Honeymoon!
So, I was at tau_sigma's house this weekend, and she demanded that I tell all about my honeymoon, as I have failed to mention anything about it as of yet. So now I shall change this!
So, after some minor chaos on Friday morning, we finished our packing, threw out all of the perishable goods, and called a taxi to take us to the train station. It felt remarkably appropriate that the taxi that came to pick us up was a hackney cab, making it feel like a start of a 'real holiday', as it were. The train to Manchester Airport was reasonably quiet and easy enough, and we were picked up at the train station by the Hilton airport taxi, which made me feel quite posh!
When we checked in at the Hilton, they asked what we were travelling for, and I mentioned the honeymoon as part of our ploy of Get As Much Free Stuff As Possible. We had actually bought some champagne and strawberries with us, so I called down to room service for an ice bucket. Imagine our delight when they sent us some free champagne instead!
We had dinner, copious amounts of champagne, and tried to get an early night in order for the next day, which involved waking up at 5am in order to have the breakfast. Look, the joy of early morning travel is that I allow myself to have a breakfast made entirely of fried things, scrambled eggs and beans. It's all good, and set me up for a reasonably long wait in Manchester aiport for our flight to Berlin!
The flight was smooth, and Lufthansa fed us some mostly inedible food before we landed in Tegel and got the bus to the U-Bahn, and navigated the system to our hotel. We'd got quite a nice hotel via lastminute.com, and ended up on the fifteenth floor, which gave us some great views across the city. However, we hadn't been there long when we suddenly heard a weird noise outside.
"The sirens here are weird," I said. "They sound like bagpipes!"
The noise failed to go away, so we peered to the ground floor to see a man in full Highland gear. It was, in fact, bagpipes. Weird, weird moment. We're still not quite sure what was going on there!
Our first night in Berlin was lovely. We went for a wander at Alexanderplatz, Richie ate the first of many bratwurst, and we just sort of ambled through the city, along the river, and found the Brandenburg Gate. That evening I also had my first beer. I felt very proud.
On the whole, Berlin was a little... odd, though. It felt like a party that everyone was invited too, except us. We saw lots of interesting things - particular highlights the Tiergarten, and the climb up the Dom which was very tiring but very much worth it. We did find a decent bar that sold beer and cider, and got somewhat drunk one night, but... er... I don't know. I think we need to go back to Berlin with people who know it, and see the hidden things that I knew was there, but just couldn't seem to find. Probably mostly because my German is APPALLING.
After three days in Berlin, we got a very long train to Vienna. It was mildly stressful, as Richie's seat reservation didn't exist and they kept talking about Prague, which was because it turned out we spent most of the train journey in the Czech Republic. Also starving to death, as there was so buffet car and we had just a measly sandwich to see us through. It was an interesting journey, though, and very picturesque.
The hostel gave us a free beer on checking in, and we were so hungry we couldn't face arguing with the fact we'd been lumped with single beds that we couldn't shove together. We had a quiet night at a Chinese restaurant near the hostel. The next morning, sore and slightly peeved, we requested a room change (and got one, fortunately) and spent the rest of the day in beautiful, beautiful Vienna. Oh, I'm in love. It's such a wonderful city. The day was scorchingly beautiful, so we headed out to the Schonbrun with all of the tourists in the world, and after a poke through the palace (and not nearly enough of the palace, I might add) we spent a lot of the day in the garden, wandering up the Gloriette and being chased by scary black squirrels. It was magical, it really was. We then wandered into the centre, which was wonderful, too. In the evening we finally found that party area we'd been looking for Berlin, and basically all was wonderful.
The next day we msotly ate cake. All of the cake. Totally worth it, mostly because it meant we wandered around the city some more and it was generally beautiful, particularly the discovery of the Minoritenkirches. While walking up a road, though, lots of pills suddenly fell out of the sky, so we think we may have also witnessed a drugs raid! We also had a little night out in a traditional wine house, and then got hammered at the hostel. It was a great day, until I was taken ill overnight, which I have already wailed about. So that's that.
