Welcome to part 3 of my Winter Wonderland Adventures! I'm leaving Switzerland and heading off to explore Austria and the Czech Republic!
Day 13 St Moritz to Vaduz to Innsbruck
I feel like I slept a bit better although my watch disagrees with me. I left the window open a good 15cm last night so I could have the doona on and not sweat all night.
I quickly got dressed & ready, packed my things then went to check out & have breakfast. I had a quick one today. 2 eggs, a bit of turkey meat and a piece of bread with home brand Nutella.
I made my way to the bus stop and took the bus to the train station. Free buses rule! I was very early but that's ok because I didn't want to miss my train and the buses don't always run at the same times Google says. I watched the sunrise over the lake & mountains, then boarded my train. It was very quiet so I had a huge amount of space to myself.
The 2hrs passed quickly, and I had to change trains in Chur for my next train. This one was a big double decker so I sat up top for the short 30min trip.
At Buchs I had to change again for my third & final train of the day. This was a 2.25hr trip to Innsbruck. Unfortunately, this train was literally overflowing with people! Every door you went to was full of purple. I ended up squeezing into a carriage, and standing in the automatic door at the end of the carriage. For the next half hour, I had to keep holding the door as it kept trying to shut on me & my gear. Some people got off at the next stop, so I moved myself to the slinky section between the carriages. Here, I sat on my hiking pack for the next hour being jiggled around as the slinky section kept moving with the motion of the train.
We passed through Liechtenstein and I was able to video the scenery as we passed through. It looks like a nice place to visit one day!
Finally, there was some space in the carriage so I could put my bags behind the end seat & sit in an actual seat. With 20mins to go lol.
In Innsbruck, I began the walk to my hostel. There were limited choices here when I booked, so I have a very expensive hostel (€70/night) on the other side of town to the train station. It took me 20mins to walk but it's all flat so not too bad.
I checked in, dropped my things then went out to explore. The buildings around here are very pretty! There was also some kids festival going on, and I think every Austrian kid was in town participating. I walked around for ages, taking lots of photos & doing my souvenir shopping.
I found a Swarovski shop. I'm sure you all know, but in case you don't, Swarovski make crystal ornaments and now jewellery etc. My mum has a couple of pieces and I loved looking at them growing up. Innsbruck is the home of Swarovski and this shop is big! I'm such a firefly, I love all things sparkly, and crystal is VERY sparkly! Tomorrow, I’ll be visiting the Swarovski crystal world and I want to buy something, I'm just not sure if I should get an ornament, necklace, bracelet or ring!
I decided to get a Christmas market mug filled with apple strudel punch. The punch was delicious!
I also got my souvenir shot glass and I got a special one too. The shop had a section of souvenirs with kangaroos so I was attracted to this. Naturally, I had to buy something!
I walked past a wine house and they had the Italian bombardino for sale. I decided to buy a small bottle to take home as a quick Google search revealed it might be difficult to buy in London.
Alcohol seems to be quite popular here as I passed another shop which makes their own liqueurs, and they have a big colourful wall of them. I tasted the raspberry, which was nice, and the caramel, which was to die for. I bought a small bottle of the caramel to take home.
I headed back to my hostel as it was getting cold and I didn't have my coat. I tried to find somewhere for a schnitzel for tea, but many restaurants in the tourist area have terrible reviews. One place away from the area had great reviews, except for the fact that they apparently get very rude if you turn up without a booking, and usually turn you away, and do not like to accept card payments. So I went for a burger which was just across the river. It was nice, not amazing.
Then I walked around the streets looking at all the pretty lights, before heading back to my room.
Day 14 Innsbruck to Salzburg - New Years Eve!
I woke a few times during the night, especially when the other girls were getting up. The girl below me was up at 4.45am!
I got up, get ready and was out the door at 7.20am. It was a 20min walk to the train station and I had to work out how to get my tickets for my trip today. It was actually extremely easy, I found the machine straight away, got my ticket & found the right bus stop.
Then it was time for brekky. I went and got a coffee and a local pastry. It was a swirl shape and had a sweet poppy seed filling. It was alright, but I wouldn't have it again.
