Laketown
The countryside from Salzburg to Hallstatt was incredible. I have never seen a landscape like it in my life. The train from Munich had terrain I wasn't used to but this had a wow-factor I wasn't expecting. Rolling hills covered with the greenest grass imaginable and small singular mountains sticking up out of nowhere covered the landscape. Forests covered the hillsides with so many different types of trees it seemed as if every shade of green was represented. Unfortunately, the crappy bus windows prevented me from taking any pictures worth keeping, one of the few big letdowns so far. The other letdown presented itself once we arrived in Hallstatt. Overcast and rainy the entire time. This didn't prevent us from still having amazing views of the town, lake, and the valley they're nestled in. But it did mean that everything was closed and that there was an overall lack of atmosphere.
On Left: Our Hallstatt when the rain let up a bit - On Right: The ideal Hallstatt we hoped for
That said, the area is (like the rest of Austria) stunning. The entire lake is surrounded by mountains, their sides covered in trees. The town itself is very small. You can walk from one side to the other in about five minutes. When the weather is decent you can rent a boat and go out on the lake, something we both said we will come back and do someday. After only a single day here, we hoped on a high speed train and made our way to Vienna.
We are now staying the the Wombat City Hostel, a fun and modern hostel conveniently located two blocks from the train station. They have a little restaurant were we ate breakfast this morning as well as an awesome underground bar where we hung out last night. The same teams that we saw play in Munich we're playing again last night, and as the sudden die hard football fans that we are, we decided to spend the evening watching the game. It was quite fun. We met a cool Australian guy and his friend who are taking a week off from their time at the University of Edinburgh, as well as a crazy Brazilian kid who was quizzing us on our knowledge of American soccer players (I couldn't name a single one). He was the true entertainment of the night, as he was always jumping around waving his jersey in the air, and every time his team scored he lost it, running around and ordering drinks for everyone watching the game.
This morning we got up and explored Vienna. This place is so packed with architecture, it makes both Munich and Salzburg look like Legos. For a variety of reasons the city is littered with different styles of architecture and on every block is some kind of palace, opera house, statue, memorial, cathedral, or grand political office, all dating back hundreds of years.
While they may be difficult to see here, this picture alone has buildings built in the Baroque, Renaissance, Greek, and Gothic styles.
Despite these time-tested buildings, Vienna is easily the most modern city than anywhere else we have been so far. Downtown is packed with high end shops, designer outlets, and the usual busy crowd that most large cities bring. For a late lunch, we made our way to a recommended cafe and got the best apple strudel in the city. Tomorrow is a national holiday here in Vienna, with no stores opening and a parade through the Old Town. Should be fun.