Vienna, 3 hour city tour with Schoenbrunn Palace

Included with my 3 night package at my hotel near the Graben, was a city tour. I decided to take the tour on the morning of May 24, 2006. With my mother, brother, and his girlfriend gone ahead to Salzburg (they find this Alpen town more appealing than I do), I had the entire day to myself.

When you travel alone that seems to be the best way to meet other single travellers. On the English city tour bus, I ended up sitting beside this very nice Australian man from Perth who was on leave from the Navy. I told him I worked at a local television station back in Vancouver in the HR department, and he told me he worked on a frigate. We ended up chatting about Human Resources, travelling, hobbies, our families, etc. while our tour bus first drove us along the Ringstrasse, past the Stadtpark containing Johann Strauss's golden statue, past the Belvedere Palace (pictured at the very top), with the tourguide giving interesting facts and amusing stories along the way.

We eventually ended up at the main attraction of our trip, the Schoenbrunn Palace. I had actually been here the day before, but had spent my time exploring the grounds only - the Neptune fountain, the Gloriette pavillion on the hill, the Zoo, the Palm and Desert houses, etc. But now we get to have a tour of the inside of the palace. The inside was very impressive, there was so much marble, gilding, beautiful woodwork on the floors, sparkling chandeliers, etc.

After the tour, we went for lunch at an Italian restaurant on Kaertner. Then we walked along the streets of Vienna, past the places the tour bus had gone by earlier like the Stadtpark, taking photos of buildings like the Urania, and statues until we went our separate ways. I was worried, and embarrassed, about being short on cash and still needing to do some tourist shopping that day, so I forgot to ask him if he wanted to exchange e-mails, and I have been regretting it ever since. Besides, I owe him a lunch!

Vienna, May 22-25, 2006

After a very long 5 hour train ride from Prague, Czech Republic which included a robbery involving a bewildered elderly New York couple, several detours due to the aftermath of the Danube previously flooding its banks and overzealous passport control, we finally arrived in beautiful Vienna, Austria. This city has got to be my most favourite city in Europe. This was my second visit in about eight years. This time, unfortunately, I had only a 3 night stay, which left very little time to appreciate and explore all that Vienna has to offer. There are so many cafes, restaurants, palaces, museums, art galleries, churches, hidden courtyards and winding alleyways to discover and enjoy. While my mother, brother and his girlfriend chose to stay at a pension, I decided to splurge and stay at a 3 star hotel just off the Graben, near the edge of the Hofburg Quarter. The Graben is one of the main pedestrian shopping areas, and only a block or so from the Stephansdom, and Kaertner street another major shopping street.

Staying right at the Graben proved to be an excellent idea. I was close to everything - I was in a major shopping district, lots of great cafes and restaurants, the expected tourist shops, close to transportation with the Stephansplatz U-Bahn station a stone's throw away, and right near the sprawling Hofburg Complex. I also had the latest Vienna guidebook with me, I was determined to make good use of it!

There are many sights and smells to explore while taking a walk around Vienna especially in the early evening. Vienna is also alive at night with many cafes, bars, and restaurants open late. If you don't feel like walking there is always the Viennese Fiaker to take you around, the drivers are apparently quite knowledgable and great tourguides. I didn't end up taking one, mainly because I embarrassingly ran out of cash or Euros on my second day there (beginning of the third week of my trip). On my next trip to Vienna I will take a trip on a Fiaker, and bring a lot more Euros!

Prague, side streets and courtyards

What many visitors to Prague end up doing is exploring this beautiful city by foot. There are so many alleyways, side streets, courtyards, and bridges to explore. You can easily get lost. The buildings are painted in a variety of pastel colours, but usually tend to be pale yellow, or off white, with red tiled roofs.

Prague's number one economy is tourism. And, Prague by far, was the most crowded city I would visit on my tour. One afternoon we decided to cross the Charles bridge which was packed with wall to wall people who were looking at artists' wares and listening to musicians, or watching street entertainers. It took us forever to cross the bridge! Most of the shops in the central part of Prague catered to tourists, selling amber, garnet, beer steins, T shirts, etc.

Prague, May 20-21, 2006

From Dresden, Germany, we took a train along the Elbe river down to Prague in the Czech Republic. This was the first time I had ever been to the Czech Republic. The countryside didn't change that much, the small pretty villages along the river and the old fortresses on the clifftops were quite similar. Prague's citizens are generally well educated and speak many languages especially the ones 30 years and younger. They learn English, German, and other European languages in school.

