forgot to mention. Virtually no checked-bag type luggage storage in Business, except precariously on the racks above (I manged to shove mine underneath a magazine rack in the carriage foyer). Definitely catering for 'business-people', not tourists. No need to go whY - First has good luggage storage areas .

We’re doing ÖBB to Budapest. By the time I got around to booking, F had skyrocketed - so it’s whY again….

The WESTBahn F upstairs in the bubble looked quite nice (and cheap), but zero luggage storage… There were some bench seats at either end that I probably could have slid bags under but didn’t know about until onboard. 1hr 30min from Munich to Salzburg for €9 was fine. The 45min U Bahn into Munich from MUC was €13!

Yep, busy today (Sunday) too. Markets at lunchtime not as bad as yesterday, though. Also forgot to mention - the metro yesterday was as packed as you'd ever want to travel on, afternoon and evening; not pleasant. Good today though.

Haven’t set foot into the metro!

We booked the 25hours Museum Quarter (Accor hotel). Quirky is an understatement but walking distance to everything.

 

[CaptJCool]

If you ever see these 'geodes' of amethyst (the purple mineral), don't buy any. The purple is 'doped' (basically stained) onto the base crystal and I'm not even certain that the base crystal set is natural or created.

The doping is particularly evident on the RH one. Total cough.

View attachment 418668

Now you really “burst my bubble” on that. Bit like finding out Santa is unreal …