europe – Page 6 – Michael Rappa

My First Eurotrip, Part 4: Von Trappin’ in Salzburg

June 26, 2014 Michael Rappa2 Comments

This series is a look back at my very first Eurotrip in 2007, during which I visited Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. I never kept a journal during that trip so I am writing this mostly from memory. All photos were taken with my old pocket camera.

Salzburg
My original title for this post was “The Hills Are Alive in Salzburg,” but then I realized that a fellow blogger recently used almost the exact same title, and I didn’t want it to seem like I was copying. 😉

April 4th to April 5th, 2007: It was time to leave Vienna and head to Salzburg, passing through more gorgeous Austrian countryside. Along the way we caught a glimpse of Melk Abbey, one of the world’s most famous monasteries, over 900 years old and still functioning as an abbey and school. Unfortunately we didn’t have time to stop and check out this impressive site, so I had to settle for a photo snapped from the moving bus.

Eventually we reached Salzburg and I got my first glimpse of the spectacular fortress that overlooks and dominates the city landscape.

Hohensalzburg fortress, one of the largest and best preserved medieval castles in Europe.

After checking into our hotel we went on a guided walking tour. I quickly fell in love with Salzburg. It was not only my favorite city on this trip, but possibly my favorite that I’ve ever visited. Salzburg doesn’t feel at all like a city, there’s not a tall building in sight. Featuring cobblestone pedestrian streets lined with historical buildings fronted with iron signs, it’s like a walk back in time. I could have spent an entire week here.

Mozart’s birthplace. The museum inside is very touristy.

The Salzach River runs right through the middle of the city, with pedestrian bridges crossing it.

I was particularly fascinated with the fortress, taking many photos from many angles. Here are a few:

While in Salzburg we saw many landmarks that were featured in The Sound of Music…

The Mirabell Gardens archway featured in the film.

St. Peter’s Cemetery, where the Von Trapps hid from the Nazis,
though the actual scene was filmed in Hollywood.

After our guided tour we had free time before dinner. I went off by myself and ended up in the main square in the shadow of the fortress, where I spotted some men playing on a giant chess board (I saw several of these giant boards in Lucerne as well).

The man moving the knight in this photo would later be my opponent.

I watched a couple of games and then decided to challenge the winner of the most recent game. We didn’t speak each other’s language, but the language of chess is universal. I did very well early on—I went up a knight pretty quickly and appeared on my way to a win, but then I blundered back a knight and ended up losing a close match. Despite my disappointing loss, it remains a fond memory—how often do you get to play jumbo chess in Europe while gazing up at a magnificent castle?

After the game I made my way back to the hotel for dinner. The helpings of schnitzel were very generous—I guess they knew they were serving Americans. 🙂

That night we went to the Augustiner Brewery, which was founded by Augustinian monks in 1621. The beer crafted here is still based on their methods, and those monks knew what they were doing. The beer was maybe the best I’ve ever had anywhere; it went down so smoothly.

The next morning we went on another walking tour.

This monastery is built into the side of the mountain.

Closeup of the monastery catacomb windows carved into the rock.

After the tour we split into smaller groups. Some of us decided to go up to the fortress. There is a steep walking path to the top if you prefer to hike, but we opted to ride the funicular since we only had a couple of hours to spare (you could easily spend an entire day exploring everything the fortress has to offer). I was surprised at the speed of the funicular cars; they travel up the track much faster than you would expect at first glance.

View of the square below. In a neat coincidence, the marching band down there was from New Jersey.

Side view of the fortress overlooking the city below.

Although this tree in the middle of the castle courtyard wasn’t white,
my first thought when seeing it was of the Minas Tirith white tree in Lord of the Rings.

Before heading back down we had lunch at an outdoor restaurant overlooking the valley below. Unfortunately the Alps were shrouded in haze, so we could barely make out their majesty. I imagine the view must be phenomenal on a clear day. All in all, our visit to the fortress was the highlight of our stay in Salzburg. The rest of the group members who chose not to accompany us really missed out.

Back down in the square it was time to leave for the salt mines, but we had about 20 minutes to kill, so I played another quick game of chess with a native Austrian, this time with everyone in the group watching. Since I had to rush through the game, I wound up getting my butt kicked. The Austrian who defeated me was very nice, though, even posing with me for a picture afterward. My uncle has that photo somewhere.

