Visiting the Vienna Woods

While in Vienna, we took a tour operated by Vienna Sightseeing Tours that’s called Vienna Woods.  This was a most interesting tour just outside of Vienna.  So on this tour, we visit an old hunting lodge, an abbey, and the largest subterranean lake in Europe.

In route to the old Mayerling hunting lodge, which is now a chapel, we passed through the picturesque and culturally rich Baden.  The hunting lodge is dedicated to the Crown Prince Rudolph and Baronesse Vetsera.  There’s a lot of history about these two … like how did they die.  Was it suicide or murder.

The Cistercian Abbey of Heiligenkreuz was absolutely incredible and well worth the visit.  The abbey dates back to 1133.  If history appeals to you, you want to visit the abbey.  Like so much of the historical sites of Austria, the abbey helps connect the history between Austria and Hungary.

After the abbey, we make our way to the Seegrotte, the largest subterranean lake in Europe.  This subterranean lake is like a massive air conditioner and it too has a rich history, particularly, it’s use by the Germans, during World War II, to build machinery for the war effort.

The Seegrotte ends our tour and on our way back to Vienna, we get a treat and drive by an old Hapsburg castle.

Fortunately, for this tour we had an excellent tour guide.

Tour operators in Vienna

While on holiday in Vienna July 2008, we took a couple of tours, a city tour that included Schonbrunn Palace and a tour to the “Vienna Woods.”  Both tours were provided by Vienna Sightseeing Tours, but there were some differences between the two in terms of how personable the tour felt.

One thing that we liked about Vienna Sightseeing Tours is that the retrieved us from our hotel and took us to the company’s bus terminal where the tours departed.  The city tour with Schonbrunn Palace was supposed to be 3.5 hours, but the tour did not last that long and felt rushed and there was unbelievable traffic.  I thought that we would periodically make stops at some of the sites like most other city tours that we have taken.  Perhaps, the traffic was the reason why we did not make any stops or perhaps, we did not make any stops because we were on a large motor coach.

Our first stop … and final stop … was Schonbrunn Palace in which a guided tour of the palace was included.  The Palace really provides insight into how the monachy lived and puts history into context.  The one problem … all the people from our large motor coach had to crowd around our one little tour guide and try to listen while other visitors are trying to pass by.  The bottom line, this tour had too many people, especially for the Palace visit.  At the end of the Palace tour, which was also the end of the tour, we had 10 minutes to visit the gardens … we opted not to take the motor coach back to the city center, so we could have time to visit the garden.  10 minutes would not have been enough time.

In summary, even though the city part of the tour was more or less pointing out what this building is and how old it is, the tour did help orient us to the city … later during our stay in Vienna, we revisited the interesting sites we wanted to see.  Schonbrunn was definitely worth a visit … just make sure you get to visit the gardens, which also include a small zoo.  Also, have lunch at the cafe … the food is good.

My day trip to Salzburg

One of the things we like to do when we travel, especially internationally, is to take day trips outside the major city that we are visiting.  While Salzburg is a travel destination itself, when we were in Vienna, we visited the city for the day.  We took a train too … when in Europe travel the European way.

Salzburg was absolutely wonderful and it absolutely added to our memorable holiday.  Unlike German and other Austrian cities, Salzburg was largely spared large scale destruction.  Thank goodness, the city has building dating to the fourteenth century, not to mention that it is the birthplace of Mozart.

Prior to arriving I had arranged a city tour with Salzburg Sightseeing Tours, which was a good choice.  We learned and saw so much on this tour.  We also learned that the tour could have been called the Sound of Music and Hapsburg tour.  The tour was very good with a good mix of coach and walking.  Interestingly, the tour operator offers a “Sound of Music” tour, but we thought could there be more.  For a while we thought that we were on the “Sound of Music” as our tour guide repeated mentioned that “this building/palace/castle was in the movie.

Visiting all the site that belonged to the Hapsburg makes me want to be one.

In addition to the “Sound of Music” and Hapsburg presence, Salzburg is abundant with beautiful gardens and statues.  And if you visit Salzburg, you have to visit the churches and monastery and the castle.  While we were only there one day, it’s probably a two day visit if you just want to sample what the city has to offer … which is much.

Cruising Alaska

One of my possible holiday trips this summer is a 7-day Alaskan cruise on Royal Caribbean.  Deciding which cruise line to take can be difficult, as it was in my case.  I’ve been critical of travel agencies and their cookie cutter service, which is one of the reasons why I painstakingly make my travel arrangements myself, usually online.  I like to customize my holidays the way that I want too.  Of course, there are some travel agents that do this … I don’t know who they are though.  But as I was trying to plan my holiday, it finally dawned upon me that I needed help.  I called Royal Caribbean and Holland America.  What a difference in the representatives.  Although both representatives were sales people, Royal Caribbean was a sales representative/travel agent.  The representative was knowledgeable and helpful.  He knew his ship, at least he appeared to know his ship, and all the services that Royal Caribbean offered … like the off-ship excursions.  Holland America on the other hand was a poor sales person without and travel agent skills.  Of course, I could have just been lucky or unlucky in the case of Holland America, but I may be rethinking my perception of travel agents altogether.

