Salzburg

Next stop: Austria!

We woke up early Saturday morning morning to board a train to Salzburg, Austria. Famously known as the setting of one of the most famous movies in the world, The Sound of Music, Salzburg's lush green hills and mountains sits just an hour southeast of Munich, Germany.

We arrived at Salzburg Hauptbahnhof Train Station shortly after 11am. The weather was sunny and mild, and the streets were quiet for a Saturday morning. I think we lucked out big time with the weather that day. It was actually scheduled to rain according to weather predictions.

First stop on our itinerary: lunch! 

After a long day of singing and dancing at Oktoberfest, we knew we needed to recover our energy somehow. Pasta was a relatively easy and obvious choice for us, which led us to Ristorante Pasta e Vino, an authentic Italian restaurant situated with in the quiet city.

Since the menu changes daily according to whatever is in season at the market on any given day, there was no menu. Sarah ordered a delicious, creamy mushroom pasta, while I ordered the white wine tuna pasta dish. One bite of my dish, and all my memories of Italy from this past spring flooded back. The pasta dish was fresh, simple, and unpretentious. The lightly seasoned white wine sauce on the handmade noodles, coupled with the thick slices of tuna, and small portions of sautéed veggies. 

Shortly after lunch, we headed over to the Mirabell Gardens to meet up for The Sound of Music Tour. 

Funny story...

We actually missed our tour bus across the street by five minutes all due to the delay or the bathroom attendant at the Mirabell Gardens. We literally ran across the street as the bus was pulling away. Sarah managed to track down a tour attendant who graciously said that we "weren't late" and to just wait. We're convinced he hailed the bus driver to pull back around the block, because they actually came back for us. Haha GOD BLESS. Thank you Panorama Tours!

At a quarter past 2pm, we were well on our way. Our tour guide was both charming and had a great sense of humor. He broke the ice with a couple of jokes, and passed around the Lonely Goat stuffed animal for "selfie opportunities". 

A couple of key movie locations that we visited were:

• Mirabell Gardens and the Pegasus Fountain (the dance scene with Maria and the children)
• Schloss Leopoldskron (in the film, the house where the family lived)
• Hellbrunn palace (singing scenes)
• Nonnberg Convent (where the young Maria was a novice)
• St. Gilgen / Wolfgangsee (opening scene of the movie)
• Mondsee Basilica (wedding scene)

We also took a few off-beaten path stops along the way to embrace the beauty of Austria, witness the oldest fortress in Europe, and get a small glimpse of the Alps. Those extra stops were actually my favorite parts of the tour.

As that was our first and only guided tour while we were in Europe, we did fell a little bit rushed getting in and out of the bus between photo opportunities. If I had another opportunity to visit Salzburg, I'd definitely want to rent a place and just really enjoy the scenic beauty at a slower pace. Austria is definitely one of the top countries on my list to revisit someday. It was definitely love at first sight. 

After a lovely four hour tour of the city, a couple of sing along opportunities, and a nap or two on the bus, we wrapped up our tour and our day trip to Salzburg, Austria. After a quick dinner stop, we were back on our way to Munich for the night. It was a magical day filled with lots of breathtaking sights that neither Sarah or I will forget. We'll be back!

Next stop on our European adventure: Berlin! If you have any questions about Salzburg, please feel free to reach out to me via Instagram or Twitter via @tran_gerine. 

Until next time...see you in the next post! You won't want to miss out on Berlin. There's so much to share!

xo

Melissa

Hallo München!

This past week has been an amazing whirlwind of experiences. Last night, my friend, Sarah, and I just got back to L.A. after spending a week in Germany and Austria. In total, we flew for 15.5 hours and were both up for over 24 hours. It was quite a trek back, but definitely worth the trip to Europe.

DAY 1: ARRIVAL

Last Thursday, we landed in the beautiful Bavarian city of Munich. The weather was sunny and chilly, but beautiful. It was a relatively quiet city, but nonetheless, had many activities to offer. On our first day, we got breakfast at Gartensalon, a really adorable indoor and outdoor garden themed brunch spot. Sarah got the scrambled egg Mexican toast with loose leaf green tea, while I ordered the honey scrambled egg honey mustard toast with ginger tea.

The toast was the most magnificent breakfast we ate in Munich. The crispy mixed grain toast coupled with the sauce, scrambled eggs, cucumber, and freshly picked sprouts, made for the perfect breakfast. I would highly recommend this place if you're looking for some delicious and uncomplicated breakfast in a relaxing environment. Just be careful of the bees. They loved to hang out our table!

After breakfast, we headed to the Church of St. Peter, also known as Peterskirche to explore the aerial views of the city. After exploring the church and climbing 299 steps, we were met with the most breathtaking view of Munich all around. Sunny weather, blue skies, and beautiful ceramic rooftops stretched for miles. It was my favorite view of Munich. 

Peterskirche

Aerial view of Munich.

By midday, we were pretty exhausted from all of the jet lag, and retreated to our hotel, the Ruby Lilly Hotel. It was a lovely, bohemian boutique hotel, with mixed tape cassette tapes along the entry wall, vintage tvs, a dark but cozy downstairs bar, an intimate upstairs library, and clean and quiet rooms. It was as if someone had catered this hotel just for us. We loved every bit it!

In the evening, we had dinner at München Stubn where we were served large portions of chicken salads in casserole dishes. The atmosphere was nice and intimate. The restaurant was busy and cozy, and the food was fresh and delicious. The dishes were pretty standard, but nonetheless, it was a good experience. We decided to call it an early night since we were going to Oktoberfest the next day.

DAY 2: OKTOBERFEST

Alas, the day finally arrived...Oktoberfest! Sarah and I had been long awaiting this moment for months. A bucket list item to be crossed out, we woke up early on Friday to transform ourselves in to Bavarian Fraus "Bavarian women" for the day. We both wore the traditional Bavarian dress, the "dirndl", before walking to the Oktoberfest grounds in Theresienwiese. 

Bavarian dirndl.

Zwei fraus ready for Oktoberfest!

After a bit of a walk and a few detours, we made it to Oktoberfest at about noon. Sarah recommended that we visit the Hacker-Pschorr tent, where we headed to and ultimately stayed for the rest of the day. When we arrived, we were quickly seated front and center by a kind hostess despite the tent being relatively full. Initially, it was a bit intimidating being placed at a table of about five guys. The ice quickly broke when the beer Maß came out, and the table community was built. We met new friends: Daniel, Markus, Jahn, Johnny, and Jochen. Everyone was kind and welcoming, and everyone rose to sing and dance to the live bands playing.

2.5 Maß each, a chicken meal, lots of karaoke, and dancing later, we headed out of Oktoberfest at about 9pm. While we never really had a chance to explore the festival grounds, or change tents, we had an incredible experience in the Hacker tent. Simple, but beautifully decorated with light blue skies, light clouds, and starlights, this tent was definitely a lot of fun. If you decide to come to this tent, get ready for lots of karaoke to country, rock, and oldies music like "Sweet Caroline", "Rocking All Over the World", "Who the F*** is Alice", and "Que Sera Sera".

Pro Tip: Don't forget to eat and pace yourself with beer in the tents! 

Oktoberfest was a lot of fun, and definitely creates a lot of community amongst everyone from different backgrounds. Definitely one of one of my favorite festivals I've been to. If you want to know more about my experience or have any questions about Oktoberfest, please feel free to reach out to me via Instagram or Twitter via @tran_gerine. 

Next up...Austria! Stay tuned.

Prost!

Melissa