Vienna, Austria 维也纳

June 19, 2022

Sunday morning was quiet, and almost all shops and the farmer's market were closed except for some restaurants. After breakfast, we went to see the last two tourist attractions of Graz, the Mausoleum of Ferdinand II and the Landhaus Courtyard, before boarding the train to Vienna, Austria's capital and largest city.

The train ride from Graz to Vienna was comfortable, and we had the whole cabin ourselves. Our hotel apartment in Vienna city center was in a good location, tranquil, and about a 10-minutes walk from either the train station or the famous tourist spots, and had a large bedroom, a living area, and a small kitchen with excellent conditions. The old-style elevator was cool too.

After dropping off our luggage, we went straight to the Hofburg Palace. We bought the combined ticket package, which covered multiple palaces and museums. We only had time to see their silverware collection before the museum was closed for the day. The museum closed at 4 pm, which was earlier than we expected. The exhibition was impressive, and some of them were still used in the state dinner. It was too early for dinner, so we walked around the plaza area and took many pictures of the famous tourist attractions.

Dinner was Vienna-style schnitzel, Wienerschnitzel, with vegetable salad. At this point, we had tried so many different types of schnitzels, even homemade ones, and it was the first time to have an authentic Wienerschnitzel. It was unique that the bread coating was "puffy," separating from the meat. Our one order came with two pieces of large-hand size schnitzels, one for each of us. The taste was delicious. Look like we would have many more schnitzels on this trip. After dinner, we strolled around the crowded area near the Catholic Church. We stopped by Holy Trinity Columns for the victims of the great plague.

Austria, and especially Vienna, known as one of the most stunning cities in Europe, has spectacular architecture and beautiful palaces. But we had already seen so many of those buildings since the beginning of this trip that our curiosity started fading away. Walking into the crowded Vienna city center and being surrounded by all those vast structures made us feel overwhelmed, especially since all the famous tourist spots were very busy and packed with people. We definitely missed the Swiss Alps’ peaceful nature and wanted to go back to hike on a sunny hillside or a foggy trail path.

欧洲游第三十天：星期天的早晨非常宁静，除了一些餐厅之外几乎所有的商店关门停业。一早又去看了格拉茨的最后二个景点，费迪南德二世陵墓及Landhaus Courtyard。下午坐火车来到维也纳，住在公寓式酒店，带厨房的，相当不错，离火车站和旅游热点十几分钟的路程。放下行李后就去了霍夫堡宮殿, 因为时间不够就先参观了他们的银器博物馆。晚餐又是炸猪排加蔬菜色拉。饭后去天主教堂附近转转，路上都是游客。奥地利尤其是维也纳，作为奥地利的首都，城市建筑和古老宫殿的确很漂亮，非常壮观。但看多了会产生一些审美疲劳，加上满城的游客，就真想回到瑞士阿尔卑斯山里，徒步在无论是阳光明媚的山坡或者是雾气弥漫的小路。

Graz, Austria 格拉茨

June 18, 2022

Graz is Austria's second-largest city but is not as famous as Vienna and Salzburg in the tourist industry. As such, it has a lot fewer tourists. Last night, the city square was packed with young people drinking and chatting, and the music was loud and lively. Early this morning, we woke up to see a completely different scene. The last night's noisy open-air bars transformed into a farmer's market. If last night was the energetic world of the young generation, it was a paradise for the elderly this morning. Besides the fresh vegetables and fruit, the farmer's market also had butchers, seafood shops, bakeries, coffee and breakfast shops. After buying produce, the locals would have coffee and breakfast there and chat with their neighbors. We joined the locals and bought strawberries, cherries, and smoked meats at the market and then had our coffee and bread there. We always enjoyed a quiet morning in a foreign country and observed the locals doing their routines. There was also a flea market nearby at the square where the concert was held last night.

After breakfast, we started our sightseeing tour. We purchased the 24-hour Graz tourist card and planned to sweep through several tourist attractions. We started at the city center and then headed to Eggenberg Palace on the city's outskirts. The Eggenberg Palace was a private residence of the Eggenberg family and then the Herberstein family from 1460 to 1939, not an imperial or archbishop palace. In today's terms, it was a billionaire's mansion. We had a guided tour in English. The palace was constructed relying on the calendar as a basis. The four towers of the palace symbolize the four directions east, south, west, and north. The palace had 365 windows representing the number of days of the year. The 24 halls conveyed the 24 hours of the day. There were also paintings on the ceiling symbolizing each day, seven days a week. Although Eggenberg Palace was a 17th-century building from the outside, at the core of the palace, there was a square Gothic chapel built in 1470, and large portions of the building dated back to the late middle ages to the early modern era. The palace was expanded continuedly without completely destroying the old constructions. The palace was surrounded by a large beautiful garden where peacocks walked slowly and leisurely. It was the most worth seeing of all the attractions today.

We came back to the city center area and took the Schlossberg Funicular to Schlossberg Hill. Schlossberg was one of Graz's most famous attractions. It once served as a fortress to defend the city but was largely demolished by Napoleonic forces, except for the clock tower, which had stood on the Hill for hundreds of years and was a symbol of Graz. Schlossberg Hill was large and beautiful, with many minor tourist attractions, and it was the perfect place for the city view. We walked down the hill via a set of stairs that zig-zag on the slope of the Hill.

On the way to Schlossberg Hill, we also visited Kunsthaus Graz with the collection of Modern Arts, most of which we didn't appreciate. Nevertheless, the visit let us experience the other side of Graz's culture against the characteristics of the old town. We also stopped by Franciscan Church and Hauptplatz. Another cultural structure we wanted to see was the Murinsel, designed and constructed to celebrate the honor that Graz was designated the European Capital of Culture. The Murinsel is suspended over the river by two bridge walkways. It is a beautiful dome floating on the river. There was a café inside the dome. We enjoyed some cold local beer there and views of the river.

Back at our hotel, we had our dinner in the hotel's beautiful courtyard.

欧洲游第二十九天：格拉茨虽说是奥地利第二大城市，但其旅游知名度远低于维也那和萨尔茨堡。感觉游客并不多。今天大清早发现旅馆对面从昨天晚上满满的露天酒吧变成了农贸集市，完全是一个不同的景象。如果说昨晚是年轻人的世界，今早是老年人的天堂。农贸市场里有新鲜的蔬菜和水果，还有肉店，海鲜店，面包房，当地人买完菜后喝喝咖啡吃个早餐与街坊邻居们聊个天。生活也是同样的美好。

我们也兴冲冲地买了草莓🍓，樱桃🍒和烟熏肉，同时也在那里吃了早餐，咖啡☕️和面包。我们购买了24小时的Graz旅游卡，把几个重要的景点扫了一遍。从近郊的埃根博格宫殿开始，这也是今天所有景点中最值得看的。宫殿的四个塔楼象征着东南西北四个方向。宫殿有365扇窗象征着一年的天数。24间大厅则象征着一天的24个小时。天花板上还有画象征着一周7天的每一天。宫殿的四周是一大片公园，孔雀🦚慢悠悠地走来走去。今天看的另外几个景点包括现代美术馆，穆尔人工岛等都有些失望。还好最后为了看钟塔上了城堡山，上面不仅能眺望格拉茨城区，还有着格拉茨最漂亮的小花园。

Goodbye, Slovenia

June 17, 2022

Today, we would say goodbye to Slovenia and head back to Austria to our next destination, Graz. We were still a little attached to this beautiful medieval town of Piran, and before leaving, we went out to walk around the town and climb up and down the hill one more time. There were two ways to return to Ljubljana, either by bus or train. We came to Piran by bus and bought a round-trip ticket. But after a bus ride to Piran, we decided to return to Ljubljana by train because the train had a lot of space and was more comfortable; plus, it took a different route that allowed us to see other parts of the country. The train station was in another town, a dozen miles away from Piran. When our Airbnb host learned that we were planning to take the train back, he kindly offered us a ride and dropped us off at the train station early in the morning. However, when we arrived at the station, we found that due to railway maintenance and other reasons, we first had to take a bus to a small train station to board a train and then transfer to a bus again. Ironically, the original idea of avoiding the bus ride was replaced with two buses plus a train. Fortunately, there was no delay in returning to Ljubljana.

We had more than three hours in Ljubljana to spare to catch the train to Graz, Austria. We stored our luggage in the train station's locker and returned to the city center. We stopped by a Chinese restaurant that may be the smallest in the world. It had only a tiny table with two chairs outside. We ordered stir-fried beef chow fun and Sichuan beef; both tasted pretty good. After lunch, we walked along the river and came to the crowded Central Market as if it was a food festival. Although we just had lunch, we could not pass the freshly roasted pig without trying it out. It was impossible to find a chair to sit down, so we sat on the stone stairs like everybody else at the central market and had our second lunch.

When we were back at the train station, to our surprise, we were told that the last third of our train route to Graz had to be replaced by a bus due to railway repairs. Somehow, today was not a good day to travel by train. After arriving at a small station, everyone hurried to catch the bus provided by the train company. When we got on the bus, no seats were available, and we had to stand in the aisle. There were more people still trying to get on the bus. It was chaos. There was only one bus for the entire train. The staff was busy making phone calls, and finally, another bus arrived to seat everyone. When we were in Switzerland, our German friend reminded us that the other part of the European railway system was not as good as Switzerland. To us it felt like Austria's train system was slightly older than Switzerland's, and Slovenia's was much older and less convenient than Austria's. It was as if it was proportional to the price of coffee, from four to five Euros for a cup of coffee in Switzerland to three to four Euros in Austria, then two to three Euros a cup in Slovenia, and €1.2 in the small town of Piran.

