The Rail Trip from Valence to Vienna and the Apartment!

Yes, this post is for August of 2011 - After we met up with the Dodd family, there was no time to blog and I became lazy in the fall.   There will be more posts from August (the rest of Austria and Germany) and September (Yellowstone National Park, USA) in the near future.

The trip from Valence to Vienna was a LONG train trip, but it was great!  The high speed train took us from Valence to Lyon where we caught the Austrian Railjet called the Wiesel.



 We had purchased a 1st class rail pass for 3 countries and this was one ride that made it worth it.  For most of the day we were the only ones in the car.

Beautiful Lake

And the views of France, Switzerland, and Austria were Magnificent! 

Different Lake

 

Para-sails galore

Awesome Mountains

Fields are SO green

And MORE Mountains!

We stopped at Salzburg and stayed at a hotel close to the station.  The station was being renovated and the area of the city was disrupted by it all.  We walked and walked to try and find some place for dinner - no luck.  We had passed a bar early in our travels and just headed back there for a bite.  It was OK.

Walkways in Melk

We planned to arrive in Vienna later in the afternoon so we took a short train trip to Melk.  We thought we would have a chance to put the suitcases in a locker at the Melk station, but that station was also under construction and the lockers were closed so I watched the bags and sat on the platform while Lee wandered into town.  Then he stayed with the bags while I trekked up to the Monastery, made a couple of purchases at the Monastery gift shop, wandered around the town square and went back to the station.  Melk is a very quaint town! 

Monastery Entrance

Heading back down to the City

Melk City Center

Old Church

Melk Memorial

 















It is a beautiful City and we return with the family later in August.

We caught the afternoon train to Vienna and arrived at the Wien Westbahnhof about 45 minutes before we were to meet Dr. Prusa at the Apartment.  We got a taxi with a driver who spoke some English and had somewhat of an idea of where the apartment was - even with the address though, he had some trouble finding it.  It was rush hour and the streets in the neighborhoods were very small, but we made it.

The Dr. met us and helped us take our bags upstairs... The apartment was on the 3rd floor - we never ever found the elevator, though he indicated there was one.

The apartment building was incredible as was the apartment.  Dr. Prusa spent an hour or so telling us the tricks of the kitchen, bathroom, windows, and antiques.

The Building Entry

Dragon Bannister

Living Room

Ceramic Fireplace - taller than Di

Then the Dr. walked us around the neighborhood and showed us some of his favorite restaurants and shops in the area and then he headed out to his villa.  We unpacked a bit, went out and had a fabulous Austrian dinner and looked forward to the next days exploration.