It's Payback, European Style! A trip to Bavaria & Austria for DIS friends! - An afternoon of Wine and Cruising 6/11

[dizneeat]

Wowza! That's quite the travel resume!

Life is short. You have to cram in as much as possible

 

[pkondz]

Life is short. You have to cram in as much as possible

I need to do more cramming... but life is... challenging... at the moment.

 

[jedijill]

Life is short. You have to cram in as much as possible

Your signature line of trips takes up half the screen! I'm totally jealous!

Jill in CO

 

[franandaj]

I have enough trouble when I do one!

Yeah, but at least I write mine while I'm on the trip (at least the notes), so all I have to do is insert the photos and tweak the text.

Looking forward to hearing all about it and seeing the photos.

Well there's a lot to go before I get to Austria!

The fact that he's navigating stairs...

Well it's either that or don't see the doctor! He doesn't make house calls.

That's all that matters, right?

I suppose.....though I'm not actually that selfish.

That's.... weird!!
But... they do that on trains, so... why not? I mean... you won't get there any differently no matter which way you face.

Yeah, that's what I told myself. Even the captain made an announcement for us not to worry.

Was the wall between your seat and your neighbor's high enough so you weren't staring right at them? Your heads seem very close.

My head didn't even come up to the top of the wall. Looking back to the picture, my head came up maybe to the line in the seat where the top cushion started. There's about 4 inches of blanket and pillow on the seat in that picture. My eye-level was about even with that console on the wall.

I thought you meant while you were laying flat, but... apparently not. BUT! Were you able to watch it lying flat? Did it rotate?

You could still see it easily, but I wasn't really watching, I was trying to sleep.

Never have seen it.
I should do the same as you so I can get the references.

But of course I forgot what they were.

I'll take the short ribs I think.

I thought about that, but the mashes potatoes sounded better to me than Lobster Mac n cheese.

I missed that. I guess since there was no description. I was gonna throw caution to the wind and go for the sundae.

I try to avoid ice cream, it makes me sleepy. However, you will see that gelato (which the europeans just call ice cream) does not have that effect.

"drowsy"

When your tolerance is as high as mine, and you have been drinking wine for the past 10-12 hours, all it does is make you tired. A glass an hour for the last 12 hours won't get me drunk, just tired.....

Pretty early on, I think. Been a while.

There is a bit to the beginning, but perhaps a third of the way in.....

Frogs put you to sleep. Check.
Or is it any amphibian? Would a salamander do?

Nope, just soft music and dialogue that's all I need, and a glass of wine every hour for the past 12 hours!

Funny thing... I just clicked on a link of people's pet peeves and that was one of them.

Someone taking their reserved seat on a German train.

Of course. When in Germany... eat French food.
(It looks good and I'd do the same.)

Well you will find out (as the trip report unfolds) that Michael is not a fan of German food, and he thwarts my attempts to eat it.

Whoa! How long was that?!?!?

It was about half a meter long.

Ew. Really?
Gross. Gross habit.

Really! I'm surprised they could accommodate.

They sold cocktails in their lobby, so they had an ice maker there for the cocktails.

That's good, but...
I see there's no tub. I do not approve of this trend of hotels moving away from tubs.

Evidently while it is becoming common in the Americas, it is definitely a European thing.

 

[dizneeat]

Your signature line of trips takes up half the screen! I'm totally jealous!

Don't be jealous, dear. It's hard work.

 

[dizneeat]

That's good, but...
I see there's no tub. I do not approve of this trend of hotels moving away from tubs.

Evidently while it is becoming common in the Americas, it is definitely a European thing.

As someone who travels a lot let me tell you: There are plenty of cheap hotels in the US which don't offer a tub and that's the same for Europe. Stay in a nicer kind of hotel and you'll have a tub. Even our airport hotel in Vienna had one. The one in Athens too.

 

[pkondz]

Yeah, but at least I write mine while I'm on the trip (at least the notes), so all I have to do is insert the photos and tweak the text.

That would definitely make a difference.

