Austria

And all the King's men!

Bronze figures flanking the empty sarcophagus of Emperor Maximilian I in Horkirche (Imperial Church).

Innsbruck, Austria (9 October 2009)

Window display!

Was walking down a street of the Old Town of  Innsbruck, Austria (9 October 2009), and suddenly saw this unusual sight on the second level of a building. Knowingly or unknowingly, the restaurant patrons had become the "window display" of the restaurant.

Colgate freshness!

The Austrian Alps looked so clean and fresh, like Colgate toothpaste. =D

Taken from a moving bus from Innsbruck to Wattens, Austria (9 October 2009).

If the shoe fits...

It fits! Baby Zebra fits just right into Cinderella's Swarovski cystalline shoe. Now you know how Cinderella looks like when the clock strikes 12! =)

Swarovski Kristallwelten (Swarovski Crystal Worlds), Wattens, Austria (9 October 2009)

Now you don't see me, now you do! =P

While at Hafelekar, 2256 metres high... we saw how swiftly the clouds moved in and out.

Innsbruck, Austria (10 October 2009)

Little boy in party hat! =D

It's amazing how buildings are made to resemble faces if you look carefully at the buildings' facade, especially in Europe. In this case, what I saw was the face of a little boy in his little green party hat, with a look of horror! =D Like seeing his multi-tier birthday cake comes crashing onto the floor! =D Hard to imagine this is actually Horkirche, the imperial church which was built to house the tomb of an emperor, Maximilian I.

Innsbruck, Austria (10 October 2009)

Green living...

Saw this beautiful countryside scene as our train travelled from Innsbruck to Zell Am See, Austria (11 October 2009). Really like how the green steeple of the village's church coincidentally matches the green grass in the foreground.

Beautiful late Gothic parish church of St. Vinzenz at the foot of Austria's highest mountain, Grossglockner.

Heiligenblut, Austria (11 October 2009)

Star light, Star bright... brought to you by Swarovski. =D

Wilhelm Swarovski Observatory at the Kaiser Franz Josefs Höhe.

Hohe Tauern National Park, Austria (11 October 2009)

Serpentine on the Glossglockner High Alpine Road...

The famous Glossglockner High Alpine Road leading to the longest glacier in Austria, Pasterze Glacier and highest mountain in Austria, the Glossglockner (on the left of the photo, not in view). You can also see the Wilhelm Swarovski Observatory at the Kaiser Franz Josefs Höhe.

Hohe Tauern National Park, Austria (11 October 2009)

In the face of greatness...

Walking towards the Grossglockner, Austria's highest mountain (11 October 2009).

Altar to the stars!

Swirling Swarovski-crystal-encrusted wires leading to the blue sky.

Wilhelm Swarovski Observatory at the Kaiser Franz Josefs Höhe, Hohe Tauern National Park, Austria (11 October 2009)

Looking in the direction of Hoher Tenn, a double peak mountain with a height of 3368 metres.

I tried 2 angles, straight up through the "looking glass" and this. Straight looks kind of boring but this angle (I hope) first directs the viewer's attention to the "looking glass" which then directs them to the magical dreamy mountain landscape in the background. =)

Hohe Tauern National Park, Austria (11 October 2009)

Thundering falls...

Krimml Waterfalls (Krimmler Wasserfälle) not only make the surrounding plants look nice and healthy from its spray, it also creates a refreshing face mist for the hikers up the highest waterfalls in Austria. =)
Hohe Tauern National Park, Austria (12 October 2009)

The Alpine Express...

Hallstatt Train Station, Austria (15 October 2009)

Mirroring the snowy scene...

While on our way to the Hallstatt salt mine, which is located in the mountains, we passed by an archaeological site (of burial grounds) which was surrounded by mirrors. Guess they were trying to blend the building into nature by having mirrors to reflect the natural surroundings.

Hallstatt, Austria (15 October 2009)

Christmas came early to Hallstatt!

It was only mid-Autumn but the quaint little village of Hallstatt had already completed the first part of their Christmas deco... having snow on the roofs and trees! =)

Hallstatt, Austria (15 October 2009)

Who will be the last tree standing?

Though we did not witness the avalanche, the devastating effects of it were plain for all to see. Tall pine trees were reduced to mere twigs by the avalanche. It looked as though a bulldozer had run loose across the f...ace of the mountain.

We were hiking to find the Koppenbrüllerhöhle Cave but passed it without knowing 8 km ago. Ended up we were walking deep between two high mountains on either side of us. Only upon seeing this scene on the other side of the Koppentraun river did we realise the potential dangers we were in. We did not have a hiking map nor knew where was the Koppenbrüllerhöhle Cave as we had no intention of visiting this cave; it was an impromptu decision to visit it when the other caves high up in the mountains were closed due to bad weather. It definitely pays to have a proper hiking map and know where you are heading! Don't play play. =D

Somewhere along the hiking path between Obertraun and Bad Aussee, Austria (16 October 2009)

Heading into the unknown...

This was one of the rare moments where we ventured out of our itinerary and into the wild, with no sense of direction of where we were heading to, and no hiking map. We did not know where we were, and overshot our destination by 8 km!!! This is a photo of us re-tracing our steps to our destination, Koppenbrullerhohle Cave. Haha we were lost together with some other tourists from Taiwan whom we met on the public bus that day... they were just as clueless as us! =D

Somewhere along the hiking path between Obertraun and Bad Aussee, Austria (16 October 2009)

Sunshine after the snow in Hallstatt, Austria (16 October 2009).

Everything that could go wrong in a trip went wrong.

1) Had to abort the entire day's itinerary up the World Heritage Dachstein mountain range due to heavy snow and strong winds. ...
2) After revising our itinerary, we trekked 8 km too long past our revised destination (Read: We overshot by 8 km!) in the wilderness, and of course we had to retrace our footsteps back for another 8 km! That's for attempting to walk in the wild without a map or much knowledge about the area.
3) When we wanted to return to Bad Ischl, we realised the next train would not arrive till 4 hours later! No choice, we had to take an expensive cab back to the nearest town, which was Hallstatt.

The bright spark happened when we were finally back to cilivisation in Hallstatt. The sun finally decided we had a hard enough day and shone for us. This was the result. =)

Gauging the distance...

To jump or not, that is the question. Success is key cos failure would mean an icy bath in Lake Hallstatt!

Hallstatt, Austria (16 October 2009)

House of the Willy Wonkas!

Makes you wonder the type of people who are staying in the Hundertwasser House (Hundertwasserhaus), where no part of the building facade is similar to another. Willy Wonka perhaps? =D I would love to stay here!

Vienna, Austria (24 October 2009)