Unbelievable! It's already been a year into our life in Chengdu, China!
To commemorate, we went ahead and took our latest family trip, this time to the heart of Europe in Austria and the Bavarian state in Germany!
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| Real Austrian Pikeman Armor |
Growing up in America, I never did get to learn much about history outside of American history. Chinese history, for example, is usually covered in a handful of pages in the World History class. Over the years, I've learned a lot about both ancient and modern Chinese history, but admittedly, I still did not know much about European history, much less Austrian or German history, until taking this trip. In fact, as an aficionado of Chinese culture and history, I kind of bought into the whole "Europe was stuck in the dark ages while China was the most glorious empire for millennia."
As it turns out, there's quite a bit of glory and mystique in the past 1000 years of Austrian and German history as well, and I also gained a serious appreciation for how significant Austria has been over the centuries, pretty much up until the second world war. And I'm not just talking about its role in the iconic American film, "The Sound of Music", either!
We started our journey right here in Chengdu, flight direct to Frankfurt before transferring to Austria's ancient capital of Vienna: the city of Music and numerous international organizations and treaties.
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| Wushu in front of Schoss Schonbrunn, home of the Hapsburg dynasty |
We made our base in Vienna at the Renaissance Vienna and quickly discovered that the Europeans have fantastic bakeries. Their croissants and Kaiser rolls became a staple for our breakfasts for the entire trip, and many of our lunches as well!
Austria/Germany Observation #1: Public Transport
This actually applies to all of the major cities in our trip, and I noticed the same thing in Copenhagen several years ago as well. These European cities' public transport systems clearly operate on essentially an honor system. People apparently buy passes on a long term basis, and tourists can buy them on typically 1-3 day terms. However, there are no gates or turnstiles or dedicated ticket-collectors. Instead droves of people just get on and off the buses, metros, and light rails, and even long distance trains. However, we found out later that from time to time, a plainsclothes agent would check to see the validity of your ticket, and after some Googling, I also confirmed that the penalty fee for not having a valid ticket is pretty steep - on the order of 100 Euros per offense!
Our first stop in Vienna was St. Stephens Chapel - in the center of the Old City:
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| This Cathedral has been around for nearly 1000 years, and was partially destroyed in bombings during WWII |
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| We ascended one of the tours for some great views of the city! |
We strolled around the city some more and also found the nearby Karlskirche, or Charles' Church, as well as some horse drawn carts before visiting Time Travel Vienna, an interactive tour through the 1000+ year history of Vienna and some of its major sights.
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| The interior of Karlskirche - I believe a concert was taking place. Concerts happen all over Vienna on a daily basis! |
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| Trying on vintage Austrian royal clothes at Time Travel Vienna |
On Day 2, we headed to Schloss Schonnbrunn, the imperial palace for the Hapsburg family, who ruled over Austria and surrounding territories for over 1000 years. In fact, the Hapsburgs were in power all the way into early 20th century, around the time the Austro-Hungarian empire dissolved at the conclusion of the First World War. Its monarchs also have a few Holy Roman Emperors to boast!
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| We finally made it through the maze! |
Perhaps the most famous resident of Schonnbrunn is Empress Elizabeth, wife of Emperor Franz Josef, popularly known as Sisi. Sisi was somewhat of an unwilling monarch, preferring to spread her influence grassroots and travelling the world. At Schonnbrunn as well as other palaces in Venice, many exhibits are dedicated to Sisi and her interesting story. Unfortunately, photos aren't allowed inside the palace, but we got some great shots in the gardens and palace grounds, which are quite large!
Austria/Germany Observation #2: Food
After our palace tour, we had our first traditional Austrian meal of Wiener Schnitzel, lightly breaded and fried chop of veal or pork, and Tafelspitz, a sort of braised beef dish. While tasty, we found that these dishes, along with sausages and sauerkraut, seemed to make up about 80% of the Austrian cuisine, so it did get old after a few days... Fortunately, for the most part, food is quite inexpensive (or at least less expensive than I expected), averaging about 10-15 Euros per person typically.
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| Tafelspitz |
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| Wiener Schnitzel |
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| We also tried Apfelstrudel (apple strudel) since it is famous here. I didn't find it to be as good as pies in America, however... |
On our second full day in Vienna, we took the hop-on-hop-off bus to explore. The tickets were included in our 3-day Vienna public transport pass! It was rainy most of the day - fortunately, the bus provided free ponchos and headsets to listen to the audio guide!
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| We found this nearby martial arts studio |
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| I can do it too! |
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| Ponchos, courtesy of Big Bus Vienna |
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| Prater - one of the oldest amusement parks in Europe/the world! |
Austria/Germany Observation #3: Theme Parks
Again, this observation really applies to most of Europe. European theme parks are old - really old. And a bit rickety. More like longstanding carnivals. They usually charge "per ride", which makes them needlessly expensive, especially considering the quality. But they do make neat photo ops!
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| I can't remember the name of this church, which we saw on the hop-on-hop-off bus |
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| Crossing the Danube. The Danube Tower can be seen here. |
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| A taste of home (Sichuan) right here in Vienna! |
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| A lunch of Kebap sandwich - another food often seen in this part of Europe (aside from Schnitzel and Tapelspitz) |
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| Amateur boxer practicing in the local park |
Our final stop on the Hop-On-Hop-Off tour was the world famous Vienna Opera House. Over 200 performances are held here annually, and standing room tickets are often sold for just a few Euros; unfortunately, we showed up in the off-season. But the facility itself is also antique, and quite beautiful!
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| The stage. It takes a looot of power to run these operas! |
Our last day in Vienna began with a visit to the very large Vienna Military History Museum, which chronicles Austria's - you guessed it - military history over the course of its 1000+ years, dating back to the end of the Roman empire, through the middle ages, the Renaissance, the French Revolution, the Napoleonic Wars, and both World Wars! They even had the car and clothes used by Archduke Ferdinand on the day of his assassination, which triggered World War I!
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| Some of Austria's earliest warrior kings |
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| Wicked looking rocket arrow launcher from the middle ages |
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| Weapons from the Turkish neighbors, who often fought against the Austrian empires |
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| Turkish tent and mortar |
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| Random painting of Empress Sisi |
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| The car that Archduke Ferdinand was assassinated in |
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| And his uniform - note the bloodstains! |
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| Some serious WWII artillery |
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| A recovered U-boat! |
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| Some fairly modern tanks |
With that, we rented our first car in Austria.
Austria/Germany Observation #4: Rental Cars
Car rental in Austria is quite expensive, especially if you require an automatic transmission. I haven't driven a manual in at least 9 years, and I wasn't about to start on the Autobahn! Unfortunately, this particular handicap costs you about 60 euros a day over the regular rental. Add to that the fees for returning to a different city and insurance fees, and car rental easily became the most expensive part of the trip, on a pound for pound basis!
Our next stop: Melk and the Danube Valley!