Arriving in Graz, Austria, we took Uber to the hotel. The hotel room was unique, with the bathtub and the sinks all made from trees. We went to the hotel's rooftop restaurant for Schnitzel, salad, and beer. The hotel was not far from the city's center, and we went there after dinner. It was Friday night, and the music in the square was loud and lively. Everyone was drinking, chatting, and having a good time. Life was so beautiful.

欧洲游第二十八天: 今天又要换个地方，早上起床后对这个中世纪小镇还有点依依不舍，又去镇里转了一圈。回卢布尔雅那可以坐公交车也可以坐火车，我们是坐公交车来皮兰的，且买了来回票。但来皮兰后决定坐火车回去，一则火车空间大，会舒服一点，二则换一条路线走走。民舍房东特别热心，一早把我们送到离皮兰十几英里的火车站。到车站才发现由于铁路维修和其它原因，我们先要坐汽车到一个小站再坐一段火车然后再换成汽车，原本以火车代替公交车，现在反而坐了二段汽车再加火车。还好路上没耽搁准时回到卢布尔雅那。有三个多小时要打发，我们把行李寄存在火车站，又回到市中心找了一家可能是世界上最小的中餐馆要了干炒牛河和四川牛，味道不错。饭后又到河边走走，来到中央市场，那里是人山人海，好像是个小吃节什么的。看到现烤的乳猪实在是憋不住了，要了一份尝个鲜。下午四点去奥地利的格拉茨（Graz)的火车又是因为铁路维修的原因，直达的火车最后三分之一又必须改乘汽车了。到一小站后，大家匆匆忙忙赶着上火车公司提供的大巴。一列火车就来了一辆转运大巴，当我们到了车上时已找不到空位，大家只能站着，一片混乱。工作人员忙着打电话，最后总算又来一辆大巴才把大家安顿下来。在瑞士时，朋友就提醒我们不是整个欧洲铁路系统像瑞士那样好。感觉奥地利的要比瑞士差一级，斯洛维尼亚的比奥地利又差一级。就好像与咖啡的价钱成正比😀，从瑞士的四，五块一杯咖啡，到了奥地利就变成了三，四块一杯，在斯洛维尼亚咖啡变成二，三个欧元一杯，在皮兰小镇上，咖啡是€1.2。

抵达奥地利的Graz，坐Uber到了旅馆后上旅馆屋顶餐厅要了炸猪排，蔬菜色拉加啤酒。客房有特色，浴缸和水池都是用树木🪵制成的。旅馆离市区中心不远，饭后去那里转转，广场上音乐震耳，热闹非凡，大家喝酒聊天，生活就是这样的美好。

Piran, Slovenia

June 16, 2022

We left the apartment before five o'clock in the morning to see the sunrise. Surprisingly the first thing we saw was the supermoon hanging up high in the sky, which was beautiful. The sunrise on the Adriatic Sea was one of the prettiest and most complete sunrises we had ever seen.

Then we went to get some breakfast pastries from a bakery in the town. At the same square, there was a small farmers market selling small fresh tomatoes, vegetables, and other groceries. We were interested in small tomatoes and small pears. An old gentleman at the veggie booth was very friendly and enthusiastic but didn't seem to understand English. We tried to converse with him, and he responded with Italian words we didn't understand. We couldn't figure out how much money we should pay for the tomatoes and pears we wanted to buy, so we gave him a large bill that he didn't want, and then we simply let him take whatever he needed in a handful of changes. The tomatoes and pears cost only 1.6 euros, and they were very fresh and delicious.

After breakfast, we walked along the coastline to Portoroz, a Slovenian Adriatic seaside resort and spa town less than 3 miles away from Piran. Contrary to Piran, Portoroz is a modern resort town with large swimming pools, luxury hotel rooms, casinos, and spas everywhere. People were basking in the sun by the sea and sipping wine by the pools. We had a coffee break at the beach café and did a little bit of people-watching. It was a different scene in the small town of Piran, where we stayed, with almost no big hotels and just countless narrow alleys. From morning to night, everyone was leisurely drinking wine, drinking coffee, having ice cream, and eating endless seafood. Fewer people were basking in the sun and splashing in the water. We preferred Piran than Portoroz.

We took the bus back to Piran and had lunch at a small café in the neighborhood we stayed, specializing in street food, and the taste was as good as that of the popular café we had dined in yesterday. After a short nap, we went to the beach and enjoyed the slow pace of life there, a cup of coffee and a book, plus more people-watching and scenery. It was such a relaxing afternoon. Dinner was, of course, still seafood. While sitting outside the restaurant, one big truck came through the small alley and it was only about couple of inches away from our table. The waiter had to close the awning to let the truck passing through. we were amazed by the driver’s skill.

We didn't have much luck with the sunset yesterday. Today's weather was much better, giving us a second chance to see the sunset. After dinner, we went to the city wall and hiked up to the top. Tonight's sunset didn't disappoint us. Standing on the city walls, we graciously watched the sunset and the sky bursting into red and yellow over the Adriatic Sea. The view just couldn't get any better. There was nothing like a beautiful sunset to end a beautiful day. Tomorrow, we would return to the days of sausage and pork chops.

欧洲游第二十七天：今天五点不到就出门看日出去了，第一眼看见的是超级月亮高悬在天空，美极了。地中海上的旭日东升也是所看到日出中最漂亮，最完整的之一。镇里有个小小的集市，看到小番茄🍅很漂亮，还有小梨🍐。摊主态度非常热情，叽里呱啦地一通意大利语我们一句没听懂，搞不清多少钱，给了张大票子他不要，索性就让他自己在一堆零钱里拿，结果只收了我们1.6欧元💶，实在是太便宜了。早餐后，沿着海岸线走到了几英里外另一个渡假小镇。那里超级度假酒店遍地都是，人们都在海边暴晒太阳，典型的海边度假村。而在我们住的小镇（Piran），完全是另外一种景象，几乎没有大的酒店，有的只是数不尽的狭窄小巷。从早到晚大家都在悠闲地喝酒，喝咖啡，吃冰激凌🍦，当然还有吃不完的海鲜。相比之下晒太阳和戏水的要少得多。小镇上的海鲜店遍布各个角落，今天的午餐就在我们住的边上的一家小店，专卖街头小吃，味道不比网红店差。午睡后来到海边，享受这里的慢节奏，一杯咖啡一本书，再加看人与看景😜。晚餐当然还是海鲜，抓住最后的机会，明天开始又要回到香肠炸猪排的日子了。今晚的日落没让我们失望。站在城墙上，整个皮兰小镇尽收眼底。

Adriatic Sea 亚得里亚海

June 15, 2022

We went to Burek Olimpija to get a beef Burek for 2.60 Euros for breakfast. The Burek piece was huge and enough for two of us. After breakfast, we went to the bus station near the train station. We had purchased a round-trip bus ticket from Ljubljana to Piran, Slovenia, a small coastal town on the Gulf of Piran on the Adriatic Sea. Piran is a beautiful medieval-style town less than two hours of driving distance from Ljubljana and the best resort city in Slovenia, known for its long pier, Venetian architecture, and narrow streets with closely constructed houses. Another reason to visit this coastal town was to taste seafood from the Adriatic Sea. Our long-distance bus ride was smooth and pleasant, and we had a glance at the countryside of Slovenia.

We arrived at Piran around noon. It took us some time to find our Airbnb rental not too far away from the city square. We rented a private unit on the second floor of a house in a densely packed neighborhood. The owner lived on the third floor. The unit had a bathroom, kitchen, and small bedroom. The owner was friendly, and the rooms were clean and organized. After settling, we went out to have a seafood lunch at a popular café that was mentioned on social media. The seafood was excellent.

After lunch, we walked around the beach and then climbed up the hill behind Tartini square through narrow streets to visit the church of St. George. We climbed 147 steps to the top of the bell tower with a reward of a 360-degree view of Piran. The church was closed due to construction, but the yard surrounding the church was open. From there, we could see the rocky beaches surrounding the town and Italy and Croatia coastlines off in the distance.

The red roofs of Piran against the blue sky and blue ocean provide a perfect picture of the Mediterranean resort town. Wandering through narrow streets ascending from the hill, we returned to the beach and looked for the best seafood place for dinner. We dined at Pavel on the beach and ordered the fish feast plate, including fish, shrimp, octopus, and more. The food was delicious but a bit too much for the two of us to finish. We stayed late on the beach to see the sunset. Unfortunately, the cloud moved in at dusk. We hoped tomorrow would have better luck.

第二十六天: 今天来到了亚得里亚海边的小镇皮兰（Piran). 斯洛维尼亚一共只有47公里的海岸线，皮兰是一座美丽，中世纪风格的小镇。当然到海边，忘不了品尝地中海的海鲜。中午到了住地，放下行李就直接去了一家网红店。晚餐是海鲜大拼盘，味道不错。这里的日落非常漂亮，可惜今天晚上云太多没看成。希望明天有好运。

The City of Jože Plečnik 普莱奇尼克

June 14, 2022

We went to the old town farmers market again and got some fresh cherries, strawberries, and apricots. Since it was the harvest season for cherries, strawberries, and apricots, the fruits were fresh and sweet. We might have had apricot a couple of times before, and we thought apricot peaches didn't taste much but not those apricots. Guess the fruit freshness made a big difference. We had a spinach roll from a nearby bakery for breakfast. After breakfast, on the way to Jože Plečnik's house, we saw a community garden on the road that reminded us of the joyful time we spent in our community garden back in Marion, Iowa, many years ago.

