Austria - Day 5, more Salzburg

Above - the stormy rain clouds hanging over the hills

Above - Mozart's home, now a museum

Above - the view from the top of the castle over Salzburg

Above - looking up to the castle

Above - the view over Salzburg from the castle

Above - looking towards the hills from the castle

Above - Getreidegasse

On Monday I ate breakfast at the hostel. The breakfast at this hostel was better than the breakfast at the hostel in Vienna as it was buffet style so you could choose what you wanted as opposed to be given a set plate of food. There was also more choice. I had two bread rolls with cheese and tomato, orange juice and coffee. Delicious.

After breakfast I had to change my sandals for socks and shoes as it was raining! It was still humid and warm but wet. Out came the umbrella again - this time to shelter me from the rain as opposed to shade me from the sun. I decided that I would begin my tour of Salburg with one of the two Mozart museums seeing as it was raining. I walked along the river and crossed at the bridge to the museum that was easy enough to find. Salzburg has two Mozart museums - one in the house where Mozart was born and lived with his family and a second in the second house of Mozart that he moved into with his family later in his life when the other house was considered too small. Inside the museum were pianos and violins belonging to Mozart as well as photos and originally manuscripts of his compositions. There was an audio guide which told you about Mozart, his life and his family as well as his travels around Europe. After the Mozart museum I crossed back to the other side of the river with the intention of heading to the second Mozart museum however the rain was so heavy I went into a coffee shop for coffee and apple strudel. The rain eventually stopped however it kept rumbling with thunder. After the coffee and apple strudel I continued to explore and walked along Getreidegasse - a main street with lots of shops each with metal signs handing out into the street. I visited the Glockenspiel, Rathaus and Cathedral. In the afternoon the weather had brightened and I decided to head up to the castle - Hohensalzburg. I walked to the top but there was also a cable car. The castle was situated on top of a hill and had a museum of army related items as well as beautiful views over Salzburg. I spent the rest of the afternoon in and around the castle.

Austria - Day 4, Salzburg

Above - Strawberry Youth Hostel where I stayed in Salzburg

Above - the view from the hostel along the banks of the river Salzach

On Sunday I got up and headed into the centre of Vienna for breakfast before returning to the hostel for my suitcase and heading to the train station. I bought a ticket and got the 11h45 train to Salzburg. The train was so hot - there were no windows nor air conditioning! It was the type of train that has a passage way down one side and then compartments with doors. I don't they such trains exist in England. It was so stifling hot I thought I was going to melt! And I had to sit there roasting for 3 hours all the way to Salzburg! When we finally arrived and I got off the train I couldn't tell you whether it was actually any cooler or whether just the moving air made it feel fresher. Salzburg train station, like Vienna's, was under going restauration and, like in Vienna, it took me an age to orientate myself and head off in the right direction to the hostel. It was only a short walk - the hostel was situated on the banks of the river and you could see the hills in the distance. Already I was finding Salzburg an improvement on Vienna. I'd also decided it was cooler too, although still warm there was a refreshing breeze and the odd cloud too.

After checking in at the hostel I headed along the river into Salzburg for something to eat. I stopped at a restaurant where I read my guide book and planned what there was to see and do over the next two days. I ate a spinach and ricotta calzone with tiramasu for desert.

Austria - Day 3, the last of Vienna

Above - Karlskirche at Karlsplatz

Above - another statue, this time it's Strauss rather than Mozart

Above - Gloriette in Schonbrunn Palace grounds

Above - looking back down towards Schonbrunn Palace from Gloriette

Above - looking through the waterfall towards Schonbrunn Palace

Above - Schonbrunn Palace and gardens

On Saturday I went back to Schonbrunn where I had first come to visit the zoo. This time I wanted to walk around the gardens and go in the palace. Schonbrunn was out of the centre of Vienna slightly but within easy walking distance of where I was staying. The Palace was very grand - like a stately home. The gardens were grand and impressive too. And there was a beautiful fountain and then a hill with a monument (Gloriette) on the top of that gave good views back down towards the Palace. The weather was very hot with the sun burning down, it was exhausting. As I was walking to the top of the hill I stopped at the fountain to take a photo looking back down towards the Palace. I had to wait an age to take that photo - there were so many tourists all wanting to stand by the fountain and have their photo taken. I swear the Korean/Japanese/Chinese tourists are the worst. They photograph everything - they're worse than me. Snap, snap, snap - do they even look at what they're photographing?!

