Austria: Innsbruck and Vienna

 Guten tag from Nikita!

We're in Chester's homeland for the week! One of his direct ancestor lines can be traced back to western Austria, and we thought it would be fun to see where he came from. Our two main stops here are Innsbruck and Vienna. This is also the first country on the journey where it is both of our first time visiting.

Innsbruck

Overall, Innsbruck was the perfect first stop on our Austrian adventure. We were able to explore the Austrian Alps, learn more about Chester's heritage, and take part in an Austrian tradition: the spa. The energy was vibrant and youthful being it is a university town. We really enjoyed our time here and wished we had a couple more days.

We arrived in Innsbruck in the evening and needed to find schnitzel fast. The Austrian Alps in the distance weren't calling our name but the promise of breaded meat, french fries, and beer certainly was. After indulging in this classic, we walked through old town Innsbruck, which was filled with gorgeous architecture and more outdoors stores than you could know what to do with. We found our way to the River Inn (a river not an inn), which had a gorgeous alpine bluish-green hue to it, leaving us exclaiming "ugh so beautiful." 

On our first full day, we woke up early to get on the first cable cars to the top of the Alps surrounding Innsbruck. We saw that there was a thunderstorm later in the day and didn't want to be unwisely stranded on top of the mountain when that happened. Needless to say, the Alps were stunning with their jagged granite peaks. We spent a good amount of time exploring and hanging out with the mountain goats before heading down and hiding from the storm. Unfortunately, we weren't able to do much more this day, but we did find some amazing Persian food, an unexpected surprise.

On our second day, we went to Jenbach, a neighboring town, that along with Innsbruck play a crucial role in Chester's family's lore. An ophthalmologist named Kaspar Pischel left his home in Austria in the 1800s and made the journey to the Bay Area looking for opportunity and a new life, the American dream! The family has stayed in the Bay Area since, and it's one of the first fun facts Chester told me about himself (you know the man loves a fun fact). It's been really special for me to be a part of a family with such a well-documented history. It's something that I wished I had more knowledge of with my own family but alas, I can now do that for the future generations. 

Jenbach is essentially an Austrian suburb that was one of the most car-centric places we have visited thus far. We went to the old church hoping to find a grave with the Pischel name but sadly couldn't. Slightly dejected, we started googling Jenbach to try to find more information. I stumbled upon a German Wikipedia article that mentioned while Kaspar was born in Jenbach, the family is actually from a town on the other side of Innsbruck called Telfs. It seemed like we weren't going to get our homecoming story that day, but I felt like I learned a lot more about my husband's family and maybe why he's such a mountain man.

Our Jenbach portion of the day didn't take long and we had the afternoon for another activity. There was an Austrian spa up the hill that we decided to check out. I will never say no to a self-care day. There's a caveat to Austrian spas though. They are "textile-free" zones aka we weren't allowed to wear swimsuits, and it's a mixed gender space. I'll admit I was terrified to be exposed like this, but it instead ended up being a really freeing experience. Honestly nobody cared, and visiting the spa is a normal everyday practice in Austria so it didn't feel like a big deal at all. We sweated out the toxins in the various saunas, swam in the pool, and read all while facing the beautiful Lake Achensee in our birthday suits. It was a relaxing way to end our time in Innsbruck.

We obviously didn't take pictures in the spa but this is the view of the lake

Vienna

We couldn't have picked a more opposite city to visit next after Innsbruck than Vienna. While Innsbruck was a mountain town filled with beautiful nature, Vienna shined with its city planning, culture, and art. We spent four days in Vienna and were apprehensive of what we would do with our time there, but when the time came, it was pretty easy to fill our days.

Day One

Our friends, Anna and Jack, who visited Vienna a few months earlier recommended we visit the Vienna Woods for wine tasting while we were here. Easily accessible by public transportation, we made our way to the outskirts of the city to try some delicious Austrian wine. We stuck around enjoying whites and rose until the heat got too unbearable where we made our way to the public pool nearby. It was a really lovely time people watching with parents teaching their kids how to swim and friends packed into the only adult only pool as examples.