The modern Ljubljana city and Jože Plečnik, a Slovene architect, are inseparable. Plečnik had a significant impact on the contemporary architecture of Ljubljana. Wherever you go in the city, you will see some buildings he designed. Ljubljana was his city and Plečnik was the favorite son of Ljubljana. We had no idea who he was before this trip until yesterday during our city tour. Once we got the feel of his impact on the city, we decided to pay a visit to Plečnik's House, where he lived and worked after he returned to the city in 1921. We went there on a bus. We got there a few minutes passed the hour, and the guided tour had already started, but the staff in the museum was very kind and allowed us to join the tour, which was just having another American couple. The tour guide took us through Plečnik's house, a complex of two neighboring buildings, and showed us his furniture, house interior design, and the refurbishing he did. He was a workaholic and eccentric by the modern standard. Everything he designed in the house was to maximize his ability to work. He created a chair used in the dining room, not for comfort but designed it so uncomfortable that he would not sit in the chair for a long time doing nothing. He also thought meeting people was wasting time and did all he could to reduce the meeting time. He set up a tiny room in the house to meet the guest. The room was just large enough to have a small table with two chairs, making his guest so uncomfortable that they would leave after completing business. He had no restroom for his students or guests in his house to limit anyone's visiting time. So many things in the house seemed weird, but it allowed him to increase his productivity. He appreciated nature and the open garden. His friend built a church next to his house. They had a handshake agreement not to put a fence between the church and his house so people could enjoy his garden. That agreement is intact today. He designed the entrance door to the garden so narrow and short that he had to bow to the natural every time he entered the garden. He was a minimalist. The refurbishment and extension work on his house, as well as other projects in the city, was often done using leftover materials from Plečnik's other projects.

Before its independence in 1991, as part of Yugoslavia, Slovenia came under communist rule for the bulk of the post-World War II period. When we planned this trip, we were curious to see any traces left from the communist era. Tito, the head of the Yugoslavia communist party, was one of a few foreign leaders' names we knew about when we were kids. This afternoon, we visited the National Museum of Slovenia and the National Museum of Contemporary History of Slovenia. We only found a small exhibition about that period and not many things about Tito in the National Museum of Contemporary History of Slovenia. We were surprised as Jože Plečnik's exhibit took up much more space in the museums.

Tonight's dinner was traditional Slovenia cuisine at Gostilna Sokol. The two main entries were country feast and risotto with prawns and octopus, with the dessert of walnut rolls with honey. The food was delicious except for black sausage, which was made of rice and pig blood. The walnut rolls were excellent and not too sweet. After dinner, we hopped on the green tourist tram in the square, and it took us around the city for one hour to see more places, and the city tourist card covered it.

第二十五天：一清早上城中集市买回新鲜的樱桃，草莓和杏桃，相当不错。早餐之后去了设计大师约热·普莱奇尼克（Jože Plečnik）的故居，他完全就是一个工作狂。性格古怪，他设计的家和家具都是能让他有更多时间工作，故居值得一访。下午去了国家博物馆和现代历史博物馆，想看一些关于铁托的事，但博物馆里没有太多铁托的介绍和评价。晚上再次去品尝斯洛维尼亚特色菜。黑色香肠味道不怎么样，据说是猪肉，米和猪血做成的。甜点不错，不是很甜。饭后，又跳上绿色旅游车，带着我们在城里转一个多小时。明天又要换地方了。

Ljubljana, Slovenia 卢布尔雅那

June 13, 2022

We used the city tourist cards in Innsbruck and Salzburg, Austria. Typically, the city tourist card covers all public transportation and city attractions with a choice of 24, 48, and 72 hours. We found those cards convenient and cost-effective, and we highly recommended buying them if you stayed in a place for more than two nights. After arriving in Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia, we each purchased a 48-hour city tourist card, which included a guided walking tour, free public transportation, and free city museums. This morning, we took the funicular lift up the hill to see the Ljubljana Castle first, a castle complex standing on Castle Hill above downtown Ljubljana. It is a central landmark of the town. From the towers was the spectacular panoramic view of the city. Originally a medieval fortress, it was built in the 11th century and rebuilt and expanded from the 12th century to the early 19th century. As we can see, the castle recently added a lot of modern ingredients, being a little too commercial. For that reason, we didn't appreciate it that much.

360 degree view from the castle tower

After the castle, we joined the city walking tour, and the tour guide took us around New Street, Old Street, and other attractions. Ljubljana is the home of Jože Plečnik, a master of modern minimalist design, where he lived and worked for his last thirty years, leaving countless of his masterpieces in the city, and most of the attractions that the tour guide took us to see were designed by him.

We went to the old town farmers' market to buy some local cherries at noon. There was a water station within the market for drinking water and washing the fruits, which was very helpful for people like us. We could enjoy the fresh fruits right on the spot. We tried Slovenian sausages for lunch at Klobasarna, a small café in the old town. They were delicious. The city tourist card we bought covered the river cruise we took in the afternoon. It was a beautiful day with a blue sky and white clouds, but the temperature was too high. Without the top cover on the boat, we all had a heat stroke feeling towards the end of the cruise. The view along the river was terrific, though. After the cruise, we returned to the apartment for a short nap. Recharged and recovered from the heat exhaustion, we headed to see an alternative culture center, Metelkova Mesto. It was an abandoned army complex and now was a thriving place for a free creative spirit. There was a bar on the campus. No pictures of the people were allowed there. It is not the place we would enjoy, but every big city shall tolerate and permit a free creative spirit place like this, for people with different artistic talents to express themselves and be creative.

Tonight's dinner was salad and our delicious home-style soup, the egg drop soup with tomato and mushroom. After dining out most of the time on this trip, once in a while, we would like to have a simple, comfy supper if possible. After dinner, we walked along the river in the city center and stopped for a cup of coffee and ice cream. Watching the sunset by the river, we enjoyed the most beautiful time in Ljubljana.

欧洲游第二十四天：到了斯洛维尼亚（Slovenia)的首都卢布尔雅那(Ljubljana)之后，买了48小时城市旅游卡，一般来说，旅游卡包括免费参观城市景点和公共交通，有24，48，72小时选择。之前我们在奥地利的Innsbruck 和萨尔茨堡都有用过。这些旅游卡又方便又省钱，大力推荐。先去看了城堡，但不知什么原因，城堡里加了不少现代建筑，有点太商业化，比以前看过的城堡差一些。然后参加了步行游，导游带着我们在新街，老街和其他景点转了一圈。卢布尔雅那是现代极简主义设计大师约热·普莱奇尼克（Jože Plečnik）的故乡，也是他最后三十几年生活和工作的地方，在这座城市里留下无数他的杰作，导游带我们去看的景点大半是他设计的。中午去集市买了点当地的樱桃，在集市里直接洗了吃，很不错。午餐继续品尝斯洛维尼亚香肠。下午坐观光游船，今天气温较高，加上太阳直晒，我们都有点中暑的感觉。坐完游船后，回家睡个午觉后去看了所谓＂艺术中心＂。今晚晚餐是蘑菇番茄鸡蛋汤和色拉，外面的饭吃多了，尤其是肉吃多后来点清淡的，胃感觉特别舒服。这是从同游瑞士二周的朋友那里学来的😀。饭后来到城中心的河边喝上一杯咖啡再来个冰淇淋，看着太阳落山，这个时候的卢布尔雅那最美。

Mirabell Garden 米拉贝尔花园

June 12, 2022

Today we had to say goodbye to the beautiful city of Salzburg and head to Ljubljana, Slovenia. Before leaving, we revisited the Mirabell Palace near our hotel in the early morning. The palace was built in 1606 by the Prince-Archbishop, Wolf Dietrich Raitenau. He erected this luxury palace for himself and his mistress Salome Alt. But the good time didn't last very long, and he was deposed six years later. His successor kicked the mistress and her family out. Today, the city government uses the palace for official functions, but the garden is open to the public. It is one of Salzburg's most popular tourist attractions, and several scenes from the "Sound of Music" were filmed here. We had visited this place a couple of times since we arrived here. Today's weather was perfect. Under the blue sky and white clouds, the garden was even more attractive. Since it was early in the morning, there weren't many tourists, and we enjoyed the quiet atmosphere and beautiful landscaping. After Mirabell garden, we went to the city center for breakfast and did our last walk around the city of Salzburg before heading to the train station.

The train from Salzburg to Ljubljana took four and a half hours, which was covered with the Eurail Pass we purchased. Something interesting happened during our train ride. We made seat reservations for our train ride as we learned by now that the train could sometimes get crowded even for the 1st class tickets. When we boarded the train and located our train cabin, our seats were occupied by two women. We thought we might enter the wrong cabin since one of the ladies insisted it was her seat. We double-checked our reservation and cabin number. It turned out she did not even have the 1st class ticket. She quietly left the cabin and went to a different car. The other lady politely switched to a different seat but stayed with us in the same cabin. She was not very talkative during the ride, but we did chat for a little. Before we arrived in Ljubljana, the second train conductor came to the cabin to check our tickets. Surprisingly the train conductor pointed out that the lady had the 2nd class ticket. But the conductor let her stay because the 2nd class cabins were full and the train was just a few minutes away from the destination. Only at this point the lady told us it was her lucky day because the first train conductor in Austria knew she sat in the wrong car but did not say anything. All we could think of was glad we made our seat reservation. It was almost three and a half weeks into our Europe trip, and we always admired Switzerland and Austria's public transportation honor system. Today's encounter showed us a different side.

