Oslo, Norway

Well, we didn’t think it was possible but we managed to find a place more expensive than London: Norway. John had a conference in Oslo from last Wednesday to Friday, so I flew to meet him and we spent the weekend exploring Oslo and Lillehammer (site of the 1994 Olympics). Luckily, Norway was a beautiful winter wonderland, thus satisfying my snow cravings and making up for the cost.

John’s conference was at the Olso airport which is about 45 minutes north of the city and John was staying at the airport’s hotel. As part of the conference, on Thursday night he had the opportunity to go to dinner at City Hall, the site of the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony. Eating herring at our Christmas in Denmark prepared him for the feast of rare reindeer and cod! (He survived and didn’t have to buy another dinner back at the hotel.)

John greeted me at the airport when I arrived on Friday afternoon. The sky was clear and blue, the temperature was cold, and the landscape was covered in snow. It reminded us of winter in Winnipeg. We headed out, bundled up, for a long walk in the snow and made it back at dusk. We had a relaxing evening enjoying dinner and cozying up in our hotel.

We arose early on Saturday, packed up our rental car and hit the highway to Lillehammer. John was very excited to drive our rental car, a BMW 116i, a lucky upgrade. Unfortunately, the speed limit was only 80km all the way (worse than Manitoba), but John was still able to discover that some cars actually can accelerate on an incline. Our Mazdas seem to have missed that feature.

It was a beautiful crisp, clear day. Dawn seemed to last the whole drive; then we realized the sun wasn’t going to rise much higher. The 2.5 hour drive took us along the longest lake in Norway and into the hills. The terrain reminded me a bit of Lake Windermere in BC. The ski resort was 15 km past Lillehammer and called Hafjell, which we nick-named “half hill” due to its size. While it wasn’t Whistler or Sunshine, it did have some long cruiser runs and we managed to find some untouched powder in the glades. My rented skies were short, fat, curved and a total blast! So many short fast turns made so easy. I may have to invest in a pair when we move back to Canada. We skied the day away, but had to take a few breaks to warm up as we weren’t conditioned for such cold.

Skiing was made possible thanks to our friends and captains of our ultimate team, Liz and Phil, who lent us the winter gear we were lacking.

After Half Hill, on John’s whim we went across the valley to the Olympic Bobsled track and bought tickets to ride down it in a bobraft, a rubber bobsled that fits five passengers and one driver. John didn’t tell me until it was over that it goes 80km/hr down the track! I was kind of expecting a slow cruise down but the required helmets and pep talk about g-forces started to make me nervous. The ride was more thrilling than any roller coaster I have ever been on! Climbing up the corners, G-forces I’ve never felt before, no time to anticipate the turns; I have a whole new respect for the sledding sports. Those skeleton competitors are absolutely crazy! To any Calgarians reading, we highly recommend a visit to COP’s track for a ride.

Our hotel in Lillehammer was just above the main part of town on the mountain where the Olympic Village was located (ski jump, large arena, etc). After our exciting day of outdoor pursuits, we had a much needed sauna to relax. It was a 10 minute walk down a steep hill, past quaint, cozy, Norwegian houses with smoke streaming from their chimneys, to get to the centre of Lillehammer. We quickly cruised the pedestrian street and then settled ourselves into a restaurant for dinner at table by the window so we could watch winter from the warmth. With full bellies and tired bodies, we slowly made it back up the hill and into bed.

On Sunday morning we had a Scandinavian breakfast at the hotel (we chose to have jam and nutella on our toast as opposed to the fish spread) before starting our journey back to Oslo. The sky was white and a snowfall looked imminent. Once in Central Oslo, we set out on foot. In order to stay warm I had to sacrifice appearance; I looked like Stay Puff Marshmallow Woman with my down vest, fleece and snow pants on under my long coat. Motivated to find a Starbucks to satisfy our caffeine cravings, we walked most of downtown, past an outdoor skating rink, the university, the theatre, parliament and the train station. Our search led us to the Information Centre where we were advised that there are not any Starbucks in Norway, due to the public’s wishes. After cursing to each other that the cold must be affecting the Norwegians’ good sense, we settled for some local coffee and made our way to the Akershus Castle and Fortress.