Finally, the shuttle bus arrived and I boarded. It was about 25mins to drive to the Swarovski Crystal World. I was very much looking forward to this as I really like the Swarovski figurines.
Upon arrival, I went straight to the chamber of wonders. This is a walk through of all these different rooms with different themes. Fortunately, as we were the first bus to arrive, it was empty.
To enter, you go past the giant & the waterfall. This is a photo stop.
The rooms are amazing! There are so many sparkly crystals! Here are a ton of photos of the different rooms.
There is a room of clothing worn by famous people too.
At the end, there are a range of crystal products from the past. Things such as crystal bras, head pieces, bags etc.
At the end of the walk through, is the shop. A HUGE shop! There is a big selection of jewellery, a small selection of clothing, crockery and of course, the figurines & ornaments. Some of these are stunning, like the zebras. They have definitely changed their products over the years as most of the range is now movie characters and Christmas, and very colourful. I definitely prefer the traditional animal pieces from the pre-2000’s. In saying that, though, there is a stunning pink & purple orchid one that I love and would really like to buy.
They also have a VIP lounge, which has a collection of older pieces, for show not sale. I recognised some of my mum’s pieces on display.
I wanted to buy something and ended up looking at necklaces. I was deciding between two, and after trying them on, I couldn't decide. So I bought both!
Afterwards, I went for a walk to the crystal cloud garden, which was pretty cool.
Then I had another walk around the shop and went to wait for the bus.
Back in Innsbruck, I walked around the streets and got a giant sausage. It was really good!
I then collected my luggage and went to the train station. I had almost 2hrs before my train so I sat and waited. When the platform was announced, I went to the platform, then got on my train. Today it was empty, unlike yesterday!
The train trip felt long, even though it was less than 2hrs. We went through Germany to get to Salzburg. The walk to my hostel was only 10mins so not too bad.
After checking in & charging my phone, I went in search of food. I had found a restaurant online that has excellent reviews, and I wanted a schnitzel. The walk there was through the historic area, which was gorgeous. Lit up with Christmas lights and full of old buildings.
The restaurant was busy, but they were able to squeeze me in. I ordered the Weiner schnitzel, which is veal and massive, as well as the potato salad and cranberry sauce. It was the most expensive schnitzel I have ever had, but it was so good! They even have the schnitzels being made in the restaurant, in full view of the diners and people on the street. Afterwards, I ordered the apple strudel with vanilla sauce. This turned out to be vanilla custard, and the whole thing was divine. I was so full but I thoroughly enjoyed my final meal of 2023. Totally worth the €50!
I walked around the streets and found the Christmas market by the Cathedral. Only about half the stalls were open, mainly food ones, and it was now raining. I walked around for a bit then went back to my hostel. I wanted to chill before the fireworks later.
Just after 11pm, one of the girls in my room & I got dressed and headed down to the river. It was still raining so I had my umbrella and ski coat. When we got to the bridge, there were very few people around. This surprised me as I thought it would be very busy. Fireworks were already going off; they had been for hours.
I read that the fireworks would be launched from the fortress up on the hill, so we got a spot on the bridge that should have a good view of the fortress & old town. Over the next 30mins, it got very full of people, most of them drinking, and most with umbrellas. This limited visibility unfortunately.
Finally, midnight came! Happy New Year! We could see the fireworks, launched from the Cathedral not the fortress, and there were still plenty being launched by the river. The Cathedral bells also rang for the duration of the fireworks show. It was good but not amazing, in my opinion.
As soon at they finished we headed straight back to the hostel. My fingers were frozen from holding the phone in the rain and wind.
There is free tea at the hostel, so we got a cuppa and went to sit in the lounge area to drink. She is from the USA and this is her first solo trip, and first time in Europe. There was a group of Aussies in the lounge having a great time. There are a LOT of Aussies here in Europe. I don't meet any in London and I come to Europe and we are everywhere.
At 1am, we headed back to our room and went to bed.
Day 15 Salzburg
We woke early as several girls were leaving early. It was also very hot in our room, so I opened the window to let the freezing air in.
