Monday, October 13, 2008

I don't like Vienna Sausages, but I do like Vienna the City!

We spent the morning in Salzburg but we didn't have too long as we were taking the train to Vienna. I never realized how many trains we'd actually be taking. I think the next time I would definitely rent a car (with GPS of course) to tour the Austrian countryside. I think it would probably be much more managable. Plus I could totally go check out the Swarovski place...but I digress.

For our morning in Salzburg we went to the Mozartplatz and had breakfast at Demel. It was a really cute place. I noticed that most of the places we went to in Salzburg were pretty fancy looking. The previous night we were at Carpe Diem and that place was fancy, and then this morning at Demel. We are really classing it up this trip. Anyway, after breakfast we did some quick souvie shopping...there was a group of Euro teens buying beanies at the shop and they kept saying "gangsta, is this gangsta" in European accents. AWESOME.

We boarded the train for Vienna--It was a 4 hour train ride. Luckily there were no stops and so we were just cruising along at a clip pace. It rained almost the entire time on our voyage. When we got in to Vienna we had to split into 2 cabs. The cab driver that Rachel and I had was hilarious. He was super stoked that he was driving some Americans around (that's a rarity in this day and age) and he gave us a bunch of fun facts about the neighborhoods and the city as he drove us to "the Abbey" aka Haus Zamorsky Wien. My favorite part of the ride is when someone jumped out in front of him out of no where and he just started yelling and cussing them out in German. It was sweet.

After getting settled in to the house, we went out for some groceries, flipped on the TV where I discovered VIVA (another music channel that also shows MTV shows...I think it's the equivelent of VH1) and also discovered this magic.

Watch the video link for my German Hip Hop friend Jimi Blue. Prepare to be blown away with pure unabashed awesome.

With that I end this day in Vienna.

Sunday, October 12, 2008

The Hills ARE alive with the Sound of Music

Oh Salzburg....the day I had been waiting for. The place I had associated all my Austrian references with.

After our day at Oktoberfest, we came back to Kitzbuhel and prepared our bags for a long leg of our trip, we decided to return to Kitzbuhel from Prague, so we could spend more time with Belli and her family before returning home. This also meant we could leave behind some of our things before heading off! I ended up leaving quite a few things at the house including my dirndl--that thing is bulky man!

We headed off on the train to Salzburg--Dad dropped us off at the train station. Can I just mention how much I love the Zamorsky parentals?? They are so cute. Such a lovely family. I can't say enough pleasant things about them. Seriously. Love. these. people!!

We got to Salzburg in the early afternoon and stowed our bags in a locker. We got outside it was pretty overcast. We walked to the city center where we would meet our tour group. On the way there was this cute restaurant that Tracy had eaten at previously so we went there for some food. I had the Viennese style fried chicken. It was SO good. It came with the traditional potato salad...which I liked--strange because I hate potato salad here. No gracias. They don't use mayo so I think that's where the happiness lies. The restaurant was so cute and the food was delicious. A perfect way to start our next Austrian adventure.

After our meal, we went over to the kiosk to pick up our tickets. They had a sound of music painted bus. Yes!!! I was so excited, they also had this cow statue that had all these images of the Sound of Music movie. It was cool. Of course I had to take pictures of it and with it. However, while I was trying to be all Ansel Adams, this woman on a bicycle nearly took me and herself out. I think she saw me, tried to veer out of the way, overcorrected and then almost wiped out. I got a little shaken and Tracy and Rachel were on the sidelines like what the hell just happened??

We started our tour, and it was totally packed. I guess I didn't expect there to be that many people who would want to do the tour. The tour took us to a bunch of different locations from the movie. Very cool. Also cool, it was indoors and it started raining while we were on our tour, so it was nice to be inside the bus. The tour took us out to the lakes to this little town to see the church where the Von Trapps got married. It was a nice tour, we also saw the headquarters for Red Bull on our way to the lakes. It was a really cool looking campus. Very pretty.

After the tour we went into the gardens to take all our photos to imitate the movie. Good times. I just wish it wasn't raining so I could be all Julie Andrews without my coat or a care in the world.

We spent the rest of the evening walking around looking for this brewery...it was closed. Boo. but then we ended up hanging out at this little lounge then went to a subpar italian restaurant and had some pizza.

We met up with Belli's brother Rupi afterwards and he transported us to his home and put us up for the evening. I think the whole family is saintly...he had just gotten back from a business trip, plus had a business dinner and then hosted 5 girls at his apartment (4 of whom he'd just met). So above and beyond hospitable.

On our way to Rupi's house I saw a Cafe Rangie. I was so excited since that's the nickname I had given Angie's unborn child. Spooky side note--he was born the day I saw the cafe. Very twilight zone.

Anyways, back to our evening, Rupi's place was nice as well. He had this really cool photo wall with all these photos he had taken. We were going to attempt to watch TV but we couldn't figure out how to turn it on. Haha! Foiled!

Oh well, tomorrow would be a new day and we would be heading to Vienna.

