Prague Castle 布拉格城堡

June 29, 2022

It had been forty days since we came to Europe, and we didn't seem to want to go home yet. The weather in Prague was much more comfortable than in Budapest by now. We didn't want to rush today, so we went out for breakfast and wandered around the farmers market nearby. Those fresh fruits in the market looked very good.

We purchased a 48-hour Prague tourist card for each of us from the tourist office and started our sightseeing near noon. Our first tour was the free guided tour to the old city hall, covered with admission to the hall. The tour guide took us around the old city hall and told us how the city hall and the town had evolved over time. The entire old town has been raised by more than five meters over the years. The street floor from seven or eight hundred years ago has now become underground basements or cellars. There was an underground city under the present town. He took us to the basement and showed us various rooms under the hall. The underground structures were only open to the guided tour. But the highlight of the city hall visit was to see the astronomical clock tower and twelve Jesus apostles from the building inside, just behind the clock. After the guided tour, we went to the city hall tower to have a panoramic view of the square.

For lunch, we bought smoke sausages at a stall in the square to make our stomachs happy and then took the bus to Prague Castle on the other side of the river, not far from the Old Town. The castle is home to the most famous and largest Catholic church in the Czech Republic, St. Vitus Cathedral. The Prague Royal Palace in the castle was not as impressive as Schonbrunn in Vienna. Still, some of the other buildings in the castle have some unique characters, including the Golden Lane, where the former bars and the houses of the lower classes were, not too far from the castle.

The private Lobkowicz Palace of the Prince Lobkowicz family is inside Prague Castle. The visit to Lobkowicz Museum was rewarding. The family lost the palace and the valuable collections twice, the first during World War II and the second under Communist rule. The family fled the Czech Republic and went to the United States during the communist period, and of course, all the real estate and collections were "raided." After the fall of the Communist Party, they moved back to the Czech Republic and began to rebuild and restore the former palace. The country even passed a new law allowing their family and others to get the raided treasures back. The collection in the museum was unique and worth the visit.

After a whole afternoon of sightseeing, we eyed a big Czech dinner, a large crispy pork knuckle, a traditional Czech dish at Pork’s. The knuckle was tender inside and crispy outside, very, very tasty. It was ten times better than the last time we had in a German town outside Seattle. We also had pork schnitzel, one of the best schnitzels on this trip. This restaurant knew how to cook the meat. The food was amazing and service was excellent. With the local beer, fried knuckle, and pork schnitzel, the fatigue of walking and sightseeing in the afternoon quickly went away. In addition, we also learned a few things about beer ordering in Prague, Snyt, or Mliko. Snyt beer has 50% foam and Mliko 90% foam. We had one Pilsner beer with 90% foam and a black beer. The Prague beer tasted delicious. Of course, we couldn't finish a big pork knuckle and brought half of it back to our apartment. After we paid the bill, the waiter gave each of us a shot of honey whiskey. Although it was sweet and tasted very good, all we could take was just one sip due to the very high alcohol concentration. While we liked our knuckle, schnitzel, and beer, our daughter enjoyed her Vegan dish too.

After dinner, the sky got dark, and suddenly the rain poured down when we walked across the Charles bridge. We got all wet but found the Old Town Bridge Tower was still open, so we climbed up the tower and got a panoramic view of Prague's old town.

欧洲游第四十天：来欧洲已有四十天了，好像还没有想回家的念头😜。布拉格的气候比布达佩斯舒服多了，今天不用赶路，安安心心地出去吃了个早餐，近中午时才开始外出观光。第一件事是每人买张48小时旅游卡，开始我们布拉格游。先去了老城市政厅，跟着导游转了一圈，包括上到天文钟楼，近距离看到那整点报时出来的十二个使徒。了解了不少事，整个老城区提高了五米多，七，八百年前的底层现在变成了地窖。午餐就在小摊上买了根香肠充饥，然后就去了河对岸离老城不远的布拉格城堡。城堡里有着捷克最著名，最大的天主教堂-圣维特大教堂（St. Vitus Cathedral) 。城堡里的布拉格王室宫殿比起奥地利的要差一些，但城堡里其他一些建筑有些特色，其中金色小街是以前的酒吧和下层人居住的地方。最后参观了洛布科维奇宫，是私人宫殿，属于以前亲王贵族家的。先后失去了二次，第一次是二战期间，第二次是在共产党统治下，全家逃离捷克去了美国，当然所有的房地产和收藏品都被＂抄家＂。共产党下台后，他们搬回捷克开始重建修复以前的宫殿。看了整整一下午的景点后，晚餐是捷克餐。一大个脆皮猪肘子里嫩外脆，非常非常合胃口，比上次在西雅图市外的德国小镇上的好吃多了，再配上啤酒，把一下午走路看景的劳累全带走了😜。另外学了新的东西，啤酒可以要大杯但沫多酒少的那种，他们的黑啤很好喝。当然一个大猪肘子一个人是吃不完的还带了一半回去。

