Innsbruck and Budapest

Hello everyone!

Last weekend was a long weekend in Austria and I'd just handed in my dissertation, so I thought this was the perfect excuse to go travelling. There were two places I wanted to see before I left Austria: Innsbruck and Budapest. And, being the crazy person I am, I decided we could do them in four days. In theory, this was fine, but the night train from Innsbruck to Budapest isn't something I would do again any time soon!

Thursday
The trip started off in Innsbruck. We arrived at lunch time on Thursday, headed to the hotel to drop our bags and then started out to find some lunch. It was a beautiful sunny day and so we decided it would be lovely to sit outside in the main square.
My first impression of Innsbruck was that is was beautiful. It is nestled in between the mountains, which you can see from almost anywhere in the town, and is very clean. After lunch we decided to purchase the Innsbruck card for 24 hours, which gives you free or discounted entry to many museums and tourist attractions in the city as well as public transport. Most big tourist cities do this, but not all are a good deal, so it's definitely worth looking in to.
There is a mountain in Innsbruck called the Nordkette mountain, which is home to a zoo full of alpine animals and a cable car which takes you to the top of the mountain where you get an amazing view over the city and the surrounding mountains. This is how we spent our Thursday afternoon, and here are a few pictures:

What I found amazing was that we were on top of a mountain in May, when the temperature in Innsbruck was around 18 degrees, and there was snow, but it wasn't cold. My British mind was blown, but my Austrian colleagues looked at me like I was crazy when I told them how amazing that was!

Friday
On our second day in Innsbruck we wanted to see as many sites as possible. We still had our Innsbruck cards, so we did a few tourist attractions first.
We started off at the Hofburg, an imperial palace in Innsbruck which was used sort of as a retreat for the rulers of Austria when they wanted to get away from Vienna, or as a stop off point when they were travelling. Some rulers spent more time in Innsbruck than Vienna, and it was also a favourite of Maria Theresia, the last of the Habsburg line and mother of Marie Antoinette.

After the Hofburg, we went to se St Jacob's cathedral...

...and then chose a museum called the Volkskunstmuseum (a museum of folk art). I wasn't sure what to expect, but it was full of objects like farming tools, nativity scenes, costumes and games from Austrian, and specifically Tirolean, history. It was very interesting, and they also had some reconstructed houses that you could explore.

We then headed off to the Ambras castle in Austria, which is about five or ten minutes by bus outside of the city. By this time the weather was beautiful, and we decided to have a picnic in the sun. Here are a few pictures from our time at Schloss Ambras:

After the castle, we walked back through the town, and saw the arch built by Maria Theresia for the wedding of her son which was celebrated in Innsbruck. The celebration went on for many days, and during this time Maria Theresia's husband died. This arch was built as a celebration for the wedding, but also as a memorial to her husband.

To pass the time until our night train, we decided that going to the cinema would be our best option. So we dropped our bags off at the train station and headed off to the local Cineplexx to grab some dinner and watch 'Batman vs Superman'. Now, I've heard mixed reviews about this film, but for someone who has never watched any Batman/Superman films, I thought it was really good! Plus, they had sweet popcorn, which is rare in Austria, so I was happy!
The film finished around midnight, and then we headed off to the train station to wait for our 1.30am train to Budapest. Unfortunately I'd made the mistake of not booking a bed coach (too expensive), and just getting a seat, which wasn't ideal as I am rubbish at sleeping on any sort of public transport, but I did manage to get a couple of hours sleep.

Saturday
After a not very good night's sleep, we arrived in Budapest. The day didn't get off to the easiest start: we managed to get some money out, took about fifteen minutes to find the metro station because we left the train station out of a side door not the front door, and then when we arrived at the hostel our room wasn't yet ready so we had to wait an hour. That wasn't so bad though, as they had a common room and we went and found some breakfast/lunch in the Subway across the street, which funnily enough was next to a Tesco - I felt like I was back in the UK!
The hostel we stayed in (Astoria Hostel) was actually split between two flats in Budapest, both on the same street but about a five minute walk between them, and if you're not in the flat that houses the reception they don't offer your breakfast. We weren't expecting this, but it didn't really matter. The room was nice and really cheap (€16 per person) so no complaints there.
So once we were fed and showered we decided to go off and explore Budapest. We went off to the north west of the city to an area with botanical gardens, a castle and thermal baths to see what we could find. Here are a few pictures:

The castle that we found, called Vajdahunyad.

Heros Square, where there are statues of many important people in the country's history (although I didn't know any of them...)

