We could visit quite a few places. It was a very warm day and one can get quite tired.
Rococo style Schönbrunn Palace (UN Heritage Site) and its environs
The palace museum is huge and it reflected the opulence of the times. Room after room filled with art objects; huge mirrors; chandeliers and paintings.
Ringstrasse
Goudi styled Hundertwasser haus - Out of the ordinary, fairytale
Leopold Museum
Mozart Statue in the Palace grounds Albertina Museum Shopping, Karlsplatz etc
We visited the picturesque town of Szentendre on the bank of Danube in Hungary not too far from Budapest. It is easy to reach there by bus. It is truly picturesque as you see in the pictures and if you are into painting you may like to visit. It has a beautiful church and there are restaurants although we did not eat there.
We visited this town during our recent trip to Europe and spent a delightful hour there on the way from Budapest to Vienna. Later we travelled to Vienna...
Arriving in Vienna we went out although it started getting dark. The subway (metro) is clean and convenient. Karlsplatz was where we headed to...
We visited the World Heritage listed Gellert-Hegy (Hills) from where one can see the bend in the Danube river. The panoramic view is great. It was somewhat a hot day in June but it was quite breezy. We went up part of the way in a taxi (about 5 Euros) and came down in a bus. About half a mile from the hill top there was a fine restaurant that people go on special occasions. It was quite nice.
We looked forward to the boat ride in the night but half way during the cruise it started raining heavily. After the cruise we took a taxi to the hotel as it was still raining and somewhat dark.
Into the 3rd day of our European visit we toured Budapest by bus. We had a local guide who spoke reasonable English. Our tour director spoke English, German and Czech.
Touring a city by bus (Inside the bus) has advantages as you cover many places. The downside is you miss 'your feet on the ground' and the opportunity to look at things from a couple of directions. If you are some what hard of hearing and the sound system is less than adequate, you miss a awful lot of information the guide is giving.
Here is a short list of things you see in a day tour
House of Parliament
The Chain Bridge
St. Stephan's Basilica
National Opera House
The Central Market
Fisherman's Bastion
The river Danube
Holy Trinity Square
We left Arcotel Castellani early after breakfast around 8:00 AM in our
bus. It takes just 30 or 40 minutes to reach Berchtesgaden in Bavaria, a mere
16.6 miles from Salzburg. This area is famous for its salt deposits and
provided a rich commodity and a source of revenue for the people in ancient
times. Because of this it was occupied by France, Austria(Salzburg) and
Germany.
The visit to the salt mines was interesting. You need to
purchase tickets to enter the Salt Mines and the shop. Shop alone is free where
you can buy salt related products. You must wear the proper attire to the mines
which you can wear over your clothes and store your other items in the lockers
(2 Euros which will be returned). After wearing the special over clothes, you
wait your turn to ride the rails. This was an interesting experience. However,
there are also walk ways and staircases. After reaching the bottom of the rails
you cross the subterranean salt lake in a boat with other visitors to visit the
gallery in the museum. It is pretty well done with lots of stuff to see how
salt was recovered and brought to surface for commercialization.
There appears to be a slat mine health resort, 'Heilstollen'
where you can find relief for several kinds of ailments.
Berchtesgaden was also the holiday retreat for Hitler and
his lieutenants. The Kehlesteinhaus (Eagle's Nest) atop the Kehlstein peak was
a present to Hitler for his 50th birthday. We will visit the Eagle's Nest after
visiting the salt mines
"Salt is the most valuable gemstone given to us by the
earth."
Justus von Liebig (known as the greatest chemistry teachers
of all times)
Before embarking our journey to the Eagle's Nest, we had
breakfast/brunch/beer/coffee at one of the smaller towns on the way. The bus to
Eagles Nest takes you to an intermediate point after which you take a specially
fitted bus to go another intermediate point. From here you take enter the
tunnel to the elevator shaft. You then ride up to the disembarking area to walk
to the Eagle's Nest. The view of Bavarian Alps from here is unforgettable.
Cameras can only capture a fragment of this beauty.
Here is a slide show of this visit. Come back here later as
I plan to upload at least one video.
