Vienna - an underrated tourist destination

Schönbrunn Palace

St. Stephen's

The State Opera

Innsbruck, Austria

Continuing the Austrian adventure, our next stop is Innsbruck. Innsbruck is the capital city of the Tyrol region in western Austria and is the fifth-largest city in Austria. It is known for its winter sport, as well as having the beautiful Alps as the backdrop of the city, which was absolutely amazing. It was a gorgeous city, but unfortunately, the weather was not ideal for viewing the Alps. Even then, it was an awesome experience to walk around the old part of the city and to go up to the top of the Nordkette mountain.

Part 1 - Exploring the city
There are some interesting products around the city which are specific to the Tyrol region. One of the products we found is this chocolate that was made from the milk of this special cow in the Tyrol region among other things. 

Part 2 - Nordkette
This is the most effortless way to go to the top of the mountain! By cable car! We saw a pretty decent view of the mountain range despite the windy and snowy conditions on the way to the top.

But, we were slightly disappointed that this is what we saw at the top:

Instead of this: (Well, there's always a next time I suppose....)

Part 3 - Night Wandering

We came across some live classical music in the old part of the city. It was a very unique experience as three different groups of musicians played in separate buildings; the music reached the audience from different angles and created a magical Christmas experience.   

Hallstatt, Austria

It might sound very silly, but one of the main reasons that I really want to go to Austria is because of this beautiful lake town Hallstatt. I just love the idea of a small European town surrounded by the mountains, and I can't believe that we made it there! It was more beautiful than I imagined.

We did a day trip to Hallstatt from Salzburg. It took about 2 -3 hours by bus, and it is the cheapest way to get to Hallstatt. You can also go by train, which is more expensive. Either by train or by bus, the window view of the ride was breathtaking. You will pass by the lakes, surrounded by mountains, passing through small towns, and we did not have a single boring moment. 

When we finally arrived in Hallstatt, it was really like a dream come true. Hallstatt is a UNESCO heritage site, and its salt mining was dated all the way back to prehistoric times. Although it should not take more than 30 minutes to walk from one side of the town to another, there are a lot of things you could do in Hallstatt, like visiting the salt mine and the incredible Dachstein ice cave. Unfortunately, the tours are closed in winter time, so we just walked around this ancient salt mine village. There are only a handful of stores that were open when we were there because winter is not a tourist season, but at the same time, it is very nice that we don't have to share this view with a million tourists, like in summertime. 

This is definitely the most beautiful town that I have ever seen. I do wish to come back here in summer to see a different view of the town. Maybe even stay in the town for a night to see its night view, and get up early to see the lake in the morning. I don't think I can ever get enough of this place!

Salzburg, Austria

Salzburg is a small Austrian city where the famous composer Mozart was born. The city is divided by the Salzach River, with the old city on the left bank, and the "new city" on the right. The transportation from the airport to the city center was just a 20-minute bus ride, very
convenient. 

Bärenwirt - our first meal in Austria
We arrived on the evening of Christmas day, and in search for food that night, we found this authentic Austrian restuarnat. Unfortunately, the restaurant was fully booked all night, which made us want to try this place even more. So, we ordered take-out and ate it at the hotel. We had some traditional Austrian schnitzel (chicken and veal) and potato salad on the side. 

Morning stroll around the beautiful city
We got up early in the morning and fell in love with the city as we walked around. 

Mozart Geburtshaus (Birthplace) and Wohnhaus (Residence)
It is probably not a surprise that these buildings have turned into some sort of Mozart's museum, and I never really knew too much about Mozart's life (all I learned was from the movie Amadeus). It was actually really interesting to learn about it.

On the way to the Museum der Moderne Monchsberg
We were intrigued by the nice church. After going to see it, we discovered a nice walk to the modern museum. You can get a nice view of the city as you walk up the hill.

Fortress Hohensalzburg
This is definitely the landmark of Salzburg and it is one of the largest medieval castles in Europe. It is located on a hilltop, which gave us a very nice sunset view of the city and the faraway mountains.

Salzburger Christkindlmarkt in Kapitelplatz
This was the very last night of the Christmas market here at the Chapter Square, and also the oldest part of the city. It is where the St. Peter's Abbey is located. The St. Peter's Abbey is considered one of the oldest monasteries in the German-speaking regions of Europe. After visiting the monastery, I couldn't wait to get some Glühwein in the Christmas market. One of the best things about going to Europe in winter is definitely the mulled wine! We definitely had at least 1 glass, if not more, every day when we were in Austria. 

There are a couple of museums here that we could have gone to, but we decided to save the museum time for museums in Vienna. This is definitely a cute little city to visit, and I would not have wanted to miss this beautiful city. 

One night in Oslo

2017 ended with an awesome trip to Austria, and this was decided literally less than a week before the date we ended up leaving LA. Everybody knows Christmas is an expensive time to travel, not to mention the fact that we booked our tickets so last minute. I found a way around it, while a round-trip ticket to Vienna cost over $2000, a one-way direct flight to Oslo is only $350. We ended up flying to Oslo first, then flew from Oslo to Salzburg, Austria and left from Vienna back to LA. This way, it only costs us ~$1200. I guess I was so determined to make this trip happen that I found a way to do it!

The reason for the cheap ticket to Oslo, probably not surprising to anyone, is that winter is really not a good time to visit Norway. Most of the nature attractions are under snow, and there is only 5 - 6 hours of daylight a day. We arrived in Oslo at 4:30pm and our flight to Salzburg was at noon the next day, therefore we really did not have much time to see the city. Fortunately, or unfortunately, there is not much to see really at this time of the year. We arrived on Christmas eve, and apparently the last train that goes from the airport to the city was at 5pm. We bought the train ticket using the ticket machine, not knowing the last train had already left. The fact that you can still buy train tickets when there is no train really did not make a very good first impression. We later found out that the only way to get out of the airport that night was by taxi, and even then, there were no taxis. Due to the limited availability of taxis and extreme prices, most people split the trip since everyone was going to the city anyways. We finally caught a taxi after waiting in the cold for a while, and the ride cost a total of $300 USD for that 30 miles, which is ridiculous. Thank God we were splitting with another couple, so we ended up paying $150, which is still insane. 

The night was still young, so we decided to walk around the city and at the same time, maybe search for food. The city could not have been more dead. Nothing was open (well, we found a couple convenient stores after walking for a while searching for food), and no one is here. Oslo has over 600K people, where are they? We were told by people we met that they are either having family gathering or vacationing in other countries, such as Spain and Italy, where there is nicer weather. 

We found out that there is a fortress in Oslo, and it opens at 6am. We decided to check it out before the flight, and it was pretty cool. We were able to walk round the wall, the courtyard and got a nice view of the river from the fortress. On our way back to the hotel, we passed by the palace as well. 

It was dark almost the whole time we were there (the sun finally came up at about 10). It really did not feel like we were there for two different days, and that felt a little odd. Anyways, I can understand why Norwegians go somewhere else for vacation during this time of the year. It can be depressing without sunlight. That being said, Norway has always been on the top of my travel list because of its nature attractions, the fjords, the mountains, the glaciers, etc. Definitely going to go back in summer time!