Eventually, I got up, showered and found an Aussie coffee shop. It was a 10min walk from the hostel and had excellent reviews. I was pleased to see it was open, and got a latte and a pain au chocolat. The guy is from Melbourne, and offered me an Aussie latte (smaller) or an Austrian latte (bigger). The coffee was absolutely perfect. Australia, particularly Melbourne, is known as having the best coffee in the world and there are many expats who have opened coffee shops around the world to bring Melbourne coffee to the Aussies abroad. The coffee was so good that I actually got a second one. And a Tim Tam to go with it.
Afterwards, I walked around the streets for hours. I got my shot glass, and when the Christmas market opened, I got a hot berry punch in a souvenir mug.
I took lots of photos and went past Mozart’s house.
Eventually I needed the toilet, so I headed back to my hostel. I ended up chilling for a bit in my room, then headed out for another walk. I went via a big Spar supermarket to get a snack & drink then went back to my room again. Clearly it's a very low key lazy day today.
Eventually, I dragged my butt out to get some tea. I had chosen another restaurant with good reviews. This one had a schnitzel stuffed with bacon, mushroom & cream cheese that sounded delicious. There was a queue out the front when I arrived so I joined them. I was there for a while and then this Italian guy came right up & pushed in front of everyone, asking for a table. The host told him there were a lot of people ahead of him & he had to wait so that was good. He did, however, push in front of me and got seated before me which annoyed me. As they were so busy, they asked people to share tables, so I was seated at a table with an Italian family (mum, dad & 2 very young girls). I think their English was limited so they just spoke to their kids & I kept to myself.
I ordered the schnitzel as well as a side salad. It was really good. I decided to have an apple strudel for dessert. This was a mistake as it was pretty terrible. Very cakey, not pastry filled with apple. Oh well.
Then I headed back to my hostel, washed my hair & went to bed.
Day 16 Munich
This morning I had to get ready as I was off to Munich for a day trip. The thing I really love about Europe is that you can just pop to another country for the day, or lunch, or even a coffee. Absolutely can't do that at home!
I went to the Aussie coffee shop and he made me the same as yesterday. Then I walked to the train station. I found my platform & was early so I went to the supermarket & got an apple pastry for breakfast.
The train was at the platform when I returned so I found a nice 4 seater section with a power point. I put some music on, got my sudoku book out and plugged my headphone case into charge.
But long before departure, a huge family got on. The man tried speaking to me but when I said I don't speak German so I don't understand him, he said oh ok. I think he wanted me to move somewhere else in the train so they could have the 2x 4 seat sections to themselves. Mind you there were about 10 of them! They had a few children, one of which screamed the train down multiple times, and then ran up & down the aisle. My headphones are good, but not that good unfortunately.
The train trip is 2hrs and only cost €29 with the Bayern ticket. You can take 1 special train, which runs hourly, to Munich & back, plus you get free public transport in Munch. Saved me so much money as a regular return ticket was going to cost me €48.
In Munich, I made my way to the U-bahn underground trains and successfully navigated myself to the BMW showroom. This is a huge display centre, which is a free public attraction with thousands of positive reviews. The building is massive, 3 stories high & open plan. As soon as you walk in, there is a really nice BMW racing car. It’s an M4 GT4 and has carbon fibre panels. It’s VERY nice!
They have several different electric vehicles, which are also very nice. You can even sit in the Z4 Roadster. I wanted to, but there was always a crowd around it. I noticed many of the paint jobs were matte instead of gloss.
They also have Mini Cooper and Rolls Royce in the showroom. The Rolls Royce Phantom is niiiiice! I remember watching a Mega Factories episode years ago and every Rolls is handmade to perfection. For obvious reasons, you can't touch these ones.
They have a range of Mini Coopers including the new Country Man. Definitely not a fan of Minis.
Upstairs they have some motorbikes & scooters. I didn't realise they made trail bikes. Seems strange to me that a luxury car brand would make dirt bikes. You could sit on most of these so many prone, especially kids were climbing all over them.
Another cool thing is the robotic coffee stall. You order through the touch screen and your drink is made & delivered robotically. Very cool!
From upstairs, you can also look into the closed showroom. This is only for people who are actually buying a car.