We walked the walls of the snow covered fortress which overlooked the harbour. Guards were on patrol and marching around, and there were statues on the grounds to check out. The Norwegian Resistance Museum is located on the grounds and we spent two hours in there learning about the resistance movement in WWII. During their occupation of Norway, the Nazis used the fortress as their base, prison and execution grounds. Many resistance groups lived, trained, stock piled and planned from well hidden camps in the woods and hills.

When we left the museum a snowfall had started! We walked (and I did some gleeful skipping in the snow) back through the city centre and past the palace to get to our car. To our disbelief, parking for the afternoon cost the equivalent of CAD$40! We tried to spin a positive – at least we weren’t broken into – but that didn’t help much. Yes, our wallets were getting empty, it was time to go back to cheap London. We shudder to imagine what a Starbucks would have cost…

We had a long wait at the airport so we sat in the Sports lounge and watched the Arsenal match with a few drinks. It was another late Sunday night arrival home but it was worth it to have another great European weekend getaway, and we highly recommend Norway. Thanks for the wonderful Christmas present John!

Barcelona, Spain

This past weekend we did another “honeymoon repeat” trip, this time to Barcelona, Spain. The second time round certainly did not disappoint!

I think Barcelona is such a beautiful and vibrant city. I love the look of it; the distinctive buildings with their tall, skinny shuttered doors in place of windows on every floor and fronted by wrought iron balconies, the palm trees, the statues, La Rambla (the big walking/shopping street), the small side streets, the squares, the harbour, the beach… I could walk the city for hours admiring it.

The sun was shining warm and high in the sky, which was a nice break from cool London. This time round, we were much more used to eating/trying tapas so we took full advantage of the local restaurants.

We were up at 3:15 am Saturday morning in order to catch our early flight out of Gatwick. I just got my work car which made getting to the airport easier and given the time of day, the roads were clear. We stuck to the big highways so we wouldn’t get lost (and in order to keep the Amazing Race style bickering over navigating/driving to a minimum).

We arrived in the city centre around midday and met up with our friends, Andrew and Jess (A&J) at our hotel just off La Rambla and Plaza Catalunya (i.e.: good location). The occasion of the trip was to celebrate Andrew’s 32nd birthday. Saturday was the Christmas day equivalent in Barcelona so many shops were closed but the streets were packed with people out promenading. A&J arrived a few days before and were able to take part in the Three Kings parade on Friday night (check out their website for details on that, www.fushmush.net). Christmas lights were hung on all the streets and cute Santa dolls on ladders were hanging off many of the apartment balconies. We grabbed a bite and strolled La Rambla observing the many street performers stationed along the street.

On A&J’s recommendation, John and I went to tour 100 year-old Casa Batllo, one of Antonio Gaudi’s architectural masterpieces in Barcelona, while A&J hit the Picasso museum. The building from the outside and inside was very striking. John was amazed by all the detailed wood work. There are almost no straight lines in the house and every room had ingenious features that maximized natural light, ventilation and colour. One of the ceilings on the main floor was molded to resemble a whirlpool and one of the top floor rooms was modeled after a whale’s rib cage. Okay, enough of me trying to describe it and not doing it justice -- check out www.casabatllo.es/.

While we were very impressed with the distinctive architecture of Casa Batllo we were slightly put off by the exaggerated praise heaped on Gaudi and his work in our audio guide. Something to the effect of “the greatest genius the world has known”, you’re now entering “the most incredible room you have ever been in”, and “we are sure this visit to Casa Batllo has been a life changing experience for you”. Interesting, yes. Life changing, no.

On our way to meet back up with A&J we walked through the Gothic Quarter and briefly into the Salvador Dali Museum gift shop (to get the highlights). With A&J we walked down La Rambla to the harbour and the Christopher Columbus column and statue, and then to the beach for Andrew’s first view of the Mediterranean. To sustain us on the walk back we indulged in churros dipped in melted chocolate – can’t go wrong there.

We had a nap at our quaint and cute accommodation, Hosteria Grau, an upgrade from standard hostels, before heading out for Andrew’s birthday dinner. We wolfed down a few rounds of tapas and beverages and then walked to another restaurant/bar to enjoy the popular Spanish liquor, 43, and some great conversation.

