We've arrived in Venice...or thereabouts

We arrived in Venice today after what seemed a bit like a rendevous of planes, trains and automobiles...although it was more like feet, train, train, bus, shuttle. We're staying at a very nice hotel near the airport. The only problem--no real sidewalks, a very busy roadway and limited food options. We searched for a pizzeria that the hotel recommended but gave up after a bit and went to a local supermarket and just bought snacks. Hey, who am I to complain about a dinner of cheese, bread, nutella and toast, sparkling water and grocery-story-tiramisu for dessert? There are surely much, much worse things. Our room is very modern and has a patio out back--overlooking a cornfield. Did I mention that it's only about 500 meters from the airport? Beautiful scenery indeed and we don't even hear the airplanes. It will certainly make it convenient for Sunday morning's flight back home. Fortunately, our flight isn't too early--around 10:30 a.m.

Tomorrow, we're heading to Venice proper for the day. Among our to-dos is visiting the Venice Biennale--particularly the U.S. Pavilion where one of my clients John Portman and Associates) is among the architecture projects featured.

My laptop battery is very, very low, and I'm without a way to charge it since the power/electricity converter we have isn't for 3-pronged items. So, this will be my last post for the trip. More details and photos when we return...although it may take until next weekend as I head right back into a busy week of work as soon as I get back. Poor planning on my part.

Ciao!
Dana

Guten tag from Innsbruck

Guten tag (hello/good day)! It's been another busy day or two of walking.

Yesterday we explored Innsbruck--host to two winter Olympics, the last in 1976. Population-wise Innsbruck is about a third of the size of Vienna. It's very pretty. It's surrounded by the Alps, and a beautiful, powdery blue river (the Inn River) runs along the edge of the old town, which is where we are staying. Mozart stayed in our hotel (for 5 days?) with his father when he was 13. The hotel (see photo with this post) is nice and centrally located, but I must admit we were very spoiled by our hotel in Vienna. There's a McDonald's downstairs/next door, but there are plenty of authentic, local eateries as well. Tomorrow we'll have to take a photo of one of the McDonald's more unique offerings--a breakfast item with eggs, tomato, lettuce, maybe wiennerschnitzel and a bun with coffee beans on it. We haven't eaten there, but we look at the menu every morning when we walk by.

During yesterday's day of exploration, we took a gondola/cable car/finuncular up to one of the mountainsides for a gorgeous panoramic view of Innsbruck. We also bought a ton (well, almost) of gummie bears for ourselves and as gifts, too (they're German) and did some other small shopping.

Today, we took a train ride to Muenchen (Munich), Germany. It's a much bigger city than Innsbruck or Vienna. There are some nice buildings, museums and other historic items there, but I have to say that Austrian cities have been much, much cleaner (ridiculously clean, in fact), and the people overall have been nicer. We're not writing off Germany for future vacations, but it did provide a reminder of exactly how spectacular Austria is.

While in Munich, we bought a few items as well including a turtle momento (or two). It's become a tradition to buy at least one turtle object in each country we visit. Have I said that already this week? I'm so physically and mentally tired (in a good way) that I can't think straight.

Tomorrow, we head to Italy (Bolzano). It's only a 2-hour train ride. Until then, auf wiedersehen (goodbye).

Leaving Vienna

We leave Vienna this morning and head to Innsbruck. We've easily walked more than 10 miles the past two days, and even with that I'm not sure it's enough to make up for all the fried foods (schnitzel), nutella crepes and gelatto we've been eating.

Vienna is a gorgeous city. It's very clean, and there's tons to see and do. It makes me wish I was more up to speed on my history, music and art. Oh there's so much I've forgotten since world history in college.

Yesterday, we went to Grinzing - a wine tavern town (heurigen) just northwest of the city center. The guidebook says, "Much of Grinzing remains unchanged and looks the same as it did in the days when Beethoven lived nearby." One thing that is different: the green Lotus Elise we saw parked on one of the side streets. Scott got pictures, of course. We saw a white Lotus in Vienna, too, but he wasn't quick enough with his camera phone. There was also a vintage car rally/urban scavenger hunt taking place when we returned to Vienna yesterday, which was fun to see as well.