Have Jetlag Will Post

Hello Faithful Readers (from your not so faithful writer),

As i sit here at 7 in the morning after already being awake for a couple of hours, I realize I should probably get cracking on the rest of my vacation posts.



I need to do a few things still...Like upload my photos, and do my laundry, but that will all come in due time.



Now to get back to the earlier posts I had written while I was train bound without computer...

Monday, October 6, 2008

Oktoberfest Lite

Hello Friends, I am just off the train to Prague and I decided to use my time wisely by writing out my posts.

Here goes...

Upon booking our trip to Europe, I had many visions of what Oktoberfest would hold. Part of my visions came to fruition, but there were others that didn't. I was really excited that we were going to be in a tent...Thanks Fritzi! However, Fritzi put us in a high class wine tent. Which was still awesome, but different from the Oktoberfest in my head. They didn't serve the beer in the big mugs, just in a large pilsner glass. However, the food was tasty, the beer was really good, and they had this random cover band called the Hot Frogs to play some jams. They played California Dreamin'...so random and cool at the same time.

Since we went to the Wiesn on a Wedsnesday afternoon, the crowd was pretty sparse. I was expecting it to be blowing up, but as we were departing the grounds the crowds were starting to come. I guess people go after work or after school?

Anyway, we went to the fest in our Dirndls and had a fun tour of the place. We toured the different tents, and I saw the Oktoberfest in my mind--the crowded tents with the large liter mugs of beer. Good times. I definitely will return, but I need to do a little less high class next time and be one with the people of Germany!

However, for my first Oktoberfest, I had a lovely(albeit tame) time. Unfortunately for you guys, there's no drunk Lu in Germany stories to relay to friends and loved ones. Guess I will just save all those types of stories for Vegas!

Auf Weideresehen!

Saturday, October 4, 2008

Posting has been spotty!

Hello Friends,
Sorry posting has been so spotty. We've been on the go for the past few days and I haven't been able to type any posts in. I have some photos to post as well as a bunch of stories, but the internet cafe does not allow for me to get all elaborate on the postings. And we all know what happened the last time I didn't get to log out of the computer...

Right now we're in Vienna and it is really pretty, it hasn't rained most of the day so that has been good.

The past two days were in salzburg which was AMAZING! And of course before that we were at Oktoberfest...which was surprisingly underwhelming. I had imagined mass chaos but it was pretty subdued.

Don't worry, I will fill all this in with details later, but for now that's all I have.

I will try to post again from Prague, but I am currently writing notes to myself so that I can have a more detailed account of all our activities.

Until then...Auf Weideresehen!

Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Pretty Woman Austria Style

Today we had more adventures in the Austrian countryside. We rode a gondola up the mountain to almost the top of the Kitzbuheler Horn. The weather was not as clear as yesterday but it was still pleasant. There was a slight chill. We had lunch up at the Alpenhaus restaurant and I had some soup with these dumplings Knudel(?) and then this mixed salad with some pickled carrots, radishes and potato salad. It was alright but kinda random.

After returning home we were going to go into town to do a little shopping. The town is really cute. Very picturesque. It has all these different little boutiques and cafes. I heard that it gets really crowded during the winter season.

We had a very Pretty Woman moment today during our shopping. Fritzi called a friend of his to "dress" us for Oktoberfest. We were just planning on going to the Goodwill version of Austria to go buy a second hand outfit. However, with his call, the people in this totally authentic high end shop to just give us outfits. Seriously...these things were like 500 € each which works out roughly to about 750 bucks US....dude....each of us got one. and there were 5 of us. Holy bejesus!!

But the people were super nice, took us upstairs and individually fitted each of us in the traditional Austrian dirndl, apron and blouse. HELLO. I am a St. Pauli Girl come to life. It was SO cool!!!! Mine is light blue with a white blouse and a red apron. It actually kinda looks like Belle from Beauty and the Beast. fantastic really.

Tomorrow we head off to Oktoberfest. We're in the wine tent...don't worry, I will be drinkingbeer!! Wish me luck! I'll be back with stories!!

Monday, September 29, 2008

We have arrived in Europe!!!

Hello Friends,
We have arrived safely in Austria. After many hours on the plane, we got to Germany and travelled to Kitzbühel--it took us about 2 hours to get there in rush hour so it really wasn't too bad. The countryside is amazing here. Looks like something straight out of a postcard. So lovely. It's a fair bit cooler here than it was at home.

on the flight from SFO to DC Tracy and I sat near each other and Rachel was up in the middle of the plane...next to a little girl that kept throwing up and MISSING THE BARF BAG. OOH NO.

On the DC to Munich flight Rachel and I sat near eachother and Tracy sat on the other side. On that flight the girl next to me was really nice except she kept fidgeting the entire flight. bogus...get it together lady.

After arriving at Haus Gita in Kitzbühel, we walked into town and then drove up the Kitzbühler Horn--we're so in the alps right now. You know where we're not? At work! woo hoo!!