Prague, Czech Republic 布拉格,捷克

June 28, 2022

We were very exciting going to another new country - the Czech Republic. But it was a long travel day, and the train ride from Budapest to Prague, the Czech Republic, took more than seven hours. Since it was raining in the morning, the taxi took a while to show up. Fortunately, the train station is not very far, and it didn't delay that much. We had booked a direct train from Budapest to Prague, but a section of the railway in the middle was washed away by a mudslide a few days ago, and the bus transferred the passengers to bypass the damaged railway section. As we got off the bus, a policeman shouted "passport, passport" to the crowd. We didn't have the passports in hand. When we tried to get our passports, the police officers just waved to let us go without checking the passports. We saw two passengers get arrested because they didn't have the documents. It was the first time we had witnessed such an event in the past 40 days in Europe, and we had crossed the border multiple times. It seemed that the border inspection was profile targeting.

We arrived at Prague's central train station after five in the afternoon and called Uber to get us to our hotel apartment in the old town center. Part of the old town area was pedestrian-only, and no cars were allowed. After getting off the Uber, we had to drag our suitcase through the cobblestone street, which was not easy. Besides the bedroom, the apartment had a large living room, small kitchen, and washer machine, but we later discovered it didn't have AC, and they gave us two fans to cool the rooms down. The apartment was next to a busy alley and was noisy during the day. However, the location was perfect.

After settling in, we walked to the old town square nearby, just in time for the Prague Astronomical Clock to announce the hour. The clock was a medieval astronomical clock attached to the Old Town Hall and was first installed in 1410, making it the third-oldest astronomical clock in the world and the oldest clock still in operation. There were hundreds of people anxiously waiting for the twelve Jesus apostles to appear one by one out of two small doors on the clock. The whole sequence lasted about a few minutes.

After another vegan dinner, we went to the famous Charles Bridge, which was overcrowded. We were uncomfortable with the large crowd, so we left the bridge and returned to the square. There were several food booths, and when we saw big ham being grilled on the stall, our appetite was up again. The ham was sold by weight, starting with 100 grams. We couldn't hold it back and asked for some, which tasted good. Our first impression of Prague was good.

Charles Bridge

欧洲游第三十九天：今天又要去一个新的国家-捷克🇨🇿。从布达佩斯坐火车到捷克的布拉格(Prague)要七个多小时，早上起来下雨了，下雨天叫出租车有些难，还好没耽搁太久，且火车站也不是很远。我们订的是直达的火车，但中间有一段铁路前些天被泥石流冲毁了，只能用汽车来代替。铁路公司安排了大巴🚌将我们从一辆火车送到另一辆。有点吃惊的是刚下大巴就有二名乘客因为没有护照而被抓，来欧洲近四十天还是第一次碰到，但并没有查我们，看来边境检查是有针对性的。下午五点多到了布拉格，叫Uber 来到老城中心的小旅馆，也带厨房的。在安顿好了之后就走去旁边的老城广场，正好赶上天文钟整点报时，精彩点是十二位耶稣使徒们一个个在两个小门里出现。饭后又去了著名的查理大桥，桥上人满为患，匆匆走了一遍。回到布拉格广场看到小摊上正烤着火腿时，食欲又来了，实在是憋不住，要了一百克火腿，味道还真好。对布拉格第一印象不错。

Record Temperature 热浪席卷欧洲

June 27, 2022

The heat wave swept across Europe, and the temperature in Budapest today was already the highest in the last forty days we had been in Europe. Although the temperature was still much lower than in Phoenix, it was really a bit unbearable when we walked under the direct sun.

On a guided tour, we visited the Hungarian Parliament Building early in the morning. The Parliament Building was a symmetrical façade and a central dome in the Gothic Revival style. The inside was golden and magnificent, one of the most luxurious buildings we had seen on this trip. The picture taking was allowed except for the Holy Crown displayed in the central hall. During the People's Republic of Hungary period, a red star perched on the top of the dome, but it was removed in 1990 after the fall of communism. The broken star was on display in the museum.

Then we went to the Central Market for the second time and had Goulashes, a traditional Hungarian dish, which tasted very good. We had tried different Goulash soups in various countries in the past few weeks, but we preferred this goulash today. We were leaving tomorrow but hadn't tried the Hungarian snack – Chimney Cake, yet, and while chimney cakes were all over the town, a top vegan chimney cake store was on the Buda side, just across the river. We took the bus to the Buda side again and had the chimney cake to check off a box on our to-do list.