After a somewhat stressful morning, we got a lovely train to Salzburg which I possibly didn't appreciate enough with being fuzzy with tiredness and pain. Still, by arrival in Salzburg painkillers were kicking in, and a shower woke me up enough to take a journey into the Altstadt, which was again simply magnificant. We ate the BEST FOOD EVER, taking a chance on a place where we couldn't read most of the menu and just pointing at stuff. Om nom nom doesn't even begin to cover the amazingness of this meal. Thoroughly sated, we headed back to our Mozart-themed hotel (decorated in aubergine and green colours, natch) and had a very well-deserved sleep.
Only having one full day in Salzburg meant we had a pretty tourist-y heavy day, starting at the Mirabell Gardens and taking in most of the Altstadt, including climbing up the mountain to the Nonnburg, taking in a lot of churches and generally just chilling in the sunshine. As it were. I thoroughly recommend Salzburg, although I think it could be hell in high season.
After a lie-in the next day, we got on the train to Innsbruck and transferred to Hall, a small village slightly out of Innsbruck. Hall is the location of the Gasthof Badl, a guesthouse that my grandfather took coachloads of people to since the early 80s. He raves about it, as did my mother and everyone who's ever been there. Also, I thought I might get some discount and generally treated well.
My goodness, I was right. It was AMAZING. We had a room with a balcony, looking towards the river Inn and the Alps, and as we sat there luxuriating in the view, a cheery voice came from below. "Hello! Are you Roy's family?" The owner, Sonia, was delighted to hear that we was a great-grandfather and generally treated us magnificently. Our first night's exploration made us realise what a beautiful area we'd stumbled on - amazing village, stunning area, and you have to go across a wooden bridge to get from the hotel to the village, just so so lovely. So the next morning, on Richie's suggestion, we hired bikes from the hotel and tookadvice from Sonia that we should head towards Kristellwallen (Swarovski crystal museum, more on this anon) and then further along to a little lake area. So we did.
Can I take a moment, here, to point out that I've not ridden a bike since I was 15. Also, I had Fat Bottomed Girls in my head ALL DAY.
The ride to Swarovski was fairly easy, but man, the place was weird. We expected a museum, we got a sparkly acid trip. There's no better way to describe it. So after that, we headed onwards to the wee lake which conveniently happened to be at the place I had thrown up my hands and refused to go any further on the basis that I was doubting my ability to get back. There was a cafe, so we had some lunch and I dangled my feet in a clear lake, and watched the fish swim past and the sun broke over the mountains. It was a really lovely moment.
The cycle back... well. If my life was Hollywood, when the storm broke Richie and I would have found a hay barn and had picturesque sex. Under doctor's orders and also a distinct lack of hay barns meant we sheltered where we could for the last third of the journey home. This plus my body screaming blue murder at me made for an interesting journey, and by the timewe were back at the hotel we managed to crawl upthe stairs for a hot shower. Turns out we travelled 40km. Gosh.
Sonia swapped around our halfboard reservation night, and we had a magnificent meal at the hotel. I felt bad for swapping around my nights, but I'd mentioned earlier I was vegetarian (a convenient half-truth) so was cheerily informed that this was fine, they had crab. Eeek. Still, I agreed to this and it was the best meal of the holiday, I think. A three course meal for 12E a head is good by my book. Cream of courgette soup (I could have eaten three bowls), crab, spinich and ricotto pancakes baked in a bechmel sauce was AMAZING, and then a sort of cheesecake strudel thing. Just amazing. We spent the rest of the night drinking wine on the balcony and sitting where the muscles didn't hurt.
We stretched out legs the next day in Innsbruck, which was a shocking disappointment, so eventually came back to Hall to see the coin museum which was much better than I just made it sound. Not particularly hungry after a large but disappointing lunch, we had ice cream for tea and made the most of our balcony for the last night, watching another thunderstorm over the mountains and drinking yet more wine. Seriously, people, all go to Hall. I already want to go back.