There is also a museum across the road, but it has an entry fee and I don't like BMW that much. I looked at the cafes then decided to head into the centre is Munich.
The train trip was fairly quick and very easy with 1 direct train. I emerged into Marienplatz and was immediately wowed. The buildings were amazing! Extremely old and very fancy. There is a ginormous town hall that dominates the plaza. It is so elaborate & intricate.
I was starving so I went to a Bavarian restaurant for lunch. I ended up getting the mixed plate which had the meat from a pork knuckle, 2 Nuremberg sausages, apple purple cabbage, sauerkraut, potato dumpling & gravy. Everything was really good, except the sauerkraut. Not a fan. I sat on a table with 2 other solo diners. Service was exceptionally quick. My meal came out just a few minutes after I ordered!
After lunch, I spent the next few hours walking around the streets, exploring and taking lots of photos. I saw the Lotus car showroom (oooh I love Lotus cars!) and a Mercedes showroom (really nice Maybach cars on display, VERY exxy). I saw a lot of fancy buildings. Everywhere you turn there is a wow building.
I decided to get something sweet and find a bakery that sells a traditional Bavarian dessert called kaiserschmarrn. Essentially it is strips of doughy pancake served with apple sauce. It was really nice but a huge serve so I couldn't finish it all.
It was now time to make my way back to the train station. I decided to walk as it wasn't that far, and it was only spitting, although very windy.
I stopped at the supermarket to get a drink, then went to the station to find my train. It was at the platform again, so I boarded straight away. I got another 4 seat section which was good. The train was extremely full, so I had to share for the first hour. Then the train emptied out & the 2 ladies moved so I had the whole 4 seats to myself again.
I headed back to my hostel & watched some TV episodes. At 9.45pm, 4 of the girls in my dorm came back & we had a chat. 3 of them are Aussie. Then we all went to bed.
Day 17 Salzburg to Prague
It was so quiet last night, it was wonderful! Eventually I got up & went to get coffee. Everyone else was still sleeping, even when I got back. Sleepy heads!
I just sat & chilled in bed, drinking my coffee until the others woke up. We ended up having another chat as the last girl came back while we were sleeping. She is another Aussie, from Swan Hill. There are so many Aussies in Switzerland & Austria at the moment! I have met quite a few and heard our accent everywhere in the streets. I almost never hear Aussies in London, even though the are 50k of us there, and every second person seems to be Aussie here.
At 10am, I checked out & went to the station. I got a snack & drink at the supermarket then boarded my train. Today is a LONG travel day, with 3 trains over 8hrs to get to Prague.
My first train, I found a single seat with space for my backpack. This trip was 2.5hrs and very quiet. It was lovel!
At Linz, I had 30mins to change to my next train so I got an iced caramel latte from McDonalds (the coffee shop at the station doesn't serve cold coffee) then found my next train. Again, I got a single seat. This train was extremely old & also very empty, and the journey was another 2.5hrs.
Finally, at České Budějovice in Czech Republic, I had to change to my final train. Just a short 15min change, and an ancient Harry Potter style train, with individual cabins and a long corridor. I had the cabin to myself for almost the entire 2hrs.
Eventually I arrived in Prague at 6.15pm. For the first time this whole trip, my hostel is just 2mins walk from the station. I have a 4 bed female dorm & it's really nice. It is a loft style, with 2 beds downstairs & 2 beds upstairs, and they are actual beds, not bunks.
I dropped my stuff then went out to explore the city by night. First stop was the small Christmas market at Wenceslas Square. My first thought about Prague: massive buildings. There is a mega museum at the top of this street, which is very impressive. I walked through the market and noticed they have lots of hot honey mead, sausages & chimney cakes.
I continued along the street to the Old Town Square. The streets I passed through are cobblestones & quaint, although very busy. The market in the Old Town is bigger with many more people. This is also surrounded by huge buildings which is very impressive. There is a huge Christmas tree in the market too.
I passed the famous Astronomical Clock and took some pictures. It was built in 1410 and is now the oldest functioning astronomical clock in the world.
I walked around for ages, and ended up getting a raspberry & Nutella chimney cake. It’s a dough in a spiral shape, rolled in raspberry sugar then filled with Nutella & raspberry ice cream.