We returned to our flat to take a break and then took the subway to the Buda side again for dinner. We found a restaurant with seabass on the menu and ordered the whole fried seabass. The photo looked better than the actual taste. After dinner, we went to Fisherman's Bastion, free of charge after dark. From the terrace, the view of the Parliament building at night was magnificent, and we could see bats flying over the building.

欧洲游第三十八天：热浪席卷欧洲，布达佩斯今天的温度也已经是我们来欧洲近四十天最高的一天。虽然气温仍远低于凤凰城的，但在烈日暴晒下走真的有点受不了。一早就参观匈牙利议会大厦，里面是金碧辉煌，宏伟壮观，是我们这次旅行中见到的最漂亮的建筑物之一。然后又再次来到中央市场，在那里尝试匈牙利的传统美食-炖牛肉(Goulashes)，味道还真不错。之前的几周在各个国家都有尝过不同的牛肉汤（Goulash Soup), 还是更喜欢今天这个炖牛肉。明天要离开这里了，可是匈牙利小吃-烟囱蛋糕(Chimney Cake)还没尝过，虽然烟囱蛋糕满街都是，可排名前列的全素蛋糕是远在河对面。我们又坐了公交车去了对岸，也算了个心愿。晚上准备上鱼人堡看夜景，先回住所休息一会儿后，又坐地铁再次来到对岸。先找了一家有炸鱼的饭店，点了个炸全鲈鱼，照片上看着馋人，结果味道一般。饭后来到鱼人堡，眺望对岸，夜幕下的议会大厦非常漂亮，真是名不虚传。

Danube River Cruise 多瑙河游

June 26, 2022

Today's main activity was doing Danube River Cruise. There are two types of river cruises, river cabin cruises and river sightseeing cruises. The river cabin cruises typically provide overnight stay cabins and involve a multi-day itinerary. The simple sightseeing cruises take passengers from point A to point B during the day. It sometimes offers simple tour guides and usually has a small café for food and drink. The river tours cost a fraction of the river cruises with cabins. We already did one river sightseeing cruise in Vienna on the Danube River and enjoyed it. We planned to do a few more on this Europe trip. We had wanted to do a multi-day river cruise with overnight cabins in Europe for a while. Now we started questioning whether river cabin cruises were worth the money.

The heat wave swept many European countries in the past few days, and the Budapest area was also under a high-temperature alert. We often felt exhausted after walking a few minutes in the city. Under this kind of weather, cruising on the river offered a more comfortable way to enjoy than walking in the city.

After having breakfast at a café near our rented flat, we boarded a river sightseeing boat sailing from Budapest to Szentendre, a small town just outside of Budapest, against the river flow. Szentendre was a tourist town full of churches, galleries, museums, and cafes. The one-way ticket for a two-hour boat tour costs only 10 Euros per person. The river view from Budapest to Szentendre was terrific, especially passing the striking waterfront of Budapest's UNESCO World Heritage, such as the Szechenyi Chain Bridge, the Liberty Bridge, Buda Castle Hill, the Hungarian Parliament Building, and Margaret Island.

After arriving in the town, we visited a few tourist attractions first. Passing by a Langos stand along a narrow alley, three of us shared a garlic Langos which was very tasty and cost only 1.5 euros. Lángos is a famous Hungarian street food snack. It's a deep-fried flatbread made of dough from water or milk, flour, yeast, and salt. It is usually topped with sour cream and grated cheese or garlic. We always like deep-fried bread, and this one was no exception.

For lunch, two of us went to a Greek restaurant while our daughter decided to try a Vegan café alone. We had grilled squids and Greek salad, and both were delicious. Earlier, while we wandered around in the old town square, we saw this beautiful ice cream store, Levendula Kézműves Fagylaltozó, decorated nicely with lavender and purple colors. We never had lavender flavor ice cream and liked to figure out how it tasted. After lunch, we went to the store and ordered a small cup of lavender ice cream. Although there was a couple of purple color ice cream in the booth, the girl behind the counter gave us a scoop of lavender ice cream, which was white, and even put it into a white cup despite many purple cups there. The ice cream didn't taste like lavender or smell like lavender. At this point, we still didn't know what she had given us. We were expecting our ice cream would be a purple color in the purple cup. It was a big disappointment, but we laughed it off.

It was hot today. The portable water mists in the town helped us cool a little bit. We didn't return to Budapest on the boat. Instead, we took the 130-year-old intercity train back to the town. There was no air conditioning in the carriage, and all windows were open. The train ride was noisy and uncomfortable as the train shook from side to side while running. It was said that these carriages had been used for more than 40 years on average. It was quite a different experience for us.

Our daughter went to a vegan shop in the city center alone. Budapest had quite a few vegan options, and she enjoyed them very much. We returned to the flat and had tomato mushroom egg soup again. After dinner, the three of us went to the riverside again and sat at the same café we were in yesterday. As watching the sun go down, we drank coffee and chatted. It was a happy family time.