In the afternoon I took the metro to Karlskirche (Karl's Church) and also to the Stadtpark. I then walked back towards St. Stephen's Cathedral and via the Hofburg stopping off to watch the second half of the football - Germany v Argentina, before going back to the hostel. Another exhaustingly hot day in Vienna but I had seen everything I wanted to see. I was ready to move on now to Salzburg.

Austria - Day 2, more Vienna

Above - the ice cream that kept me company whilst watching the Dutch knock the Brazilians out of the World Cup.

Above - the inside of St Stephen's Cathedral

Above - the tiled roof of St Stephen's Cathedral as seen from the top

Above - the view over Vienna from the top of the Cathedral

Above - if the sun all gets too much for you then you can be driven around by a horse and cart - they were everywhere!

Above - St Stephen's Cathedral - undergoing some restauration.

Above - the Hofburg

Above - Parliament

Above - the Rathaus (Town Hall)

Above - a statue of Mozart complete with floral treble cleff, a nice touch I thought

I decided that on Friday I would explore the centre of Vienna where most of the tourist attractions seemed to be located. I began my day with a viennese breakfast at the hostel - 2 bread rolls with jam, orange juice and coffee. I them walked from the hostel into the centre of town without getting lost! Well, it was quite easy - walk straight along a shopping road - even I couldn't go wrong. And I did, by this time, have a map. I went in a few of the shops along the way. The Mariahilferstrasse would appear to be the Viennese equivalent of Oxford Street. When I reached the end I went to the Hofburg - a cluster of buildings that were home to the Habsburg family until the First World War but now houses the Austrian President and many museums. I went to the Papyrus Museum, I wanted also to go to the Globe Museum but couldn't for the life of me find it. Now there's a surprise! After wondering around the Hofburg I made my way to the Rathaus (Town Hall) and also to the Parliament - not quite as impressive as Big Ben it has to be said. In the afternoon, after stopping for lunch and under the shelter of my umbrella - no, it wasn't raining it was just so ridiculously hot, I went to Stephensdom (St. Stephen's Cathedral) and took the lift to the top - there was no option of stairs despite it not being overly high up. The views over Vienna were quite pretty, but what was more pretty was the tiled roof of the Cathedral. I then stopped in an ice cream cafe to watch the football - Holland v Brazil. I was very pleased, if a little surprised, that Holland won. I then made my way back to the hostel. The weather was hot and sunny. I don't know how hot exactly by the thermometer by the clock at the train station was reading 34*C and that was at around 18h!!

Vienna, it would seem, is pleasant enough. There are museums and churches, a cathedral and a little history. And then there's a touch of Mozart on every corner. But it didn't appear to be anything special - there was no river (there is one but it seems to run alongside Vienna as opposed to through the middle), no large gardens or green spaces, no main feature. Yes, it's nice as far as cities go but I wouldn't recommend it. I've been to far more interesting places.

Austria - Day 1, Vienna

Above - my Easy Jet carriage awaits

Above - my personal favourite - the hippos at the zoo

Above - a hippo

Above - a panda

Above - flamingos

Above - an elephant

Above - a penguin poses for the camera

Above - a sun bathing seal

Above - it was even too hot for the tigers

Above - another poser!

The alarm clock sounded at 3h45 this morning. Whose bright idea was it to book a 7h40flight from Gatwick?! I left the house at 4h30 and caught the 5h09 train to Gatwick. I’ve never been out so early in the morning. It was barely light and the streets were the emptiest I’ve ever seen them – too early for the buses, too early for commuters, only the odd taxi ferrying mad holiday makers like me to the train station! The only other people up and about were people still out from yesterday – their evening had stretched into the early hours of the morning and the majority of them were looking worse for wear. It was bizarre to think that their yesterday was coming to an end as my today had well and truly begun.

I arrived at Gatwick just before 6h and was confronted with an enormous check in queue. I had actually checked in on line – ‘to save time at the airport’ as Easy jet put it. Trouble is you end up queuing in the same queues as everyone else who had checked in online (it makes the ticket cheaper – you have to pay to check in at the airport these days) as you still have to hand over your suitcase. I stood in the queue for 25 minutes. Why can’t Gatwick be like other airports and have separate queues for each flight rather than lumping everyone together in one massive queue? I made a mental note to myself that it might well be worth paying for so called ‘speedy’ boarding in future, either that or only taking hand luggage. I arrived the other side of the hand baggage security at about 6h40. Breakfast time. Coffee and croissant a la Gatwick, how continental of me. I had 20 minutes until the boarding gate was due to open. Trouble was I had no watch. It’s in for repair. Now you’d think there’d be clocks everywhere in an airport wouldn’t you? But oh no, it tells you that boarding is due to start at 7h but nowhere does it tell you what the actual time is. Is that so you don’t notice as much when things are running late I wonder? I sat munching on my croissant and sipping on my coffee surrounded by other early morning travellers – including quite a few families – screaming babies and miserable looking children. Are these families actually going to enjoy their holidays? The children look like they don’t want to be there and the parents don’t look like they want them there. The lengths the parents go to in an attempt to keep the children quiet – the magazine, the toy, the drink, the food. And still they all sit looking miserable – it’s a holiday – smile!