Wake up on Sunday morning to catch the train into the Montserrat Mountain Range was painful but worth it. The 50 minute train ride took us to the base of a mountain with a Monastery built into the side of it. I had found this spot in a guide book and it reminded me a fictional mountain monastery in a book I read so I just had to visit it. We took a cable car up to the Monastery, spent some time taking in the spectacular views (check out our photos), and then explored the Basilica (incredible for being built so high up). The monastery is inhabited by 80 monks and a renowned boys choir, that was unfortunately on Christmas vacation when we were there.

We were in no shape to hike to the top of mountain from the monastery (Grouse Grind equivalent), so we took the funicular and walked one of the hiking trails from the top. Montserrat Mountain peaks are very unique, made of coarse sedimentary rock like I’ve never seen before. One peak resembled a dog head with human female torso (if you get my drift) and one resembled a mummy head. Montserrat is beautiful and I would recommend it as a great day trip to anyone passing through Barcelona.

Back in Barcelona we had another yummy dinner of tapas. We made it a bit more adventurous by ordering off the Catalan menu. It had pictures so it wasn’t too risky, but John still managed to end up with one full of steak tartare (it looked like bruchetta in the picture). Andrew was brave enough to eat it.

We timed the entire day very well with all of our connecting forms of transport and we were at the airport in good time but unfortunately our plane wasn’t. With a ½ hour delay, we touched down in windy, rainy London around midnight.

We had a bit of an adventure driving back through the middle of London, in the rain, wind and wee hours of the morning. It was probably the best time for us to attempt our first drive through the city given the lack of traffic. We continue to be amazed how the main roads in London resemble back streets back home. I was driving and John, Andrew and Jess did a great job of navigating. We all made it home safely.

All in all another fabulous weekend getaway. The perfect combo of a beautiful city, spectacular countryside and of course the wonderful company of Andrew and Jess. Thanks again guys and HB Andrew!

Christmas in Denmark

I have to make a quick comment about the great time we had at my work Christmas party.

The party was put on by a company that runs big corporate parties. It was in a large tent on the grounds of an estate not too far from where we live. It was a “Monte Carlo” themed night with casino tables, a band, dancing girls, men in tuxedos, women in fancy dresses. My office bought a few tables, as did some other branches.

We had decided to pay corkage and bring our own wine, which was delivered to the event earlier. When we arrived, it was easy to pick out our table out of the hundreds because, not only was it the only table with wine bottles on it, it was covered with wine bottles, barely room for place settings. Our most senior manager made it his mission to ensure everyone drank and that we finished all the bottles. We played “Simon Says” and “Grand Old Duke of York” drinking games, did the Mexican Wave around the table (same as “the wave” we do back home in stadiums at sporting events), wore our paper crowns from the Christmas crackers and at one point all got under the table for a photo op!

After dinner, we were first in line for bumper cars (or Dodgems as they are more commonly known as in Britain). I haven’t laughed so hard in ages! Then, everyone moved to the dance floor. I couldn’t believe all the people up dancing! (John didn’t have enough wine to make it though.) I was craving some dancing to good music and that’s what I got. Just like back home, Bankers know how to enjoy a party.

Christmas in Denmark

John and I had a wonderful Christmas in Denmark with my Aunt Carla and Uncle Poul (C&P). C&P made us feel right at home, as did all of their Danish family and friends! We relaxed, enjoyed the company and conversations, took in the fresh air and cozied up in C&Ps beautiful home.

We experienced Danish Christmas traditions. We observed how the Dane’s manage to produce many extremely cute kids. We discovered that Danes have the ability to eat twice their body weight in food over Christmas; the key being to do it over an eight hour sitting. We learned and practiced several Danish phrases: Glædelig Jul (L&J pronunciation: Glayli Yul, translation: Merry Christmas), Godt Nytar (L&J pronunciation: Got Newt Or, translation: Happy New Year), Yuleman (likely spelled incorrectly but in the way we pronounce it, translation: Yule Man, the Santa equivalent).

I fretted for days prior to our departure that we would not make it to Denmark for Christmas. A “London fog” had set in and you could barely see a few feet in front of you. Heathrow had cancelled all domestic flights, and many international ones. Our flight was out of Stansted, to the northeast of the city, and luckily it was only experiencing minor delays. We arrived at the airport with our heads in a fog from the office Christmas party the night before, and cutting it close time wise as usual. We entered the longest security line up we have ever encountered at the same time as our friend Denise’s friend Spencer from Vancouver! I love random meetings like that! Spencer is living in London too and was headed to Norway to have Christmas with a friend of his living there. The security line up was the perfect opportunity to catch up.

