A train ride from Croatia to Austria will take you through Slovenia.
Little churches everywhere... tucked high on hillsides or reflecting in water.
I only wish they would wash the windows on the train!
Beautiful ride all the same.
Today we travel to Graz, Austria
This city is beautiful.
The buildings are fanciful on their own...
add in the sweet trimmings for Christmas and you have a wonderland.
We arrived mid day and made a quick stop to drop off our bags at our hotel.
Hello Beautiful!
Oh my... if you are planning a stop in Graz and can spend a night... spend it here
and ask for Room #310
Honestly I could have spent the whole day in that tub!
This is the sexiest room we have ever stayed in.
With views of the river and the main Downtown area just a short walk away.
And that tub.... isn't it beautiful?
Ok... but we had plans... so here we go.
My first experience with seeing a "bridge of love"
What's not to love about that.... and to see the different ways folks marked their locks
It was a kick to see. So across the river we went to our one planned stop of the day.
We traveled to Graz for one main purpose but found ourselves enjoying the entire area.
Graz is home to the largest armory in the world. Yep. This was a stop for the man.
And he loved it! The Armory doesn't allow pictures.
Here is one of the outside of the building and a link to the site is below.
They have tours in different languages - we were a little early
for our tour so we explored a little
This is in the courtyard of the same building... the ice nativity is part of the Advent Celebration.
Graz puts on quite the Christmas Market.... and the festivities are scattered about town. Much of it you can walk from place to place. They also offer free rides on certain buses that can get you to those events happening a little further out.
Water wells placed inside the walls - they knew the importance of a clean water source.
If you were under attack ... you still needed clean water.
Window Love... not surprised when we picked up the program for the Advent Festivities, this window was featured on the front of the program. It's a little shop on the main street just down from the armory and it was packed with shoppers.
After the armoury tour... we just headed out and about.
When you see a happy crowd... join in!
We made our way inside, tucked ourselves at the end of the line and tried to sneak a peek at what everyone ahead of us was picking... oh my... just pick whatever looks good. Because it was all good.
This was round one... then you go back in for the sweet side.
We finished up and came upon this just as the music was beginning!
This was also a first time seeing one of these beautiful clocks.
We found little markets tucked on side streets...
It is the Saturday before Christmas and hustle & bustle is on!
We wind our way back to the main square.
We peek in a couple shops and then decide to find our way up to the
A Christmas Market is located up here... and it was so packed!!!
We did "follow the crowd" to this booth for our first goulash in Austria!
We had taken the tram up... so we decided to walk back down to town.
It was dark now... and the path was steep... but....
We may have had goulash... and then a bit more.
So we needed the walk!
Cold and tired we made our way back to our room.
Oh Yes! The Tub! What a perfect way to end the day!
Goodnight!
The Hotel Wiesler
greets you coming and going.
They have an amazing breakfast buffet.
and yes... really good coffee!
Graz you were well worth the stop. We don't usually plan a "one night" stop. But when I discovered the armory I just decided to slip this in. So glad we did. It seems I have used the word "beautiful" over and over again. But it fits, Graz is a beautiful place and so worth fitting in to your trip.
Plan in a little time for Graz.
Later in the day ( the hotel has a late 4:00pm check out option) we board a train to.... well this is what we watched... can you guess where we are headed?
Do Rae Me Fa So La Te Do......... next stop Salzburg, Austria!
Not the dreaded "Love" locks
ReplyDelete