We have a look at where this camper place is and realise it is near Wels where we were 3 days ago (about 2 hours drive away) and it isn’t 30 minutes up the road where they used to be. Oh well, Scot phones and we decide we really need to have the battery replaced so hit the road heading back where we have already been. It really turns out to be the best decision as Carolina speaks perfect English at the camper place and can translate for us so there isn’t any misunderstanding about what we need and a lovely man comes and takes our battery out – which when we see it, has a hole in the corner, shaved off by it jumping around in the back as it’s not properly secured. We can’t figure out how it could even still be holding a charge. In hindsight we were silly not to have had it checked in England but you live and learn what is necessary and we are fast becoming experts at what is required in a van when buying one. So the battery is replaced with a new one and even though it seems expensive for a battery (which it isn’t really), the leisure batteries are much hardier and work differently from an ordinary car battery so it really doesn’t matter the price because without it we cannot live in the van. So the battery is in and is properly secured now and we also have a new floor light which replaces one that nearly set the van alight and burnt a hole in Scot’s shirt. Plus it’s an LED one so it will never get hot and burn anyone or anything. Two problems solved and we are very grateful to them for being able to help us at a moment’s notice.
We head out, it is mid afternoon so we will not likely get to Innsbruck today but we will head towards there. We have to go through Salzburg and into Germany to get to Innsbruck as the land in Austria between Salzburg and Innsbruck is so mountainous that we cannot drive these roads in the van. So we head around Salzburg and onto the border but as we cross into Germany the traffic stops and we can see it is lined up for miles in front of us. We cannot get off anywhere and the right lane is chokka with trucks and we are in the left lane with the cars. We creep along a bit at a time and eventually we reach where the traffic is held up – by police searching cars and trucks for refugees. We aren’t a target so we get let through and are on our way on the highway. About 10 minutes later we see this van driving on our left hand side and Scot says ‘It’s the Trakka’ and I look and our Kiwi camper friends are driving alongside us holding up a little kiwi. How bizzare, in the whole of Europe and here we are on the same highway heading the same way. This is the second time we have run into them since we met in Riga. Rob pulls over down the road and we discuss where we are each going so we end up following them down the road to a free camperstop outside a guest house. There was no way we would have gotten anywhere near Innsbruck and it is getting late. It is lovely to have someone we have gotten to know to have a chat to for the evening. We go inside the guest house and have a drink at the bar and a catchup.
Rob and Sue tell us they are going to the Neuschwanstein castle which is on the border of Germany and Austria and is similar to the Disney castle. So we change our plans and decide we will go there as well but we both take different paths. We head away and decide we will travel via Innsbruck and then over the border into Germany. It is a beautiful day as we leave the guest house and head back towards Austria and down to Innsbruck. Innsbruck is a city that is surrounded by mountains and they are amazing and a lot are covered by snow. We head off the main path and stop in Innsbruck for a quick look at the surrounding scenery. It’s funny that you seem to see more amazing scenery every time we travel to another place. It is all amazing in Austria. We head out of Innsbruck and begin to travel on the road going north from here and into Germany. I realise that we are about to head over a fairly large mountain and the roads are quite steep but we know the van can take it. The scenery in this part is simply to die for with snow on the mountains and deep green lakes and of course the autumn colours which are spectacular to say the least. No photo will do this justice and as we stop at the summit where there is a restaurant and many other tourists you can see the look of sheer wonder on everyone’s faces at the surroundings.
We sat and ate our sandwiches in the sun taking in our spectacular scenery. The pass we are going over is the Fernpasse. I worry about coming down the other side and our brakes overheating but we seem to manage it without a problem. We reach the castle about mid afternoon and see Rob and Sues van and park up beside it. We leave them a message in case we don’t see them here and then look for the place that sells the tickets as they don’t sell them up the road at the castle. Actually there are two castles, the major one right up on top of the hill which is a hell climb and one at the bottom that King Ludwig II built for his parents. We only want to see the large one at the top but find they are all sold out of tour tickets for the day as it is a major tourist destination and there are hundreds of people milling around down the bottom. We can still look around the outside and part of the inside so we climb the hill to have a look. My body is not responding to the climb today and I feel unwell as we reach the top so have to stop for a rest at which time I spot Rob and Sue coming down. We say our hellos and goodbyes as they are now on their way to Bern and then off to France and Spain so I doubt our paths will cross again for a while. We look around the castle and Scot offers to take a photo for another couple as you do as you never seem to have any of both of you when on holiday. So they reciprocate and we get talking. The lady is German from Munich and the guy is half Greek so we learn a bit about Greece from him and the lady imparts some interesting information about the castle and King Ludwig II and his life that we hadn’t heard before.