We had to get up way too early the next morning for the train to Paris, which was at least another luxurious one. I'd picked up a cold by this point (possibly cycling in a thunderstorm) so crossing the Alps was a challenge, and our afternoon in Zurich was just cold and a bit miserable. We did see a continental market, though, which we were amused to see with an English stall selling cream scones and Strongbow. As you do.
I was very pleased to see the train to Paris, though, although by the time we got the Paris we couldn't face doing much more than checking into the hotel (my French is, thank goodness, better than my German) and getting terrible takeaway food and collapsing into bed.
Our day in Paris was pretty much a Greatest Hits day, doing the stuff we didn't see enough of the last time we were in the city. We remembered why we loved the Latin Quarter (alas, staying in Montmatre this time) when we got a big picnic lunch from a boulangerie on the Rue de Mouffetard. I meant to go in a ask for two croissants, so I was quite surprised to buy pretty much all of the things. A great choice, though, as it meant I ate quiche and a chocolate eclair in the Luxenbourg Gardens. C'est magnifique!
We spent the afternoon in the Louvre on the basis that the next time we're in Paris we'll be too old to go for free, although we spent most of the time looking at the rooms rather than the contents. We then headed back to the church of St Genevieve, possibly my favourite in all of Europe, and then went to an English pub just outside for the novelty of pints. It was at this point we found out about stupidore's Maisie, so had another drink and then wandered off a tad unsteadily to the Tashi Delek, a Tibetan restaurant that is simply magnificent. If you are in Paris, you should go. Have the dumplings, they're amazing.
But then, alas, that was that for our time on honeymoon. We got stung by the evil bastards at Charles de Gaulle airport train station (long story, I don't fancy dwelling) and then came home, exhausted and to be honest slightly glad to be home. I read the Metro on the train through Manchester, and we had a pot of tea when we got in. And we discovered that our horrible noisy Above!Neighbours had moved, and now we have a nice quiet single bloke. Yay!
Our honeymoon, in conclusion, was wonderful. And I need to get back to Austria.
So, after some minor chaos on Friday morning, we finished our packing, threw out all of the perishable goods, and called a taxi to take us to the train station. It felt remarkably appropriate that the taxi that came to pick us up was a hackney cab, making it feel like a start of a 'real holiday', as it were. The train to Manchester Airport was reasonably quiet and easy enough, and we were picked up at the train station by the Hilton airport taxi, which made me feel quite posh!
When we checked in at the Hilton, they asked what we were travelling for, and I mentioned the honeymoon as part of our ploy of Get As Much Free Stuff As Possible. We had actually bought some champagne and strawberries with us, so I called down to room service for an ice bucket. Imagine our delight when they sent us some free champagne instead!
We had dinner, copious amounts of champagne, and tried to get an early night in order for the next day, which involved waking up at 5am in order to have the breakfast. Look, the joy of early morning travel is that I allow myself to have a breakfast made entirely of fried things, scrambled eggs and beans. It's all good, and set me up for a reasonably long wait in Manchester aiport for our flight to Berlin!
The flight was smooth, and Lufthansa fed us some mostly inedible food before we landed in Tegel and got the bus to the U-Bahn, and navigated the system to our hotel. We'd got quite a nice hotel via lastminute.com, and ended up on the fifteenth floor, which gave us some great views across the city. However, we hadn't been there long when we suddenly heard a weird noise outside.
"The sirens here are weird," I said. "They sound like bagpipes!"
The noise failed to go away, so we peered to the ground floor to see a man in full Highland gear. It was, in fact, bagpipes. Weird, weird moment. We're still not quite sure what was going on there!
Our first night in Berlin was lovely. We went for a wander at Alexanderplatz, Richie ate the first of many bratwurst, and we just sort of ambled through the city, along the river, and found the Brandenburg Gate. That evening I also had my first beer. I felt very proud.