Well there's a lot to go before I get to Austria!

And I'm very much okay with that.

Well it's either that or don't see the doctor! He doesn't make house calls.

Good point.

Yeah, that's what I told myself. Even the captain made an announcement for us not to worry.

"For those of you facing backwards, you'll arrive at the same time as the others, just from a different direction."

My head didn't even come up to the top of the wall. Looking back to the picture, my head came up maybe to the line in the seat where the top cushion started. There's about 4 inches of blanket and pillow on the seat in that picture. My eye-level was about even with that console on the wall.

Okay, that's good. Otherwise... yuck.

I try to avoid ice cream, it makes me sleepy.

Um.... so you should have had the ice cream!

However, you will see that gelato (which the europeans just call ice cream) does not have that effect.

Huh! Interesting.
(And delicious)

Nope, just soft music and dialogue that's all I need, and a glass of wine every hour for the past 12 hours!

Someone taking their reserved seat on a German train.

I think the comment was based in Britain, but same concept.

Well you will find out (as the trip report unfolds) that Michael is not a fan of German food, and he thwarts my attempts to eat it.

nooooooo!!!

It was about half a meter long.

They sold cocktails in their lobby, so they had an ice maker there for the cocktails.

Ohhhh... of course.

Evidently while it is becoming common in the Americas, it is definitely a European thing.

A lot less water there.

As someone who travels a lot let me tell you: There are plenty of cheap hotels in the US which don't offer a tub and that's the same for Europe. Stay in a nicer kind of hotel and you'll have a tub.

I'm finding that as hotels renovate, they are removing the tubs and installing shower-only units. I'm sure it's an attempt to save on water $$$.

 

[franandaj]

Welcome to the comments of the tour guides of the Austrian part of this trip!

and maybe post my own TRs again

That would be fabulous!

I just wish it would not have been such a tight budget trip. We could have explored so many more places that were just not an option on your budget.

I wish I wasn't on such a tight budget too, but hopefully as I sell off more stuff, and reduce the cost of storage units, I'll have more income to play with. But for now, it's time to list things on eBay to pay for my next trip!

when your flights to Linz fell through courtesy of Boeing because of the safety issues with their planes.

Is that why they canceled all the flights out of Linz?

I might be tempted to share some of our adventures on the DIS again as last year we spent 5 weeks in California, took 9 Disney cruises, 4 visits to Disneyland Paris and spent 6 weeks at WDW.
This year we have already been to Disneyland Paris twice, have been on a rivercruise on the Danube and are currently in Athens where we'll board Virgin Voyages Resilient Lady for a b2b cruise.
A few things are still in the works but in the fall we'll spend another 8 weeks at WDW with 3 DCL cruises squeezed in.

You two are certainly well traveled. You've prompted me to take a look at my signature and see if it needs updating.....

That's how it should work when you travel Business Class. That's why they have boarding groups.

Yeah, but it seems like a whole heck of a lot of people (who weren't even in Business Class) were in Boarding Group 1 on that first flight.

They can be moved.

I figured that out.

For the non Europeans - it is a chain that has pre-made sandwiches.

Which were a lot tastier than any US pre-made sandwiches. Although I have not had a Wa-Wa sandwich.....

Welcome to Europe!!

Yeah, I'm glad I'm not a soda drinker! I would have been very disappointed!

 

[ACDSNY]

We just got home from our EBTA cruise with a Disneyland Paris chaser so I sure understand the ice situation and no English TV channels. Lol

 

[franandaj]

I'm finally here!

I am sad that I missed the European tour this time as I know how good the Austrian tour guides are but sadly I'm not retired or independently wealthy yet so I still have to work to pay for the other adventures and to keep the dogs in the lifestyle they expect.

It would have been great to have you along! But I understand the need to work, which is why I am listing pins on ebay in-between replies and posting updates here!

AA Biz doesn't look nearly as good as Turkish Airlines Biz but it's definitely better than being in cattle class in the back!

The food was not nearly as good, but the seats were really comfortable with that ability to flex them every which way!

