Trip to Vienna and Salzburg–16th to 22nd Aug 2012

It was a business trip, that took me back to the beautiful city of Vienna, in August of 2012 (I had been there before). On realizing that my apartment was right in the middle of the Vienna city center (Vienna District 1), I booked tickets for my wife and 11 month old son as well, to accompany me.
We had seen all the major attractions in Vienna on our previous trip, so this time round, we just spent our evenings enjoying the lively (and touristy) Stephansplatz, and the surrounding shopping street Kärntner Straße. But since the trip included a weekend in between, we decided to take a weekend trip to the famous mountain town of Salzburg. Hired a car (from Sixt car company) and left Vienna after office on August 17th. The distance from Vienna to Salzburg is approximately 300 Kms, and we arrived at our booked hotel (Haus Arenberg) at around 9PM. The hotel was decent  (and accommodated us in a decent room, despite my ‘stupid oversight mistake’ in booking a single room for the three of us). The only problem was in finding the apartment, since the path that GPS showed us was no entry and we could not locate alternate…(finally we drove 300 mts in No Entry zone.. )

Salzburg Old town or the ‘Salzburg Altstadt’

Pics: Salzburg Old town
After a lazy morning at the hotel (this was Vivaan’s first international vacation, so we had to take it slow), we left for the Salzburg Old town, which was around 15 minute walk away. Designated as a world heritage site, this old town (like many more in Europe) has a distinct charm of its own. Surrounded by the Salzach river on one side, and the Alps mountains on the other, the picturesque city is renowned for its baroque architecture. Narrow streets such as the Getreidegasse, the Judengasse or the Linzer Gasse, are lined with typical touristy souvenir shops, European open café’s, German Beer joints and lots of Italian food joints. The area includes attractions such as Salzburg Cathedral, Mozart’s birthplace, Hohensalzburg fortress etc., but we missed all of them except the Cathedral (Vivaan was in no mood to get inside closed places… weather was brilliant outside)…

Heading into Bavaria, Germany

After spending the day in Salzburg, we decided to drive into adjoining German area also known as Bavaria. The mountainous region is an extension of the Swiss Alps and offers the same breathtaking views, as you would expect elsewhere in Switzerland. Specifically, we drove into the Berchtesgaden region.

Kehlsteinhaus or the Eagle’s Nest

Pics: Bavaria Alps, Views from Eagle’s nest
We were now in the land of ‘Adolf Hitler’, so our first stop was something associated with him…. The Kehlsteinhaus or what is commonly known as the ‘'Eagle’s Nest”. The Kehlsteinhaus was intended as a 50th birthday present for Adolf Hitler to serve as a retreat, and a place for him to entertain visiting dignitaries, and is now a tourist attraction, with beautiful views, and a hilltop restaurant.
To reach there, we had to drive the car up to the Hintereck parking area at Obersalzberg, and from there, take one of the mountain buses. Since the road is quite steep (and one way) it is not allowed to drive beyond this point.

Lake Konigsee

Pics: Lake Konigsee and around

After spending a couple of hours on the hilltop (and inevitably discussing the horrors of holocaust), we moved on to our next stop, the Lake Konigsee. One of the deepest natural lakes in Germany, and termed as the cleanest lake in the country, this is a major tourist attraction. The lake offers small boat tours as well, which we did not take. For us, the street market around the lake was a bigger attraction though..
After this short two day stay in Salzburg, we drove back to Vienna in the evening. The next couple of evenings were again spent just strolling in the District 1 of Vienna, but we did go to one place which we had missed on our first trip….

Madam Tussauds Vienna