We then headed off to meet two other assistants who were in Budapest the same weekend. They had tickets for a cocktail cruise on the Danube river which sounded like great fun, but when we arrived we were told the afternoon cruise was cancelled because of a boat race. So we decided we would go for a coffee instead, and then did a bit of sightseeing around Budapest.

St Stephan's Basilica

The inside of the basilica was very ornate and beautiful.

We also walked along the river to see the Parliament buildings, which were very impressive. 

We also went and had dinner with the other assistants Beth and Maura, which was really lovely, in a local restaurant where we tried some local wine and food.
After that, I was pretty ready to catch up on the sleep I'd missed the night before!

Sunday
Our last day in Budapest got off to a relaxed start by meeting the girls for brunch at a lovely little restaurant in a non-touristy part of Budapest. It reminded me a lot of a traditional English country pub and it was nice to sit out in the garden in the sunshine and relax.
After brunch we headed back into the centre and the girls were getting an earlier train home, so we went our separate ways. We decided that with just a few more hours in Budapest, we'd do a bus tour and get off at the things that we really wanted to see. Here are a few pictures from the tour:

The Donány Street Synagogue is the largest in Europe and seats 3000 people.

The Fisherman's bastion on Castle hill is a viewing terrace which can be explored and gives a panoramic view of Budapest. 

The Fisherman's bastion

We also went to the Castle, which was very impressive, but not like a traditional castle, and we found a food market in the grounds where they were selling local foods. 

The view from the Citadel over Budapest. The citadel was used as a vantage point both to protect and oppress Budapest (and by extension Hungary) over the years.

The Liberty Statue, in memory of all who have fought for the independence of Hungary, was erected after WW2

Before we headed off to the train station, we made a stop at the Tesco across the road from the hostel, and I was very excited to find their final box of PG Tips tea bags - the things you miss on your year abroad!

Thanks for reading!

Happy Easter!

Hello everyone and happy Easter!

The last two weeks have been super busy and I've done so much, so here's a run down of what I've been up to.

My friend Beth from university, who is on her year abroad in Spain, came to visit me in Linz. We did lots of exciting things, including a visit to Linz zoo, where you can pay €2 to get a bag of food to feed some of the animals - it was very exciting!

We also took a trip on an old-fashioned tram to Pöstlingberg, a small town set up on a hill by Linz.

There is a grotto train (I think it's meant for children but we had fun anyway) that you ride on and see little scenes of gnomes and forest animals. Afterwards you enter a museum where scenes from fairy tales are shown - in Austria, the traditional fairy tales are a little darker in comparison to the UK!

The church at Pöstlingberg which can be seen up on the hill from anywhere in Linz.

The view out over Linz from Pöstlingberg.

And a trip to Vienna...

We started off our day at Schönbrunn palace.

This was the view of the palace ground from the palace steps. We had beautiful spring weather and the grounds were free to explore.

The Gloriette which stands up on the hill was intended to be a focal point and a vantage point for the palace garden. It now, however, houses a cafe.

The view of Schönnbrunn palace and out over Vienna from the Gloriette.

Karlskirche (Karls church) was where we began our tour of the Ring Road, one of the biggest and most famous streets in Vienna where many of the popular sites can be found.  

This is an art museum in the Museums Quarter of Vienna, and shows the sort of architecture which is so popular throughout the city.

The Rathaus seen through the tree blossom.

I introduced Beth to Schnitzel, as this is very important when in Austria, and she liked it.

I then flew home for the Easter holidays. The first few days were spent in London with my friend Jen, as we went to see Adele in concert at the O2 arena.

We also did a fair bit of sightseeing.

We started our day with Big Ben and Westminster

We went to visit the Queen...

...had afternoon tea at the Library Lounge right on the Thames...

...and we went up the Shard. 

This was the view of Tower Bridge from the Shard at night. 

And then I headed back to Devon for the Easter weekend. Mum and Jen planned a lovely half-surprise early birthday party for me, and it was so lovely to see so many friends and family all at once :) I was thoroughly spoilt!

My sister Rachel got me these rather fantastic balloons!

(yes, I did wear my Christmas slippers for the whole party)

I also spent time visiting family and friends and generally catching up with people I hadn't seen since Christmas.

It was a very short trip home and seemed to fly by, but it was lovely to be back.

I am now back in Linz, and I start back to work tomorrow - I only have two more months left here! I cannot believe how quickly the time has gone, but I am determined to make the most of the remaining time in Austria.

Thanks for reading!

Laura :)