We ate lunch outside at this cute little chalet restaurant that is adjacent to the ski slopes and had weinersnitzel...a fried pork cutlet...yummy! We also ate some Austrian desserts--something with blueberries and then this cheesecake mousse thing. Delicious.

We also stopped at the grocery store to pick up some food. It was nice to see the foods of Austria. Milk not in the fridge...strange. Oh wait...I just got breaking news that it was actually refridgerated...that was evaporated milk--crisis averted.


After grocery shopping, we went to pick some apples at Belli's friend Fritz's place...can we just say that it was the Austrian version of Cribs....it was where the magic happens. However I'd now like to discuss a segment which I will call Fritzi's Big Five. Fritz is a serious hunter so when we got into the house...which is ginormous by the way. It was cute from the outside, but didn't look overwhelmingly large...ummm there were 3 subterranean levels and two levels above ground.

The Big Five:
5) Zebra (qty 3 -- different "rugs" in the house)
4) Leopard (qty 1 --mounted on wall near staircase)
3) Crocodile (qty 1 -- mounted next to the tub in the sauna...yes I said sauna)
2) Elephant Tusks (qty 4 -- 8 tusks total. deposited throughout the property)
and the number one big animal in the five...
1) Siberian grizzly bear from Russia (qty 1 --mounted on the wall in the solarium/penthouse)

There were other assorted antlers distributed throughout the house. Don't worry friends. I will post photos upon my return to the mother country. The animals although cool, were a little bit creepy, and some of them made me sad. But I was going around taking photos like I was in the museum. We've got rams, birds, hella deer, and the above mentioned animals...it was like the BBC in Menlo Park, except all the animals were real and caught by Fritzi.

Now we're reclining in the house trying to get acclimated to the time.

Until tomorrow, may all your hunting expeditions be fruitful.
xoxo.
Lu

Saturday, September 27, 2008

Less than 24 til we hit the trail.

Hot damn, we leave TOMORROW!!!
Bag is getting packed...I told you I was a procrastinator.
Camera, check.
Video camera, check.
PASSPORT, CHECK!!!
Tsa-locks, hotel confirmations and travel adapters, check!

I was going to bring my DS to rep work on the road, but I need to travel light. My animal crossing town will have to be neglected for 2 weeks :).

Weather report...check...ooh wait, gotta repack. apparently it's cold in dem there hills.

We just returned from Cinco de Ryan, and it was a blast to see all the peeps. And, I am going to try to bring some food on the plane. Heck yes!

Alright now to finish up the remaining items on the to do list, get about 5 hours of sleep and start this all over again.

I just checked in online and printed my boarding passes and it's go time.

Chat with you in Europe!

Ciao Ciao.
Lu

On the horizon

Hello friends,
The trip is now really on the horizon. I left work about 8 this evening trying to wrap a bunch of things up...I don't know why I always do that to myself...I should do things a bit at a time so I don't have this mad dash at the end. However I think it's how I am wired. Procrastinator to the core. Oh well. Like now, I SHOULD be packing but nope...I am sitting blogging, and doing 5 million other things instead of packing.

I am so excited that the trip is finally here though. Today I thought it would be a good idea to buy a rolling duffle rather than my big suitcase (Big Red) or my little suitcase (little red) I figured that it would be good to have something in btwn both sizes. So I buy this bag, bring it home...only to discover it's somehow larger than Big Red. Um, that's not gonna work. I am taking it back but will do so after the trip. I don't have time to return it tomorrow before we leave.

After all the hiccups getting to this trip...well really just the whole losing the passport thing. It really is great to be finally heading out. It seems like ages ago that we planned the trip and now we're off.

Our first stop is Dulles Airport (Washington DC) and then on to Munich where we'll be heading out to Belli's house in Kitzbuhel...Freaking Austrian village. Can you stand it??

I am going to try to update this on the way, but similar to last trip I won't be able to add in photos until the end of the journey. Buckle up kids, it's gonna be a bumpy ride!

Auf Weidersehen.
Lu

Saturday, August 9, 2008

It's almost here!

So today I booked our hotel for our last night in Munich. I am a little peeved because United changed our return flight home so now we have a 3 hour layover in LA which sucks because at that point, I just want to go home. Bad enough we have to change flights. sucks.

Hopefully it will change back to a direct flight from Chicago to SFO.

We've got our reservations for our Oktoberfest tent, as well as our hotel for Prague. The only thing we're missing right now are our train tickets. Which we can probably just get there. We should determine that I suppose.

Anyway, I just wanted to check in, and let everyone know the trip is coming up fast and furious.

Friday, July 4, 2008

Mic Check 1-2-1-2

Hey Peeps.
I am resurrecting the travel blog before we head to Germany/Austria.

Currently the agenda includes Rachel, Tracy and I and perhaps Eileen and her friend Emily will be globetrotting with us.

Anyway, not sure if anyone is still out there reading, but maybe you can enjoy the blog ride for our next trip.

Trip begins Sept 28. Be there. Watch this space for updates.

Keep it real.
Lu