We flew out of the fog, only slightly delayed and were greeted at Esbjerg (on Denmark’s west coast) by C&P’s smiling faces. We caught up on the 2 hour drive to Martofte and Poul taught us how to say Merry Christmas in Danish, “Stor Varm Babs” (sp?). Carla couldn’t bear it and taught us the correct pronunciation of Merry Christmas to avoid us walking around saying “big warm tits” to everyone.

Saturday afternoon we had a brief walk with the dogs around the fields, and much needed naps. Carla prepared us a stellar dinner and then we decorated their Christmas tree. Dane’s don’t typically put electric lights on the trees; they have special candles holder ornaments to light the tree with candles! The candles create a beautiful effect and we managed not to burn the house down.

Sunday, Christmas Eve, was our longest sleep in of the trip (about 9:30). The sun came out and the six of us (including the malamutes Nook and Trot) went on a long Christmas Eve walk; through the fields, along the beach, into a forest and then through more fields. We stopped on the beach and had a little Danish picnic of beer, Christmas cookies and coffee.

The Danes typically celebrate Christmas on Christmas Eve and Boxing Day, and not so much on the 25th. We went to Poul’s sister Bodil’s beautifully appointed house. In attendance: Bodil’s partner Palle (and mayor of Munkabo and as of Jan 1 two other surrounding communities); Bodil’s daughter Annette and her husband and two sons, Soren, Emil and Oliver; Bodil’s son Michael and his wife and daughter Mette and Emma; and Bodil’s mother in law Ditte (sorry if I have misspelled any names).

Christmas dinner is usually duck or goose, but lucky for us, Bodil likes to serve turkey. It was one of the best Christmas dinners we have ever had! Different and delicious dishes included caramelized potatoes, cooked red cabbage, roast apples and pork stuffing. We did not heed the warnings that there would be several servings of food and filled our plates to the max on the first round. Of course, we were over stuffed after round two. Dessert was a creamy rice pudding with cherry sauce and almond bits. There is one whole almond in the dessert; the entire bowl of pudding must be finished and the one that finds the whole almond gets a present.

After dinner, I got to light the candles on the Christmas tree, getting it ready for caroling and dancing. Everyone encircled the tree (which was in the middle of the room and not against the wall) and then the Danes and Carla began to sing as we danced (walked) around the tree. John and I hummed along when possible, and threw in a little Milli Vanilli style lip synching for good measure. During the last carol, we started by circling the tree and then Emil led the string of us all holding hands through every room in the house. Present opening was next and we were pleasantly surprised by a visit from Yuleman who had a few gifts to deliver to the kids. Oliver received a Jack Sparrow, Pirates of the Carribean, costume: so adorable!

We got home at 1:00 and it wasn’t too tough to fall asleep despite our anticipation and excitement for our Canadian Christmas morning.

Santa found us in Denmark! Stockings for the four of us were stuffed. It was Poul’s first ever stocking, and John was lucky enough to get the “Elton John” stocking, so named because of its bright colours and sequins.

The presents were plentiful thanks to Mom, Sarah and Aunt Barbara shipping large packages across the Atlantic (presents from John’s family had been opened in London via webcam). Highlights included a West Hawk Lake painting (with sentimental value) for C&P from Suze and Grandpa, Ealing Aeroplane Spotting Club kit (binoculars and log book) for John from C&P, travel accessories for me from Suze and Sarah, and hoogli (Danish word, I spelled it as it sounds) items for our white flat from C&P. We got C&P some sailing gear for them to use on their new sail boat. We’re looking forward to visiting them in the summer so we can go out on the water!

We skipped Christmas breakfast in order to save room for our all day Christmas eating adventure at the home of C&P’s friends, Elizabeth and Anders. To squeeze in a Christmas day walk and a bit of exercise, Carla and I walked part of the way and we arrived around 1:00 to A&E’s beautiful Danish farm house. Elizabeth is the 9th generation of her family to live on the farm and her baby daughter Anna is the 10th!