As it goes we were late taking off. I don’t suppose the long bus trip from the gate to the aircraft helped. And that was after we’d walked half way across London to get to the gate. It made me smile to see signs saying leave 10 minutes to get to gates 10 to 30, 15 minutes to get to gates 31 to 60 and 20 minutes to get to gates 61 to 97 – I can walk a mile in 20 minutes!! But it really did take 15 minutes to get to the gate and then add on the bus trip, either they had us going round in circles or Gatwick airport stretches the whole of London!

At 8h30 we finally took off arriving in Vienna 1 hour 45 minutes later. After coming out of the airport I took the bus to the Westbahnhof (train station) which was quite simple to do. I arrived at Westbahnhof at 12h30. According to my direction copied off the hostel’s web site it was a 5 minute walk from the station to the hostel. Although I had no map I did have the written directions which began ‘turn right out of the station’. Simple enough you might think. Until you realise that this particular train station has two exits. What kind of train station has two exits?! After walking round and round and round I found the road I was looking for. From there it was 5 minutes to the hostel. Add on my complete lack of sense of direction and the 15 minutes it took me to get my bearings and find the road I was looking for and it was 13h before I got to the hostel and was given a map.

In the afternoon I decided to head to Schonbrunn – a palace with gardens and a zoo. I spent the afternoon in the zoo deciding that the palace and gardens would have to wait until the following day. I really enjoyed the zoo, particularly the hippos. It would turn out to be the highlight of Vienna and maybe the whole of Austria too.

The Isle of Wight

Above - Ryde Pier looking towards Ryde, Isle of Wight

Above - Looking towards Portsmouth from Ryde Pier

Above - Looking towards Ryde from Ryde Pier

Above - Just walking off the Pier at Ryde

Above - Ryde beach with sand and shells

Above - Shanklin Chine

Above - Shanklin Chine

Above - Shanklin cliffs and beach

Above - A sandy beach

Above - A pretty tea shop in Shanklin

On Wednesday I went to the Isle of Wight. I took the 0903 train from Brighton to Portsmouth Harbour where I changed and caught the Wight Link boat to Ryde. The boat took about 20 minutes. When I arrived at Ryde Pier Head (at about 11h) I was at the very end of a very long wooden structure - presumably the Pier. I walked the length of this structure spanning the sea and onto the island. My first observation, apart from the boat only taking me half way across the channel to the island, was that there was a beach. With sand. This got me excited. If the north coast of the Isle of Wight can have sandy beaches then why can't the south coast of England? It just isn't fair.

I went to the tourist information centre. Originally I was going to go to Osbourne House - an English Heritage property in East Cowes, but it was a long wait for the bus. I decided instead to get the bus to Shanklin in the south east of the island. It took about 30 minutes. When I got there I had a walk around and went down to the beach. I then stopped for some lunch (a cheese ploughmans) in an open air cliff top cafe with sea views. Very nice. After lunch I went to the Shanklin Chine. A chine is a steep sided river valley where the river flows through coastal cliffs to the sea. Shanklin chine is an area of outstanding natural beauty that is very green with lots of plants and trees and a waterfall. There is also the PLUTO (pipe line under the ocean) running through it which carried petrol during the war from France to England.

After Shanklin I headed back to Ryde I took the train. There isn't really a train network. There is one line running down one side of the island with 6 stops. The trains they use are the old London Underground ones. The carriage I took was from 1938! There was no time to detour to East Cowes and Osbourne House. Nor did I get to visit The Needles in west of the island. I had no idea there'd be so much to see! It's a pretty island with lots of tourists, mostly old. In fact I don't think I saw anyone under the age of 65 all day! Nor did I pass any schools... I plan to go back for further exploring.