Arrived in Ljubljana, our rented apartment was five minutes walk from the Ljubljana central train station. We texted the apartment owner using the WhatsUp app to inform our arrival. The app was a popular and helpful communication tool outside the States. The owner's son was waiting for us outside of the apartment. It was a one-bedroom apartment on the second floor. The unit was not bad, except the shower was tiny. Another strange arrangement was that the bedroom was connected to the kitchen without the door, but the dining/living room was in a separate room. As usual, once we settled, we headed out to see the new place and get familiar with the area.

On Sunday, most of the stores were closed. We found a restaurant nearby that was still open and had a good review on Yelp. We sat and ordered a local beer, beef tongue, salad, and Slovenia sausage. They didn't disappoint us; it was one of the best dinners on this trip. Their sausage seemed to be better taste than those in Switzerland and Austria. After dinner, we walked to the city center. We got the first taste of the beautiful Ljubljana, like Triple Bridge, Franciscan Church of the Annunciation, Preseren square, and the summer concert in Park Zvezda.

第二十三天：非常喜欢萨尔茨堡这个城市，今天下午要离开，有点依依不舍。早上再次去旅馆旁的米拉贝尔花园(Mirabell Palace)走走, 蓝天白云下的花园非常的美，尤其是大清早大部分游客还没出门。之后来到城中心，坐下吃个早餐，听着教堂的钟声，看看过往行人🚶‍♀️🚶，发个呆。下午坐火车来到斯洛维尼亚的首都卢布尔雅那。老规矩，放下行李🧳，先去外面走走熟悉下环境，为明后二天做准备。晚餐是当地的啤酒，牛舌，色拉和香肠，味道很不错。斯洛维尼亚香肠比我们在瑞士和奥地利吃到的好吃多了。

Hallstatt 哈尔斯特达

June 11, 2022

Today we headed to the fairy-tale-like town of Hallstatt. The mountains surrounding Hallstatt made traveling there a bit more complicated. We started with Bus 150 from the Salzburg bus depot to Bad Ischl Bahnhof. After 90 minutes ride, we arrived at Bad Ischl and switched to Bus 542. We were on Bus 542 for 20 minutes before having to do a second and final transfer at the Gosaumuhle bus stop. We had about 5 minutes to switch from Bus 542 to the neighboring Bus 543. It was a quick transfer as two buses parked beside each other. Since we wanted to see the Dachstein Giant Ice Cave first and return to Hallstatt later, we did not get off the bus at the Hallstatt bus stop. Instead, we continued our bus ride to Obertraun Dachsteinseilbahn Talstation. Once we arrived, a short walking distance from the bus station, we took the Dachstein Krippenstein cable car up the mountain to the Schönbergalm station. We were assigned to a group based on our preferred language at the cable car station.

From there, the ice cave was another 20-minute steep uphill hike. We had to wait for about an hour to start our guided tour. The Dachstein Giant Ice Cave was the first ice cave we have ever visited. The illuminated ice cones and beds were attractive. We took some pictures, but since it was dark inside, the quality of the photographs may not be very good. We were slightly disappointed with the giant ice cave visit since it didn’t have the glory of dry caves. Then we continued to Krippenstein station. From there, we did a short hike on the mountain with a panoramic view of the surrounding mountain and a distant view of Hallstatt. We wish we could explore the mountain more, but we needed to get down to catch the bus back to the town. The Bus 543 back to Hallstatt runs hourly in the summer. Unfortunately, we missed the bus, so we decided to have a quick, simple lunch/snack at a small café near the bus stop and patiently waited for the next bus.

On the way back to Hallstatt, the bus winded through small villages. Sometimes, we felt the bus might hit the houses along the roads. We got off the town square of Hallstatt. Hallstatt is a small village on the southwestern shore of Lake Hallstatt. After being featured in K-drama, it became a popular tourist place for East Asian tourists. The town has about 800 permanent residences but received 10Ks tourists daily in the summer before COVID. We first learned about the Hallstatt from Rick Steven’s video. The town has a perfect tourist setting. It is located on the shore of a calm blue lake and has historic buildings on the cliff. The oldest salt mine is nearby, but we didn’t have time to visit. There were a lot of tourists even in the COVID era. We strolled through the narrow streets along the lake and up the hill. We stopped by a stand to have daily baked Schaumrollen. Wow, that was good. The town was beautiful from every angle. We took so many pictures that day. We would stay overnight next time to visit.

We decided to return to Salzburg by train for a different experience. The train station was on the other side of the lake, and the ferry ran between the town of Hallstatt and the train station based on the train schedule. While we waited for the ferry, we had our coffee break at the café near the ferry terminal and enjoyed the great view of the lake. The ferry took 15 mins to cross the lake, and the station was a short walk distance. After a few mins at the station, we hopped on the train back to Salzburg. It was a great day trip.

Our dinner was at this Chinese Restaurant near the Salzburg train station. This was not the first time we had dined there. The other day we tried their Hong Kong-style duck, which was really good, and we knew we would come back for more. After dinner, we walked back to the Salzbach River to see the sunset for one last time. Tomorrow, we would say goodbye to the city. We love Salzburg, and it has a rich history, beautiful baroque buildings, and natural wonders.

欧洲游第二十二天:大清早出发坐了二个多小时的公交车，中间还转了二次车，终于来到奥地利著名小镇哈尔斯特达（Hallstatt)。我们先去了小镇边上的巨冰岩洞，第一次去冰洞，有点失望，就算是到此一游吧。小镇的确很美，清澈的湖水，美丽的白天鹅，明信片标志性的建筑，只可惜我们时间有限没能多留。建议朋友们以后来此镇的话至少住一晚。晩上回到萨尔茨堡，最后再看一眼太阳落山时的城堡🏰，明天我们就要和这座城市说再见。

Trick Fountains 奇巧喷泉

June 10, 2022

The bus No. 25 took us to Hellbrunn Palace at the bottom of abundant water Hellbrunn Mountain, which Prince-Archbishop Markus Sittikus built for enjoyment and leisure. The center of the palace is the world-famous Trick Fountains, where spring water, coming from the mountain, jetted out from unexpected hiding places to entertain his guests over 400 years ago. While his people were trying to feed their families and have roofs over their heads, he used the tax collected from the people to build complicated water fountains and a lavish summer palace just for entertainment. He hardly stayed overnights in the palace. However, the Trick Fountains, water engineering masterpieces of the 18th century, are still very impressive and fascinating today. The tour to the Altemps fountain with the Star Pond was guided in English or German. The tour guide took us to a beautifully carved stone table with ten stools. As told, the Archbishop always sat at the north end of the table. While the guests were sipping the wine and enjoying the delicious food feast, the water jets would suddenly come out of the hole in the middle of each stone stool except his. Imagine how embarrassed all the guests would feel with the wet pants while the Archbishop was laughing at his guests. The tour guide let us try to sit on the short end of the table without getting wet. The waterfall and sculptures were stunning. The rest of the tour was an audio self-guided tour.

We visited 21 stations of the trick fountains in the fantasy world of Markus Sittikus. The water automats of five water-driven figures along the small stream amazed us with the technologies the engineers mastered to achieve. The motion was driven by water flow from the mountain, not an electric pump in the modern days. The Mechanical Theater was another masterpiece, although it was constructed in the later days. One hundred sixty-three water-driven figures depict the life of a small city, where people were working, shopping, and entertaining tirelessly. We could not catch up with all activities of each figure in the show. The Grottos was another fantastic wonder. Now the park workers have control over the fountain system. Usually, they warned us before turning on the water jet from hidden places. We had a fun experience and many unexpected. We highly recommend this place to visit.

From Hellbrunn Park, a trail led us through the forest to the Folklore Museum at Hellbrunn hill. The museum had a collection of traditional folk house items in Salzburg and the figures of Samson, Giant Heroic Figures from the 16th century. It was a small museum, but it was interesting to see how people lived back then in Salzburg. The museum offered an excellent view of the park below, the surrounding area, and the Salzburg Fortress in the distance. Hiking down from the hill, we wandered around the park. It was such a beautiful place to walk, sit and relax. There were some big fish in the pound. We learned that the white sturgeon could live up to 80 years and up to 4.5 meters long.  

We took our lunch break at the park’s café. Chicken salads, pancake beef broth, and dessert all tasted very good. Then we went to the Hellbrunn Palace with an exhibition about Markus Sittikus. At the end of our visit, we walked more around the beautiful garden and saw the “sound of the music” Pavillon. The gazebo was used in the movie and was presented to the city of Salzburg as a gift at the end of filming. The original filming site was in another park, and the pavilion was relocated to Hellbrunn Palace Park in 1991.