On the whole, Berlin was a little... odd, though. It felt like a party that everyone was invited too, except us. We saw lots of interesting things - particular highlights the Tiergarten, and the climb up the Dom which was very tiring but very much worth it. We did find a decent bar that sold beer and cider, and got somewhat drunk one night, but... er... I don't know. I think we need to go back to Berlin with people who know it, and see the hidden things that I knew was there, but just couldn't seem to find. Probably mostly because my German is APPALLING.
After three days in Berlin, we got a very long train to Vienna. It was mildly stressful, as Richie's seat reservation didn't exist and they kept talking about Prague, which was because it turned out we spent most of the train journey in the Czech Republic. Also starving to death, as there was so buffet car and we had just a measly sandwich to see us through. It was an interesting journey, though, and very picturesque.
The hostel gave us a free beer on checking in, and we were so hungry we couldn't face arguing with the fact we'd been lumped with single beds that we couldn't shove together. We had a quiet night at a Chinese restaurant near the hostel. The next morning, sore and slightly peeved, we requested a room change (and got one, fortunately) and spent the rest of the day in beautiful, beautiful Vienna. Oh, I'm in love. It's such a wonderful city. The day was scorchingly beautiful, so we headed out to the Schonbrun with all of the tourists in the world, and after a poke through the palace (and not nearly enough of the palace, I might add) we spent a lot of the day in the garden, wandering up the Gloriette and being chased by scary black squirrels. It was magical, it really was. We then wandered into the centre, which was wonderful, too. In the evening we finally found that party area we'd been looking for Berlin, and basically all was wonderful.
The next day we msotly ate cake. All of the cake. Totally worth it, mostly because it meant we wandered around the city some more and it was generally beautiful, particularly the discovery of the Minoritenkirches. While walking up a road, though, lots of pills suddenly fell out of the sky, so we think we may have also witnessed a drugs raid! We also had a little night out in a traditional wine house, and then got hammered at the hostel. It was a great day, until I was taken ill overnight, which I have already wailed about. So that's that.
After a somewhat stressful morning, we got a lovely train to Salzburg which I possibly didn't appreciate enough with being fuzzy with tiredness and pain. Still, by arrival in Salzburg painkillers were kicking in, and a shower woke me up enough to take a journey into the Altstadt, which was again simply magnificant. We ate the BEST FOOD EVER, taking a chance on a place where we couldn't read most of the menu and just pointing at stuff. Om nom nom doesn't even begin to cover the amazingness of this meal. Thoroughly sated, we headed back to our Mozart-themed hotel (decorated in aubergine and green colours, natch) and had a very well-deserved sleep.
Only having one full day in Salzburg meant we had a pretty tourist-y heavy day, starting at the Mirabell Gardens and taking in most of the Altstadt, including climbing up the mountain to the Nonnburg, taking in a lot of churches and generally just chilling in the sunshine. As it were. I thoroughly recommend Salzburg, although I think it could be hell in high season.
After a lie-in the next day, we got on the train to Innsbruck and transferred to Hall, a small village slightly out of Innsbruck. Hall is the location of the Gasthof Badl, a guesthouse that my grandfather took coachloads of people to since the early 80s. He raves about it, as did my mother and everyone who's ever been there. Also, I thought I might get some discount and generally treated well.
My goodness, I was right. It was AMAZING. We had a room with a balcony, looking towards the river Inn and the Alps, and as we sat there luxuriating in the view, a cheery voice came from below. "Hello! Are you Roy's family?" The owner, Sonia, was delighted to hear that we was a great-grandfather and generally treated us magnificently. Our first night's exploration made us realise what a beautiful area we'd stumbled on - amazing village, stunning area, and you have to go across a wooden bridge to get from the hotel to the village, just so so lovely. So the next morning, on Richie's suggestion, we hired bikes from the hotel and tookadvice from Sonia that we should head towards Kristellwallen (Swarovski crystal museum, more on this anon) and then further along to a little lake area. So we did.