I'm so proud of you navigating the train and all the changes after an international red eye!

Glad you got the room sorted as I also hate the smell of cigarette smoke...especially in my room!

Yeah, that was.....ick.

 

[franandaj]

Wowza! That's quite the travel resume!

Karin and Tom excel at travel!

 

[franandaj]

Life is short. You have to cram in as much as possible

You don't need to tell me that! The events of the past few years has taught me that for sure!

 

[franandaj]

I need to do more cramming... but life is... challenging... at the moment.

 

[franandaj]

Your signature line of trips takes up half the screen! I'm totally jealous!

She inspired me to add some tickers, but I can't seem to get more than two to work. Also I ran out of free tickers on one site and had to try and make new ones on another.

 

[franandaj]

Don't be jealous, dear. It's hard work.

Tell me about it! I'm exhausted and I don't travel nearly as much as you two!

As someone who travels a lot let me tell you: There are plenty of cheap hotels in the US which don't offer a tub and that's the same for Europe. Stay in a nicer kind of hotel and you'll have a tub. Even our airport hotel in Vienna had one. The one in Athens too.

Yes, newer hotels in the US do not have tubs, it's just cheaper and easier to throw in a shower. That being said, I'm not sure it's whether the hotels are cheap or not for them to have tubs......However, the one in your Athens hotel looks heavenly!

 

[franandaj]

That would definitely make a difference.

And I also have a lot more details that I can add since I'm writing the stuff down as it happens. My memory has become much worse than it was just 10 years ago.

And I'm very much okay with that.

OK, well it's going to be coming fast and furious because I have a WBTA in four months and I need to be finished with this TR by then!

"For those of you facing backwards, you'll arrive at the same time as the others, just from a different direction."

I think he really said something pretty similar to that.

Okay, that's good. Otherwise... yuck.

Yeah, the wall was pretty tall and I was basically cocooned in there.

Um.... so you should have had the ice cream!

No because I'm still dull when I wake up. Ice cream is not my friend anymore.

I'm finding that as hotels renovate, they are removing the tubs and installing shower-only units. I'm sure it's an attempt to save on water $$$.

Yep, more and more hotels don't have them. It's very sad.

 

[franandaj]

We just got home from our EBTA cruise with a Disneyland Paris chaser so I sure understand the ice situation and no English TV channels. Lol

I'm reading the menus from your cruise to help plan our return trip!

 

[franandaj]

Since I haven't really actually posted anything other travel and sleep I'm going to go ahead and post again even though it's pretty quick. I have a lot of ground to cover and need to wrap it up before my WBTA. There's not as many pages as Egypt, but there's still a lot!

I thought I had connected my phone to the hotel Wi-Fi but after an hour's nap and a quick shower, I realized that I'd received no responses from Michael and Magdalene to the texts I'd sent before my nap.

I reconnected to Fran’s Hotspot and sure enough, texts came flying in. M&M were done at their doctor appointment and ready whenever I was. Since I'd already dressed after the shower and it was just after 5PM, we agreed that we would meet at the train station, and go to dinner from there. I told Magdalene that my legs were pretty tired, and she came up with a plan to show me the city still but with a minimum of walking.

I had a couple minutes to spare before I had to leave and decided to try some of my newly purchased wine.

We met at the train station and we hopped on the U-Bahn to just outside the old city. As we traveled around the old city she pointed out the walls of the old city, which are still there.

And once off the train we met up with Michael who had walked just a few blocks from their apartment to meet us just outside the old city. We passed through this cool medieval tunnel which put us out onto a square.

And Michael took this picture of me while I was taking snaps. You can tell its a little chilly because I am wearing my regular shirt, and overshirt, and my warm Mickey jacket. But not too chilly because they are not zipped up!

There was this picturesque watch tower.

We continued down the street and Magdalene gave me extensive history lessons. Nuremberg was founded in Medieval times. Many of the buildings in the city were built in this period. The city was catholic until the reformation when it turned Protestant. And soon became a Protestant island in a catholic surrounded region. As a result, trade in general was reduced and the city suffered financially. Improvements were not made to the buildings and it remained stagnant from the Medieval period.