The bus then picked us up and we were off to the salt mines. It’s a pretty neat tour: part walking, part mine car ride, and part boat ride.

Uncle Kipp and me (everyone had to put on these outfits before entering).

One really fun part of the tour is sliding down the optional big slides to the lower parts of the mine. You ride down with a partner. Several of the students went multiple times.

After exiting we toured a replica Celtic village at the top of the salt mine mountain. From here we had a nice view of the valley below

With that, our stay in Salzburg was near an end. In the morning we would depart for Lucerne, Switzerland, with a stop at Neuschwanstein along the way, which will be covered in the next installment. Until then, I leave you with a shot of the fortress at night.

Farewell, Salzburg. I hope to return someday.

View more photos from this trip.

Related Links:

My First Eurotrip, Part 3: Vienna Waits

June 19, 2014 Michael RappaLeave a comment

This series is a look back at my very first Eurotrip in 2007, during which I visited Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. I never kept a journal during that trip so I am writing this mostly from memory. All photos were taken with my old pocket camera.

April 2nd to April 3rd, 2007: After two days in Munich it was time to leave. We hopped on the bus early in the morning and headed to Vienna. Along the way, I enjoyed my first-ever glimpse of snow-covered mountains as the Alps came into view.

We broke up our six-hour drive to Vienna with a stop in a town called Mondsee, the location of the church featured in the Sound of Music. Our overall tour was actually called “The Sound of Music Tour,” so this would be the first of many sites from the movie we would visit.

After touring the church I made my way to a beautiful nearby lake framed by mountains.

We then continued on to Vienna. Our hotel was right around the corner from the main drag of the newer part of the city. I took a quick walk around the area, which reminded me of walking through New York City, and then returned for dinner. On a side note, here are a few observations about dining in Germany and Austria: everything is a la carte, including butter for bread. There are no free drink refills like in the States, but glasses have a mandatory fill line. Water is served by the bottle (ordering tap water is generally not done). The tip amount on a bill is less than in the States (I think because their waiters are paid more)—ten percent seems to be standard, and for small bills, many simply round up to the next Euro.

After dinner we headed to the Prater park and went for a ride on the famous Riesenrad Ferris wheel, which is over 100 years old. You may have seen it in movies like The Third Man or The Living Daylights.

The cars are massive; our entire 18-person group could have easily fit in one. There are also dinner cars. After the Ferris wheel we enjoyed some other attractions. An interesting feature of the amusement park was the presence of casinos, though I did not partake; I’ve never been much of a casino person.

The next morning we visited Schönbrunn Palace, one of the most popular tourist attractions in Vienna. Like Nymphenburg in Munich, it was once an imperial summer residence. It looks very impressive from the outside but I can’t recall much of the inside with no photos to remind me (they did not allow photography inside the palace).

A common characteristic of palaces like Schönbrunn and Nymphenburg is a sprawling garden in the back, which must look spectacular when the flowers are in full bloom. Due to a lack of time, I never made it to the fountain or the Gloriette pictured below, one downside of being on a regimented tour. On the other hand, I saw much more in a short period of time on this trip than I would have on my own, so it’s a trade-off.

There was an outdoor Easter market in front of the palace, which I spent some time wandering through while we waited for the bus to pick us up. We then went on a bus tour of Vienna before being dropped off in the middle of the old city for free time. One interesting aspect of Vienna is a lack of skyscrapers, particularly in the old city, which is filled with historical buildings, making for a much more interesting walk than you might enjoy in some other cities.

The famous Hundertwasser house, an apartment building designed by artist Friedensreich Hundertwasser.

The hilly, cobblestone street in front of the Hundertwasser house.

St. Stephen’s Cathedral, over 800 years old.

A small group of us then went to the Hotel Sacher, home of the famous Sachertorte, a chocolate cake with a thin layer of apricot jam on top, coated in dark chocolate icing. Everyone else in the group ordered this treat, but I’m not a fan of mixing fruit with chocolate, so I ordered some ice cream and the house tea.

The tea was delicious. I enjoyed it so much that, after returning home, I searched online for a way to buy it. I eventually found a company, Upton Tea Imports, that sells a clone of the tea, called Sacher Blend (this also marked the beginning of my love affair with loose-leaf tea). The Sacher Blend is very close to the original and I have continued to purchase it every year since. In fact, I am drinking some as I write this.

