Since Zach turned 25 this year (as did his girlfriend Allison), we said we’d take them to Europe as a combined birthday/Christmas gift. After some discussion, we decided on Christmas Markets in Austria and Northern Italy. After the first week of the trip, the kids flew home and Teresa and I continued on to Rome for six nights. Here was our itinerary: Vienna...
We arrived Saturday night around 5pm. It was already dark, and a bit chilly (35 degrees F) but not too bad. We were exhausted, so found a place for dinner (Gasthaus Damir) near our apartment then headed for bed. I had Wiener Schnitzel, while Teresa and Zach both had spinach tortellini. (Allison was too exhausted to join—straight to bed for her!) A bar at the Vienna...
We went to Café Leo for breakfast, since it was close to the apartment. We all had the Viennese Breakfast, which consisted of a soft boiled egg (in an egg cup), soft roll, cheese, marmalade, cucumber, and tomato. It was more filling that it sounds, and a great way to start the day! Mozarthaus One of the days highlights was Mozarthaus Vienna (also known as the Figaro...
We took a morning train to Salzburg, which was a 2.5 hour trip. After getting settled in, we went to a nearby Christmas Market at Mirabellplatz, which was a short walk from our hotel. It’s a small market, but cozy, and they had good mugs for the glühwein (so we bought one, which would become a recurring theme—we came home with three mugs!) There were some...
The Sound of Music If you’ve seen The Sound of Music, you know that it’s set in Salzburg, and much of it was filmed in and around Salzburg. We began the day with the “original” Sound of Music Tour. The company, Panorama Tours, really can make the claim as the original, since they were contracted by the production company of the film to take...