The castle is amazing and we wonder at how someone can wish to live in such a massive place such as this. It took about 15 years to build as much as has been finished before he died. They say he was crazy but I am not so sure they were right. Maybe he just had different ideas from others.
We head down and leave the castle area and find a camper stop place which we are finding more of and love them. They cost from nothing to only a few euro to stop for the night and some have electricity plus toilets and showers and some have none of the above. The cheaper the better and now that we have a new battery we don’t have to worry so much about electricity except when it is really cold. We pull in and the gym across the road is the reception place, shame we don’t feel like a workout as it may be free. There are a couple beside us and the lady is German and the man is Dutch. Agnes is a lovely lady who loves a chat and she keeps us out chatting for an hour or so but it is getting cold and we haven’t set up so we say our good byes and set the van up.
Pumpkins everywhere
Scot wanted to follow the truck….
Views from Innsbruck
Innsbruck
At the peak of the Fernpasse
Fernpasse
A high up swing bridge with people walking over – not for the feint hearted
An early rise since we have only one day in Saltzburg we need to make the day count. We head out of the camp and walk to the bus stop and the bus is already sitting at the stop. On we hop and off to town. Saltzburg is a lovely small city or you could call it a town as it is quaint and not large at all. The old town like all of them has lovely buildings, cute narrow roadways and there is a large castle up on the hill top overlooking the town. Since it is early we have beaten the large majority of tourists and it is relatively quiet so we decide to head up to the castle and have a look. The climb up the stairs and the steep walkways is tough on the quads but we hope the view is worth it at the top. It is huge and costs a bit but we decide it should be worth a visit as you can see most of the castle. They had a couple of great displays of things like torture implements which were horrible. There were a couple of iron masks that go over your head and they have a metal funnel going into the mouth and nose that they obviously pour fluid into them to torture the victim. They had a metal chastity belt, a torture chair see the photo. They had an exhibition of photos of this guy who was a ballet dancer and the photos of him were in all kinds of costumes – mostly just little shorts but there were a few naked ones – omg – just a little crude especially since it was visible to kids. We should have taken photos of the photos because they were rather hilarious. Others looking at them were laughing. The state room of the castle was interesting and had it’s own dunny. By the time we left the castle it was being over-run by bloody tourists so we left. The town was also the same. We saw some mulled wine so we had a drink and sat on a seat on the square. Every city we have been to in the last week or so has had horses and carts and here is no different. It’s expensive 44 euro –aud88 for 20 minutes. One cart had a guy biking behind with his shovel and barrow picking up the poo from the horses. What a job. Next we found an Irish bar where we found they are playing the rugby quarter finals tonight so we need now to check out the bus back to the camp and make sure we know where it leaves from and the times as the games don’t finish until after 10.30pm. It is only 10mins away so all good there. One of the main shopping streets is absolutely crowded with people, so much so, you can hardly move. Shops are starting to put Christmas decos up and they are so pretty. They seem to go to a lot of trouble over here for Christmas.
We visited the large church in the square and it’s funny because we seem to find more spectacular ones than we have seen before but really I think that each is just different and has something that makes it look amazing. This one has the most amazing architecture inside with lots of mouldings of cupids and all sorts of things. Like always our photos never do any of our scenery justice, but this church is quite a ‘wow’ experience. We spend the rest of the afternoon wandering and end up at the Irish bar at 5 for the first rugby game. Also watching is another couple, a Kiwi and an Aussie and later another lady from Dunedin came in with her daughter – what a co-incidence. We stayed until the Allblacks had walloped France – thank Christ for that and caught the bus back. We missed our stop, buggar, but luckily it was the second last one so we had to walk back a short distance. But then we sort of got lost and couldn’t remember which way to go. Thank god for the tablet and we saw where we needed to walk and made it home.
Sunday
It is supposed to be a nice day today like yesterday so I am glad we have chosen it to go down through the mountains and visit an area an Austrian couple we met told us to go. We head east and straight into the mountains. The scenery it distinctly “the sound of music” hills with cows wearing cow bells and the chalets you would expect to see. You can almost hear the music as we drive by the paddocks. The scenery in Austria just has to be the best we have seen in Europe, but really it is likely to also be because of the autumn colours which are spectacular and I could tell you over and over how beautiful the trees look. This is something we miss so much in Aus. We come across a lake and small village called Fuschl which is so lovely. The lake is a beautiful green/blue colour & so clear it is difficult to gauge the depth. We stop for a coffee in a hotel where there is a guy suffering the biggest hangover after a hard day before in the pub. He tells us the first drink of the morning must be the same drink you finished with the night before, so we tell him it’s called ‘hair of the dog’ on our side of the world.