We took a six hour city tour while we were there since we were not familiar with the language, culture, and history of Prague. We took one of the umbrella tours that met below the famous Astronomical clock in the Old Town Square. Our guide was a university student who did these tours whenever she had a free moment for extra money, and for the love of meeting new people who wished to explore her city. We walked around the Old Town and New Town, took an hour cruise up and down the river, went for lunch at a restaurant (which amusingly enough was based on a Hamburg cafe complete with nautical decorations) to have an authentic Prague meal, and eventually took a tram up to the Prague castle. Up at the top of the castle, we got a amazing panoramic view of Prague. This city came out of WWII relatively unscathed, unlike Dresden further up the river. It was interesting to see the difference between those two cities. Prague still had its many ornately decorated buildings, courtyards, winding alleyways, etc. While Dresden has been desparately trying to rebuild to its former glory days, it is going to take a lot more money and years before it can be compared to Prague's timeless beauty again.

Dresden, famous landmarks

The former royal residence of the Wettin dynasty is known as the Residenzschloss here in Dresden. This renaissance buildings are sprawling and beautiful, encompassing 3 main courtyards around which individual buildings of the palace are grouped. Most of the rooms and buildings have been completed in time for Dresden's 800th anniversary - in 2006. There was still some contruction going on in the Green Vault courtyard area but otherwise pretty much complete.

The Zwinger Palace is also another one of Dresden's best known buildings. This masterpiece of Baroque architecture consists of a complex of pavilions and galleries which today houses exhibitions of armoury, Meissen porcelain, and statues. Walking around the pavilions I was really impressed with all the lavishly decorated pillars, balustrades, etc.

Dresden, May 18-19, 2006

After Berlin, it was time to visit Dresden. This is a small picturesque city, situated along the Elbe river. It was often known as the "Florence of the Elbe" before WWII. Much of it was bombed, and even though much reconstruction has been done, there is still a lot more to do to bring it back to its former glory. It's a busy little city, full of tourists and great shops, cafes and restaurants. Everything is very central, most of the tourist attractions are in the heart of the city.

Frauenkirche, or Church Of Our Lady, had to be completely rebuilt. It started in 1994 and was completed this year. The dark bricks that can be seen are some of the original brickwork. It is situated in the centre of Neumarkt square in the elegant district of Dresden's Old Town. It's distinctive silhoutte gave it the name "Stone Bell". This shape was perfect for choirs and organ music. We were fortunate enough to be allowed to take a tour. It was very beautiful inside with its baroque design -very bright with beautiful frescos and golden statues, etc.

Berlin, interesting sights May 2006

While walking around Berlin's side streets I came across this lifepreserver on this small bridge. It was owned by the local fire department, designed for any passerbyer to throw into the canal if they see someone in distress in the water. I thought it was a pretty great idea. Then, I began to wonder how many people had to actually be rescued from this canal every year.

One piece of architecture that you can pretty well see where ever you are in Berlin is the radio tower. And, in occasion of the FIFA World Cup 2006 in Germany, it looks like a soccer ball or fussball. Berlin definitely had the World Cup fever, especially since it was going to be one of the main venues. A new stadium and train station had been built just in time for June 2006.

Museum Island, Berlin

One of the main reasons why I was quite excited to see Berlin was because it has one of the best museums in the world, holding some of the most impressive exhibitions, especially Egyptian works of art. The Egyptian artificats had been moved this year from the Stuelebau in the Charlottenburg, back to the Museum Island into the Alten Museum. The highlight of this is the Armana collection with Queen Nefertiti as the star attraction. She did not disappoint, the model bust of Nefertiti had her own room, surrounded by glass, allowing you to walk around her and view her at all angles. Another really amazing piece of work there was the "Berlin Green Head", the fine detailing and the lifelike expression it contains is quite astounding.

Museum Island which is in the Mitte district, holds about 5 major museums, and is currently going through a lot of reconstruction, a few of the museums have been closed as they try and update the buildings and rearrange exhibits. Bode Museum and the National Gallery were not open when I was there that day. Bode
is still a wonderful building to look at though, with it jutting out at the end of the island with the Spree river going by. This part of Berlin has some great architecture, so I spent a few hours wandering around taking pictures.

