Empress Marie-Thérèse Life Style

When I visited the Innsbruck Hofburg yesterday I never imagined living the Roccoco lifestyle of Empress Marie-Thérèse of Austria. We arrived in Salzburg today with fresh snow on the ground. The city is quite lovely in winter. We went directly to our hotel The Bristol Salzburg, see www.bristol-salzburg.at
we asked that they give us a different room this time, in the past we always stayed in the Tuscany Suite on the first floor. This time they gave us the Makart Suite on the third floor, I was not quite prepared for what we saw when we entered the room accompanied as is the tradition of this hotel by the Front Office Manager followed by the bellhop with the luggage. We will probably see the owner later on during our stay because, he always makes a point of speaking with guests. The welcome was quite warm since we are known and returning guests to this hotel. We even met our new bartender who at the Sketch Bar has replaced the irreplaceable Gunther. The new fellow's name is Ben, like the Pope.

The Bristol is a very special hotel and old fashion in all it does, this is what makes the absolute charm of this hotel and really puts it into a niche all its own. Nothing is ordinary here and our room exceeds all our expectation including the spectacular view.

Bathroom, window side

Bathroom shower side

A picture taken in May of the Bristol Hotel with the old Austrian Imperial flag.

The room itself is quite large 10 meters by 12 meters.

The bathroom alone is 6 meters long by 4 meters wide. I have never seen such a large bathroom done in Roccoco style, marble floors, larged marbled mirrors, crystal chandelier, enormous bathtub, a separate shower stall the size of an elevator, etc... not to mention the special soaps, the room itself is also magnificient.

You have a look for yourself, I am enchanted by this room, I could live here forever.
After undoing our luggage, we went downstairs to the Sketch bar to meet our new barman for our stay and had champagne to calm ourselves.

The view form our room, with the old city and the Archbishop's palace up on the hill.

Innsbruck to Salzburg with OBB train EC 165

Today the skies cleared in Innsbruck and the mountains all appeared, the Hungerburg is way up there and can be reached by cable car, from the city it looks tiny and I wonder how cold it must be up way up there, but the view also of the surrounding countryside must be spectacular. On the platform of the Train Station we can see the Alpine ski jump used for international competitions. On our journey I note that the pine trees on the mountain slopes look like green penguins, all huddled together with a dusting of snow. Little churches, small Alpine villages, old castles dot the countryside, it certainly has a pristine quality.

To get to Salzburg from Innsbruck we will have to pass through Germany at some point en route and then re-enter Austria to arrive at Salzburg.

Though Will had said no more buying of Tyrolean clothes, he did manage to buy himself this morning a shirt, a tie and a very nice yak and lambs wool sweater with an Elk stitched on the front. There are many stores where you can buy Tyrolean fashion, one good place is the Tiroler Heimat Werk, see www.tiroler.heimatwerk.at

They also have all manner of things for the house in terms of Tyrolean articles, all good quality.

The sunshine is really pleasant and makes for an interesting contrast between the deep green of the pine trees and the snow peaks. We will arrive at 16:00, tonight there is nothing on the program. So we will probably have dinner in town. We just past Kufstein with its big fortress castle just above the train station. This is not an urban landscape it’s rural, snowy fields, mountains, trees and a few houses. Suddenly a ring on the cel phone to announce that we have just crossed the border into Germany, next Bavarian blue and white checkered flags.

A side note, I discovered when I was learning Italian that Munich in Italian is called Monaco di Bavaria or Monaco, that can be confusing because I would think of Monaco the Principality not Munich Bavaria. On our way to Innsbruck the train’s  final destination was Munich and it was announced as Monaco di Bavaria in Italian.

On our trip today we past many lakes and rivers, mountain torrents, none are frozen despite the snow all around us. It has not been cold enough consistently for anything to freeze.

In Salzburg we are staying at the family owned Bristol Hotel, which is one of three landmark hotels in that city.

It was established in 1900 and has been owned by only two families since. It was the favourite hotel of Sigmund Freud amongst many famous guests. We are waiting to see who has replaced Gunther our favourite Barman at the Sketch Bar of the Bristol. He told us he was leaving when we were there in May. He was going to Butler school in Amsterdam. He really was the perfect old style barman, knew every cocktail, knew how to mix them, would listen to the clients, put them at ease. Nothing was ever too difficult, always ready to accommodate. I know that the family was aware of how valuable he was to them, as he attracted returning customers. Will have to see who replaced him.

Across the street is the other hotel the Sacher, owned by the same family who owns the famous Sacher Hotel in Vienna, it use to be called the Österreicher Hof Hotel, both hotels are just a few meters away from the river and central to the concert halls and other activities.

During our final leg of this train trip in Germany, we go through forests surrounded by mountains and then as we re-enter Austria a more semi-urban landscape. The Austrian Railway OBB has in recent years rebuilt and modernized all train stations, making them a hub for train and bus travel. Salzburg Station has been going through a massive rebuilding program and it was still not quite finished when we were there last in May 2010.

A shopping mall and an hotel are often part of the Train Station geared towards the traveling public but also citizens of the city, a hub in other words. I often wish the Government in Canada would adopt this approach.