We walk over to the lake and feed the ducks and feisty swan that nearly takes both our fingers off trying to get something to eat out of us. We head off and next stop is Bad Ischl. This is another lovely small town with a river running through it. We sample some of the local fare of cheese filled frankfurter sort of thing. After a walk around we head off to the next stop of Halstatt. Getting there is like driving to Queenstown. A road on the side of the lake with a steep incline on the inside. Arriving at Halstatt is interesting as you can’t go in on the town road, you have to go through a long tunnel to the other side of the village where we stop and look back at the town. We realise the whole town is cut off and only locals are allowed to drive into it, but when you see the roads you realise why. Our camper would have caused havoc on the almost only road through the town. We drive back through the tunnel and find a car park above the town so stop and walk down the stairs into it. Apparently this place is very famous in China amongst many other Asian countries so when we reach the village there are wall to wall Asian tourists. There is a costume hire place in town who hire the traditional costume to them and they can walk around town taking photos in the clothes. We are told it is very quiet at this time of the year so I would hate to see it when it is busy. It is a beautiful place but I couldn’t cope living here with so many tourists, it’s just crazy.
We leave and head for Bad Aussee, the next town on the agenda. We miss the turn off and the weather has started to close in on us so we decide we will look tomorrow and head to the camp for the night in Bad Mitterndorf. We find the camp in the rain and have a chat with the lady owner who is Dutch but her grandmother was German who in the 1930’s wanted to go to Canada but it was too difficult so they emigrated to Holland. Now they live here and love the lifestyle but do rue the lack of holidays as it is practically a year round business. We had a nice chat but it was getting very cold so we parked the van, set it up as usual then took a stroll into town while the weather was ok as it was going to be crap the next day. It is again a very tidy, well looked after town and being Sunday early evening very quiet so we found a small warm restaurant and had a drink each then went back to the van. I can imagine this place hectic in the season. We slept in a bit as it was easy with the soothing sound of rain on the roof and not in a huge hurry.
We decided not to stay another day there was not a lot to see so, as we were paying, we quizzed the owners about any ideas for finding someone to help with the van. Somehow a hospital got mentioned so we asked about whether it was worth getting my 6 month blood test done for my prostate PSA check (or lack of!). The owner mentioned her doctor in town so as she was going in she would take us there. She interpreted what I needed with the doctor so in I went and had blood taken. They get it analysed and will email my doc. Straight in fantastic and something I was worrying about getting done so very happy. We drive into the small town of Bad Aussee and have quick look around and a tasty coffee and cake then back on the road to stop off at the local equivalent of RACQ to see if they can do a test on the battery to see if it is ok. It isn’t so now we know we have to get one. They check our tyres then charge us $100aus. I was a bit pissed off but as we haven’t renewed our RACQ we can’t claim it back. They were happy to send the bill to RACQ but we knew they won’t cover us so we feel we are doing the right thing paying but I would rather have put the money towards a new battery. Not very hospitable to poor tourists but we have to take the good with the bad. Seems weird that it was cheaper to go to a doctor and get blood taken, analysed in a lab and results sent to Oz than for a young kid to put a tester on our battery… go figure.
We finally contact a camper place to go see tomorrow and get a new battery. The lady I spoke to speaks good English so we will get prices as we are sure as hell not going to pay good $$$ to take battery out and connect a new one. We find our camp right on the lake and again we are the only one here but quite close to where we have to go tomorrow. We take the chance to give the van a quick wash as it is filthy which is great and to put a wash on. However after going back to get it out of the dryer we find that it has stopped after 5 minutes and everything is still wet and we don’t have the 8x50cents to put it through again. Grrrrrr I am sick of shit dryers. So I go back and luckily there is an iron so I spend ½ an hour at least drying the sheet and two pillow cases with the iron! Then back to the van and hang the rest up but the heater is on so we manage to dry the other sheet which goes to show how efficient the heater is. Hopefully tomorrow we might find out why it turns itself on when the switch is off and there is no power coming into the van. Tomorrow we are hopefully off to Innsbruck if all goes well with the van.
The horse poo scooper upperer
View from our van in Saltzburg
Saltzberg
Check out the face expression
Horse monument
Cool old toys
Main tourist strip
Most photographed item
Great year??