欧洲游第三十七天：今天的节目是多瑙河游。在住宿附近的一家咖啡馆吃了早餐后就从布达佩斯坐游船逆水而上，大约一个半小时后来城外的旅游小镇。这几天热浪席卷欧洲多国，布达佩斯地区也是高温居下，没走几步就满头大汗。坐在船上舒服多了。到了小镇后，就把几个景点先扫了一遍。路过一家油饼小摊，三人分享了一个蒜蓉油饼，非常好吃，只花了1.5欧元。然后在河边餐厅坐下吃了个午餐休息一下之后就坐着有130年历史的城间火车回城。车厢里没有空调，所有窗都打开，车一开车厢左右摇晃叽叽嘎嘎全是噪音。据说这些车厢平均使用年已超过四十几年了。对我们来说也是一种不一样的体验。今晚我们俩又是番茄蘑菇蛋汤，女儿一人去了一家全素店。布达佩斯还是有蛮多的素食选择。晚餐后又去河边打卡，喝咖啡看太阳落山。

Buda Castle & Thermal Bath, 布达城堡和泡温泉

June 25, 2022

We went to a supermarket this morning to buy vegan snacks and small pastries. Things in Budapest were relatively cheap, and eight pieces of small pastries cost only two euros. After breakfast, the three of us took the bus to Buda Castle. We did not take the funicular to the castle and instead went up on foot. Many buildings and the famous Széchenyi Chain Bridge in the city were being renovated, and the castle was no exception. Fortunately, the majority of the castle was still open to the public. After walking up, an outdoor cafe was perfect for a quick break with coffee and freshly made lemonade. We were fortunate to see the guard change ceremony at the castle just in time.

Out of the castle, we went to Fisherman's Bastion, built in the late 19th century. It is one of the top Budapest attractions, without a doubt. The upper towers of the bastion have a small entrance fee to get in. But the panoramic views of Budapest from lookout towers were unmatchable. This fortress had never served as an actual fortification but is now the fantastic backdrop of millions of beautiful photos by tourists worldwide.

The Pest side of the Budapest

We had our lunch near the Fisherman's Bastion and then went to the Parliament building on the other side of the river. Unfortunately, the tour tickets for the inside building were sold out for the day, and then we bought the tickets for Monday. We strolled around the area to see some tourist attractions, such as Shoes on the Danube Bank, IN MEMORIAM 1956 October 25, and a few other memorial statues around the parliament buildings.

On the way to the flat, we visited the famous St. Stephen's Basilica, which happened to have a wedding, and there were far more tourists like us than the actual wedding guests attending the wedding. A few churches, like St. Stephen's Basilica, charge a fee to see the church, including the tower. We bought the all-in-one tickets. Since the altar area was blocked for the moment due to the wedding, we decided to first climb up to the lookout point in the tower. The 360-degree view from the church towers made climbing the hundreds of stairs steps worth the effort. We thought we could see the altar in the church after the wedding. To our surprise, after coming down from the tower, there was another wedding. We still couldn't see the altar up close even though we had paid for it. Outside the church was an ice cream shop having many followers on social media, Gelarto Rosa, and the line was long. Regardless of the long wait, the beautiful ice cream did comfort us a little, at least.

The panoramic view from the lookout tower at St. Stephen’s Basillica

Soaking in a thermal bath was a must-do thing when visiting Budapest. Yesterday, we went to Gettert Thermal Bath House to check it out but didn't get in. Today we decided to go to Széchenyi Baths, the largest thermal bath complex in Europe and Budapest's most popular baths. The outdoor section was stunning and huge, as well as the yellow neo-renaissance buildings. We did not have much experience with a thermal bath in Budapest. We went inside the building to check out. It had 11 indoor thermal pools at various temperatures from 28°C-40°C and with different mineral concentrations. We soaked in some of the pools for a few minutes each. Then we went to the outdoor pools and even got into a whirlpool. The tickets were not cheap, but the experience was good. We wished we could spend more time there. The lucky one among us went to Iceland last summer, and she liked Iceland's thermal Bath better.

After soaking in the thermal Bath, we went to a restaurant recommended by our rental host, and the food was delicious.

