Graz, Austria

Arriving in Graz via car I was dropped off at the train station where I confirmed my train information for the evening. Upon completion I headed out in the direction of the old town.

First finding a hill Lonely Planet mentioned I started climbing up a few hundred stairs or so to the top to see the clock tower and the beautiful views of Graz. After exploring the gardens and taking some time out to relax I headed back down the hill and wandered around the town looking for a few of the sights outlined in my Lonely Planet guide, one was a beautiful wood facade on a shop, the other was a bit more difficult to find but very impressive. It was a double spiral staircase. It looked like two double helix´s crashed into one another and somehow had cement poured on them. It looked like something Dr. Seus would have made. Also, the river flowing through Graz has a unique cafe situated in the middle of the river. Made of glass it appears to be two shells one up and one down in the water. There is also a building which they refer to as The Friendly Alien. Which looks like something that just landed from the far reaches of the galaxy. I also found the church that has stained glass windows depicting Hitler and Mussolini looking at Jesus while he was being tortured. Unfortunantely it was closed so I wasnt able to see them.

I found my way to a small eatery where I had Schnitzel again! Man I love that stuff. I can see why Arnold Schwarzenegger got so big in his home town, from eating so much Schnitzel!

After a great day in Graz I headed to Innsbruck

Vienna, Austria

From the Largest Natural Arch in Europe we headed to Vienna, the gorgeous capital of Austria. Breaking the theme of getting into a city and wandering around the center, we headed directly to a place to sleep. We found a cheap hotel that was suitable for us plus the addition of 3 others (Carolynn, Allison and Pat). We basically slept the majority of the day, going out in the evening to a resturant our Pennsioners suggested as fairly cheap yet good food. The establishment was Centimeter. A cute little chain of places throughout Vienna serving Beer by the Centimeter. At this place you can order a meter of beer which is actually 8 beers of differing varities. Also they have another beer… 5 liter beer, served in a giant glass that took two people to carry. It was silly. We stuck to our Radler (Lemonade Beer) and I of course had the Schnitzel, while Carmen had something equally delicious, Meat Pancake things with Gravy and such. It was really good. So was my Schnitzel, I wish I had some right now.

After such venture we walked around a bit more and headed back to the station where we rode the trolly around, hoping we could see the city at night via a quaint trolly ride. Unfortunately the lights on the inside of the trolly were a bit too intense creating more reflections than desired.

After seeing some of the buildings we headed back and slept more. Traveling at Schnell Speed does make one tired.

Feeling bad that we slept the whole of yesterday, we decided to get up and make the most of our new day in Vienna. But still being really tired we slept in and didnt get around to seeing Vienna until well into the afternoon. We walked around a bit seeing the magificent churches and cathedrals. Vienna is gorgeous. We wandered around a bit more and then met up with Carolynn, Allison and Pat and headed back to the room. After figuring out a plan for the morning… Carmen and Carolynn to the airport, Pat to the train station and Allison and I heading to Graz, Austria with Allison continuing on to Italy to soak up the sun on the beach. That night we squeezed four of us on the bed and surprisingly we all were able to wake up and get ready in good sequence with only one bathroom. We were then off to the airport while Pat slept in at the hotel room a bit longer. After dropping Carmen and Carolynn at the airport Allison drove me to Graz, Austria where I continued once again on my travels alone.

Taking a picture of myself while doing a handspring

Better luck when Carmen took the picture

View from the hotel room

Munich, Germany

Heading to Munich Germany we met Carolyn, one of Carmens friends at the train station. Her sister is living in Munich and we had a place to stay for a few days, which was great! We headed home and got some more much needed sleep. In the morning, or afternoon ish. We got up and did some exploring around Munich. We headed toward a square and had a bit of food and enjoyed the pleasant day. We kept walking and we got kind of thirsty, I eagerly suggested the HaufBrauHaus, the famous beer hall in Munich. I could tell the girls were not as excited as I was, but still the idea appealed to them. We wanered around the town and finally found it, it was in fact a hall filled with people drinking beer. Just as I had imagined a beer hall to be. I ordered a plate of schnitzel with potato salad, my favorite, and of course the obligitory 1 liter beer in a stein. About a hundred years ago when my dad went to Germany he had visited the very same place I was at. On his book shelf at home he might have a stein stolen from the HaufBrau. I of course needing to follow in my fathers footsteps decided that this stein was mine! As a group effort we smuggled it into a purse and headed out quickly. Very happy with my stein.

The next day we woke up and headed to see two castles in Germany. One of which was called Neuschwanstein, the other, well i forget at the moment, but it was pretty as well. We had a nice train ride through bavaria and hiked up a hill to the castle, we did not go inside because, well it costs money and im cheap. It was very impressive from the outside, and the view from a nearby trail was well worth the extra hike. The other castle had fewer tourists around it which made viewing it much better.

These were really cool fountains that i ran though. The tops of them spin around. and like the dufus I am I hit my shoulder on one of the pilars and scraped myself up pretty badThis is the castle that insipred the castle in DisneylandAll in all I had a great time at the castles. We headed back to Munich and ended up at Augustiner, another beer garden not too far away from where we were staying. We got some great food, sauerkraut and saussage and of course more of the giant beers in the steins. Oh and who could forget the giant pretzel.The next day Carmen and I went to a park and had a picnic lunch, I saw that the beer was very cheap and got one, I forgot the bottle opener and had no metalic objects with me, so trying to use a coin I scraped my hand pretty bad. I have discovered that in Germany they have a beer called Radler which is Beer and Lemonade mixed together. It is very good, probably the best beer in the world. The park we were at was actually a beautiful park where people for whatever reason have found that they can get naked and sunbathe. There is no big lake around, just a small creek flowing through and a hoard of naked people in the middle. We stayed along the outskirts and wound up at another Beer Garden! It was outside and filled with people. They were playing traditional music and the men were wearing leiderhosen. I got a Radler and a pretzel, while Carmen enjoyed her Coke. People were playing music from inside this ... thing

 

That night we left for Prague, Czech Republic via train.