Melange, Oh My!

The dawn was just breaking as we crossed the Austrian border, we were greeted by farmhouses atop green hills  with snow-capped mountains on the background. There's touches of red and orange here and there marking the reign of Autumn in the country. Oh my God this is sooooo Heidi Land, I wanna burst into yodels!!! The view was too fairy tale country side that I won't be so surprised if I found talking animals on the bend. The 8 hours of almost unbearable tiredness of being was instantly disappeared. I should take pics I know, but I'm still too groggy to search for my camera and hungry and just being very lazy.... So you just have to take my word. 

We stopped for breakfast at this really cozy restaurant/ diner/ traveller-stoppy-thingy called Rosenberger where the warm and wide halls with fresh foods are very tempting with its equally mouth-drooling souvenir shop. One word of advice; Buy!!! The price are considerably cheap, and the selections are just beyond cute. We sorta regret that we didn't buy anything here, for we assume that the price was higher than the ones in the city (for most stoppy thingies are tourist traps) on which we could buy later. We were wrong, the branch in the city has very small selection (it was also a much smaller place) and we couldn't find the stuffs that we want anywhere else.

After booking bus seats for the next city, we head to the hostel. We arrived earlier than scheduled but thankfully they let us in. The hostel was  a bit strange since it was comprised of several rooms scattered in several buildings. So we kinda get lost when we try to get to the breakfast room after we left our stuffs at ours. we went round and round for hours and the map we have is not that concise so we're just pretty much hopeless. Good thing that we have few people kind enough to give us directions. We found out that our hostel were situated near cool shops and eateries (on Mariahilfer Street). 

Anyway it was called Happy Hostel. The overall service was good, staffs are friendly and rooms are clean, and you could have free internet at the reception, well situated and the price are reasonable.

After breakfast we decide to take a break and wash ourselves and to really have a proper rest before heading out into town. Our room was actually an apartment and it was huge. Supposedly it was for four people but since we were travelling mid-season, we got the room for ourselves.  

And now we head to Stephansdom. The cathedral was just magnificent! Inside we could also visit a catacomb where remains of Austro-Hungarian bluebloods stashed within metal urns, alongside say 11.000 persons. The underground passage was claustrophobic, cold, dark, and damp with heaps of bones everywhere and skeletons staring at you with their empty sockets. It was everything I expected a catacomb should be. It was great.

After taking the fresh air, our nose lead us to a shop called Manner.We know not that the little shop was famous for its neapolitaner schnitten (it's a very addictive snack of hazelnut paste layered in crunchy wafers).  A must-buy kinda shop And it's pretty cheap too. No wonder that the shop was very busy. The staffs were continuously filling the shelves, one in particular was totally stressed out, she must be new. Well anyway, the schnitten was indeedy goody goody...... Yum!

amazing color combination no?