Uncle Kipp and I then walked through the Naschmarkt, a famous outdoor food market. I know, I keep saying “famous,” but pretty much everything in Vienna is famous. 🙂

I stopped at one of the food stands and ordered my first ever döner, which is a Turkish sandwich similar to a gyro. Very tasty, and I’ve eaten at least one on each of my European trips since.

We then did some more walking around the city.

Sezession Haus
The gold leaf globe is supposedly based on a sketch by Gustav Klimt,
the first president of the Vienna Secession movement.

Shortly after posting the photo above, an online travel guide (whose name I no longer recall), chose to feature it in the Vienna section of their guide. I wonder if it still exists.

Behind this fountain stands the Russian Heroes Monument,
an unpopular reminder to Vienna locals of post-WW2 Soviet occupation.

With some free time left, we decided to visit an art museum in Belvedere Palace. There are many paintings and artists featured here, but the main attraction is the work of Gustav Klimt. Belvedere is the home of Klimt’s The Kiss, the famous (there’s that word again!) painting you often see adorning the walls of college dorm rooms. Having only seen The Kiss depicted in posters, I was surprised at how very large the original canvas is.

The rest of the night after dinner was uneventful for me. Uncle Kipp took the students out on the town, but I wasn’t feeling well, so I stayed behind and packed. In the morning we would depart for Salzburg.

View more photos from this trip.

Related Links:

Photo of the Day: Cascading Falls at Krka National Park

June 17, 2014 Michael RappaLeave a comment

Croatia has some beautiful national parks. Plitvice Lakes is the most famous, but it was too far away for us to visit on our one free day in Split, so we “settled” for Krka National Park; quite a nice consolation prize. If you ever find yourself in the area, it’s well worth a visit. I enjoyed it enough that I chose the falls as my blog’s cover photo.

Date: 11/5/2011
Camera: Panasonic DMC-FZ40
Click for larger view

You can view more featured photos at my Photo of the Day Collection.

My First Eurotrip, Part 2: Munich and Dachau

June 11, 2014 Michael Rappa2 Comments

This series is a look back at my very first Eurotrip in 2007, during which I visited Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. I never kept a journal during that trip so I am writing this mostly from memory. All photos were taken with my old pocket camera.

April 1st, 2007: Our second day in Munich began with a guided bus tour of the city.

Munich Street with the Theatinerkirche and Feldherrnhalle visible in the distance.

We also stopped outside of the University of Munich to see the Monument to the White Rose, a resistance group in Nazi Germany, comprised primarily of students, many of whom were executed by the Nazis. The members of the group are now honored among Germany’s greatest heroes for their non-violent resistance against the Nazi regime. If you’d like to learn more about the White Rose, I’ve seen two excellent German-language films that are highly recommended: The White Rose and Sophie Scholl: The Final Days.

Monument to the White Rose consisting of the group’s characteristic leaflets.

Back in the Marienplatz, we saw performers all over the square, as well as a huge anti-hunting protest march.

The city tour ended with a stop at Nymphenburg Palace, which had once been the main summer residence of the rulers of Bavaria. The palace is huge, but we only had time to tour a small portion. No flash photography was allowed inside (and Nymphenburg would turn out to be the only palace we visited on this trip to allow any type of indoor photography).

A wing of the palace with one of its many resident swans in the foreground.

Gallery of Beauties, a room of paintings commissioned by King Ludwig I
featuring the most beautiful women in Munich, some of whom were his lovers.

Group shot in the gardens behind the palace.

Later that afternoon we visited the Dachau concentration camp memorial. After watching a documentary about the camp’s history, we toured the grounds. Walking among the barracks, crematorium, and gas chamber was a haunting experience, impossible to put into words.

This powerful sculpture commemorates the victims.

There were originally two columns and 30 rows of prisoner barracks.
All but the first row have been torn down.

The Nazis installed fake showerheads in the gas chambers to convince victims they were entering
shower rooms. This gas chamber had not been put into operation before the camp was liberated.

The only window to the outside world in the gas chamber.

After leaving the camp we returned to the Marienplatz in Munich for dinner. We then headed to a brewery called the Augustiner to toast our final night in Munich before returning to the hotel. In the morning we would be departing for Vienna.

View more photos from this trip.