Church in Saltzburg
The royal dunny at the castle
This is called ‘The Stove’ but not sure why
The stateroom at the castle
Von Trapp family puppets – very old
Old puppet heads
The tourist strip
A tiled picture of Saltzburg
Of course the Irish bar
Heading up to the castle
Can’t tell you what this is – very strange
Steep entry to the castle
Beautiful view over Saltzburg
The museum
Can never get enough autumn photos
Bad Aussee, Bad Ischl
Beer at Bad Mittendorf
Great ice cream cone
Available items in Bad Ischl – pepper spray and tazors
We awake to rain and cold so decide to postpone the drive across Vienna to find the van place as things are working again and really very difficult wasting lots of time for maybe no gain. So we take off from our camp which has been a great stop very clean and friendly and make our way west towards Melk along the Danube. We have found another van shop that specialises in campers so feel this will be the best bet. It is about ½ an hour from Melk so we plan on staying at a camp which is part of a hotel but will consider anything on the way we see. Even though it is drizzly and cold (my feet are freezing, goes to show you shouldn’t do the morning chores in jandals in 4c) the road is good and the rain adds a misty & ethereal outlook which, as we enter the valley’s alongside the Danube, is stunning and when you are able to look across the river to the villages on the other side it is truly a world wonder. The Danube is an unusual green colour and is wide and flowing. Maybe it is the lack of silt or mud as it is rocky amongst the huge hills (not quite mountains, well they would be in oz) but unlike all the rivers we have seen so far, almost glacial in hue. It all looks beautifully clean & fresh. We stopped around 2ish to make sammies on the river just past a town. We then carried on always marvelling at the what we would consider the most beautiful countryside we have seen, even surpassing Norway, though I would go a long way to beat NZ! It being autumn probably has something to do with it as the colours are spectacular. What makes a difference is there are castle ruins on the sides of the hills, sometimes in the most precarious places and even huge monastery’s, all nestled below by quaint villages with their inevitable church spires poking out of the mist & low clouds. On another day we would visit but it is too wet to take the van up steep, questionable roads so leave it for another time hopefully. However at Melk we stop to look at the Baroque Abbey one of the best of its kind in the world. We arrive amongst bus loads of tourists, mainly yanks, but surprisingly it doesn’t feel crowded. The inside of the church is breathtaking and it is fully covered in artwork and huge amounts of gold leaf. Words can’t describe it and as previously we have said the church we have just seen in Klosterneuburg was one of the best we have seen this surpasses it. We don’t want to pay to see the museum or gardens as we don’t have time but guess it would be well worth it.
We pull into a van stop camp which Vicki had researched and looks good. These cost 10 -12 euro which is cheap and have power and toilets and a park for around 10 campers. You drive in through a boom that opens automatically then call a number, they come down take your $$ then give you a token to get out in the morning and a code for the toilets. However we want to be closer to Melk so reluctantly leave saying goodbye to another couple who have arrived. We pass lots of wineries and grapevines all over the place on steep sides of the hills and on the sides of the roads. This is the Wauchen region and is widely acclaimed. We try and see what is open but being near winter not a lot can be seen. We stop at one seller but after going inside I can’t find anyone so go back to the van but not after trying some of the beautiful grapes off the vine. I don’t consider it stealing as I didn’t take the whole bunch. We finally got to our camp only to find it was shut for the week, we think for family reasons on the notice, even the hotel was closed. Bummer, so we decide to backtrack to the last place even though we hate going backwards but think it is worth it as it is only ½ and hour and a lovely drive.
We drive in and a third couple have arrived, Germans. We call the people and they come down with the token and code. We decide to walk the short way to a cellar that looked open, eating some exquisite grapes on the way growing on the side of the road. It is a cute little restaurant with a lot of atmosphere (unfortunatly as is the Austrian way it is full of ciggy smoke) but warm. We order a wine and a cheese/meat/bread platter and the german couple come in and sit with us. We have a very pleasant couple of hours chatting and sampling the local schnapps and Sturm which is the wine before it is finally filtered and bottled. It is like a cider but grape with a tang and is very nice and has become the latest popular drink to have here. I prefer this to wine so have a couple. We are the last to leave and wander back with our new friends wowed at the mist over the village and the castle ruins up in the hills lit up across the river.
It is another cold morning, Vicki is hungover as she does not drink this much usually (only 2 small wines and 2 small sturms) but a coffee and pills do the trick followed by breakfast. We say good bye to our German friends who give us their email address in Heidelberg if we have a chance to get there. Meeting people is by far one of the best parts of travelling and we are richer for the experience as we are learning so much. We decide to track back a little more and follow the Danube on the other side, the part we were looking across at yesterday. It is equally as stunning but funny enough it is different. As we were coming into one of the many villages we get pulled over by a cop who says we(Vicki) was doing 65 in a 50 zone which we didn’t think was true but what can you do so we paid the 35 euro and went on our way. What a bummer as we have driven 11000 miles with nothing then this. We also know our speedo says we are going faster than we actually are, so it means Vicki would have been doing about 75 on our speedo which she had hardly managed to get near 70 due to the windyish wet roads. Oh well shit happens. But really as I find out the next day when I drive the signs are very confusing and difficult to know when speed limits start and finish here especially when a 60 zone might last 10 metres then 50 back to 80 then open road sign-or lack of one- and then another village with no sign. Paranoid city. We finally get to the campervan place and bugger me if it is closed! Oh yeah they will be at the big Camper Show that we are going to tomorrow. I know you will say why didn’t you ring first but in our experience in the past when we ask if they speak English they say no or say they can’t fit us (too hard basket) in so better to just bowl on up. Normally we wouldn’t have a phone sim but we have so maybe we should have. Is it a coincidence hindsight and holiday start with the same letter?