欧洲游第三十六天：吃全素的女儿到后，今天一早就去超市买了一大堆全素的食品和我们吃的小面包。布达佩斯的东西很便宜，八个小面包只花了二个欧元。早餐后，我们三人坐了公交车去Buda Castle (布达城堡) ,很多建筑都在装修，城堡也不例外。出了城堡，来到Fisherman’s Bastion (鱼人堡)。去了议会大厦，但向导讲解游票巳售完毕，只买到了周一的。在往住所的路上，来到著名的圣伊什特万圣殿(St. Stephen's Basilica)，碰巧遇上婚礼，像我们这样看热闹的游客远多于参加婚礼的嘉宾😀。气喘吁吁爬到教堂上面，360度的景观也算让我们没白费力气。兜了一圈下到教堂，结果又换了另一场婚礼，还是没办法近距离看圣坛，有点遗憾。好在教堂外就是网红冰淇淋店，排长队买了漂亮的冰淇淋安慰一下自己😅。泡温泉是来布达佩斯必做的事，先回到住处拿游泳衣和浴巾，去了欧洲最大的温泉池，里里外外有好几个温度和含矿物质不同的温泉池，人也不少。去过冰岛的人说比冰岛的温泉差多了😛。泡完温泉后去了一家房东推荐的餐厅，味道不错。

Guess who is here? 女儿的到来

June 24, 2022

We got up early in the morning and went to a small café across the street. Although we stayed in a bustling tourist area, and there were a lot of choices for food and drinks during the day and at night, the breakfast choice in the early morning was minimal. Only a hand full of breakfast cafes opened in the morning. The café was small, but the waiter took us to the lovely courtyard in the back. We had Bacon, eggs, and coffee, and it was a good breakfast.   

After coming to Europe, we were curious to find out any historic markers left by the communist period in Eastern Europe. We have visited three former Eastern European countries on this trip so far, and apart from the infrastructure being far behind Western Europe, there was almost nothing left to remind that period of history. But in Budapest, Hungary, they built a small park outside of the city called Memento Park, where they collected some of the statues that had been made under Soviet control.

We took the bus to Memento Park. Budapest had a reasonably extensive and efficient public transport system, including many buses, trams, and metro trains. But taking a bus in Budapest was a bit more complicated than in other countries on this trip. The tickets could be purchased from a ticket machine near some bus stops or downloaded from an app on the phone. A set of ten bus tickets was cheaper than individual ones. The price costs less than one euro for a ride. Each bus fare can only be used for one ride, with no transfer, regardless of distance. The ticket needs to be validated on the bus. There were different ways to validate a ticket depending on the bus you were on, and it could be putting a time stamp on the ticket or punching a hole. As first-timer, we did not know all these, and the machine didn't always work for us. Fortunately, the friendly locals quickly came to the rescue. To get to Memento Park, we had to do a bus transfer. We had a little trouble finding the right stop for the transfer and ended up on the bus in the opposite direction. The bus driver did not speak English, but he was so nice to stop the bus and even got off the bus to show us the one we should take.

Finally, we arrived at Memento Park. There were not many tourists visiting the park. It had three parts: the Statue Park, the Barrack Cinema, and the Photo Exhibition. The Status Park was small, featuring some Communist-era statues, sculptures, and plates. The park was not well maintained and was overgrown with weeds. The Photo Exhibition gave a brief overview of Hungarian socialist history, and the Cinema showed glimpses of the country's dark past with the government spying on its citizens. All of these reminded us of the dictatorship and its fall. In today's Hungary, people live a free life. Budapest was full of tourists as if they had long forgotten the new COVID virus.

After visiting the park, we stopped by the Buda side of Budapest and walked up to Gellert Hill. Unfortunately, Citadella was closed for renovation, but we had a fantastic panoramic view of the Pest and the Danube River at the top of the hill. We didn't stay there for too long as we needed to return to the city center to meet our daughter.

Our daughter flew from New York to Budapest to join us today. We knew she would take an airport shuttle to the city center, not too far from our rented place, and the bus stop for the shuttle. We went to the bus stop a few minutes earlier and had our iPhones ready to tape a happy family reunion. But the empty bus came without any passengers. "Oh, no. The passengers were dropped off somewhere else", we murmured to ourselves. We immediately used Find My on the phone to locate her on the other side of the street. She also planned to videotape us for the reunion but was very disappointed that we were not there when she got off the bus. Ultimately, we were delighted to see each other again on another continent.

We went to a vegan restaurant for dinner, and the food tasted delicious. Afterward, we went to a café on the river for coffee and enjoyed another beautiful night view of Budapest.

欧洲游第三十五天：一早起来就去外面转转，在民舍对面的小店吃了个早餐。然后就坐公交车去城外的纪念公园。在布达佩斯坐公交车比其他国家要复杂一些，一张票只能坐一次车，换车要用新票，上车后还要打时间，但价格还是便宜，一个欧元不到坐一次车。来欧洲后，很好奇想在东欧看看在共产党时期留下的痕迹。已经去了三个前东欧国家，除了相比之下基础设施要比西欧差一些，其它几乎已经再也看不见反映那一段历史的痕迹了。不过在匈牙利的布达佩斯，他们建立了一个小小的公园，把以前苏联控制下所塑造的一些塑像收集起来放在那里。里面杂草丛生，稀稀拉拉没几个游客。如今的匈牙利，人们过着自由自在的生活，布达佩斯满街的游客，好像早已把新冠病毒抛之脑后。

女儿今天从纽约飞到布达佩斯与我们会合，晚上去了一家素食餐厅，味道还不错。之后去河上的餐厅喝咖啡☕️+看夜景。

Budapest, Hungary 布达佩斯, 匈牙利

June 23, 2022

Our time in Austria came to an end, and we were heading to our next destination today. Our original plan was to make a side trip to Goyer for a couple of hours on the way to Budapest. But the summer was getting hotter these days all over Europe as the heat wave swept over, so we decided to go straight to Budapest and give us a break.