One of the defining things about the Medieval buildings was that man was not supposed to display his wealth and opulence through his home. But it was OK to display such wealth when worshiping God. Hence the large and beautiful churches everywhere.

Also in the line of worshipping god, people would build these elaborate Bay windows as altars to God, and that was OK.

Here’s an even more spectacular one.

It wasn't until the Industrial Revolution when Nuremberg became a prosperous City once again. By this time it had also achieved a status as a beautiful ancient city since many of the buildings were still left from the Medieval period.

Jump forward to World War II. Nuremberg was a place where the Nazi party had quite a stronghold. Later we will see the Rally Grounds. But back to the war itself. In the latter part of the war, the Allies were bombing German cities hard and trying to convince the German people to abandon Naziism. They bombed out much of the old city of Nuremberg as retribution and to attack their history and foundation. Because of this, Nuremberg largely consists of buildings from the 50s and 60s now, because so much of the old city was devastated during the attacks. It was largely British forces that did the bulk of the damage.

One thing that saved some of this history is that these elaborate Bay windows were removed and stored in a labyrinth of cellars underneath the city which were interconnected. The people also took shelter in the same basements during the bombings. Human casualties were not nearly as bad as they could have been, but the city itself was devastated.

Once buildings were rebuilt in the post war era, these beautiful Bay windows were recovered from basements and reinstalled. Here’s a look at the building with the elaborate bay window from the front.

I think she said that this is the City Hall or Rathaus.

We walked a little farther towards the city centre where the famous Christmas Market is held. This Church was almost completely destroyed, however enough was left standing that they were able to rebuild it in the same style that it was originally constructed.

I don’t remember what this spire is, but you turn something for luck. Perhaps Magdalene can give me more information to add later.

Then we turned around and walked back to the restaurant where we had planned to have dinner.

This place, Bratwursthäusle, was our choice for dinner tonight. Sorry for the bad Pic of the menu. I also think this was one of the last menu pics that I took. Often times the menus were too many pages long and I was having enough trouble just deciphering what to order. Magdalene had sent me the link to this place weeks before, so I had time to study it, like I do when planning for Disney.

The place featured Nuremberg sausages cooked over a wood fired grill. Just like you can only call sparkling wines from the region of Champagne by that name, the same principle applies to these sausages. They must be made within the city region of Nuremberg.

Here we are waiting for our dinner! Can you tell I’ve been 24 hours in transit with just a quick nap?

You get 6, 8, 10, or 12 sausages with one side. Now I don’t remember which plate is mine and which was Magdalene’s because we ordered one with potato salad and one with sauerkraut.

She also ordered the horseradish, and the mustard was on all the tables.

The sausages are best eaten (in my opinion) with a mix of yellow mustard and horseradish. Then we traded about half our side so we could each have a plate like this. Surprisingly I ate all six sausages! I didn't quite join the clean plate club like Michael & Magdalene, but I was close. I didn't think there was any way I could eat all six, but they assured me that they were small and easy to eat. I did put a fork in the first picture to give a concept of size.

After that I was pretty stuffed, we passed on any dessert, paid the check and continued on our way.

The sun was starting to set as we walked through the city center.

We walked past the square and through a somewhat new and trendy sort of area. They were going to take me back to my hotel, and when I say, “take me back”, I mean ride the underground and walk me from the train station to my hotel.

By the time they got me there, evidently it was obvious in my face, and body language that I was “done”. It was just after 8PM and I'd only slept about 3-4 hours in the last 31 or so hours. I was ready for bed. We said goodbye until the next day, I was definitely asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.

Here are my stats for the day. Timeline from Google of distance traveled.

Report from Fitbit on steps. My daily goal at home is 7,000 steps.

 

[dizneeat]

Just wanted to

 

[franandaj]

Just wanted to
View attachment 863158

Have a great trip!