Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Hiking in Vienna woods - A new experience !!

Its Almost more than a month now in Europe, and almost every weekend i went to some or the other places for sight seeing and also to some neighboring European countries.and i found that allmost all the European countries looks more or less same and one non-ignorable similarities is all of them have there history as main attractions ..

Now after covering most of the sight seeing in towns .. i stumbled across the official Austrian website and in particular the Vienna [wien] official website and one particular topics catched my immediate attention, its Hiking in and around Vienna and its beautiful Woods..

After going through the complete details .. finally i decided to try for Hiking/Trek in one of the paths which is laid out by Forest Department here in Vienna,.. so i selected one particular path which includes some part of city and most part of Vienna woods and reserved an weekend for it.

The Day
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On Sunday i decided to go for this Hike/Trek which is of 11Km in distance and which includes some 30% of outskirts of city and 70% of Vienna woods .. and obviously this is special for me in many ways ,
First , Its my first Hike/Trek outside India
Second , Its my First Solo Hike/Trek
Third , I am the first BASC [Bangalore Ascenders] member who is Starting this new trend of Hike/Trek in Europe [Hopefully others will follow]

By the time i packed everything and left my Room its almost 11AM in the morning and the outside whether is a bit of cold and more cloudy [A typical European Winter], the route which i choose is from Station "Ottakring - Ottakring" which covers many places [see end of blog for routemap], and i took the Underground train [U3 Ottakring] to reach the place of Hike/Trek start point,..which is incidentally the last stop of this train. once u came out of Underground train station, u will enter the Street and just before the Street i found a big Broad from Forest Department giving complete route map of this Hike/Trek [I have already took the printout from my room], this made me bit relaxed, and after 10 min of seeing the entire place .. i started my Hike Solo.

The Hike/Trek
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As i started I had the map and name of each check points which comes along the way and My initial Start was in the City and as it was sunday there were very few people on the road as unlike in India where for us weekends are meant to be on the roads, and i felt the culture difference since i come to Europe especially on weekends [LOL...i hate to stay inside during weekend]. and one more thing to notice is the weather .. as it was winter and lot of coldness in the air.
From Hike/Trek in Vienna Woods [Austria - Europe]
From Hike/Trek in Vienna Woods [Austria - Europe]
From Hike/Trek in Vienna Woods [Austria - Europe]
When i reached the 3rd checkpoint, i started to notice the difference in the surrounding environment in term of buildings...roads..and the way the city is built ... here its very calm and beautiful and each house is independent with lush fresh wine-yards and the terrain some what hilly, which made me more relaxed and happy.

All this time since from starting of this Hike/Trek i was very much eager to see the Vienna Woods .. and now i am almost very much near to it ..as i can sense the freshness of air and increasing coldness and fragrance of wild and woods.

Nature Allways Wins Over Man Made Wonders
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After almost one and half hour of Hike/Trek i reached Vienna woods entrance and i was filled with joy after seeing it.. and took some time to relax a bit and checked near by boards which explains the path needs to take for different destinations through Vienna woods and also spoke to few fellow ppl there about the details of this Hike.. and as the entire path is laid by Forest Department .. they made a good marking along the way on every couple of distance they marked with different color paint on trees the for each path... and later i also come to know that in deeper woods they have put up separate boards to show the Hike/Trek Path.
From Hike/Trek in Vienna Woods [Austria - Europe]
From Hike/Trek in Vienna Woods [Austria - Europe]
From Hike/Trek in Vienna Woods [Austria - Europe]
From Hike/Trek in Vienna Woods [Austria - Europe]
As i started the Hike/Trek in woods i also surprised to see many ppl are also taking walks in these woods which made me 100% worry-less and here the coldness in the air is increasing in exponential order .. and as winter all most all the trees lost there leafs and stand there bare .. and the ground is totally covered with those dead leafs and the view of these sky high trees are really mesmerizing.
From Hike/Trek in Vienna Woods [Austria - Europe]
From Hike/Trek in Vienna Woods [Austria - Europe]
From Hike/Trek in Vienna Woods [Austria - Europe]
From Hike/Trek in Vienna Woods [Austria - Europe]
From Hike/Trek in Vienna Woods [Austria - Europe]
From Hike/Trek in Vienna Woods [Austria - Europe]
When i reached deep in to woods the visibility is very narrow and i can barely see 10feets ahead , the fog is too thick and the chill of the winds will make u freeze .. although i brought good winter jacket and glouse but due to the freezing cold my nose/lips and ears were started to pain for a while before the view around me made to forget it.
From Hike/Trek in Vienna Woods [Austria - Europe]
From Hike/Trek in Vienna Woods [Austria - Europe]
From Hike/Trek in Vienna Woods [Austria - Europe]
From Hike/Trek in Vienna Woods [Austria - Europe]
From Hike/Trek in Vienna Woods [Austria - Europe]
From Hike/Trek in Vienna Woods [Austria - Europe]
From Hike/Trek in Vienna Woods [Austria - Europe]
During the Hike/Trek in these woods i took ample time to relax and enjoy the view of these wonderful woods and every now and then i was able to see few Hikers in groups and as well as solo like me in these woods.
From Hike/Trek in Vienna Woods [Austria - Europe]
From Hike/Trek in Vienna Woods [Austria - Europe]
From Hike/Trek in Vienna Woods [Austria - Europe]
From Hike/Trek in Vienna Woods [Austria - Europe]
From Hike/Trek in Vienna Woods [Austria - Europe]
From Hike/Trek in Vienna Woods [Austria - Europe]
From Hike/Trek in Vienna Woods [Austria - Europe]
From Hike/Trek in Vienna Woods [Austria - Europe]

