Skip to main content

Spring Europe Trip: The Road Trip

Continuing the Europe Spring Trip to celebrate our 50th birthdays, we left beautiful Vienna and rented a car to drive to Basel. 

While planning the trip, we asked good 'ole ChatGPT for the best way to get from Vienna to Basel in a few days and it suggest a route with a few stops. So we picked to stop in historic Salzburg, Austria. We had no idea what to expect. 

Salzburg

After finding parking, we only stayed for a very short hour. We stopped at The White Horse for a late lunch and coffee and it was very good. Then, we just walked around. 

If I was thinking more than a tight hour visit, I might have though "hey, this is where they filmed the Sound of Music" duh we should find some of the building and even the church Maria got married in, which is a scene that is burned in my brain from childhood. But I didn't think that far ahead and I just wanted to get the lay of the land, since it was a quick trip. I can see why people take a few days exploring this mountain town. It's charming and small. 

Munich

We jumped into the car and zoomed to Munich, where I booked The Ruby Hotel for the night. Why I choose it? It was just outside of city center (I didn't want to drive in a city at night, thanks) and it had a parking garage. Plus, really under-budget so I thought we could put up with a teeny room for one night. 

While, it was very comfortable and boutique-y, it had glass walls around the toilet and shower. Which wasn't super great when sharing with your spouse of 20 years. Enough said. 

After settling it, we jumped the tram and headed into the main area and we were DELIGHTED to find a national holiday happening with citizens everywhere drinking and having a great time. Everywhere we went was another beautiful building, a great view and good food. We both decided this was a place we'd happily come back to and spend a few days. I was longing for a good 3-hour walking tour because the city seemed steeped in history. 

We ate at Heimwerk for the Schnitzel, mainly, and we were not disappointed. It was too bad we couldn't spend more time, but we were up and out of the hotel early the next morning for our castle tour.

Neuschwanstein Castle

The inspiration for Walt Disney, this castle has been on my list to see since we spent the few months in Berlin. It was too far from that city, but we were going to pass it, so it was a must-see. We had timed tickets, so we were on a schedule to get there on time. 

Here's what you need to know about visiting this castle. 

  1. You park at the bottom of a mile-long uphill road you walk up. It will take 20 minutes, minimum. There was a horse-drawn carriage for the sick and elderly, but there was a long line to use it. 
  2. The timed tickets are serious. The entrance is like Disney, the gates open to your tickets at your time. Miss it, and you miss your tour. 
  3. No photos inside. None. 
  4. The castle is NEW. Built in the 1800s with machines and precision. So the block stone is missing at the charm and history of a medieval castle. 
  5. It's only half-done. Just a few rooms on the inside are done (and so over the top ornamental, you can easily see how he quickly ran out of money). So they're stunningly beautiful and worth seeing, but not too many of them. 
  6. Nothing happened here. The castle was only in use for the King who lived here for 16 years. Then he mysteriously died after being ruled "insane" and the country opened the castle for tours, so it could recoup some of the money spent on it. So nothing of any significance happened here. 
  7. You can see how much Disney and his team was inspired by the ornamentation everywhere. It feels like being at Disney. 

Knowing all this, it's still worth seeing and made for a really fun stop. 

We jumped back in the car for the 4 hour drive to Basel, where we'd spend one night before we got on the Viking Cruise up the Rhine. We were so looking forward to seeing our friends and staying put for a week in the boat. More on that in the next post. 

Here a few more photos from the road trip: 

Munich

Salzburg

Munich Renaissance-era church

The Castle, you can see how new the building looks and "perfect" the stone is. 

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Family Room: The Accent Wall

Wall: Before Ever since I started to think about decorating this house -- way back in October -- I knew I wanted to do a dramatic accent wall in the family room. The room is huge with two-story ceilings. There are six windows on one wall and four more flanking the fireplace -- so this room could definitely handle a dark, rich color. A few design magazine, sites and HGTV shows later, navy blue stuck in my head. Like one design show I watch advocates, look to the clothes you wear often to help decide color -- which for me and Dave is denim. And we both have soft navy sweatshirts that are common weekend wear. Navy it was -- decided in December. So, each night since we moved in while watching TV I'd stare at the beige wall, that is slightly inset, and imagine it was navy blue. And I'd itch and wish to paint it. Now, with the new media cabinet arriving on Friday, it's finally time! Once we moved out the furniture pieces we no longer will need, we reoriented everything ...
Post a Comment
Keep reading »

Top 5 Spots in Tenerife: La Ortava and Hotel Mencey

3. La Ortava A charming old town in the valley above Puerto de la Cruz. In my memory, it was green and lush, but in reality it's a small village populated by ancient buildings and nice locals. The Casa de los Balcones is a popular tourist spot to pick up local lace and your own little balcony. We walked up and down the hilly streets, and discovered two stunning public gardens and a nice coffee shop. We also watched fancy-dressed wedding guests entering an old church. The bride, I'm sorry to report, was very, very late. View Down a Twisty Street in La Ortava The Famous Tourist Trap - Casa de los Balcones  Jardin Victoria With Quite a View! 4. Hotel Mencey and Parque Garcia Sanabria In Santa Cruz, the small city we used as home base, we stretched our budget a little to stay at the historic Hotel Mencey. It was a comfortable, well-maintained hotel in a great location. I love a hotel will a lot of common spaces to relax in, and this one had a bunch, all with beaut...
Post a Comment
Keep reading »

Thinking Spring...

Thinking Spring ... and testing out this new collage photo editor . These are from last Spring. I was taking pictures of where the daffodils were coming up (for next Spring) when this cherubic creature stepped into the garden.
1 comment
Keep reading »