We spent three weeks after leaving the UK hopping between the Netherlands, Germany, and Austria by train. Between a few colds and excessive heat warnings we didn’t spend every day sightseeing, so instead of a play-by-play I’ll mainly give you an overview of the sights we did see in each city. I am glad we started where we did as none of these cities felt crowded despite it being the middle of summer, which was a great way to ease ourselves into central Europe.
Amsterdam
To start our time in Europe we decided on Amsterdam, which is a new country for both of us. Well if you don’t count the airport for Mr. Wander. We had big plans to do some biking, and eat a bunch of stroopwafels but unfortunately someone sneezing a bunch near us on a train changed our plans a bit. I didn’t get as ill as Mr. Wander but we spent most of our time in the room sleeping and resting.
The hotel we stayed at was pretty cool, it actually came with a free minibar, including some beers! We were a short 10 minute metro ride away from the central train station. We got bagels near by a few times for a brunch, full of different cream cheeses and sometimes we got a nice sandwich version.
One place we ordered dinner from more than once had french tacos, which I had never heard of before. Tacos were definitely one of the things we crave most away from the US but they are much different than ones you may be used to. They are like a flat grilled burrito filled with potatoes, cheese and some kind of meat, with a creamy sauce of Algérienne or other creamy cheese sauce, although they had other options. We initially made the mistake of getting the large but it was very filling! My favorite was the alpine with Gruyere type cheese, beef and some onions, Mr. Wander preferred a more ham and cheddar style.
We did a few walks around the neighborhood over a couple canals and near the IJmeer lake. One walk took us between homes and onto a path that led into a long park with natural prairie type grasses and sometimes separated running and walking lanes. It was a nice loop near our hotel that made you forget you were next to a city.
I ventured out on my own once I was feeling back to normal to try another Crossfit Class. I met someone from Montenegro that had just moved to Amsterdam and it was one of her first classes, so I was able to help her out a bit with some of the lifting.
We decided we needed to come back here to do the biking like we wanted and make sure to find the best Stroopwafel in Amsterdam. As of right now we’ll be back in the fall before we hop across the Atlantic and I’m much looking forward to it!
Munich
We had a few trains to get us to Munich where we had planned to spend the next week. We didn’t venture out too much the first few days as we weren’t 100%. We spent more time planning for a few segments coming up that required more reservations and adjusting our plans since we decided to add that bike trip for charity in Wales we’ll be participating in this September.
As we started to feel better we did a walk to the glockenspiel in the old part of town, I had some traditional pancakes that were very delicious and felt dwarfed by many large buildings.
In a last minute decision, our good friend that had actually introduced us to each other planned a trip to Germany to see family with his brother, and our plans managed to overlap in Munich for a few days! We walked around, eating some tasty Weiner Schnitzel and watching the Glockenspiel
Then we headed to a traditional beer hall where I got my first taste of German Draft Beer. I’ve always liked Oktoberfest style Märzen beers but these were so much better than I can ever remember having. Plus the beer was a really good price and they came around serving pretzels you could buy. They were very soft, salty and made you want to drink more!
We headed to a long park and walked along it for awhile, getting to find the city surfing, where people brought surfboards to this fast moving small river that ran along the park. They were all lined up to take turns trying not to fall. Some lasted for quite awhile, but when they would fall they’d have to swim to the edge quickly so they would not be taken downstream too far.
When we got too warm we found a massive beer garden that had a deposit for the mugs to encourage you to return them. This was my first taste of a true radler and it is SO good. If you are unfamiliar, it is part beer, part lemonade, and is consumed during Oktoberfest as a way to rehydrate, but you never really stop drinking beer. It is most refreshing in the summer heat, though!
We spent most of the day just walking and catching up on everything since we last saw them just before we left on this journey back in December. We stopped to take a few pictures at some sights in the city and along the park until it was time for them to head back to their hotel.
Vienna
The last stop on our tour I was most looking forward to, but we were starting to get into a heatwave. It was a bit shocking, in Amsterdam and the first half of Munich I was in pants and a sweater, and it rained several times. Suddenly it turned pretty hot and they started having heat advisories by the time we got to Vienna.’