I had a look at some prices, and I think Prague is more expensive then I expected (everyone said Prague is cheap!). A shot glass is going to cost me at least $7AUD! Yikes!
I made my way back to the first Christmas market and got myself a hot blueberry honey wine drink. It was actually really good!
Then I headed back to my hostel, showered and went to bed to watch TV.
Day 18 Prague
I woke up this morning feeling pretty good. It wasn't too warm during the night & it was quiet.
I stayed in bed for a while then started researching coffee places. I chose one near my hostel, got dressed & headed out. Unfortunately, this wasn't a great decision. The coffee was lukewarm and had a funny taste.
From here, I decided to walk to the castle. It was about 30mins and there were lots of interesting buildings along the way.
The castle is higher than the city so the views are pretty good. Turns out, I had made my way to the second entry, not the main one, so there were a lot less people around. There are publicly accessible areas and ticketed areas. I was able to walk into the shop and buy a ticket without queuing.
My first stop was the Golden Lane. This is a narrow row of buildings, with each one displayed with different themes (tavern, goldsmith, house etc) as well as some shops for souvenirs. Upstairs is a long narrow walkway filled with knights armour.
At the end is a dungeon with a skeleton in a torture cage.
After this, I walked through the streets and made my way to a small cathedral. This was another ticketed area. There weren't a lot of people in here.
The streets were now filled with big tour groups taking up large amounts of space. I managed to make my way to the huge Cathedral. It is massive! This one has big stained glass windows along each side, which the sun was lighting up. There were heaps of people in here and a queue to get in.
Next, I went to the Palace. You can't take photos in here
without a license, according to the sign, although many people were literally
standing in front of the no photos sign and taking pictures. I was a good girl and didn't take any photos.
This wasn't very exciting. A big hall, another room with a view and a throne room with some crown jewels. This one you could take photos of so I did.
Then I decided to leave the castle. I walked through the streets and across a very old bridge.
Then I made my way to the dancing house. This is a building that is wonky. I took some photos then started heading back to the old town.
I was absolutely starving by now, having not eaten all day, so I found a restaurant with local Czech specialties. Confit duck with red cabbage & potato dumplings are one of these specialties, so that is what I had. I also had a side of vegies as I have been craving some fresh vegetables. It was really good!
Then I made my way back to my hostel to charge my phone. I stopped to get a hot strawberry juice at the Christmas market as it was getting cold.
After charging my phone, I decided to head out to get a sausage & return my Christmas market cup. It was raining now and had been for a while. Everything was very wet with huge puddles on the cobblestones.
At the first market, it was almost fully closed, including the cup deposit stall. I kept walking and the stall that sells the cheese sausages was closed. Annoying.
I decided to see if the sex machine museum was busy or not. This
is a small collection of sex toys & machines, from ancient times to modern
times. There are a LOT of machines for masturbation, particularly female
masturbation.Some of the ancient machines look a lot like torture devices! I won't add any pictures, but there are plenty in my Facebook album.
At the end, there is a erotic film from the early 1900s. It’s black & white, and several scenes have been cut together. It went for about an hour. It was more story based and they wore clothes most of the time. It was quite funny. I did notice that the girls in the film were quite resistant to the men, saying no & pushing them away, then relenting in the end. The 2 women were very happy to be with each other though & the threesome at the end was mutual. Interesting that in the early 1900s they had lesbian porn, but for the past however many years, being gay was not accepted.
Afterwards, I headed back to my hostel in the rain. I was a bit hungry but it was 8.45pm now so I just got a white hot chocolate from Starbucks near my hostel.
I have another 2 girls in my room now so we are full. I washed my hair, then climbed into bed to watch TV.
Day 19 Prague
I woke up at 8am this morning and had a lazy morning. At 9.20am I went out for breakfast. I had seen a place on Google Maps that has for reviews for breakfast and I was looking forward to a cooked breakfast.
It was quiet when I arrived. I ordered avocado toast aka smashed ago with fried eggs and a side serve of bacon, because bacon makes everything better. It was really good! The service was a bit slow, 1 poor lady had to do everything all on her own!