After almost two hours spending in the Vienna woods, i reached my next check point which enters the city again and i must say this part of city is also equally as beautiful as other side from which i started in to the woods.
From Hike/Trek in Vienna Woods [Austria - Europe]
Finally after covering the all checkpoints i reached the same place from where i started my trek.. and i was damn happy about my adventure :)

Summery
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1. This was my best weekend ever in Europe, and this place scores num 1 in my list
2. I suggest everyone who visits Europe to explore the possibilities of Hike/Trek ..Trust me u won;t regret it.
3. The route which i took is ==>U3-Ottakring --> Thaliastraße --> Gallitzinstraße --> Funkengerngasse --> Rolandweg --> Johann-Staud-Straße --> Pelzer Rennweg --> Andergasse --> Eselstiege --> Savojenstraße --> Sprengersteig --> Paulinensteig --> Wilhelminenstraße --> Kollburggasse --> Erdbrustgasse --> Ottakringer Straße --> Weinheimergasse --> U3-Ottakring

4. Total Distance 11Km

5. Map -->
From Hike/Trek in Vienna Woods [Austria - Europe]



Rest of the Pics here : 

http://picasaweb.google.com/nagoo12345/HikeTrekInViennaWoodsAustriaEurope#




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Monday, November 15, 2010

Trip To Wonderful City of Prague [Czech Republic]

It was already 4 weeks in Vienna and i have almost covered most of the city and i already started worrying about the coming weekend ..as most of u ppl know i really hate to waste time in sitting or sleeping in room ..either it may India or Europe .. so i needed some activity for the weekend .. and at the same time .. my colleague [Vinayak] who is also incidently in Europe and he is very near to Austria where i was put up .. and he already visited me once .. and he was also in the planning for the weekend .. and due to both of our office work till friday we were unable to come up with anything and .. on Friday afternoon .. he pinged me and gave this idea of visiting Czech Republic's wonderful city or Prag [as called in local].. and our both decided quickly to head to that place ..

As it was very quick decision there was no time for booking the tickets and for proper planning .. so we consulted Google uncle for help and Google uncle promptly helped us with enough details .. so i left office early and after reaching my hotel ..i got some more info and details of Train journey .. and by this time we already excited with this place as we come to know it's really beautiful place..

I reached the Train station with my backpack and checked for Tickets and thankfully i was able to get tickets and which costed me 120Euro approximately..but i needed to wait for 2 hours .. so i waited in the train station and boarded the train ..and after getting my seat .. i was wondering about Vinayak ..and my worry was how much delay it will be between our trains and his .. as per schedules his train will reach Prague 30 min earlier than me and we already communicated who ever reaches early has to wait till other comes near the main gate of the station.

During journey i met one girl from newzeland and she was studying in Vienna in Environmental related course and she was here as part of student exchange program and she was traveling to Berlin to meet her friend .. so till morning 4:30 by which i reach Prague my time spent on chatting with this girl

Day 1
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As soon i reached the Prag station .. i saw Vinayak as he already arrived there and was waiting for me.and rest 3 hours we spent in the station waiting for the tourist information center to open .. waiting is really boring .. anyhow we didn't had any choice and ..after the Tourist center opened we checked with the vendor there and we purchased one map which covers the complete details of places to see and visit .. so we made a quick plan and decided to cover all these places on foot and starting from nearest place ..which is National Museum of History. we took some time there and some photos also .. and there were very few tourist around us at that time and it was one popular circle which will be visited by tourists ..

we head forward towards one more attraction ..and by the time we reached there we realized that we are hungry and we head back all the way towards our first attraction National Museum and we were shocked by the number of ppl gathered here .. its almost more than 300 and all of them are tourists..