Day Two

Day two is where we got our first taste of Vienna's history and culture. We started the day with a Rick Steve's walking tour. We learned about the Austrian-Habsburg Empire, Hitler's villain origin story, baroque art, and the vast number of museums in the Ringstrasse (the road that circles the historic center). It was a great way to get oriented. While the city is built on baroque art, Chester and I had to accept that it's not really our thing and opted to skip out on museums that were completely devoted to the art form. To get a taste of it, we went to the Austrian National Library, which was built in the style, but also a library! They had an exhibit on Austria's modern history, which put a lot of things in perspective. One thing that I found interesting was that Austria played the victim card for a lot of WWII; however, in the early days, many Austrians were on the wrong side of history and were supportive of the Nazi regime. It was only in recent history that they have started reconciling with their past. The rest of our day included indulging on wursetls from the wurstelstand, trying delicious cakes at Cafe Demel, and vibing to techno music by the river.

Wurstel

Austrian National Library

Cafe Demel

Day Three and Four: Museum Days

We started the third day at the Upper Belvedere, our first museum of the city. This museum is set in a baroque palace with art ranging from the medieval period to present day. The main attraction is Gustav Klimt's collection and, of course, the shining star The Kiss. The collection was impressive, and I felt I got a deeper appreciation for the artist. 

Upper Belvedere gardens

Gustav Klimt's The Kiss

Gustav Klimt

Claude Monet

On our last full day in Vienna, the Albertina was our museum stop for the day, and it's in my top three favorites of the trip so far. The first exhibit we saw was called "Travels, artists on the move," which primarily had watercolor landscape scenes by Austrian painters. Jakob Alt was my favorite from the collection, who did a few paintings set in Italy. There was one painting that he did of Capri that brought me back to the Amalfi Coast. Also, we checked out the Batliner Collection, which is a permanent collection given by an art collector. Let me tell you, this collection was so impressive, which ranged from Modernist art starting with Monet and ending with Picasso. It was really cool to see the progression of different art forms through a private collection, much like what I've seen at the Met.

Jakob Alt

Claude Monet

Picasso

The last thing that we did in Vienna was attend a classical music concert at one of the churches (Karlskirche) to hear Vivaldi's Four Seasons. It was a really unique Viennese experience that I'm glad I took part in once, but I'll admit classical music really isn't my cup of tea at all. Here's to trying new things but knowing when it's a one and done experience.

Rapid fire observations of Vienna

• Their public transportation was some of the best I've ever experienced in my life. It was SO easy to get anywhere whether that be by subway, tram, bus, or bike.
• The city is incredibly dog friendly. We heard a stat that the birth rate is declining, but dog ownership is increasing. They require dogs to be muzzled when on public transportation, which at first is jarring to think about, but it makes a lot of sense. There are a lot of ways a situation can escalate in enclosed spaces and requiring muzzling ensure everyone stays safe.
• Viennese people love their hot dogs and grilled meats. Wurstelstands are really popular, tasty, and cheap. The American hot dog stand could learn a couple things from these.
• Their desserts are excellent. Their specialities are cakes and other doughy types of desserts. Kaiserschmarrn, which is a fluffy shredded pancake with a fruit topping, was my personal favorite.
• Cafe culture was born here. Their cafes are quite impressive and are remnants of an earlier time of prosperity.
• The city was grittier than I expected, heavy with graffiti and eccentric street characters juxtaposing the beautiful museums and cathedrals that don the city.
• Baroque art triumphs all. Don't argue with them on it
• I would love to visit again in the cooler months. I have a feeling this city shines in the fall and winter more so than the summer

Wurstelstand

Kaiserschmarrn

Cute crosswalk signs

One of the first cafes