Nothing to do but laugh and make our way to our nights camp which is at a tennis club where they charge 10 euro on a honesty system and we can hook up power and have access to very clean and new toilet and shower facilities which is very good value. We hope we can find more of these as we need electricity for the heater. We have a snacky dinner of cheese, ham, bread, olives. We have tv reception and watch a bit. They have the Linz tennis open on which we drove through today. At least with sport & nature programmes language is not so much of a hassle. Back to the future trilogy is also on but not much good really as the overdubbing ruins it and no subtitles.
Today Friday, our goal is to go to the van show where maybe we will be able to talk to someone and get a few things (door hinge, leisure batteries) I drive so Vicki can navigate our way into the city. We finally find the parking area for us vans for the day. Surprisingly it is free and only 6Euro if you want to stay overnight. Good value we think and they have toilets and showers too and some vans seem to have electricity. On the way in there is a small store where they are promoting xmas in Melk so we stop to say hello to the young lass, but mainly because we spot the urns of mulled wine. This is a lovely mix of wine with orange & cherry juice with Amaretto & cinnamon. Yum and warms us up nicely along with bikkies. Some refugee looking guys come up wanting to know if they sell ciggies or where the nearest supermarket is but the security guy gives them the short shift. The show is not as big as we thought considering the cars and vans in the park but still has a great display of campers, vans and the new fitted out vans that we like. The good thing about these is you can wild camp and it is not so conspicuous as a camper but has all the modcons. They have the usual trade show accessories(but a makeup stall??)but not we are after. We have a coffee and the local “fish & chips” which is a pork meatloaf in a bun with sauce, mustard or tomato. Quite tasty and even Vicki had half.
We walk around some more and collect a lot of brochures on Croatia, Italy and Austria as we need to find out which camp grounds are open as we travel. Croatia doesn’t seem as cheap as we thought but we will still go. It gives us food for thought and the information helps Vicki research on the net. We drive to our next camp just out of Salzburg which overlooks the city and we will have one day in the old town. It is 30E a nite which is typical for camps close to a tourist city but the facilities are excellent. Lucky we have a data sim for the tablet as Wifi costs 6E bloody ripoff bad enough paying 5.5E to wash some clothes and dry them. Went shopping in the local supermarket but small and expensive eg $40aus for 2 small steak fillets, $45 a kg for chicken. So as a first bought some fish fingers as real fish is non existent. Oh for those Norway days when we had salmon coming out of our ears. But it is swings & roundabouts and we have to go with the flow. Hopefully if the planets align we might get to see the quarter finals of the world cup tomorrow in the city if we can find a sports bar.
It is quite late when we leave – about midday but we know we aren’t going too far today. We head out of Budapest the way we came in and head to Sopron which is on the border with Austria. It in an area sort like a boundary bubble where in the past the Hungarians there did not want to be part of Austria so staunchly held on as they are proud of their heritage. We stop at a small town as we see a Euronics store as we are having trouble with our tv cord which is coming apart and also being an old tv may not be getting the channels we want. We have seen online tv’s here for as little as 140aud so score one very similar to ours and also a universal plug accessory. It has the facility to receive heaps more countries. At the least when we sell the van we will have tv wherever we are and a lot cheaper here. However it was now too late to see Sopron that day so we stayed at Hegyka about 10 minutes out from Sopron and we figured we can see it in the morning. We are in the countryside here and a bit isolated and the camp is in the town. We stop at the local Coop for groceries but it is small and not much, in fact beer seems to be their biggest commodity so I buy 3 cans with the little local money we have left. We drive into the camp and my god it is packed to the hilt. How can this be when for the last month we are virtually the only campers at the places we have stayed. We try and find a place to camp and slowly realise it is full of mainly Germans and Austrians who are walking around in bathrobes. We find out it is a thermal spa and a therapeutic destination for older types. We found a place and had a wander around. All very clean and laid out. The main hot pool would have had about 60 people all lined up around the outside in the water. Boy talk about all shapes and sizes. It made me laugh as I thought of it as Ibeza for the oldies but without the drunkenness & sex!! Most don’t look very healthy big guts and sagging arms but they don’t care they are feeding their arthritic bones with the minerals and the pool has hum like insects as they are all chatting. We give at amiss for the night and decide to do our last washing then go to one of the restaurants for tea. We were a bit late and they were closing but we got a chicken & chips meal which was average at best but the chicken was ok but overpriced. We ended having the leftover chicken which we couldn’t eat in our sammies for the next 2 days, wasting nothing. We had a chat with a german man who was very nice who was there for a month. He suggested we use the pool in the morning when it is not so busy. As we were passing the pool after tea we saw that it was empty and was being scrubbed and cleaned before being refilled. Not sur if they do this every day or we just happened to see the weekly/monthly? Clean. I would like to think it was often as it is used to the max. There was also and outside bigger pool and numerous spas for personal and exercise use. Overall a good facility and can see why it is popular with the older set.