Related Links:

My First Eurotrip, A Look Back

Photo of the Day: Rome Night Traffic

June 9, 2014February 18, 2018 Michael RappaLeave a comment

I took this long-exposure photo from the balcony of my hotel room in Rome, Italy.

Date: 10/18/2011
Camera: Panasonic DMC-FZ40
Click for larger view

Eurotrip 2011, Part 3: When in Rome

You can view more featured photos at my Photo of the Day Collection.

My First Eurotrip, A Look Back

June 6, 2014 Michael Rappa2 Comments

This series is a look back at my very first Eurotrip in 2007, during which I visited Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. I never kept a journal during that trip so I am writing this mostly from memory. All photos were taken with my old pocket camera.

In 2007, as I approached my 36th birthday, I was given the opportunity to travel overseas for the first time in my life. Prior to that, I had never done much traveling outside of some long drives up and down the East Coast to places like Maine and Florida, and parts in between. I hadn’t been on an airplane since my high school senior trip when I was 18, and the only foreign country I’d ever visited was Canada, but that had just been a road trip over the border to Niagara Falls, so I’m not sure that even counts. The thought of traveling the world had never really crossed my mind. I did not understand what it means to be bitten by the travel bug, but that was about to change.

My uncle, Kipp, invited me to join him on a trip with his high school German class to Europe during spring break. It was a trip he made with his class every couple of years. On this occasion he had an open slot for a chaperone and asked me if I’d like to be one. My trip would be completely free except for the surcharge I would pay to guarantee a private single room. I jumped at the chance. I mean, how many times do you get offered a free trip to Europe? For me it would turn out to be twice, but I didn’t know that at the time.

At the pre-trip group meeting I met the students and other chaperones. Among the advice given was to bring a small suitcase since you would be lugging it around everywhere. I took that to heart and crammed my entire 10-day trip into a suitcase roughly the size of a carry-on with no room to spare. So of course when I got to the school on the day of the trip, everyone else had giant suitcases. 🙂

When we went through security at the airport in Philadelphia I was pulled off to the side and searched—it would be the first of three times on this trip I would be specially searched at an airport. I can only surmise that I resembled the profile of what they deemed to be a suspicious person worthy of extra scrutiny—maybe it was the goatee.

Eventually we got on the plane for a short flight to Boston, where we would connect to Germany. I had the window seat. The man sitting in the middle seat next to me decided that it was more important for him to spread his newspaper out over three seats with his elbow hanging half over my seat than it was to give me the courtesy of my personal space. It was a short flight so I just pressed against the window and endured it, though nowadays I would probably say something.

We reached Boston and boarded a Lufthansa flight for Germany. This time I had an aisle seat, which was key for an 8.5-hour flight during which I was unlikely to sleep. It was my first experience flying international and I couldn’t believe all of the food and drinks were free, so I indulged plenty, perhaps hoping that alcohol would numb the smell of the bad B.O. guy in the seat in front of me. The in-flight movie was Rocky Balboa (this was right before they started letting you choose the movie you wanted to watch on your own screen).

When we landed in Germany I had a much easier time getting through customs than in the States. I walked around for most of the first day without being able to hear properly—I hadn’t yet mastered the art of getting my ears to pop during landing. We met up with our tour guide, a British fellow named Tom, who guided us to our bus. Our group was just large enough to warrant our own private bus, but small enough that we each had an entire row of seats to ourselves—a very comfortable way to spend nine days on the road. This trip spoiled me because when we returned in 2009, the bus was filled to the brim with three groups and everyone battling for seats during the entire trip.

Before long we were on the Autobahn headed for the city of Munich. After navigating a traffic jam we arrived at the main square in Munich, known as the Marienplatz. We were unable to check in to our hotel until later that afternoon, and I hadn’t slept on the plane, so by this point I was running on fumes. In the end, I would be awake for 32 straight hours on my first day, but none of that mattered because I was standing in Europe! I honestly never thought I’d see another continent. I had never even owned a passport until this trip. Being here was sublime.

We arrived just in time to see the famous Glockenspiel spring into action like a giant cuckoo clock.