The party also included about 15 of A&E’s friends and family; a charming collection of people who made us feel very welcome and spoke lots of English. We were all seated in the grand dining room and the courses started coming. The food was very traditional, and required us to be a bit more adventurous than Christmas Eve dinner as fish, namely herring was involved. John probably had more fish that day than in his entire life and he did remarkably well! Carla coached us through how to eat everything and waited until after John ate the herring to tell him it was raw. Given that we weren’t used to herring, we really enjoyed the carefully prepared dishes. We also liked that they were accompanied by local micro brew beer. Skol! (Cheers!).

The eating went on until about 8:00pm. We paced ourselves better than the night before and the day was broken up with chatting and mingling about the house, a trip out to the barn to see the antique carriage, and English Christmas Caroling by Carla and Carolyn (that’s right Carla, I’m outing you – you two sang like angels). Thank you very much to Anders and Elizabeth for the delicious food and for being great hosts.

With full bellies and heavy eyes we went back to C&P’s and rigged up the Skype and web cam to call our families back in Canada. We touched base in four provinces: we got eight of John’s family members on the web cam at once in Vancouver, reached the Kitchen/Church family in Bearspaw by phone, saw my new nephew on his first Christmas in cold Winnipeg, and then reached my Dad at his Dad’s farm in Curries, Ontario. We got news of our first confirmed London visitors – Sarah, Kevin and Cole! They are coming in May and the trip was Sarah’s Christmas present from Kevin. We are so excited to see the three of you!

C&P were up early, as usual, to get ready for the Boxing Day festivities at their place. They woke us up by playing James Brown (a nice tribute). Poul’s family arrived around noon, the same crew as Christmas Eve, but with the addition of Bodil’s other sons Torbin and Henrick and their wives and children. We felt like part of the family and had fun chatting; we were very impressed by everyone’s English. Two of the kids, Oliver and Clara, started telling me in Danish about Amazing Amanda, the new doll, to which I had to respond by just staring back dumbly. At one point in the day, John tried to get a smile out of 20 month old Emma who was gripping on to a chair leg and grimacing. Her Dad, Michael, advised John that she was pooping.

We filled ourselves with more Danish Christmas food, beer and snapps. Carla kicked everyone out while it was still light out to get some exercise. We tromped through the fields and up to the top of the burial mound with a view of the sea. It was just the break we needed before going back for more food. A cheese platter was served near the end. John tried the worst smelling cheese I have ever encountered and he said it tasted better than it smelled. He had to wash his hands after to get rid of the smell. I wolfed down a few helpings of Annette’s delicious dessert: fruit salad with a heavenly yogurt/whipping cream sauce.

At the end of the night, we wished everyone a Godt Nytar and the youngest (who could talk) and oldest family members, who could not speak English, eloquently wished us “Good-bye”. Carla and I did some dancing while we cleaned up and washed dishes. The cheese smell was still lingering all over the kitchen so we scrubbed down everything it had touched. We still got a few wafts the next morning. C&P, John and I managed to stay awake to watch an episode of Seinfeld (Poul’s new DVD).


On Wednesday, we got a break from parties and were awakened by Nook the dog jumping on our bed. John met up with Palle (Bodil’s partner and Munkebo mayor) and went to the Odense airport to talk a little business. Carla took me through several neat shops in Odense. John joined back up with us and we checked out the city’s main church, walked through the pedestrian shopping streets and at John’s request admired a few HC Anderson tributes (please note my sarcasm here).

Arriving back at the farm we were greeted by C&P’s friend Neil and his wife and mother in law. Neil used to live in South Africa and has been there more times than he could count. He had some great tips for us, which included “don’t get killed”. Carla made us another scrumptious dinner and we sat around their new large dinner table eating and visiting.

We were sad to leave the next day after such great family time, party time and cozy, down time. Thank you Carla and Poul! We’re looking forward to our next visit!

Christmas in London

Sick of hearing our limited selection of Christmas songs over and over, Leah & I decided to download a few new ones from iTunes today. For some reason, in the Weatherill-Down household, the staple Christmas album was always “Once Upon a Christmas” by Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton. This is a collection of your favourite holiday songs sung in a country style, that Leah quite rightly hates.

But to humour me she searched iTunes for “Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton”. iTunes' response?

“Did you mean: Kenny Rogers in Dolly Parton? Your search returned no results.”

A Christmas miracle!

Cole's Arrival!