10 October
We are in the hotpool by 8.30am and already it has around 30 people in it. We are by far the youngest and, like the thermal pools in Budapest I feel embarrassed with my vitality and relative youthfulness, funny considering my just had birthday. After a ½ hour soak we decide it is enough so leave the pool (can’t help pulling my tiny pot stomach in to annoy the oldies) and go to have a shower. However the men’s is getting cleaned- why you would clean at 9.30 in the morning is beyond me- but I am not allowed in. I point to where the sign says cleaning is at 10 not 9.22 but she just shrugs a bugger off message so I have to go back past the pool to find a shower( again shaming the germans with my trim physique haha) to a non soap shower, Never mind I have had worse.
We leave thermal oldie Ibeza paradise and call into a huge Tesco to refill our larder as we feel it will be cheaper than Austria which proves correct. It is an opportunity to stock up on beer and wine as well. As we leave we spot a OBI which we figure is a hardware store. So we decide to finally try and find some plywood or similar to make our bed more comfortable. We need the added solidness as it sags on my side and is becoming uncomfortable and I feel it is adding to my neck pain. We explain in sign language what we want and I draw a diagram. Off we go to look for a couple of items a sit will take 20 minutes to cut. When we get back instead of 700x2000mm pieces he has cut two little pieces 700×200. Oh oh I have forgotten the extra 0 so my fault. So after more sign language and showing him the dimensions on my tape measure finally understands and we get our pieces which just slide in the van alongsides the bikes.(When we place them and remake the bed oh what a difference and I have the best sleep). Only 5 months too late. We drive through Sopron but decide not to stop as it seems a lot of hassle for little gain and push on to a camp just out of Vienna. We pass the outskirts of the city and see the highrises and modern parts of the city. The camp is right near the town centre of a place called Klosterneuburg which has the third richest catholic church in Europe behind the Vatican and someplace else according to the barman at a pub we find after we have settled in and walked into town that hopefully might play the Aussie v Wales game but bad luck only the England v Uruguay game later so who cares. We have a couple of drinks and have a great chat with the barman. As the bar didn’t open till 6 and it was 5.15 we went into a huge Lions yearly fundraising jumble sale to pass the time and bought a thermos for coffee while we are travelling which I have wanted and some cheap cds, Dark Side Of The Moon and a 4CD 60’s set and a love songs one for Vicki for 6euro which was great as we only have one cd-Simon & Garfunkel- and while a great cd it has been a getting a tad boring when there is no stations. Back to the pub we are learning quite a bit. The barman is from Albania but has been here for 15 years and this is the first time he has spoken English since then. He tells us that Albania is very natural and hasn’t changed much and is a beautiful country. We won’t be seeing these Balkan countries this trip as our insurance won’t allow it but maybe when we are in Greece we may do a bus trip there.
Seems here in Austria there is a reluctance to change so they still smoke indoors in pubs, cafes & restaurants. Not great as he was smoking as well but we were the only ones there. I had poked my head into a pub across the road earlier and nearly got instant lung cancer! Apparently only smokers frequent pubs here as it is not nice for non smokers. If the establishment is under 50m3 then they don’t have to have separate areas. If over they have a smoking & non smoking areas but unfortunatly they are both in the same room so WTF! We find this a bit backward but smoking and drinking is part of their culture. Wouldn’t think that is great for tourism. We finally get back to the van in the rain, we forgot our raincoats, and I start a late tea so it is a late feed and a late nite but we have decided that we will stay here and relax tomorrow maybe go for a quick pm visit to Vienna.