We stayed at a really interesting hotel where you could rent long term to do remote work, and maybe meet up with others at the co-working space. They even had a wall people posted info about themselves with their Instagram handles that people could meet up to work or for a drink if they were travelling solo.
One of the days we ventured out in the morning for a long walk before it got too hot. They had walking paths along an older road that has now become a bike highway. As the day started to get hot on the way back, they had solar powered misters attached to the fire hydrants that turned on and felt lovely to walk through. We decided to reward ourselves with some goodies and apple strudel.
One of the days we ventured out in the evening to see the Schönbrunn palace, I was interested in seeing at least one of the palaces after watching the first season of the Empress on Netflix, which is all about when the Emperor and Empress of Austria, Franz Josef and Elisabeth, first met. We opted for an after hours tour that included a ticket to an orchestral concert held in one of the halls of the palace.
We got to the palace early so we ate some meats, cheeses, and had ourselves some strudel that I really liked. Last time Mr. Wander had come to the palace about 10 years ago he was able to watch a demonstration of them making the strudel, and they get the sheets of dough so thin according to him, and we wondered if some of those made in the demonstration they served at the cafes. The demonstrations stopped before we arrived but I’d rather try a hands-on class, anyway. Something to save for the next time I come to Vienna!
It was nice having the after hours tour since there was only about 20 of us so it wasn’t too crowded in the rooms. The envelope with the ticket they gave us made for a nice fan to keep cool sometimes as well. After the tour we got to head back to the courtyard and managed to find a bench in the shade from where we could people watch.
Finally it was time to head back in for the concert! It was in one of the ballrooms, which is a cool place because that is likely how the Emperors family and guests enjoyed live music during special events, so it feels like stepping back in history. It was a small orchestra, they had a drumset for the only percussionist, one bass, a few cellos, a handful of violins, and about one each of the woodwinds and brass.
I honestly don’t know everything they played, I recognized a few but could not think of the names. They did have two opera singers that would sing solos or duets so I would imagine there was plenty of Mozart pieces. I couldn’t understand the German they were singing but they acted it out very well which gave you the idea of what was happening. The conductor did have us get involved for a few songs towards the end, clapping, but sometimes we were supposed to stop and not everyone followed him properly so he would shake his head and give us funny looks. Sometimes he’d stop conducting and just fan himself or the violinists as the orchestra played on.
Of course while in Vienna I had to visit the classical music museum, Haus der Musik, but we first had to stop to try one of Vienna’s traditional desserts with some coffee and tea.
I thoroughly enjoyed it but Mr. Wander wasn’t as excited. They had several floors, ones talking about the different types of music, some talking about how sound is perceived by animals or even babies, and one area talking about the science. They even had an experiment setup with a water tube and you could change the frequency and watch the water create ripples called “node shapes” as you hit certain multiples of the natural frequency. I could go into a full lecture about the science of music but I’ll spare you for now.
One of the floors was dedicated to all the well known composers that have ties to Vienna, with large exhibits for Beethoven, Mozart and Hayden, as they lived much of their life here and are some of the most well known. Several smaller rooms were dedicated to other greats such as Mahler, Strauss, and Schubert.
The Museum did a nice job with having so many interactive ways to learn about music, such as using dice to create a melody or using the spelling or your name to create one, conducting an orchestra, or performing a scale as you walked up the stairs. We did a spin through the gift shop and I was very tempted to get one of these Beethoven rubber ducks.
Reflecting
While we didn’t hit a ton of places in these cities, I think it’s the closest we’ve come to getting into slow travel. It’s a few weeks later that I’m writing this and knowing what we were getting ourselves into in the following weeks I am thankful we slowed down. Mostly because the next several cities are fairly touristy, especially in July and August. It was really nice to be in areas without too many crowds and to only venture out a few times each week to see the sites.
Next Time
As I alluded to before, we were heading to a more touristy area. After leaving Vienna we took a train to Verona for a few days and then on to Venice where we got to meet up with some very special guests! Most of you likely already know, but for the rest I’ll let you live in suspense for a week! We toured Venice together and then headed down to Rome before we boarded a cruise in the Mediterranean. The ship took us to Naples and Pompeii before relaxing at sea for a few days as we headed East. Auf Wiedersehen!