The Seven Wonders of The Isle of Wight:

1) Lake you can walk through without wetting your feet

2) Newtown which is very old

3) Ryde where you walk

4) Newport you cannot bottle

5) Needles you cannot thread

6) Freshwater you cannot drink

7) Cowes you cannot milk

Bognor Regis

Above - Bognor seafront.

Above - the pebbles so characteristic, it would seem, of every south coast 'beach'.

Above - the English Channel as seen from Bognor Pier.

Above - Bognor seafront as seen from Bognor Pier.

Above - Hotham Park.

Above - Hotham Park again.

Above - purchase of the year (so far) - William.

Yesterday (Saturday) I went on a day trip - to Bognor Regis. Bognor is located about 30 miles west along the coast from Brighton. So, naturally, it took me 2 hours and 10 minutes to get there... ?!?!

I took the Stagecoach Coastliner 700 which has the snappy catch phrase of 'cruise along the coast' (I think 'crawl along the coast may be more precise but still, I imagine it wouldn't be as good for business) from Churchill Square to Bognor High Street. I arrived at 11h20 and headed for the tourist information centre where I picked up more leaflets on The Isle of Wight than Bognor. I then wandered through a market and made my way to the sea front.

Bognor sea front is somewhat like Brighton sea front in that it lacks sand. Indeed, these southern seaside resorts that boast beaches are beginning to redefine in my mind what a beach actually is. For me, a beach always used to need to include that key golden ingredient - yes, sand! It would seem in this part of the world that to classify as a beach all you need is pebbles. And that was indeed what Bognor had - pebbles galore, just like Brighton.

Besides the pebbles the seafront was pretty similar to Brighton's - tacky souvenir shops where I confess I bought postcards, there were ice cream and coffee huts, public toilets - better kept than Brighton's, and deckchairs you could hire for a whole £1 less than in Brighton. There was even something resembling a Pier - or at least some kind of wooden jetty thing protruding out over the sea that you could walk on.

After exploring the sea front I headed back to the High Street where I found a nice little cafe for some lunch - tomato soup. I then took a walk to the other end of the High Street and along a bit towards Butlins (there's where Bognor gets one up on Brighton - it has a Butlins Holiday Camp - and it can keep it too!) and to Hotham Park - the only tourist attraction besides the beach and a museum - the contents of which didn't draw me to visit - a Museum of the Social History of Bognor incorporating a Wireless History Museum - interesting combo, maybe next time.

Hotham Park was smallish with a small boating lake (about the size of a swimming pool - I'd like to see them fit any more than one boat on it at a time), a few flowers and a few more trees. After 15 minutes I'd exhausted the garden and headed back for the sea front - at the opposite end of the town (surely Bognor is not a city?!) this time. Still no sand. I then decided to settle in a coffee shop - sitting outside in the sun I ordered a latte and opened my Austria tour guide I picked up in the Oxfam Bookshop in Hove several weeks ago and had brought with me for the looooooooooooooooooong bus journey only to find the bus bumped up and down so much I couldn't make out the print. I sat in the sun reading my travel guide and sipping on what was, most definitely, the weakest cup of coffee I've ever tasted. In fact, I'd go as far to say it was the worst cup of coffee I'd ever tasted. So bad in fact that, if I'd not have known it was coffee, I'd have been certain it was coloured hot water... maybe it was.

Anyway, it was now mid afternoon and black clouds were starting to appear. I drank 2/3 of the brown water that pretended to be coffee and headed for the shops. There were the usual High Street names along with a few other, more individual shops. For saying it was a Saturday afternoon it wasn't that busy. I browsed around and then found the purchase of the year (so far). A Leonardo ornament of a Labrador sitting about 25cm high holding a lead in his mouth - it was William! I just had to have it. He even had a name tag on that the man in the shop engraved with 'William' for me! After finishing browsing the shops - I didn't buy anything else other than the dog and a couple of postcards, I went back to the High Street and caught the bus back to Brighton.

I arrived back at 17h40 after another bumpy 2 hours and 10 minutes of going through Russington, a place called East Preston - I thought Preston was up north, mind you, I'd been on the bus long enough to have arrived up north, but the eventual glimpse of the sea and lack of sand confirmed I was indeed still somewhere along the south coast, Littlehampton, Worthing, Shoreham and finally Brighton.

So all in all an interesting day. Bognor is a smaller, cleaner and calmer version of Brighton. But then again I'm starting to get the impression that most places along the south coast are.

Oh and according to the dictionary beach is "an area of sand sloping down to the water of a sea". (worldnetweb.princeton.edu)