After a two-hour train ride, we arrived in Budapest, the capital of Hungary. From the train station, we called a Bolt, an Uber-like service in Hungary, to get us to our rental place. The rented residence was in the downtown area on the Pest side and in a good location, very nicely decorated and comfortable. It had two big bedrooms, a living room, and a kitchen. The apartment had a washer and dryer, which was needed. The owner of the house met us at the apartment and was very helpful in showing us what to see in the city and local food spots. After settling in, we walked to the Central Market. The place was huge, selling vegetables, fruits, and meat and having many snack bars and small shops selling tourist souvenirs. We walked around a little and bought tomatoes, cherries, eggs, and mushrooms. Back at the apartment, it was time for the homemade tomato mushroom egg soup again. The last time we made soup was almost two weeks ago, back in Ljubljana.

After dinner, we walked along the Danube River to see the city's night view. The Buda Castle and Fisherman's Bastion on the other side of the river under the night sky were amazing and beautiful. Although the Buda side of Budapest was the more historic part of the city, it was the Pest side where you truly felt the pulse of city life. The streets were always full of people, and the nightlife lasted way after midnight. There was a bustling atmosphere wherever we turned. Budapest was crowded with more tourists than Vienna, and the river was full of cruise ships.

欧洲游第三十四天：原本准备在去匈牙利的Budapest (布达佩斯)的路上顺路在一小镇上停留几个小时，后来觉得这几天炎阳炙人，有点走累了，就直奔布达佩斯，借此机会也好好休整一下。二个多小时后来到了布达佩斯，匈牙利的首都。叫了类似于Uber的Bolt, 几分种后就达到我们租的民舍。这次位于城中的民舍是二房一厅，很舒畅，而且位置也很好。民舍的主人很热心，向我们介绍了城市的景点和当地美食点。在安顿好之后就去不太远的中央市场，那里不仅有卖蔬菜，水果和肉之类的，同时有许多小吃店，还有更多的是卖旅游纪念品的小商铺。我们转了一圈，买了些西红柿，樱桃和蘑菇，晚上又是番茄蘑菇蛋汤了😀。晚饭后去河边散步看夜景，布达佩斯的游客可不比维也纳少，河里全是游船🚢。

Vienna State Opera House 维也纳国家歌剧院

June 22, 2022

Among all the tourist attractions in Vienna, Schönbrunn Palace was one of the must-see attractions. To avoid the peak hour as much as possible, we started early this morning and took the subway to the Palace, only to find that we forgot to bring our tickets. We bought the combined tickets when we visited the Hofburg Imperial Palace the other day, and the tickets were quite expensive, so we returned to the hotel to get our tickets. When we returned to Schönbrunn Palace, the tourist buses had come, and there were many people inside and outside of the Palace. We toured the inside of the Palace first. No photography was permitted in the Palace. There were so many rooms to see, and the audio guide was pretty helpful and informative.

Once done with the inside tour, we headed to the gardens. This royal's former summer residence was massive, with enormous royal gardens and fountains behind it. Even just walking around was exhausting and made us feel hungry. We took the first break in the gardens and shared a sausage and drink from the stall in front of the zoo. Then we continue our walk up the hill towards the magnificent Gloriette. The Gloriette was destroyed in World War II but has already been restored twice since then. It was a long walk to the Gloriette, and the beautiful Neptune Fountain was in front of the Gloriette. The Gloriette housed a café and an observation deck which provided panoramic views of the city. We had our second break at the Gloriette café. We had soup, cheesecake, and coffee. The incredible view came with a hefty price tag, and everything served at the café was expensive.

We returned to the Vienna city center in the afternoon. We always wanted to try Vienna's famous chocolate cake (Sachertorte) and Wiener Coffee. We couldn't book the seats in the original store, Sachertorte, so we tried out the cake at this top-ranked store near our apartment. The taste was nothing special, similar to what we had eaten on the river cruise ship two days ago that costed half of today's price. Some so-called famous foods were often expensive and exaggerated, and we would appreciate local street foods instead.