Left Hellbrunn Palace, we continued our day trip and took the No. 25 to the bottom of Untersberg. From there, we rode the cable car to the summit. Untersberg offered a wide choice of routes for hikers and mountain bikers. Unfortunately, the sky was cloudy, and the visibility was very poor to see much. From the top station of the Untersbergbahn, we did a short hike to the peak. We came back quickly because we had an early dinner reservation at 5 pm at Barenwirt, a popular Austria cuisine place where we couldn’t get a table yesterday. We had roast pork with a huge dumpling ball and fried chicken salad, both being their most popular dishes. The food is delicious. The dumpling tasted good but had too many carbs.

Another reason to have an early dinner was that we would attend a “Sound of Music” show at the Salzburg Marionette Theater, which is included in the UNESCO List of Intangible Cultural Heritage. We did not remember the last time we watched a puppet show. The show was great, and it was better than expected.

第二十一天：时间过得很快，来欧洲整整三个星期了。前二天一直在萨尔茨堡城里的博物馆，城堡和教堂里转悠，今天换个环境去城外的海尔布伦宫放松一下。这座当时大主教的花园式避暑行宫不仅有迷人的花园，更以各种独具匠心暗藏的喷泉而出名。400年后的今天，这些喷泉仍然在给游客们带来惊喜。中午在花园餐厅用餐，色拉，煎饼丝牛肉汤和甜品都不错。下午去郊外的山头上，坐缆车上去的，因为云雾缭绕山顶，也未能看到城市全景。匆匆下山赶去旅馆推荐的火红的餐厅。昨天去过说是全满，今天的也满了，只能订上早早的晚饭，不过这正好符合我们需要。饭后要赶去看具有世界文化遗产的奥地利的木偶戏-“音乐之声”。点了烤猪肉，给了一大碗德国酸菜和一大个土豆面粉团，猪肉很不错，土豆团也还可以，酸菜就有点多了。饭店最有名的特色菜炸鸡味道的确不错，但垫底的蔬菜色拉和中午的相比就要差一截了。

DomQuartier, Austria

June 9, 2022

We started our day with a butter croissant and a salami sandwich for breakfast. Today's weather forecast was not very good. It started raining when we walked across the Love Lock bridge. We passed by a 19-century weather station on the street on the way to Salzburg Museum. The three sides of the station have been providing the temperature, barometric pressure, and humidity since 1888. It looked like a piece of art that belonged to a palace or a museum. With more rain in the forecast, we changed our plan to stay inside and visit the museums instead. We bought the 72 hours Salzburg Card for 40 Euros per person, covering all public transportation and free admission to all city museums. The river cruise we took and the two Mozart museums we visited yesterday were all covered by the Salzburg Card. We would try to visit as many museums as possible to maximize its benefits. Today, we first visited Salzburg Museum at Neue Residenz, situated on the opposite side of Residenzplatz in the Old Town. Through multi-media and colorfully designed exhibitions, the museum provides comprehensive insights into the uniqueness of Salzburg with a diverse array of objects from the collection to explain how Salzburg became what it is today. We saw a few paintings of Salzburg that might inspire us to paint the same theme in the future. The music instrument collections were interesting too.

We toured the DomQuartier, a building complex consisting of a Cathedral, Residenz precinct, and St. Peter's Abbey. Over 400 years ago, the Salzburg prince-archbishops' absolutist rule installed spiritual and secular power over the people. As we walked through the exhibitions, we learned a few things about the prince-archbishops' life. To see the prince-archbishop, people had to wait and start from the large stateroom to the smallest private room. Only a few select guests were ever allowed access to the private area of the princely apartments adjacent to the study. The residence of the prince-archbishops was luxurious and extensive. We were especially interested in various ceramic heaters. We took a few pictures of them. Then we walked into the backside of the Salzburg Cathedral and had a full view from the organ gallery. The Cathedral Museum houses the Cathedral treasure as well as paintings and sculptures, dating from Gothic to Baroque, from the Cathedral and churches belonging to the archdiocese. The tour ended at St. Peter's Museum, which displays art treasures from the extensive collections of St. Peter's Abbey. We had looked for St. Peter Cemetery, a site inspiration for the “Sound of Music”, for a while. We finally located it behind St. Peter Abbey.

From the DomQuartier, we went to Nonnberg Abbey. The "Sound of Music" shooting location where the story began in the movie, and the nuns sang every morning. The Abbey was up the hill between the Old Town and Fortress, and it was a steep climb up the hill to reach the Abbey. The church was small. When we walked in, people were sitting there with no lights. After a few minutes, we figured out that putting 50 cents euro in a box would turn on the altar lights for five minutes. It was a good way to raise money for the church. The altar was terrific. There also were some lovely Roman frescos in the back of the church, which also required 50 cents euro to get the lights on.

While walking down the hill, a local guy suggested we stop by the Stiegl taste site. We ordered two different kinds of beer, and both were good. After a nice break, we continued to walk to see another film site of the "Sound of Music," the famous "horse Pond." Unfortunately, it was under construction, and we did not have good pictures.

We went to the restaurant the hotel host recommended, but it was fully booked for the day. We just grabbed a panini and a sausage from the street vendor and returned to the Hotel. 

第二十天:天公不作美，今天萨尔茨堡的天气是我们来欧洲近三周最差的一天。一整天都在下雨，本打算去郊外看宫殿改成了继续在城里看博物馆，先去了萨尔茨堡博物馆和DomQuatier(主要看主教宮殿), 这个城市以前受天主教控制，可以看出那些主教们是非常腐败奢侈，但因为他们奢侈，给我们留下了豪华宫殿和无价精品。下午按音乐之声的观光路线把没去过的景点补上。当然不忘喝上一杯咖啡及在啤酒庄里品尝当地的啤酒。晚上就在路边的小摊上买了一根香肠充饥。

The City of Mozart 莫扎特的故乡

June 8, 2022

Salzburg was the filming site of the movie "Sound of the Music" and the birthplace of its favorite son, Wolfgang Mozart, one of the world's most famous musicians. There are many monuments to Mozart in the city, and music is in the air in Salzburg. Today's theme was to follow in the footsteps of Mozart to visit as many Mozart things as possible. We started our day by having breakfast at Cafe Tomaselli, where Mozart's family often dined when they lived in the Old Town. Then we took the funicular up to Salzburg Fortress, high above the rooftops of Baroque-style buildings. It was a vast compound and offered a 360-degree view of Salzburg and the surrounding area. The history of the Salzburg Fortress dates back almost 1000 years ago. We did the panorama tour, which took us from the salt magazine via the dungeon to the viewing tower, through the battlements to the famous Salzburg Bull, a roughly 500-year-old wheel-driven barrel organ. It was an exceptional experience. Although all the castles we visited on this Europe trip were terrific and picturesque, we wish we knew more about local history to make the visit more interesting. 

With its Baroque-style dome and two towers, Salzburg Cathedral, where Mozart was baptized, is the centerpiece of Salzburg. Its distinctive and impressive architecture on the city skyline left on many of our pictures. The inside of the Cathedral was even more impressive. The imposing organs hung on the splendid façade of white marble with detailed frescos on the dome. The interior was simplistic but magnificent. Walking down in the basement of the Cathedral, where many archbishops were buried, we ran into the Vanitas installation, one of 13 Modern Art installations in public spaces. It was interesting. We also saw another piece of an art installation at the plaza earlier today, Sphaera, a man standing on a golden ball. He was looking for the female counterpart, "Woman in the Rock." But he looks at the wrong direction. In the afternoon, when we passed by a parking lot in the cave, we saw the sculpture on the entrance door to the parking lot.

We had a quick lunch at the old marketplace and continued our Mozart theme activities by touring Mozart's birthplace, a museum focusing more on his family and youth. Before this trip, with our limited knowledge of music history, we didn't know much about the Mozart family. The museum was not just about Wolfgang Mozart but also about the parents, Leopold and Anna Maria, and sister "Nannerl." The Mozart senior was also an accomplished composer, music teacher, and the author of a violin-playing book. We learned more about Leopold Mozart than Wolfgang Mozart from the museum. After visiting Mozart's birthplace, we walked toward the river. We saw the river cruise that was about to leave. Due to the high-water level, the river cruise hadn't run since we arrived. With a few minutes to spare, we hopped on the boat quickly and started 45 mins river cruise on the Salzach river. The ship passed the Mozart bridge a little further and turned around back to the Old Town. The ride was pleasant, the view was incredible, and it was free-covered under the Salzburg card. 

We then walked across the Love Lock bridge over the Salzach River to see Mozart's Residence, where Mozart lived until he went to Vienna at the age of 25. Mozart's piano was the highlight of the museum. On our way back to our hotel from the museum, we saw another Modern Art installation, Caldera. No one knows what the stature means, and someone says it is Mozart'‘s wig.

Attending a Mozart concert in Salzburg was a natural thing to do in Salzburg. We had booked the show before we left for Europe. The Mozart Dinner Concert occurred in the Baroque Hall of St. Peter Stiftskulinarium, the oldest restaurant in Europe and part of the famous Benedictine monastery. There was no obvious sign of the Baroque Hall. Following the direction of Google Maps, we came to the large courtyard within St. Peter but couldn't figure out the concert place. We saw a historic and fancy restaurant at the corner of the courtyard, and the hostess took us to the Baroque Hall. We were a little bit early, and the hall hadn't opened yet at the moment. Only a few minutes later, they started to usher people to tables. We got upgraded to a table in the first row next to the stage. The three-course dinner menu included clear lemon chicken soup with curd cheese and rosemary dumpling, supreme roasted chicken on the glaze of red wine and herbs with creamy white polenta and vegetables from Padre Prior's garden, and the famous Salzburger Nockerl. The food was served during the intermission of the concert. The concert was most of The Mozart Opera, performed by two opera singers and a small ensemble dressed in costumes. We were not familiar with Mozart's Opera, only knowing he was a great composer for classical piano and string music. Although we hardly understood what they were singing, the music was beautiful, and the singing was fantastic. The concert's highlight for us was when the opera singer knelt in front of our table and sang to Connie. The beautiful Mozart music and delicious local cuisine inspired by historical recipes from Mozart's time gave us a fantastic night in Salzburg.  