Afterwards, I walked around for several hours. I just wandered aimlessly. I have discovered that when I don't have anything planned or booked, I get extremely bored. I really need to make sure I have set things to do each day on future trips.
After a while I heard back to my hostel for a couple of hours to charge my phone.
Then I went back to the Christmas market to have a cheese kransky. The sausage itself was good, the bread was a bit dry. I then went to a café called Mad Rabbit and had a hot chocolate and a big filled macaron. This is my favourite French sweet treat so I wanted to try the Czech version. It was nice.
Then I headed back to go l my hostel to chill, stopping to get a drink on the way. I ended up getting a can of Strongbow red berry cider, which cost the exact same amount as a bottle of Coke.
Then I hung out in my room for a bit, making a meal plan & shopping list for when I get back home. I honestly have no idea what I'm going to do tomorrow as I have until 3.30pm to kill.
Day 20 Prague to London
One of the girls in my room kept her light on until 2.30am this morning so I didn't sleep as well last night. Check out is 11am so I stayed in bed, watching TV and chilling for a few hours.
Eventually, I got up and packed my things, then checked out. Fortunately, I could leave all my bags at the hostel so I headed out with nothing but my coat, phone & wallet. It’s quite freeing, not carrying a bag around. I've done it for most of this trip and I really like it.
After checking out, I went to a café for breakfast. It is a bit of an Instagram place but the food looks good. I was able to get a seat straight away which was good and I ordered a caramel latte and an avocado beetroot. The caramel latte was about a half a small cup of coffee, topped with a large amount of whipped cream. The flavour was good but there was like 3 mouthfuls of coffee so not much for the cost. My meal was a slice of bread, topped with beetroot hummus, sliced avocado and a boiled egg with crumbled feta. It was really nice.
I decided I wanted more, so I got a strawberry lemonade and a raspberry pavlova. The pav was gooey in the middle & crispy on the outside. It was nice but very sweet.
I was full now so I left and walked the streets. At a theatre place, there was a big setup with people filming a movie or TV show. I didn't see much, and didn't recognise anyone.
I made my way to a shopping centre that I saw yesterday. I walked around the centre for a while, then got an iced coffee from Starbucks. I sat there for an hour just playing on my phone, mostly watching videos on Instagram. Due to past activities, my whole Instagram is filled with snow, skiing/snowboarding and Lapland. I so desperately want to go to Lapland. I don't mind if it is Finnish, Swedish or Norwegian Lapland, just one of them!
Then I decided to make my way back to my hostel via Old Town. I slowly meandered and it was 3pm when I got back. I got a 3D printed Blueman statue (my hostel gave them for free), got my bags and headed to the train station.
The airport express bus is only 100CZH which is very cheap. It’s 30mins so quick & efficient.
Once at the airport, I claimed my tax refund for my jewellery then discovered that bag drop opens 2hrs before flight, not 3hrs. I went and got a burger from Burger King while I waited.
Bag drop was fine and there were zero people at immigration. Took me all of 10 seconds to clear.
I slowly wandered through duty free then found my gate. In this airport, security screening is done at the gate area so this was done and I sat at my gate until boarding.
Boarding was very quick. It was a small plane, 30 rows or something like that. The flight was uneventful and less than 2hrs. I chose an F window seat so that I could see the views of London as we come into land. Almost all planes landing at Heathrow approach towards the west, and they fly south of the river, right past my place. I wanted to see the London skyline, as well as try to spot my place. Unfortunately, we ended up approaching way north of London then doing a U-turn and landing towards the east.
We also ended up disembarking onto the tarmac and getting a bus to the terminal. There were no queues at the e-gates (huge queues at the manned desks though) so I sailed straight through. I got my bag, passed customs and headed out. I grabbed some milk at the airport supermarket and got the tube home.
And this is the end of my epic Winter Adventure! My plan was to have a white Christmas and go skiing so that was a success. Switzerland is a beautiful place for scenery and skiing, albeit very expensive. I love holidays but I’m always happy to get home because I really need routine, and I need to eat some vegies. I hope you have enjoyed reading about my Winter Wonderland White Christmas :D