SUNDAY 11 Oct
It is a luxury to sleep in with no pressure to move on. The rain is falling which is the perfect motivation to linger dozing. We have a cuppa and brekky and rug up as it is cold outside and go into town to look around the church area. Halfway down the road I regret not wearing my beanie but am grateful for my longjohns. The wind is biting but we climb the stairs to the huge outdoor court and look in the church. It is very ornate and painted beautifully and easy to see why it is highly regarded. We feel we will see a lot of these in Austria along with the castles. We take an elevator down to the shop and café as it is coffee time. However as we walk in we are hit by the cigarette smoke as everyone is smoking and eating. As the area is small there is no non smoking area but it would be as useless as Christ without a cross and this is no divey place but a modern café, but even the chef practically has a fag in his mouth while he is working. We shake our head as we sit down but the prices are extreme and the atmosphere horrible so we walk out. We find a café that looks ok so stick our head in and there is no stale stink of cigs so go in for a coffee and cake. On the windows you can see the non smoking sticker which is red or green for smoking, or both. I suppose if the rest of Austria, and we feel Germany, is the same, then we will be looking for the green stickers. So sad that the majority of people, the non smokers, have to put up with it. I would think all the pubs will be for smokers so we won’t be going to them.
We go back past the jumble sale, but it is all over and there is a big argument transpiring and not looking good so we move away. There is a large truck parked outside and it appears they are packing up all the unsold items in this truck that is marked Hungary and we believe it is all going to help the refugees. In fact there are a few of them helping to load all the items onto the truck.
We wonder around a bit, decide not to go to Vienna, then head back to the van to get warm and relax. We already have tea made from last nite so relaxing it will be. We did have a weird encounter as we walked back to the campsite, a fellow seemed to be following us from the town and kept following us as we entered the camp. We stopped at the little shop and he kind of walked past, stopped, looked around and then walked out of the campsite again. I don’t know what he was doing but I didn’t get a good feeling about him when I saw him in the town. It just pays to keep your eyes and ears open when walking around to see what is what. We have done some window shopping as there are no shops allowed to open on Sunday due to the Catholic church, and we feel that Austria is way more expensive than we experienced in Norway. At least in Norway when we bought a coffee it was about the same price as Australia. Today my cappuccino cost $7.20 and it was very little and far too expensive for my liking. So if there are any refugees staying in this country I have no idea how they can afford to live let alone even exist.
Monday 12 October
VIENNA
We don’t wake up early enough as usual but it is snug in bed and bloody cold outside. However we have a hot drink and after a shower do the short distance to catch the bus and then the train. The bus part is easy as there is only a couple and though we were told to take the 239 we take the 238 which is going to the station. The bus is full as commuters are off to work. We buy our tickets for the train and try to find the right line. The display is confusing but figure it is line 2 but when we go up the stairs it is outside and we are meant to take the underground. So, thanking god I listen to Vicki in this situation, she says that it doesn’t feel right even though a train is approaching. The part that convinces here is that there is one kid on the platform which doesn’t click when it is supposed to be going to the city centre. So we ask the ticket guy and he steers us to U4 which is what we were told to look for. We are soon in the main part of Vienna so we step into about 6deg and a cold breeze making it feel like zero. We are rugged up and sort of warm but after walking for a few minutes we spy a McCafe so decide on a coffee and get our bearings with the tablet. Again I am amazed at the fact I have been in more maccas in the last 6 months than in a hundred past lifetimes but really the coffee is very good and half the price and twice the quantity as other cafes, especially in Austria where it is quite expensive. For example a big mac which would cost about $3.45aus costs around $3.95euro ($8aus). In Belgium it would have cost the equivalent of $1.50aus, and remember they are exactly the same. We won’t be dining out much here as in comparison a lunch here would cost us 4 nites camping costs. It is sort of a ratio thing of where our priorities have to be.
Anyway we walk around and the buildings are the biggest and best we have seen on average obviously a lot of money around in the past and everything on a grand scale. It doesn’t have the quaintness of some of the other cities we have seen in the so called old town parts. Instead of lots of smaller bunched up buildings there are less but more grandiose architecture. The churches are huge and the museums, libraries and government buildings are massive and surrounded by wide open parks and courtyards with very ornate and elaborate monuments and statues. The craftwork of these are very impressive as they are intricate and detailed. Lots of lions, naked ladies & cherubs, with soldiers on horses or in fighting pose with serpents and dragons. We have our van made lunch (filled rolls) just as the sun finally comes out and the day warms by a couple of degrees but still bitter in the wind. We are on the steps of a museum with neat views and love the fact that we eat at a different vista every day. Not a bad lunchroom at all! We find ourselves in the popular market square area and it is streets of Prada, Tiffiny’s, Boss, channel etc and, like many others, an exquisite chocolate shop where we only want to take photos. Very expensive and up market but great window shopping. There are no beggars here that we can see they are probably pushed along. At the end of the square is the most magnificent church we have seen. Intricately twin spired with a beautiful coloured tiled roof. Part of it is under renovation but they have a habit here of making the scaffold safety mesh covering look the same as that part of the church so photos don’t look as bad. Very clever. We look inside and that is as impressive as the outside. Lots of painted areas and huge columns. I know you can get sick of ABC’s (another bloody church) but they still blow us away with the workmanship and dedication that they have for god. Not sure if the slave labour or the many that perished building them shared the same view but who are we to judge. We leave the church and straightaway we are hassled by people trying to sell tickets to the Mozart opera at 6.15 but even though we are offered 2 for 1 tickets which is great value we are just too cold and tired, my shoulder is killing me and we just want to go home to a warm van and hot soup. We will consider it tomorrow.