第十九天：萨尔茨堡是电影“音乐之声“的拍摄地，但它更以音乐天才莫扎特出生地而出名。莫扎特短暂的一生超过一半的时间是在萨尔茨堡度过的。今天除了参观著名的萨尔茨城堡，坐了河上观光游船之外其余的基本就以莫扎特为主题了。我们早上在莫扎特常去的饭店吃了早餐😜, 下午先去他出生及童年居住的房子，然后参观莫扎特一家的住宅，晚上莫扎特晚餐音乐会很不错，音乐伴随着美酒佳肴，还有什么能比这更好的来结束忙碌的一天。

Kufstein, Austria

June 7, 2022

Today was a travel day, leaving Innsbruck for Salzburg, Austria. Before leaving the town, we did our last morning walk around the Old Town and went to the marketplace for breakfast. The marketplace was just a block away from our hotel. We went there twice in the last two days, but it was closed because of the holiday and Sunday. Today was our last chance, and we finally made it inside. The marketplace was smaller than we expected, and there was not much to offer for breakfast. We only had coffee there and left shortly after.

We visited the Hofburg (Imperial Palace), a former Habsburg palace in Innsbruck, Austria. Hofburg in Innsbruck is considered one of the country's three most significant cultural buildings, along with the Hofburg Palace and Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna. We passed the palace so many times in the last three days but never had the chance to get inside. Since picture taking was not allowed, we didn't have any pictures to share. To find more information about the palace, click the link:https://www.burghauptmannschaft.at/Betriebe/Hofburg-Innsbruck.html

On the way to Salzburg, we got off the train at Kufstein, Austria. Kufstein is a small medieval town located between Innsbruck and Salzburg. Our original plan was to spend a half day there sightseeing. But when we arrived in Kufstein, we found no luggage storage facility at the train station or the nearby area. It was hard to drag the suitcases down the cobblestone streets, and visit the beautiful fortress with the luggage in hand. We ended up crossing the bridge and did a short walk on the trail along the river. We found a café by the bridge not far from the train station and had lunch there. We also used the café as the resting place and took our turn to see the old town area and take some pictures. Then we got back on the train and headed to Salzburg.

Our hotel in Salzburg was located in a quiet area, not too far from the river and the Mirabell Palace. After we checked in and settled, we went to the old town. Because of the recent rain, the water level in the river was very high, and the river current flew very fast. We quickly walked around the old town and glanced at a few famous structures. We returned to our hotel and ordered Chinese takeout for dinner. Our room had a nice balcony. Sipping the local beers and eating our Chinese food on the balcony, we enjoyed the first night at Salzburg.

第十八天：来Innsbruck几天一直没时间去皇宫里面看看，今天就要离开去下一站。不想有遗憾，早上走之前赶紧买了票进去走马观花地看一圈。因为不让拍照，所以没任何照片可上。今天的目的地是音乐之声的故乡Salzburg（萨尔茨堡）。去的路上火车会经过一个小镇kufstein，我们按计划中途下火车，准备在Kufstein先来个半天游后再继续前往Salzburg。没想到火车站居然没有行李储存服务。拖着行李箱，城堡是没法进去了，只能匆匆在外面看一眼。来到萨尔茨堡的第一感觉就是这个城市真漂亮。晚上在阳台上喝上奥地利的啤酒，吃上外买的盒饭，美好的一天又过去了。

Swarovski & Ambras Castle 水晶世界 & 城堡

June 6, 2022

We went to the Swarovski Crystal Worlds by a local bus in the morning. Swarovski is one of the world's most famous jewelry brands. The Swarovski Crystal Worlds is located in Wattens, near Innsbruck, where the company was founded, and its headquarters today. Seeing the Green Giant was on the top list of place-to-visit in Innsbruck. The green Giant at the entrance of Chambers of Wonder welcomed visitors to experience fantasy inspired and designed by some of the world's greatest artists. There were 18 chambers of Wonders containing thousands of sparking crystals, vibrant and exciting displays, and 3D images of civil rights activists and politicians. It had the smallest and largest hand-cut crystals displayed.

We enjoyed this magnificent crystal world very much. After chambers of wonders, it came with a sale trap. The Swarovski Kristallwelten (Crystal Worlds) Store was located at the museum's exit. We usually tried not to buy souvenirs during our long travel because we packed light and had no room for extra items. But it was hard to walk away when you were at the Crystal Worlds, one of the world's largest Swarovski stores. There was this old saying - "Happy wife, happy life." So as the lady was busy shopping, the guy was enjoying a cup of coffee and a small cake. Something we did not realize while shopping at the store until many weeks later. Typically, if you buy something in EU (Europe Union) countries that exceed the value limit, citizens of non-EU states would get value added tax (about 20%) back before leaving the EU. Unfortunately, when we traveled in Europe between EU and non-EU countries by train, there was no passport control station at any train station, so we never had the chance to stamp our receipts to prove that we had left the EU. The only time we would be at the airport with passport control was when we flew back to the US from Switzerland at the end of the trip, but Switzerland is not a member of the EU. Therefore, we could not have our Swarovski receipts verified and never got the tax refund. We just considered that it was our contribution to the EU.

Done with shopping and coffee break, we went to the garden. The garden of the Giant was terrific. We especially liked the Crystal Cloud, where the cloud consisting of 800,000 crystals flows above a black reflection pool. It gave us a unique experience, and it was sparkling and stunning. We had lunch at their beautiful café facing the garden. After lunch, we walked around to see other parts of the garden.

Once we got back to the city, we turned around and got on another local bus to see the famous Ambras Castle on the outskirt of the town. There was an interesting story about the castle. Archduke Ferdinand II, the second son of Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor, fell in love with the daughter of a patrician, not from a royal family. The emperor didn't want outside the family to know about their marriage. They secretly married, and the prince turned the medieval fortress at Ambras into a Renaissance castle as a gift for his wife. The prince systematically collected armor and art from famous personalities of his time and built one of the world's oldest museums. It was a magnificent castle where you could spend a lot of time enjoying and relaxing. Unfortunately, we arrived late afternoon and did not have as much time as we wanted to go through the castle before it was closed for the day.  

We had a short coffee break in the castle's courtyard and went to the garden afterward. The garden was very well-maintained and gorgeous. A rare white peacock and a few Indian peacocks were walking freely in the garden. One male peacock opened its train and shook its feathers to catch the attention of a female peacock nearby. But it looked like just a one-way attraction. The female peacock was interested in someone else. We spent so much time taking pictures and videos of the peacocks. We had never seen a white peacock before, and it was our first time seeing peacocks with trains open so closely. It made our day.

We had our dinner at the old town and enjoyed our last night and very last walk of Innsbruck.

第十七天:一早坐了公交车去城外的Swarovski水晶世界。这个家喻户晓的品牌在全世界都有专卖店，而我们今天来到的是它的最著名的水晶博物馆，也是这个品牌的总部所在地。入口处的绿色巨人喷泉，展厅内各式璀璨夺目的水晶及水晶艺术品，还有展馆外的园林艺术让我们觉得不虚此行。下午再接再厉赶到Innsbruck另一个著名的景点 Ambras 城堡，号称是世界上最早的博物馆之一，收藏了不少珍贵物品。当时蒂罗尔国王子因为父母不同意他与平民结婚，他为平民妻子秘密地将堡寨改建成这个城堡。在城堡的花园里我们有幸看到了白孔雀和孔雀开屏。

Innsbruck, Austria 因斯布鲁克

June 5, 2022

We started our day early as usual and went out looking for a place to have breakfast. We walked around the quiet streets nearby. The only place that opened in the early morning was this bakery called Der Bäcker Ruetz behind our hotel. It was a nice cozy place with many choices of pastries, breakfast bread, and sandwiches, but it only had a couple of small tables. We grabbed some coffee and breakfast bread, sat at the town square just a few steps away from the bakery, and enjoyed our first breakfast in Austria.

Innsbruck offers Welcome Card to the tourists, a complimentary card for free public transportation, and discounts for other activities. We got the cards from our hotel since our stay exceeded the minimum requirement. With the card, the first thing we did was to head out to Nordkette, the Top of Innsbruck. We could hike up to the summit, but we took an easy route. We walked to the Congress station not far from the old town and took the Hungerburg funicular to reach Hungerburg in just 8 minutes. The station was beautiful and contemporary. Then we switched to a cable car to Seegrube. After getting to the Seegrube station, a short walk distance from the station was an outdoor seating area outside the Seegrube restaurant. We did not stop at the deck immediately; instead, we started our hike along the Path of Perspectives, which winded in breathtaking alpine surroundings. It was not a typical hiking path; the subtle architectural structures embedded seamlessly into the landscape along the trail. A view platform extended out over the edge of the landscape to provide uninterrupted views of the city. An array of stepped wooden benches form an amphitheater with the backdrop of sky and valley. Several benches could be found along the trail for view, relax and reflection. The quotes from the Austrian's most influential philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein were inscribed on the steel surface of some structures, like "Don't let yourself led by example of other people, but by Nature!" or "Things are right before our eyes…". It was not only a physical hiking trail but also invited us to take a moment to observe the landscape and reflect over the life. It was a true Path of Perspectives.