On December 6, 2006 (great day 6.12.06), my sister Sarah and her husband, Kevin, proudly welcomed their son, Cole Kevin Anseeuw, to the world. He arrived right on his due date and was 8 pounds 4 ounces.

Sarah went through the labour and delivery calmly and with grace, with Kevin by her side. They spent a few days in the hospital getting accustomed to the new addition to their family and they are now at home helping each other with the new responsibilities. John and I are proud and very impressed with both of them.

John and I are very excited to have become uncle and aunt to such an adorable baby! (We still love you too Callie.)

Congratulations Sarah and Kevin! Welcome Cole!

Bratislava, Slovakia & Vienna, Austria

We’re back to our cute little London flat after another great weekend of traveling. This time we flew to Bratislava, Slovakia, had a day trip to Vienna, Austria from there and we were joined by our new Aussie friends, Jess and Andrew (their website, www.fushmush.net).

We arrived in Bratislava late on Thursday night and made our way to our hostel. It was in a neat old building and we got our first private, double room. Going forward, I think I will be adopting Jess’ motto of “I don’t do dorm rooms”. It was for sure worth the extra money to get a better sleep and to be able to spread our stuff out without having to repack it and store it in a locker all the time.

We did our first walk through the “old town” and into the main square where the Christmas markets were set up. We found a little restaurant for a late dinner and some cheap, good quality beer.

Bratislava is a smaller city with about 450,000 people. We were surprisingly impressed by the historic buildings in the old town but what we found most interesting were the remnants of communist rule. The old buildings are not restored to perfection like in Salzburg. The old town and the hilltop fortress/castle are situated on the north side of the Danube River and in contrast, on the south side of the river, as far as you can see are communist era apartment blocks. Before our trip we didn’t getting any rave reviews about Bratislava but we enjoyed it and appreciated it.

On Friday we had a leisurely morning, enjoying breakfast and wandering the Christmas markets. We walked along the Danube and then up to the hill top castle, which resembles an upside down table. One of the main sights from the castle is a tower on the bridge with a UFO shaped viewing area on top. It was calling our names so we ventured up it. From there we had a great view back at the castle, to the west into the Austrian hills (only three kilometers away), and to south the gray, endless apartment blocks.

We did a walking tour, which wasn’t much to rave about. We were hoping for a bit more information on recent history. Then we found a restaurant with neat, dark ambience and enjoyed some traditional Slovakian fare.

After that, we managed to get on the right tram and find our way to the Samsung Arena for a Slovakian Extraliga hockey game! HC Slovan Bratislava vs MS HK Zilina. Tickets were $4 and a beer was $1. Can’t get that in Canada!

The game was in an old Communist era arena, purpose built for something, not hockey, nor for merchandising and food/bev sales. We swarmed outside the doors to get in the small entrance. There was no concourse, and only a few places for beer stands to be squeezed in. Unfortunately, John was unable to find a place to buy a t-shirt anywhere. Aside from a few puck bunnies and the cheerleaders (more on that below), Jess and I were the only women there.

We got the tickets thinking they were in a great location; centre ice, not too far up. However, we did not expect to end up with the four worst seats in the arena! The seats were split, two on each side of a media platform, thus blocking the view of half the rink when sitting. The other half of the view was blocked by one of the many large red pillars that surrounded the arena in order to keep the roof up. Luckily, it wasn’t a sell out so we just moved into a corner with a great view.
It was Jess and Andrew’s first ever hockey game and they chose to cheer for Zilina, because Zilina had Australia colours on. John and I jumped on the home team’s band wagon and joined in with the constantly cheering fans (way more vocal than any Canuck game, and only a third of the spectators). There were two early goals making it a tie game, and then two late goals to keep it tied. HC Slovan Bratislava managed to pull out a victory in over time!

Unlike NHL hockey games, there were cheerleaders/dancers performing in the aisles. They reminded me of CFL cheerleaders, but slightly less talented and slightly more provocative. They performed a combination of step aerobics and musical chairs; step aerobics routines to the music in between plays and then as soon as the music stopped (and play resumed) they would sit down as fast as possible.

I found the whole experience very entertaining. It was likely the highlight of John’s time in Europe so far, but probably only increased how much he misses watching and playing the game.