Berlin, May 16-18, 2006

After Hamburg, we took the ICE train to Berlin. Berlin is an even larger, sprawling city than Hamburg. Unfortunately, a lot of the main tourist attractions are spread out throughout the city. So, you definitely need more than several nights stay to explore the city, and expect to travel a lot. It was evident that unemployment and immigration is far higher in Berlin from some of the areas we drove through in the taxi, and the Charlottenburg district where we had our budget hotel. We were one block from the Charlottenburg S-Bahn station which was very convenient but, it also was quite a dodgy area at night since on the same block there were a couple of strip clubs and questionable businesses.

One of the first things we did was take a city bus tour of the city, and we had time to get out to take photos of the Brandenburg gate. Since this was about 3 weeks before the FIFA World Cup there was scafolding everywhere around the Brandenburg gate and Reichstag area. They were preparing for the event with large screen TVs, seating, staging, etc. Even with all the construction going on, the Brandenburg Tor with its statue of Quadriga of Victory crowning it was very impressive. Underneath, amongst the pillars, are mythological Greek inspired statues. The Brandenburg is situated at the end of the large, popular street Unter den Linden. That street we explored the following day.

Day trip from Hamburg, St. Peter-Ording coastal resort

One day, we took a day trip out of Hamburg and drove to the North Sea coast, to a modern coastal resort town, St. Peter-Ording. Here is a view over the dunes of the Westerhever lighthouse. I found the coastline very beautiful with the sand dunes and tall grass - we don't have that along the coastal waters of BC.

After walking along the beach for several hours it was time for dinner. My cousin recommended a favourite local eatery, Die Seekiste restaurant. This seashanty is on tall pilings on the beach, as well as some neighboring public washrooms.
I was told that during storms in the winter that the tide comes in quite high with a vegence. The portions at this restaurant were enormous! Of course it specialized in seafood, and there was a lot to choose from. I highly recommend this place as well.

Streets of Hamburg

Hamburg has some great shopping districts where the streets are crowded with shoppers and - colourful fibre glass figures of Hans Hummel the local fabled water carrier. Unicef was having a fund raising campaign. You could find these figures all over the city, either one by itself on a street corner, or a small army like the one on this street near the main train station, Hamburg Hauptbahnhof. There were a lot of great stores and cafes in this area. I love just sitting at a table on the street, sipping a cup of coffee, perhaps with a slice of decadent cake or ice cream sundae, and just watch the people go by.

Being from Canada, one of the things that we do not have in Vancouver is outdoor public toilets. People are expected to either use the washrooms in the shopping malls, restaurants (where you have to pretend to be a customer), hotels, etc. or just hold it till you get home. One of the most appealling ones we came across in Hamburg was near the Alster Lake pavilion, just outside of the famous Alex restaurant. It was pretty state of the art, complete with a metal crow on the roof, and the ability to hold colourful posters on the other side. Of course, most of these outdoor public toilets are coin-operated, so you always had to make sure you had a pocket full of change where ever you go.

Hamburg 11-15, 2006

HAMBURG

Hamburg was the start of my 3 week trip to Europe in May 2006. I have relatives from my father's side living here, and I stayed at my cousin Martin's place. I was going to be travelling most of my trip with my mother, who is retired, and my brother and his girlfriend. They will also be staying in Europe longer because they could take more than 3 weeks. Hamburg is quite a beautiful city in an understated way. About sixty percent of the city was demolished during WWII so there is a lot of modern architecture in this sprawling city. I took an English tour of the cityhall, the Hamburg Rathaus one morning. The inside is quite impressive with lots of marble, gold, wood paneling, and murals. There were some very beautiful brass fountains inside, as well as stainedglass windows. It is a north German neo-renaissance structure with very ornate detailing of the outer walls, courtyard, and roof. It houses both main governing bodies; city parliament and senate.

Petra of Vancouver, city of Vancouver, BC, Canada

My name is Petra, and I live in Vancouver, a large port city on the south-western coastal corner of BC, Canada. I work at a local news television station, Global BC, in the Human Resources department. It's summer right now, and we are currently experiencing a heatwave. We usually like to complain about how much rain we are having, but now we have to switch over to how hot it is. Most people flock to the beaches of the local rivers and lakes, coastal inlets, to cool off. Some of the most popular coastal beaches here in Vancouver are Spanish Banks, Jericho and Kits Beach which overlook the Burrard Inlet. Here is a photo of the Royal Vancouver Yacht Club by Jericho Beach overlooking Haro inlet.

Well, that's a little bit about me, the rest of the blog is about my 3 week trip to Europe in May 2006. I travelled to Hamburg, Berlin, Dresden, Prague, Vienna, Salzburg, and Graz.