Today's highlight was seeing an opera play at the Vienna State Opera House tonight. But first, we went to a nearby Chinese restaurant for dinner. We had the signature duck and dried sautéed beef. Since the beginning of our trip, we found that duck and chicken dish prices were very similar in European Chinese restaurants. There were always one or two duck-related dishes on the menu, even in small Chinese restaurants. Since duck was a favorite of one of us, we ordered duck dishes whenever we dined at Chinese restaurants. Today's duck and beef were good, one of the best Chinese meals during this Europe trip.

Going to the Vienna Opera House was the culmination of this Austrian tour. We booked our tickets a few months before our trip. We had splurged a little and booked the front-row seats in the box on the first level. The space was small and crowded since it had three seats in the front row. The gentleman who shared the front row with us had his wife sit in the next box, and they could see and talk each other since they were literarily just sitting next to each other but were separated by the balcony wall. We thought that was pretty funny. Our box was not far from the stage. The sound and visual effects were excellent, and each seat had its own display for captions. We could choose the preferred language in the captions. Tonight's play was the Magic Flute by Mozart, which was Mozart's famous play we did not know about before. Mozart personally directed the premiere of the Magic Flute. The Vienna State Opera House was beautiful, and the show was terrific. We enjoyed every minute of it and checked it off our bucket list. The last time we went to Sydney during our 2020 world cruise, we saw Carmen at the Sydney Opera House. For comparison, the experience at the Vienna Opera House was better than that in Sydney for the similarly priced tickets.

欧洲游第三十三天：说起维也纳，美泉宫（Schönbrunn Palace ）是必看的景点之一。为了尽量避开高峰，今天一大早我们坐了地铁直奔那里，结果到了门口才发现忘记带门票了。前几天参观霍夫堡皇宫时买了联票。票挺贵的，所以决定回旅馆取票，等再回到美泉宫时游客的大巴都来了。这个皇家的昔日夏宫真是大，后面还有皇家花园，喷泉，连走马观花地看一下走得都累，先在动物园门前小摊上要了一根香肠垫饥，最后在凯旋门上小息一会儿，喝上一杯咖啡加奶酪蛋糕，算是把二个主要维也纳博物馆扫了一遍。下午回到旅馆附近的餐厅尝试维也纳著名的巧克力蛋糕（Sachertorte)和维也纳咖啡(Wiener Coffee), 未能在原创店订到位，只能在这家排名前列的餐厅还个愿。味道也没什么特别，比二天前在船上吃的没什么大差别。晚上去维也纳国家歌剧院看戏，先去附近的中餐馆点了招牌鸭和干煸牛，相当不错，是从来欧以来最好的一顿中餐之一。在欧洲中餐馆里，鸭和鸡价格相差不多，既使在小小中餐馆里都会有一，二个鸭相关的菜。去歌剧院看戏是这次奥地利游的高潮，几个月前我们就订好了票，选了一层楼的包厢，包厢前排有三个座位，很挤但离舞台不远，效果很好。看的是莫扎特创作的歌剧-魔笛，以前不知道莫扎特还创作不少著名的歌剧，莫扎特亲自指挥魔笛的首演。上次去悉尼时在歌剧院看了卡门，相比之下维也纳歌剧院效果比悉尼好些，性价比高一点。

Melk Abbey (梅尔克修道院）

June 21, 2022

We planned to visit Wachau Valley today and took the morning train to Melk, a small town on the Danube River. A short walk from the train station up the hill through the town’s main street was the Melk Abbey, the world's most beautiful abbey with more than a thousand years of history. The distinctive yellow-painted monastery was built on the cliff overlooking the Danube River. Converting a part of the abbey into a public high school now, it has a museum and a church and offers a guided tour in English. This place was spectacular in every aspect. The buildings and the surrounding garden were very well-maintained and beautiful. We visited the vast park first while waiting for our tour to start. The guided English tour took us through the museum, the library, and the church. The tour was informative and gave great insight into the abbey's history. Since no pictures were allowed inside, we only had pictures outside to share.

After visiting the Melk Abbey, we boarded the river cruise down to Krems, a charming medieval town located at the eastern edge of the Wachau Valley. While cruising on the Danube River, we saw many gorgeous castles and vineyards along the shores. The weather was perfect for cruising on the river. We had our lunch on the ship, and it was a relaxing and enjoyable ride. We also passed by a couple of big river cabin cruise ships. We had dreamed of taking a week-long river cruise on the Danube before this Europe trip, and today's short version river cruise could reduce our appetite for our dream Danube river cruise with just a small fraction of the cost of the big cabin river cruise.

Krems was a beautiful medieval town with many historic buildings and lots of small alleys with cobblestone streets to explore. Next to the Krems was its neighbor, another little medieval town called Stein, situated along the banks of the Danube River. This little town forms part of the Wachau Valley UNESCO World Heritage Site. Down to the alleys and up to the hills, we strolled from one town to another and had a great time. As we walked around and tried to find a place to eat, this lovely Spanish restaurant caught our attention, and we decided to have dinner there. We ordered Tappas, and the food was excellent.