My compliments to Grayline tours

One of the hardest decisions to make when traveling is what to do when you get there.  Do you explore on your own or use a tour company?  Well, it depends.  On our trip to Ecuador where language was an issue, we decided to use a tour company, but which one?  I’ve used Grayline for several other tours and learned that they have a presence in Ecuador, so I went with them.  The tours were wonderful.

Our first tour was a City and Equatorial Tour.  Here, we toured by bus and foot the wonderful cathedrals and churches of the city, including there Notre Dame and the famous San Francisco.  Several, we were able enter and marvel at the architecture and ornateness which belie the wealth of the country.  Throughout the tour, we are getting a history lesson.  We conclude the city part of the trip with a spactaculous view looking down on the old city.  While not part of the equator trip itself, our guide took us to the actual location of the equator in addition to the equator monument.  At the actual location is a small museum (and fee) where there are experiments and archaeological digs.

We also used Grayline to visit the Indian market Otavalo.  We took a private tour, because group tours are only offered certain day.  Along the way to Otavalo, we made several stop at local markets and scenic outlook.  While the day that we visited the market was not busy, it seemed not to deter the vendor.  This is a must visit place in my opinion, even if you don’t like to shop.  After Otavalo, we visited a small town known for its leather goods.  Advice … take a lot of money, while the products are not expensive by United States standard, you really get caught up in the bargaining.

The last tour was  to Cotopaxi and an hacienda.  While we had no intentions of climbing the volcano, the natural beauty of the area is incredible.  We were lucky in that we got to see the snowy tops of the volcano.  Because the day was somewhat clear, we drove to the base parking lot for climbers.  This was not part of the tour.  You better be adventurous and trusting.  A good part of the drive is quite foggy and the rode is curvy and not paved and there are no guard rails!  A word of caution for those who suffer altitude sickness … I thought that my head was going to explode.  The choice of hacienda was excellent.  Too bad it was raining.

Last word, while we could have explored these places on our own, there were lots of places on each tour where we stopped that we would not have known to do.  Also, we learned a lot about the history and culture of the places we visited.  Our guides made the experience personal and enjoyable.  All were professional and seemed to like their jobs.

Galapagos Explorer II … now that’s one fine ship

I have to admit that I was a little skeptical about exploring the Galapagos Islands on the Explorer II.  The ship is owned and operated by Canodros who markets themselves as ecotourism providers.  There were a couple of things that I was concerned about like how comfortable would the ship be, would we get motion sickness, what would the food be like, what about the facilities [the toilets], how would we get to the islands.  Translation I was mostly concerned about comfort.

First, our arrival at Baltra and navigating the arrival process was absolutely confusing notwithstanding the language barrier.  My Spanish is minimal at best and almost totally unidirectional.  I can communicate somewhat in Spanish, but do not expect me to understand much of what you say … if you speak in Spanish.

When you land in the Galapagos, you have to declare [on a form] that you are have nothing that might impact the ecology of the Islands, but that’s a blog for another day.

Once we finally arrive on the ship we are greeted by the crew and a very persistent ship photographer, Fernando.  So far so good … the crew very carefully made sure that we safely got from the dingy to the ship.  A crewman carried our carry-on bag and took us to our room … a Deluxe suite … and showed us the room. 

The room was very nice … similar to a hotel room in terms of accommodations and size.  We had a nice bed, two chairs, a sofa, and cocktail table, as well as a minibar.  We had a lockable drawer and plenty of space to store our clothes.  Given that we were on a 100 passenger ship, the largest that the national park service allows now, the bathroom was okay … the shower and sink were fine. 

The toilet was our least favorite, it was filled with water, but the flush was a vacuum flush like what you find on airplanes.  Additionally, you were supposed to dispose of your toilet tissue in a waste basket … at least it was sealed.  I kept saying to myself that this is good for the ecology of the Islands.

Overall, this is one fine ship … the accommodations, the service, and the experience.  If you are going to the Galapagos, consider the Explorer II.

Am I too old for G.A.P.?

I am a full-time employee and student at the University of Kentucky and the leading travel operator that our student travel agency (STA, a real company) uses is G.A.P. (Great Adventure People).  Okay, I am a believer in full disclosure and have to say that I have yet to take a G.A.P. tour, excuse me, I mean adventure … They sell adventures.

Now to be fair to G.A.P., if you look at their literature they tend to have a range of ages in their advertisement … mostly white people and fairly evenly split between men and women, but mostly young.  Their marketing pitch is “adventure” and they rate their adventures according to “culture shock” and “comfort”.  The comfort is primarily the reason why I have not taken one of their adventures. 

I came close to purchasing one of their adventures for our Quito, Ecuador and Galapagos Islands experience; however, I just could not see us cruising the Galapagos Islands in the yachts that they offered in their literature.  Yes, these yachts are probably cozy (limited to 16 passengers) and get closer to the islands than a cruise ship, but they looked small and uncomfortable and would provide limited services.  G.A.P.’s other marketing strategy is affordable.

One of these days I may give G.A.P. a chance.  Their Amazon adventure that starts in Peru looks very interesting … maybe next time.