We arrive back at the van cook tea and relax but then start having problems with the power cutting out and having to reset the switch on the camp power supply. At the same time it dims the lights when we put the power back on. Our small overhead lights are also dim and this is where we had the fuse popping off in the van which is doing it again. So we take that fuse out as we still have our main lights. Vicki has for the first time put back on the water heating so maybe that is the problem. So we turned that off. Nothing more happens but now have to look at finding an auto electrician to check it out. The last thing we need with the weather starting to get seriously cold is to have problems with the electricity supply.
We are supposed to wake up early and get into town but it is overcast and very cold. We have had the heater on all night which we haven’t done since England. We get to the showers anyway and get a move on into the city. It is 11am by the time we get there and haven’t worked out what area we have left to see today so again sit for a coffee and work it out. We head to the new streets and check out the other buildings, statues etc that we haven’t yet seen. They are as grandiose as all the others we have seen but still beautiful and worthwhile seeing. Nothing here is done on a small scale. We find we are walking some of the same streets as yesterday which is fine as they are great to see. We initially thought the temp was better than yesterday but the wind chill is horribly bitter and although we have more clothes on than yesterday still find it very cold. It’s strange because when we were in Dunedin in June it was -3 but it didn’t feel as cold as it does here. Maybe we didn’t have the biting wind when we were in Dunedin. If we are going to be in colder temps than this I think we need to buy much warmer clothes. As we walk we see there are indeed beggars in this city and more than we have seen for a long time. Maybe yesterday was their day off, but they are seriously everywhere and they make us laugh as they all try to invent something different to get the attention and sympathy of anyone who will give them half a thought. We do indeed feel sorry for a lot of them as they are not like the gypsy beggars who always look like they need to go on a diet rather than be in need of a good meal, but if you give to one where do you stop.
It is hard today to know where to stop and eat your lunch as it is so cold outside but we end up sitting on a seat in the middle of a mall. We get approached by a beggar whilst eating, but we think why would you approach someone who appears poorby enough that they are eating their own home made lunch rather than someone who has just come out of a restaurant and obviously has money. Anyway, the pigeons prosper from a few crumbs from our sandwiches and they had mangled feet too. We are still feeling cold so we head to have another coffee to warm up again. As we go to leave there we go down to the toilets and there is an older American woman carrying on about some nasty man pushing in front of her and she lost her coin – how hilarious. She was still going on about it after she had left the toilet and was going up the stairs outside.
We wander for a bit more and after another hour we head into a shop for a bit of inside window shopping and warmth. It is interesting to have a look at the clothes on this side of the world and see the prices in each country. This dept store has beautiful cashmere jumpers for males and females and they are tempting, but in any country cashmere is not cheap so we pass by. We check out the warm jackets and one brand Paul and Shark had a jacket that looked nice, but not quite the 1200euro price tag that it had. I think we had better steer away from that side of the store and stick with the cheaper brands. We had thought it would be nice to go to the Vienna orchestra show that we passed on last night so we head down towards the church where the fellas were hassling people but after getting there we are again too cold and tired to be bothered which is a shame but we also believe the show isn’t on until 8pm tonight and that is just way too late. We have sussed out an auto electrician in Vienna that we need to visit early tomorrow morning so it is better that we head home for an early night and fill the water etc for leaving tomorrow. The train and bus are easy and we get back in no time at all.
We check out the lights after putting the fuse back in and as we thought would happen – it all works fine, Murphy’s law. Who knows what is going on, but as Scot checks out a t-shirt he has on the floor he realises that it is warm and the floor light that for some reason was on, has burnt a hole in his shirt and lucky it hadn’t gone on fire. Crap. When Scot looks at the light it has overheated (it hasn’t been on long since the fuse was out) and is melting the plastic around it. What else. We decide we still need to get up early and head to the auto electrician and get him to check the electrics as even though we had them checked in England it deserves another check and peace of mind plus the leisure batteries are not holding a charge well so they need looking at and perhaps replacement. Not really the kind of thing you want to do in a country that is expensive but you can’t play with electricity.
Our plan after we get things checked out if we can, is to head from Klosterneuberg around to the west following the Danube river which is supposed to be a very beautiful part of Austria filled with castles etc, so hopefully we will still be on track to drive some of that tomorrow.
Scot managed to find some Kiwi lamb chops in the supermarket at Tesco so his dinner tonight was a reminder of homeland being his first lamb for many months.