Can I take a moment, here, to point out that I've not ridden a bike since I was 15. Also, I had Fat Bottomed Girls in my head ALL DAY.
The ride to Swarovski was fairly easy, but man, the place was weird. We expected a museum, we got a sparkly acid trip. There's no better way to describe it. So after that, we headed onwards to the wee lake which conveniently happened to be at the place I had thrown up my hands and refused to go any further on the basis that I was doubting my ability to get back. There was a cafe, so we had some lunch and I dangled my feet in a clear lake, and watched the fish swim past and the sun broke over the mountains. It was a really lovely moment.
The cycle back... well. If my life was Hollywood, when the storm broke Richie and I would have found a hay barn and had picturesque sex. Under doctor's orders and also a distinct lack of hay barns meant we sheltered where we could for the last third of the journey home. This plus my body screaming blue murder at me made for an interesting journey, and by the timewe were back at the hotel we managed to crawl upthe stairs for a hot shower. Turns out we travelled 40km. Gosh.
Sonia swapped around our halfboard reservation night, and we had a magnificent meal at the hotel. I felt bad for swapping around my nights, but I'd mentioned earlier I was vegetarian (a convenient half-truth) so was cheerily informed that this was fine, they had crab. Eeek. Still, I agreed to this and it was the best meal of the holiday, I think. A three course meal for 12E a head is good by my book. Cream of courgette soup (I could have eaten three bowls), crab, spinich and ricotto pancakes baked in a bechmel sauce was AMAZING, and then a sort of cheesecake strudel thing. Just amazing. We spent the rest of the night drinking wine on the balcony and sitting where the muscles didn't hurt.
We stretched out legs the next day in Innsbruck, which was a shocking disappointment, so eventually came back to Hall to see the coin museum which was much better than I just made it sound. Not particularly hungry after a large but disappointing lunch, we had ice cream for tea and made the most of our balcony for the last night, watching another thunderstorm over the mountains and drinking yet more wine. Seriously, people, all go to Hall. I already want to go back.
We had to get up way too early the next morning for the train to Paris, which was at least another luxurious one. I'd picked up a cold by this point (possibly cycling in a thunderstorm) so crossing the Alps was a challenge, and our afternoon in Zurich was just cold and a bit miserable. We did see a continental market, though, which we were amused to see with an English stall selling cream scones and Strongbow. As you do.
I was very pleased to see the train to Paris, though, although by the time we got the Paris we couldn't face doing much more than checking into the hotel (my French is, thank goodness, better than my German) and getting terrible takeaway food and collapsing into bed.
Our day in Paris was pretty much a Greatest Hits day, doing the stuff we didn't see enough of the last time we were in the city. We remembered why we loved the Latin Quarter (alas, staying in Montmatre this time) when we got a big picnic lunch from a boulangerie on the Rue de Mouffetard. I meant to go in a ask for two croissants, so I was quite surprised to buy pretty much all of the things. A great choice, though, as it meant I ate quiche and a chocolate eclair in the Luxenbourg Gardens. C'est magnifique!
We spent the afternoon in the Louvre on the basis that the next time we're in Paris we'll be too old to go for free, although we spent most of the time looking at the rooms rather than the contents. We then headed back to the church of St Genevieve, possibly my favourite in all of Europe, and then went to an English pub just outside for the novelty of pints. It was at this point we found out about stupidore's Maisie, so had another drink and then wandered off a tad unsteadily to the Tashi Delek, a Tibetan restaurant that is simply magnificent. If you are in Paris, you should go. Have the dumplings, they're amazing.
But then, alas, that was that for our time on honeymoon. We got stung by the evil bastards at Charles de Gaulle airport train station (long story, I don't fancy dwelling) and then came home, exhausted and to be honest slightly glad to be home. I read the Metro on the train through Manchester, and we had a pot of tea when we got in. And we discovered that our horrible noisy Above!Neighbours had moved, and now we have a nice quiet single bloke. Yay!
Our honeymoon, in conclusion, was wonderful. And I need to get back to Austria.