The weather couldn't be more perfect today. We'll certainly miss the incredible view of St. Stephan's Cathedral out our window (see photo with this post), but we're off to explore more of Austria...after our 5-hour train ride to Innsbruck. I'm sure there will be good scenery along the way.

Tiroler Grostl

A photo of my first meal in Austria: Tiroler Grostl. See previous post.

Loving Vienna

We were completely wiped out when we got to Vienna, so we spent a good part of the afternoon sleeping, then took a stroll around the city center.

We're staying at Hotel Am Stephanplatz, and it's absolutely the perfect location. Our room looks out over Domkirche St. Stephan (St. Stephan's Cathedral). It's a gorgeous view right in the center of town. We literally walked out of the subway and our hotel was right there.

The weather is incredible as well--very fall-like and Alpine-y. It was ideal for an early evening stroll to get our bearings and grab a bite to eat. We found a busy pub nearby and decided to give it a try despite not being able to read most anything on the outdoor menu. Scott had wienerschnitzel, which we characterize as the German version of sweet and sour chicken; it's fried veal and was served with cranberry sauce and parsley potatoes. And of course being in Austria so close to Octoberfest, he had to have a beer. His choice: an Ottakringer, a light (vs. dark) variety. I'm not a beer expert, so that's about all I can tell you. And I enjoyed Tiroler Grostl (see photo in next post), which was a skillet of potatoes, roasted pork, bacon and a fried egg.

We've started to plot out our activities for tomorrow, but it's time for me to take a Tylenol PM and try to get on local time. It's 5 p.m. Eastern at home and 11 p.m. here.

Landed in Vienna

Waiting on the train from the airport to the city center, then headed straight to our hotel to take a much-needed nap.

Let the vacation begin

We're at the Atlanta airport and should be boarding our flight in about 5-10 minutes. Our flight to Vienna requires a brief layover/changing of planes in Paris, so I guess we can check another country off our list although I'm not sure that it really counts as a trip to France. And I'm sure my "grandma" Jeannine who was born in France certainly wouldn't think it counts.

After a hectic day finalizing packing and wrapping up end of the month / beginning of the month activities at work, I'm slipping into vacation mode.

If technology cooperates, we plan to update this blog at least every other day.

So, more soon...

Getting ready to leave

We leave Wednesday for Austria and Italy, and while I'm incredibly excited, we're less prepared than usual. I'm spending the weekend printing out all of our trip information, trying to sort out train schedules and such, and starting to pack. I feel a shopping trip coming on, too. Given the heat in Atlanta, I haven't even started thinking about fall clothing, but it will be considerably cooler where we're going, so that sounds like a good excuse for a little early fall shopping.

Scott has been working a lot of overtime lately, and he's working today, so I'm trying to get a few things started for us while he tries to wrap up a major project before we go.

We weren't as diligent as we'd hoped in learning a little German before we go, so that may be how we spend our time in flight.

Look for more updates as we begin our latest journey!

Setting Our Itinerary

We're getting closer to locking in our trip to Austria in September. We've decided on traveling the first half of the month - approximately 10 days sometime between 9/1 and 9/15. While there, we'll visit Vienna, Graz, Salzburg and Innsbruck, Austria as well as Bolzano, Italy (see photo above) with most of our time in the Vienna and either Innsbruck or Bolzano.

Because Austria is so close to so many other European countries, we'll likely do a bit of country-hopping while we're there. Possibilities include Slovakia, Hungary and Germany. Each are within an hour and a half of the Austrian cities we'll visit. But, we'll play that by ear as our schedules and energy levels permit.

I guess we better start learning some German.

Austria this summer?

It's been more than 3 months since our list trip (our honeymoon), so it's well past time to begin thinking about and planning for our next excursion. High on our priority list at the moment: Austria in late summer.

I'm particularly inspired by this super cute homestay in Weyer. I doubt we'll actually make it there, but this photo is one of the things that sparked my recent interest in visiting Austria.

I imagine we'll visit Vienna and Austria's wine region. But there's so much we want to see. My in-laws bought me a guidebook for Austria for Christmas, so I've been pouring through it in my limited free time since, and the challenge will undoubtedly be one I face often - narrowing the list of places we want to visit down to a select few to keep us from traveling to a new place every day and wearing ourselves out.

Perhaps this rainy Atlanta weekend will provide the ideal opportunity to think further about our potential plans.
-Dana