After the Glockenspiel our group split up. Uncle Kipp and I had lunch at a nearby cafe, where I enjoyed my first Euro-beer, plus sausage and sauerkraut. The next day for lunch I would have essentially the same thing, except with fries instead of kraut (the fries were so tasty; they were more like crispy fried potatoes). Besides beer and water, the drink I enjoyed most on this trip was Fanta, a popular beverage over there, which tastes a bit different than in the States–not as sweet, more refreshing and natural tasting (well, as natural as soda can taste, anyway).

After lunch we did some sightseeing.

The Feldherrnhalle (sight of the Beer Hall Putsch of 1923, Hitler’s unsuccessful first attempt to seize power).

Munich has some amazing cathedrals. Here are a couple of them:

One of the massive stained-glass windows inside the Frauenkirche.

Theatinerkirche
I couldn’t fit much of the cathedral into this shot, the downside of only having a pocket camera.

Later we climbed 300+ steps to the top of the Peterskirche tower to enjoy some spectacular views of Munich. The inside of the tower, with its winding steps and dark, narrow corridors, really makes you feel like you’ve traveled back in time to the medieval era.

The photo at the top of this post was taken from this vantage point. Here are a few more:

I was too lazy to straighten this out. 😉

The Olympic Tower. On a clear day you can see all the way to the Alps.

While up here we also got a birds-eye view of the Glockenspiel in action. A little later we met up with the rest of the group and headed back to the hotel to finally check in before heading out to dinner. All dinners were included in the tour, but the best meals were in Munich because we went to actual restaurants (dinner was served in the hotels of the other cities we visited).

The first night also happened to be my birthday, so Uncle Kipp arranged for the waitress to bring out a steak with a firecracker in it and the group sang Happy Birthday. My other recollection about that first restaurant was that they served the best tomato soup I ever had, almost like eating spaghetti sauce.

After dinner we headed to the famous Hofbrauhaus for drinks and I had my first Mas beer, which is a draft beer served in a full liter mug. The beer in this region is very easy to drink; it goes down much more smoothly than beer in the States (I’m not a big drinker, so it only took 2 1/2 of these Mas mugs on the second night to give me my first hangover since college).

Later that night we returned to the hotel for a much-needed night of sleep. In the morning we would be taking a tour of Munich followed by a visit to the Dachau concentration camp, which will be covered in the next installment.

View more photos from this trip.

Related Links:

Eurotrip 2009 Part 2: Munich

Photo of the Day: Rothenburg Covered Bridge

June 3, 2014February 18, 2018 Michael RappaLeave a comment

While walking on top of the wall that surrounds the enchanting medieval town of Rothenburg, Germany, I spotted this pretty covered bridge.

Date: 4/4/2009
Camera: Panasonic DMC-FX8 pocket point-and-shoot
Click for larger view

Eurotrip 2009 Part 1: Rothenburg

You can view more featured photos at my Photo of the Day Collection.

Photo of the Day: Lucca, Italy

June 2, 2014February 18, 2018 Michael RappaLeave a comment

Lucca is a charming Tuscan city still surrounded by medieval walls and featuring several towers that you can climb to get a bird’s-eye view. This photo was taken from the top of one of those towers.

Date: 10/17/2011
Camera: Panasonic DMC-FZ40
Click for larger view

You can view more featured photos at my Photo of the Day Collection.

Eurotrip 2011, Part 2: Under The Tuscan Sun

Photo of the Day: On Top of Munich

May 30, 2014February 18, 2018 Michael RappaLeave a comment

If you climb the 300+ narrow, winding steps all the way to the top of the Peterskirche (St. Peter’s Church) tower, you can enjoy spectacular views of the city of Munich, Germany, like this one from my 2007 Eurotrip:

Date: 3/30/2007
Camera: Panasonic DMC-FX8 pocket point-and-shoot
Click for larger view

Eurotrip 2009 Part 2: Munich

You can view more featured photos at my Photo of the Day Collection.

Photo of the Day: Pisa Cathedral

May 28, 2014February 18, 2018 Michael RappaLeave a comment

This is the cathedral at the heart of the Piazza del Duomo in Pisa, Italy, taken during my 2011 Eurotrip. My favorite feature of this photo is the tiled walkway.

Date: 10/27/2011
Camera: Panasonic DMC-FZ40
Click for larger view

Behind the cathedral sits the famous Leaning Tower, but I’ll save that photo for another day.

Eurotrip 2011, Part 6: Leaning Towers and Haunted Villas

You can view more featured photos at my Photo of the Day Collection.