Sunday we got up in good time and caught the 1 hour train to Vienna, Austria. (Round trip tickets EUR7, same price as a day pass for London transit.) Salzburg was grand on a small scale; Vienna was grand on a very large scale! We loved it too! There were impressive palaces, a majestic opera house, strikingly Roman Parliament buildings, luxurious hotels all lit up; I wish you could picture it as I do.

The Christmas markets were in full swing, packed with people, and much more significant than in Bratislava. The main market was set up in front of the town hall. The trees in front of the town hall all had large, lighted ornaments hanging in their branches. The windows in the gothic town hall were numbered 1-24, with one being opened every day revealing a picture. The best Advent Calendar I’ve ever seen!

We started the day with a trip around the centre of town on a tram to get an overview of the city’s sights, but more importantly to find a Starbucks for John. He was very desperate for caffeine. We all owe thanks to Jess for spotting one. After being sufficiently caffeinated, John was a new man, and we made our way through the heart of Vienna; past its big church, through the pedestrian shopping streets decked out with lights for Christmas, by the main palace.

We cruised through the smaller Christmas market and indulged in garlic hashbrown pancakes. Then we spent some time in the larger market, in front of the town hall; many different Christmas wares were for sale, along with mulled wine and local delicacies. We chose not to indulge in any mulled wine (see the Salzburg blog), however J&A enjoyed some. We did try roasted chestnuts for the first time (we have seen kiosks selling them in every city since Ljubljana so it was about time). For lunch we managed to find a table at the popular Einstein restaurant, and we warmed up over beer and wiener schnitzel.

After all that food, we had to burn off a few calories so we tossed a Frisbee around in front of the town hall. A&J are our teammates on our new Ultimate team, the Fugazees and like us, their previous team back home was called the Chuckers. Because we hadn’t had enough exercise, we decided pay EUR3 to walk up the skinny spiral staircase to the top of the church tower so we could have a view of Vienna. We were very disappointed when we reached the top. We were expecting to be able to go outside on a viewing platform, but there wasn’t one. Instead we had to look through windows in a small room in the tower which housed a gift shop and 75% of the windows were partially blocked by scaffolding.

It was dark by then and the city was lit up beautifully! We walked and trammed to Hotel Sacher to have some Sacher Torte. A&J got to cross both wiener schnitzel and the world famous torte off their lists. (John and I had never even heard of the torte before.)

We arrived back in Bratislava around 9:00 and enjoyed a light dinner, some more good cheap beer (Vienna was more expensive than Bratislava, and Andrew and John had to work at getting their average beer cost back down) and some great conversation before hitting the sack.

We left early Sunday and made the long trek back to London. It takes about the same amount of time to get from the airports to our home as it does to fly to these European cities. It was a fabulous weekend of exploring two different cities, but what made the trip were our traveling companions. Thanks for joining us A&J!

We’re looking forward to our next trip – Christmas in Denmark!

Salzburg, Austria

Last weekend, I was itching to find another weekend trip for us in November as our next trip is not until the first weekend of December. I lucked out and found a great deal to Salzburg, so we booked the trip!

Originally when we thought of going to Salzburg we wanted to go when it was snowing and we also hoped to have more time so we could venture to the quaint, picturesque town of Hallstatt in the mountains, on a lake, as recommended by Dad. We missed the snow by about two weeks, which turned out to be okay because we were a lot warmer and the hills on the side of the mountains were still beautifully green (imagine Sound of Music). We ventured into the region of Lakes and Mountains in behind Salzburg, which gave us a taste of what Hallstatt will be like. We’ll have to go back; maybe as a Slovenian/Austrian hiking trip. So many things to do…

We arrived in Salzburg Friday afternoon at about 4:30, after a smooth commute to Gatwick and smooth flight. After taking the bus into town, we walked the 45 min from the New Town, through the Old Town and to our hostel. Christmas lights and decorations were going up and stalls for the Christmas markets were being filled. Many stores already had all of their Christmas decorations out for sale and were they ever beautiful! We didn’t feel too bad about missing out on that as we are going to Christmas markets in Vienna and Bratislava in two weeks, and we didn’t have to deal with the hoards of advent tourists and shoppers.

Like Ljubljana, Salzburg is small with only 140K people. Salzburg has a grand feel to it. You could tell the city had been historically wealthy (from the white gold known as salt) with all of its tall, fancy, beautiful baroque buildings. The many churches fill the city with the ringing of bells on the hour. It didn’t take long to tell that Salzburg sells itself on Mozart and the Sound of Music (both of which drove John crazy).