From City of Prague [Czech Republic]

From City of Prague [Czech Republic]

From City of Prague [Czech Republic]

From City of Prague [Czech Republic]

From City of Prague [Czech Republic]

From City of Prague [Czech Republic]

From City of Prague [Czech Republic]

From City of Prague [Czech Republic]

The whole day we covered many historical and beautiful places:in which some top places i am listing here

1. Prague Castle and Golden Lane

Prague Castle is the biggest castle on all over the world. Nowdays there is a seat of president of the Czech Republic and Czech crown jewels are kept there. Golden Lane is situated in the walls of Prague Castle and is very popular for its appearance and historical personalities who lived there so as Franz Kafka etc.

2. Charles Bridge

Charles Bridge is the oldest bridge over Vltava river in Prague. It has got very rich and interesting history that is why we would recommend you to visit also a Museum of the Charles Bridge which is located in the end of the bridge by the Old Town Tower on Male namesti.

3. Old Town Sqaure with St. Nichola´s and Tyn churches

Old Town Square is probably the most popular square in Prague with lots of historical sights to see. It is located among Tyn church, St Nicola´s church and Old Town Hall with Astronomical Clock. In the middle of the Old Town Square there is a statue of the Czecg reformer Jan Hus.

4. Astronomical Clock and the Old Town Hall

Astronomical clock are situated on the Old Town Square on the Old Town Hall building. It is one of the most famous astronomical clocks on all over the world and its famous also under the name Prague Orloj. Every hour you can see how the clock plays what is short but very interesting performance.

5. St. Vitus Cathedral

Why is St. Vitus Cathedral so interesting? Come and see its monumental architecture. Building it took almost 600 years and so as to most of Prague monuments also to St. Vitus Cathedrals are connected many legends from Czech history. Under the cathedral there are graves of Czech kings, prinesses, saints and other prominent persons.

6. Jewish Quarter

dominant of Jewish Quarter which is situated on the Old Town is Jewish cemetery and Old New Synagogue. On the Jewish cemetery there are graves of many important perosns from Czech Jewish history so as Rabi Löw and others. Old New Synagogue is one of the oldest synagogues in Europe and legend says that foundation stones are from King´s Salomon Church from Jerusalem.

7. Vysehrad Castle

Vysehrad Castle is situated on the hill upon river Vltava offers unforgetable view. Except of Castle you can see there a cemetery where are vgraves of famous people from the Czech history or a very nice park with many statues.

8. Petrin Tower

Petrin Tower is an imitation of the Eiffel Tower in Paris. well, when seeing, yu can laugh because Petrin is only 60 metres high. However, architectonically, especially at the time of its constructing in 1891 it was a gem. It is a worth to make a trip there. Petrin is situated on the hill surrounded by wonderful parks and gardens, around the tower there is also a mirror maze for children or Strahov sanctuary. Nice experience is to go up by the furnicular and down through the parks on your own ;-)

9. Wenceslas Square

Wenceslas Square is named after Czech patron the saint what is St. Wencels who has got also a statue on the upper end of the square. Wenceslas Square is rather a shopping and bussines center of Prague, however, still in an historical part of Prague.


From City of Prague [Czech Republic]

From City of Prague [Czech Republic]

From City of Prague [Czech Republic]

From City of Prague [Czech Republic]

From City of Prague [Czech Republic]

From City of Prague [Czech Republic]

From City of Prague [Czech Republic]

From City of Prague [Czech Republic]

From City of Prague [Czech Republic]

From City of Prague [Czech Republic]

From City of Prague [Czech Republic]

From City of Prague [Czech Republic]

From City of Prague [Czech Republic]

From City of Prague [Czech Republic]

From City of Prague [Czech Republic]

From City of Prague [Czech Republic]

From City of Prague [Czech Republic]


The city or Prag is really a worthy city to Visit

PS: some texts are from www

Rest of the Pics Here:

http://picasaweb.google.com/nagoo12345/CityOfPragueCzechRepublic#


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