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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. 

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