After about a mile of hiking, we returned to Seegrube Restaurant for a light lunch and cappuccinos. After our lunch break, we went on the cable car to Hafelekar to enjoy the breathtaking views of the Top of Innsbruck above the tree line. Once off the cable car, there was a short hike to reach the summit. Because of the high elevation, this last part of climbing up the hill made us very tired, but we made it. We were at the top of Innsbruck.

We returned to the hotel for a short nap to recover from our hiking. In the late afternoon, the weather changed to cloudy with little rain. We started a self-guided walking tour of "In the Habsburgs' footsteps" based on the information we got from the tourist's office. We started at the Golden Roof, then passed by the Cathedral of St James, Tyrolean State Theatre, Leopold's Fountain, and House of Music. The route continued to the Imperial Palace and Court Church, the Jesuit Church (University Church), and Rudolf's Fountain on Bozner Platz. Next to the plaza, we saw a Chinese restaurant with a duck dish, which one of us could not ignore. We were also hungry, so we had duck over noodles for dinner, and the food was okay. At least it was reasonably priced for duck dishes. We had found that duck dishes were on the menu of almost all the Chinese Restaurants in Austria, even fast-food places, and had thought about trying it. Today we finally did it.

After dinner, we walked to the Triumphal Arch, built in 1765, for the wedding of the second son of Empress Maria Theresa and Emperor Francis Stephen. The emperor died 13 days after the wedding. Later, a memorial motif was added to the Arch to describe the wedding and commemorate the emperor's death. Innsbruck was a special place for Maria Theresa.

第十六天：今天去Innsbruck的最高点，从山脚到山顶之间有无数的徒步小道，每一条看着都难，我们还是花钱坐缆车上山。在山腰间先走一圈，然后在餐厅享受美食，喝上一杯咖啡，欣赏脚下的城市美景。缆车到山顶后，还要沿着陡峭小路走到最高点，上年纪了，走着有点气喘😀。下午回到旅馆睡个午觉，傍晚在老城里走了一圈，在一家中国小餐馆吃了简单晚餐。

Bernina Express 伯尼纳快车

June 3, 2022

Chenggang is an early riser. He went out early to do a morning walk and see a few sights like Engadiner Museum and Segantini Museum only from outside. The town was quiet and had few cars and people, and the lake was calm and had an excellent reflection of the surrounding mountains. After returning from the walk, we waited for the bakery across the street to open at 7:30 am. We grabbed a few pastries for breakfast and walked about a mile along the lake to the train station. Butterbretzel and Laugensandwich became our favorite pastries.

Bernina Railway is a UNESCO world heritage site, one of only two railways with such honor. The Bernina Express connects St. Moritz, Switzerland, with Tirano, Italy, via Bernina Pass. The Bernina crossing is the highest railway crossing in Europe. During the journey of 38 miles, the train ascended 1476 ft and descended 5653 ft. The line winds in many S-bend, 180 degree-bend, and the most renowned Brusio spiral viaduct. The spiral viaduct is a 360-degree curve to keep the inclination at no more than 6%. Like Glacier Express, this Bernina Express train ticket is covered by the Swiss Travel Pass. But a seat reservation is required, and it is not cheap either. The coach we were in was not full, only two groups of tourists. A videography team from Japan’s NHK, two cameramen and a female interpreter, also joined us on the train to tape the Bernina Express journey. They asked for our permission to be taped, and we agreed. The train stopped at Alp Grum Station for 15 mins. The TV crew got off at the station, and we exited the coach to get fresh air and enjoy a magnificent view of the Palü Glacier, the Lagh da Palü lake, and the Bernina mountains surrounding it. The train ride was specular. We thought it was more interesting than Glacier Express.

When we arrived at Tirano, the clouds were moving in. It was the first time for us to land on Italy soil. Tirano is a small border town with a river flowing through. During lunchtime, most shops were closed, but restaurants were open. As we strolled through the city, we were looking for an Italian restaurant with outdoor dining so we could enjoy the beautiful town. At the city square, we found one. However, it started to rain only a few minutes after we sat. We had no choice but moved to inside. We ordered several Italy dishes. They were outstanding, especially beef on the stick we called. We enjoyed our lunch very much. As time passed fast, we knew it would be really tight to catch the return Bernina express, for which we made a seat reservation. We decided to take our time and enjoy the moment. After lunch, we walked around the town and had Italy Gelato and coffee, a must-to-have treat in Italy.

We missed our reserved Bernina Express. Our plan B was to take other commercial trains along the same line. They passed the same scenery without requiring seat reservations and fewer tourists, but we had to make a transfer at Alp Grum station. When we got off the train at Alp Grum the second time, it was raining cats and dogs. We were running towards the café/hotel and ran into the young couple who sat with us on Glacier Express yesterday. They came from Chur and stayed in Alp Grum. What a small world. We had cappuccinos at the café, then boarded the train back to St. Moritz.

After we arrived at St. Moritz, we didn’t take the bus back to the flat this time. Instead, we walked through St. Moritz Via Serlas, home to the highest outdoor shopping avenue in the world, they claimed. In its natural alpine setting, St. Moritz has the best class and luxury shopping mall we had seen.

Two weeks of Switzerland travel were ending. Tomorrow we would say goodbye to our friends and go on a separate way to continue our Europe journey.

第十四天，今天是这次瑞士游的最后一天。一早坐上著名的Bernina Express 观光火车，沿路欣赏冰川，高架桥梁，穿越无数的隧道来到意大利小镇Tirano. 好不容易来到意大利，同伴们都不想匆匆忙忙就回，于是决定放弃已买好的回程观光火车票。中午好好享受了一顿美味的意大利餐，然后再来一份必不可少的Gelato 和咖啡。下午改坐了regional 的火车🚞回到St. Moritz ，最后再享受一下这个滑雪小镇的美景。从Tirano 坐regional 火车回St. Moritz感觉并不比观光火车差，推荐以后朋友来瑞士🇨🇭游的话可以考虑一下

Glacier Express 冰川快车

June 2, 2022

In the last twelve days, we had walked more than 20,000 steps a day on average. We would replace the walking with train rides in the next two days. Today, we boarded the Glacier Express from Zermatt to St. Moritz we had eagerly looked forward to. We had planned to do one of the world’s best train routes near the end of our Swiss trip for the epic experience and allowing us to relax and recover. The Glacier Express is probably the slowest express in the world, taking 8.5 hours throughout approximately 180 miles. The train runs over 291 bridges and through 91 tunnels over the Swiss Alps. The Swiss Travel Pass covers the train ticket. But a seat reservation is required, which is not cheap. Since we booked the tickets too late, we only got four aisle seats. It was nice to have window seats for a better view since the Glacier Express has a big panoramic window. But it doesn’t provide the best conditions for picture taking because of reflection or dirty windows. We found that at the back of the train, we could open the window on one of the doors. During the eight-hour journey, we ran back and forth to the end of the train to take pictures when the train passed the beautiful scenery.

The eight-hour train journey was quickly over, and we arrived at St. Moritz in the afternoon. We took a local bus from the train station to the rented two-bedroom flat. The bus winded through St. Moritz’s quiet and elegant downtown area. St. Moritz is a luxury resort town having 300 days of sunshine a year. The city also hosted Winter Olympics twice. The nickname is Top of the World. We guess it tries to beat Jungfraujoch as Top of Europe. Our first impression of the city was stylish, elegant, and classy.

The two-bedroom flat was located on a quiet street near the lake. It was the best place we rented on this trip. It had a large modern kitchen and dining space. Once we settled, the ladies went to the market nearby and got some fresh veggies and fish filet. They prepared a delicious dinner, and it was comfy and tasty. After dinner, we went to the lake. There was a nice trail loop around Lake St. Moritz. We were impressed by the city of St. Moritz presented to us. Even their trash cans along the lake had the style.

第十三天：十几天来我们每天平均行步都在二万步以上，在今后二天，瑞士之行将以乘坐闻名世界的冰川快车和列入世界遗产目录的伯尔尼那快线而告终。冰川快车从Zermatt 到St. Moritz一共一百八十一英里，行驶八个小时，该叫慢车吧。到了St. Moritz后，三位女士忙着准备晚餐，也算是给我们的胃减压。饭后我们环着小湖走了一圈。

Matterhorn and Five Lakes Hike 马特洪峰

June 1, 2022

After a good night's sleep, we got up early and took a routine morning walk around the town. As we reached Zermatt Museum, the snow-covered Matterhorn was right in front of us in the northern sky. It was a perfect view of the peak, to our surprise. Opposite to yesterday's cloudy weather, this morning's sky was clear blue with few clouds. It was a good start for us to endeavor another adventure.

As we walked to the Sunnegga Funicular station through the town, we often stopped to take more photos of the Matterhorn from different angles. The funicular station is on the other side of the Vispa river that flows through Zermatt. The Zermatt–Sunnegga Funicular, also known as short SunneggaExpress, is an underground funicular railway. The funicular ride to the top was less than 5 minutes.