We took the train back to Vienna. After arriving in Vienna, we decided to check out Belvedere palace. When we exited the subway station, we walked in the wrong direction and ended up at the Museum of Military History instead. When we finally got to Belvedere Palace, it was already closed. The guard at the gate was very friendly, and he let us go to the garden and took some pictures. The palace was huge and gorgeous.

欧洲游第三十二天:一早从维也纳坐火车来到多瑙河边上的一个小镇Melk(梅尔克)。小镇上有号称世界上最漂亮的修道院-Melk Abbey (梅尔克修道院）。这座已有千年历史的修道院建在小镇的山岩上，俯瞰多瑙河。跟着解说向导在里面走了一圈之后我们从梅尔克小镇坐游船沿着多瑙河来到下游的另一个小镇Krems an der Donau (克雷姆斯），沿路在河的二边能看到许多城堡，算是享受过了梦寐以求的多瑙河船游。另外我们还在小镇上吃了顿西班牙晚餐。味道很不错，也算是改善一下伙食。晚上回到维也纳后，又去了另外一个景点，可惜巳关门了，好心的门卫还是让我们进去照了几张照。感觉太阳落山后的维也纳街上游客少了许多，安静多了。

Bratislava, Slovakia 斯洛伐克

June 20, 2022

We went back to the Hofburg Imperial Palace this morning to see the other two museums, Sisi Museum and Imperial Apartment (Kaiserappartements), since we only had enough time to see the silverware collection yesterday afternoon. The Hofburg is the former principal imperial palace of the Habsburg dynasty. Now, it is the official residence and workplace of the president of Austria. The tour of the Sisi Museum, the Imperial Apartments, and the Silver Collection are three tourist attractions open to the public. We purchased combined tickets which covered all these three museums as well as the Schonbrunn Palace outside of Vienna. The Sisi Museum displays many personal objects contributing to the life of Sisi, Empress Elisabeth, and the famous wife of the emperor Franz Joseph, letting us know that money and status do not necessarily bring happiness. The Imperial Apartments are filled with historical fittings and furnishings. It is where Franz Joseph and Elisabeth lived and worked. The picture taking from the Imperial Apartment was not permitted.

After touring the two museums, we went to the Wiener Minoritenkirche, the beautiful 13th-century Gothic Church. The highlight of the church was the exquisite mosaic reproduction of Da Vinci’s Last Supper, commissioned by Napoleon over 200 years ago, and it was amazing.

Done with the museums and church before noon, we decided to go to Bratislava, the capital of the neighboring country of Slovakia, just over an hour by train from Vienna. It was a last-minute decision, but it was well worth the day trip. The Old Town was about 20-minutes walking distance away from Bratislava's train station. The bus station was just outside the train station, but since we didn't research local transport options, we thought it would be easy just to do the two-feet option. We walked past the Grassalkovich Palace, the presidential building, and saw the last minute of the guard changing ceremony. Once in the city center, we were eager to find a place to eat and take a break. After having a simple lunch, we strolled around the Old Town.

Bratislava had the fewest tourists compared to this morning's Vienna or any other town we have visited. We walked to the little Blue Church, one of the city's famous tourist attractions, and it was a very unique and beautiful church. From there, we walked to Bratislava Castle. The castle campus and the castle gardens were gorgeous and free. We had a mesmerizing panoramic view of the old and new Bratislava from the castle. Earlier on the way up the hill to the castle, we saw the big Chinese Restaurant across from the castle and thought we might want to have dinner there. But since we had not had authentic Slovakia food yet, we decided to try a different restaurant. On the way back to the train station, we had dinner at Bratislava Flagship Restaurant, the largest restaurant in Bratislava. We ordered the traditional Slovakian cuisine, a combo of sausage, potato, dumplings, and cheese. There were a lot of dumplings, and they were delicious. Now we understand the new meaning of dumpling dishes.

We returned to Vienna by train at night. We did more walk around the city center and went to the St. Stephen's Cathedral. The street was a lot quieter by now and we enjoyed it.

欧洲游第三十一天：今天继续看霍夫堡皇宫里的另外二个景点，Sisi Museum (茜茜博物馆)及Imperial Apartment (皇家公寓)。茜茜博物馆展示了大量的私人物件以及一个真实的皇后，让我们知道金钱和地位并不一定能带来幸福。看完二个博物馆后临时决定去邻国Slovakia (斯洛伐克)的首都Bratislava（布拉迪斯拉发）。从维也纳坐火车一个多小时就到了，去了古城，总统府，蓝色的教堂，城堡和一些景点，在回维也纳前，吃了一顿斯洛伐克的晚餐，那里的饮食还是离不开香肠，土豆，面疙瘩和奶酪。

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。