24 June 2019, Monday
We also passed the Imperial Palace of Vienna - it once served as the residence of the Habsburgs. The Habsburg Empire was a multi-ethnic and multi-religious empire that had a strong political, administrative, social and economic impact on territories that include part of today’s Austria and Hungary as well as other Central and South-Eastern European states.
Other buildings we passed were the Museum Quartier which houses most of the important museums such as the Art History Museum, the Natural History Museum and the Leopold Museum. They are all situated in what was once the Hapsburgian Imperial stables of all places! We saw a monument of what looked like a Queen, a monument of a soldier, the Salesian Church and the Christ Church, an Anglican Church in Vienna. Then finally to our actual destination which was the Church of St Nicholas, a Russian Orthodox Church with the same colourful mosque-like domes typical of Russian churches - I love the design, I can’t get enough of it. So colourful and pretty!
Lastly, we went to the Belvedere complex which consists of Upper and Lower Belvedere, landscaped gardens, fountains, an orangery and dainty walking paths. It used to be the summer residence for Austrian princes in the 1600’s. The two palaces themselves feature amazing architecture and stand out royally in the gardens – Upper Belvedere has a detailed façade with green domed semi-towers while Lower Belvedere has a simpler design; both palaces face the stunning gardens in between, in opposing directions.
And then we were done with Vienna and we headed back to our hotel far, far away (I exaggerate, of course). The trains and trams here move very roughly so that even if one is seated one doesn’t feel completely safe - you could still lose your balance if you’re not holding on tightly to the hand rails. Phew!
At the hotel I finished my “typical Austrian noodles with bacon baked in cheese” with coffee, and then we headed out to the bus station to take the bus to Munich. Our trip is coming to an end! Mixed emotions all around - happy to go home and yet sad that my adventure is coming to an end. I like living from day to day like this and yet I miss the routine of everyday life back home. Sigh.
We arrived in Munich at about 6.30 p.m. and made our way to the AirB&B. We tried to book rooms in the same hostel that we would be staying in on 26 June 2019, but it was all full. In fact many of the hostels were fully booked around this time not sure for what reason, so in the end we had to stay at an AirB&B. It was really nice though a bit of a walk from the nearest tram station. Very cosy and welcoming, and our hostess was really very sweet and accommodating. She gave us some suggestions on where to go for food, so after we put our bags down we headed out to look for food.
Munich or Munchen means the city of monks. It was founded in 1158 and soon became the residence of the Wittelsbachs. They destroyed the only Isar bridge nearby at Freising and built their own here, re-routing the salt trade through Munich and quickly becoming rich. In the war against the Turks, during the siege of Vienna, Duke Max Emanuel of Bavaria managed to capture Belgrade in 1688. Unfortunately in another war (the Spanish Succession War), Max lost and his ambitions, as well as Bavaria itself, were in ruin.
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