At Sunnegga, the people usually took the cable car up Blauherd, saving two miles of uphill climbing. Unfortunately, the cable service had not started for the summer yet. Without the gondola's help, we started our Five Lake Loop hike at Sunnegga instead and hiked our way up to Blauherd. Although the hiking up 2 miles from Summegga to Blauherd with an elevation of 1400 feet was challenging for us, the views of Matterhorn and surrounding mountains and glaciers were stunning and made the hard-working 100% worth it. We had stopped many times along the trail and turned around to look back at Matterhorn; it was the best hiking on this Europe trip.

From Blauherd, we walked to Stellisee, the largest and prettiest of five lakes on the loop. It was an easy, predominantly downhill walk. The lake view with the partially cloud-covered Matterhorn in the background was beautiful. We walked around the lake for the best view of the Matterhorn from the far side of the lake. Not so lucky, the lake was not as calm as we like to have a better reflection of the Matterhorn on the lake. We had our lunch, simple sandwiches, by the lake. Then we continued our downhill hiking as the clouds were moving in. We visited the other four lakes, Grindjisee, Grunsee, Moosjisee, and Leisee. The scenery of these four lakes was good but not as impressive as those in the first half of 8 miles hike. The highlight was that we saw some black goats on our way from Moosjisee to Leisee. Their furs were half black and half white. We learned later that these were the famous Valais Blackneck goats.

The hike to Leisee, the last lake on the loop, was the most challenging part of today's hike for us after six hours on the trail. It was a steep continuous zig-zap walk up some villages before arriving at the lake. The clouds became so thick we could not see the lake at one point. By reaching Leisee, we were almost at our finish line, except there was one last hill to climb to get back to the station. Luckily not far from the lake, a lift could be used to go straight up to the hill where the station was located. We were so exhausted to do another uphill walk that we took the lift to the station instead. We were very proud of ourselves for completing this 8 miles adventure. Overall, the section from Sunnegga to Stellisee was the best part of the Five Lakes Trail, with a much better scenic view.

Back to town, we were hungry for some delicious food. We found a place called Schaferstube, its specialty being black face sheep dishes. But one of us didn't like lamb dishes and was afraid she could not handle the lamb smell. We found another café, Restaurant Julen, at the exact location serving more non-lamb dishes. We followed the direction from Google Maps to the site and walked into the restaurant in the basement. There was no sign outside; we didn't see one. It turned out to be Schaferstube, our first choice. Both restaurants belonged to the same hotel. The atmosphere of the restaurant was warm and like an old Europe tavern. On the wall, black face sheep sculptures and pictures were everywhere. There was no unpleasant lamb smell, so we decided to stay. The kitchen grill was just a few feet away from our table. Three of us ordered the black face lamb dishes, and one had seafood. Overall, it was an excellent choice for everyone.

第十二天：早上天气晴朗，在镇上都可以欣赏到雄伟壮观的马特洪峰Matterhorn。昨天四英里徒步下山算是给大家一个热身，今天著名的五湖环绕徒步对我们来说是自我挑战，由于其一缆车尚未开通，给今天的徒步增加一份难度和力度。五湖徒步一共八英里，上下一千七百英尺，我们花了六小时多才回到镇上。晚餐是烤当地的黑面羊为主，很不错。

Gornergrat Railway and Downhill Hike 戈尔内格拉特铁路

May 31, 2022

We took a morning walk along the lake one last time and captured a few more pictures before going to the same bakery place to have coffee and pastries. After breakfast, we said goodbye to Montreux and got on the IR 90 train heading to Zermatt, a part of the Classic Grand Train Tour of Switzerland. We arrived at Zermatt before noon. Zermatt is a car-free resort town. The majority of the buildings are either hotels or restaurants. The winter is the busiest season. Since we were there when the summer season just started, only 20% of the hotels were open, and many restaurants had not opened for the summer yet. Although the town is car-free, taxi by electric vehicles is available for the tourists to get to their hotels up the hills. Our hotel was a short distance from the train station, so we dragged our luggage to the hotel. Luckily, our room was ready for us before normal check-in time. After settling in the room, we headed out to start a new adventure.

Grabbing some sandwiches for lunch at a nearby bakery, we boarded the Gornergrat Railway to the summit of the Gornergrat. The cogwheel railway is the second highest railway in Europe after the Jungfrau and the highest open-air railway in Europe. Unfortunately, the cloud started to build up in the afternoon at high altitudes. The Matterhorn was not visible, but we had countless panoramic views of mountains and glaciers as the train pulled up to the summit. After 40 mins of a magnificent ride, we arrived at the summit. The weather was chilly in the early summer at summit, but the view was breathtaking, even with the peaks obcuredtially by clouds. We had our lunch at the summit café. With the hot goulash soup and drinks ordered from the café, the sandwiches we brought tasted pretty good and it was a very good lunch. After lunch break, we toured a small church and enjoyed the views from the overlook deck. We also took some pictures at the Grand Tour Photo Spot, one of 64 spots in the country.

After watching a cogwheel train running up to the station, we knew it was time to leave. We got on the return train back down to Riffelap, a hamlet approximately halfway between the town of Zermatt and the Gornergrat summit. From Riffelap, we hiked four miles back to Zermatt. The trail was scenic, with wide-ranging views of the valley and peaks. It descended steeply and put a lot of pressure on our knees. It was raining a little most of the time, and we were glad we had rain cover with us. We took a break at Chalet Harmonie. The mountain chalet hadn’t opened yet for the summer, and four of us were the only people there. But the whole area was still well maintained. We were astonished to find out that the restroom was open and kept as clean as at the hotel. Nearby were Ricola Herb garden and a small church, both lovely. We wished we could stay a little longer to explore the area more, but we wanted to get back to the town before dark. The hiking was challenging for us, but we enjoyed it very much.

We had dinner at a popular Italy restaurant. Pizza, pasta and dessert were delicious.

第十一天：今天一早离开St. Montreux坐二小时火车到了Zermatt。先去旅馆，转身就坐Gornergrat 齿轮铁路火车上山。在沉浸在静谧瑞士冰川和高山之后，我们在蒙蒙细雨中徒步四英里海拨落差二千尺下山。回到镇上后去了一家意大利餐厅美餐一顿。

Geneva 日内瓦

May 30，2022

We got up early again in the morning and walked to see Montreux's old town up the hill before breakfast. The old town was small and peaceful. But it doesn't have the glamor like other old towns in Switzerland have. The historical museum was part of the preserved old house. Up the hill, we overlooked the train station and the lake. Then we came down to have breakfast near the train station. We found this wonderful bakery across from the train station, the only one that opened in the early morning. We had coffee and pastries there. Everything was so good, and we knew we would come back later. We returned to the promenade after breakfast while waiting for our friends to get ready. We walked along the lakeshores towards the nearby town, Clarens. We just couldn't get enough of the beautiful view of the lake.

Today we had another day trip. We went to Geneva by train, the best well-known city in Switzerland. Chenggang went on his way to visit the European Organization for Nuclear Research, known as CERN. CERN has the world's largest and most complex scientific instruments for fundamental physics study. The latest discovery is the Higgs boson, a god particle described in the news. It is also a place where the WEB was invented. The CERN offers the public a guided tour of the oldest particle accelerator every hour. But you have to get the tickets at the visitor center in person. After getting off the train, Chenggang went on a separate way to catch a bus to CERN. The bus ride was about 45 mins. When he got there, there was a line for the tickets. Each hour, the tour had 21 tickets. Unfortunately, he got a ticket three hours away. There was not too much to do near CERN. He decided to get back to the city by another 45 mins bus ride and had lunch in the beautiful outdoor courtyard at Kiosque des Bastions in Parc des Bastions. The salad was good, and the atmosphere was even better. After re-energized, he returned to the CERN by a 45 mins bus ride. By the bus schedule, he would arrive a few minutes before 3 pm when the tour started. But it never worked that way. The bus was delayed, and the tour was about to begin when he arrived. He went inside the visitor center to get the pass badge; initially, the staff refused to give it out. He went outside to talk to the tour guide and back to the center to tell the staff that the tour hadn't started yet. Finally, the staff handed him the pass, and what a relief that he didn't waste time riding buses back and forth for approximately 3 hours. The tour was informative, and the first generator was huge to us, imagining how big the latest accelerator would be.

When Chenggang was riding buses between CERN and Parc des Bastions, three ladies went to see the Broken Chair, the giant chair with a broken leg that stands across the street from the United Nations building and the world's tallest water fountain on Lake Geneva. They took a lake ferry in the afternoon from Geneva to Yvoire, a beautiful small medieval village located on the French shore of Lake Geneva. They had a brief time there, enough to have ice cream and coffee and then headed back to Geneva.

After visiting CERN, Chenggang went to see the broken chair as well and strolled along the lake shore. He even took a ferry to the other side of the lake, and the Swiss Travel Pass covered all ferry rides. Four of us were united near Parc La Grange and wandered through the park. After dinner, we went to Parc des Bastions to see the Reformation Wall. At dawn, in front of the wall, was a dance class and some kind of pot-luck going on. One day's trip to Geneva was hectic, and we were tired. We got on the train back to Montreux, and everybody took a short nap.

第十天: 在日内瓦，我们兵分二路，成刚参加了欧洲核子研究组织的对外导游，带着参观了与他同龄第一台加速器，为了能得到一张参观券，来回坐公交车四次。三位女士坐渡轮去日内瓦对面的最美法国小镇，喝上一杯咖啡和吃个冰淇淋就回来。