Munich 2012 - Part 1

Munich 

Saturday - December 8th 2012

Before we headed to Munich, Claudia and I had tickets to the so called Winterfest in Salzburg. So Friday evening we went to see the show Extremités from Cirque Inextremistes and it was fantastic. The three performers, one of them needs a wheelchair, put a wonderful show together.

Saturday morning friends of ours picked us up and around noon we arrived in Munich. First we drove to our hotel, parked the car and checked in. Unfortunately our rooms weren't ready yet and so we were off to the city.

Munich

Motel One Deutsches Museum

Motel One Lobby

Motel One Lobby

Since it was already noon, we were getting hungry and decided to eat falafels at Sababa located at the Viktualienmarkt. Later we went to a small Christmas Market and had our first mulled wine.

Christmas Market

While the girls did some shopping, the men enjoyed a cold beer at the Hacker-Pschorr Beer House. A beer later they picked us up again we walked over to the Schrannenhalle where we had a snack before we enjoyed two bottles of wine at the Steirerladen (Styria Market). Afterwards it was time for another mulled wine.

Schrannenhalle

Snack

Snack

Schrannenhalle

Schrannenhalle

Christmas Market

Christmas Market

Dinner was at Max Pett, a vegan restaurant. We were lucky to get a table, because it was really crowded and we had to be quick. I ordered an oriental dish while Claudia opted for Cheese Spätzle. Both meals were wonderful and after a chocolate mousse for dessert, we met with our friends at the Hard Rock Cafe. There we enjoyed another beer and then we walked back to our hotel called Motel One. After we unloaded our stuff in our rooms, we had a last drink at the hotelbar

Max Pett - Cheese Spätzle

Hard Rock Cafe Munich

Hard Rock Cafe Munich

The rooms in the Motel One hotels are small, but comfortable and offer a bathroom and a TV. They are definitely big enough for two adults on a weekend trip. After the drinks we got up to our room and went to bed.

Our Room

Bathroom

Bathroom

Motel One Lobby

Motel One Bar

Munich 2012 - Part 2

Munich

Sunday - December 9th 2012

Although our hotel offered breakfast, we decided to eat somewhere else. We booked a breakfast buffet in another hotel, named Louis, because that one also offered vegan options. And we were not disappointed. The buffet offered all kinds of breads and buns, salmon, several sausages and cheeses, juices and coffees.

Deutsches Museum - On our way to Hotel Louis

Breakfast at Louis

Breakfast at Louis

Breakfast at Louis

Munich

Munich

Before we returned home, we walked around several Christmas Markets in Munich and had a cup of coffee at Starbucks. We arrived in Salzburg in the early afternoon.

Christmas Market

Starbucks

Munich

Long Night Of Museums 2012

Long Night Of Museums 2012

Saturday - October 6th 2012

For 13 years in a row the Austrian Broadcasting Corporation (ORF) hosted the Long Night Of Museums and of course the event took place this year as well. It was our third participation and it was a lot of fun like the years before. With a single ticket people can visit as many museums as possible from 6pm until 1am. Like every year we started with Red Bull's Hangar 7 at the Salzburg Airport. There guests can take a look at Red Bull's collection of planes, helicopters and race cars.

Red Bull Hangar 7

Apache

BO-105

Red Bullet

Vintage Aircraft

Formula 1 Race Car

Gran Turismo Race Car

Vintage Aircraft

Vintage Aircraft

Afterwards a shuttle bus, that was included in the ticket, brought us to the Stiegl Brewery, which is also home to Europe's largest brewery museum. During the tour of the museum, visitors got the chance to taste three different Stiegl beers, beer chocolate and beer bread.

Stiegl Brewery

Stiegl Brewery

Stiegl Brewery

Beer Tower

An hour later we were on our way to the inner city. There we visited the museum of the Salzburg Cathedral. The museum offered a wine tasting and of course we tried one as well. Later we decided to take the cable car on top of Fortress Hohensalzburg. After a walk through the castle museum, we enjoyed a cold beer and a great view over the illuminated city.

Salzburg Cathedral

Salzburg seen from Fortress Hohensalzburg

Back in the old town we paid a visit to the Salzburg Museum which hosted an exhibition about the Trapp Family and its escape from Austria to the United States. Since we got hungry by now, we had a veggie burger at the newly opened Burger King and then we visited a friend of ours in another museum. There he run a buffet and so we had to drink another beer with him. By the way, thanks for the delicious vegan wrap! Around 1am we walked back home.

Salzburg

Vacation At Home 2012

Vacation At Home

Monday September 24th - Sunday September 25th 2012

Claudia took a week off from work and since we didn't plan on going anywhere, we spent the whole week in Salzburg. Our vacation at home started with a lazy Monday. After a nice breakfast we just walked around Salzburg, especially around our neighbourhood. We visited a nice coffee house and bought some stuff in cute little shops, like a wonderful Yankee Candle and Asian beer.

On Tuesday we decided to take the cable car on top of the Untersberg Mountain. The weather was really nice and so we could enjoy a wonderful view over Salzburg. Once on top we just hicked around for some time and later we had a beer while waiting for the cable car to return.

Salzburg seen from the Untersberg

Untersberg

Untersberg

Untersberg

Untersberg

Untersberg

In the early afternoon, after we returned from the Untersberg, we decided to visit a nearby open air museum, called Salzburger Freilicht Museum in Großgmain. The museum shows old farm and factory houses and some of them have been built several hundreds of years ago. The oldest farm house was built in 1442. Although it wasn't that interesting, we had a great time there.

Nice Goat

Vintage Hydro Station

Vintage Mill

Museum Train

Vintage Farm Houses

Vintage Farm Houses

Salettl - Restaurant built in 1924

Vintage Farm House

After we returned we refreshed and then we were on our way to our favourite Indian restaurant. After a delicious dinner we visited a newly opened casino.

The next day was lazy again. We hadn't planned anything special for today, except for a tour of the Almkanal on the afternoon. The tour lasted about an hour and it was really interesting. The channel is Europe's oldest channel system when it comes to water distribution and it traces back to the 12th century.

On Thursday we had a lunch reservation at one of our favourite restaurants. After doing some shopping we walked into the inner city, where we enjoyed a glass of wine. For the evening we had tickets to a Scottish Folk Concert, which was really fantastic. Both bands were great.

Since Salzburg is perfect for city hikers, we did a hike across the Mönchsberg on Friday. We passed some well known landmarks, like the castle Festung Hohensalzburg or the Augustiner Brewery, and of course had some stops at nice bars and restaurants to enjoy the warm weather with cold beers. Our favourite spot was the so called Stadtalm, a very small restaurant and hostel on top of the Mönchsberg from where we had a wonderful view over the old town of Salzburg. On our way back home we stopped at an organic burger restaurant. In the evening my brother and his girlfriend visited us for dinner.