We found a quiet, local restaurant for dinner and enjoyed delicious bacon covered, cheese filled sausages (not healthy but really tasty), wiener schnitzel and a salad with pickled veggies. Then we headed back to our hostel for the evening showing of The Sound of Music. I sat there with a huge grin on my face, humming along to the music and taking note of all the local sights in the movie. John sat there in disbelief, wondering how anyone could make, act in, or watch a movie where people burst into spontaneous song or have conversations to music. He opted for his book.

It was foggy on Saturday morning but luckily it wasn’t raining. We walked the empty streets of the Old Town, peeking inside some of its exquisite churches, waiting for the fog to burn off so we could hike up to the hilltop fortress. It was a steep slope up but well worth the view, and the sunshine that broke through the fog. Mountains, including the peak which housed Hitler’s Eagle’s Nest, green fields and hills, trees still full of colour, and the elaborate roof tops of Salzburg’s Old Town buildings. We spent the rest of our morning exploring stores, starting our Christmas shopping, and checking out the food market for our lunch.

We had a tough time deciding what to do for the afternoon. There are two companies in Salzburg that run different, expensive tours of the city and surrounding area; the most popular tour being “The Sound of Music” tour. Neither of us was interested in that, but we did want to see some of the surrounding area. We worried that a tour would be too “touristy” and we thought we should be doing some hiking of our own, even if it was just in the hills right in Salzburg. The other factor was that we didn’t have a lot of energy; John was at the end of a bad cold and my body was fighting it. We ended up choosing to go on a “Lakes and Mountains” tour and it was the right decision.

We met the tour at Mirabell Garden, featured in the Sound of Music. To any gardeners reading, you would have been very impressed at how beautiful the flowers, shrubbery and landscaping were, even in mid-November! Our group consisted of a couple from Spain, a couple from Iceland living in Salzburg studying music, two travel writers from Finland, us, and our guide/driver who was from Bosnia, studying law in Salzburg. Quite the combo.

We drove into the Alps, past breathtaking hillsides (again, picture the Sound of Music) and three lakes. We stopped in three different towns, St. Gilgen, St. Wolfgang, and Mondsee, to admire views, walk along the water or through the quaint towns. Once we left Salzburg, all the buildings were classically Austrian with oversized roofs to withstand the heavy snowfall and beautifully carved wooden overhangs and balconies. I loved them! I can see how the lakeside towns are popular spots in the summer, the green blue water of the lakes (not like glacial lakes but muted green blue from the sun hitting the limestone lake floor) made me want to jump right in!
Driving through the pass between St. Gilgen and Mondsee, we passed a striking Habsburg palace. It was painted bright yellow! Gold was the Habsburg monarchy’s colour. The palace was right next to the deepest lake of the region, 120 metres, deeper than West Hawk, but the lake itself looked no bigger than a pond. Next we passed a large rock face, resembling Squamish’s Chief. It’s called the Dragon Wall because, prior to people knowing what a Woolly Mammoth was, Woolly Mammoth bones were found in a cave there and people assumed it was a dragon.

We arrived in Mondsee and saw the church where Maria and Captain Von Trapp were married, in the movie, and then we hit up a café to indulge in some apple strudel and coffee. Wow! I’m now a huge apple strudel fan.

We got back to Salzburg in the dark and explored on foot a few more areas of the city we hadn’t seen. An outdoor skating rink and Winterlounge had just been set up in Mozart Square. The Winterlounge was so inviting; it had tables and fire pits, it was decorated with evergreen boughs, and they were serving hot drinks. Of course we had to indulge in the atmosphere and drinks, traditional hot alcoholic punches. The atmosphere was worth the cost of the punch; unfortunately, our taste buds could only manage a few sips of the punch. Then we found a healthier dinner and made our way back for quiet evening at the hostel (and yes, I did take in a few more scenes of the evening viewing of The Sound of Music). It turned out to be a great day! A perfect combination of the grand city of Salzburg with the picturesque surrounding lakes, mountains and quaint Austrian villages.

By the time we got to the airport on Sunday morning at 9:30, the fog had burned off and we stood on the airport deck in the sun watching the planes take off and admiring the mountain views.