Travelling Headcases

Monday, 25 January 2016

Salzberg & Halstatt - Its more than Strudels, Mozart & Sound of Music

Salzburg in Austria is a beautiful city. Gorgeous gardens, friendly people and nice grand buildings

We had many meals in Salzburg and they were all delicious. L'osteria has the best pizza (yes I know.... that's not Austrian !!) Here are some of the food we had around town.

Everywhere you turn, there is some reference to Mozart or Sound of Music. These are not the reasons why we are here. Mr Red Bull's Play Room - Hangar-7 was one of the reason. But another is Halstatt. A heritage listed village about 1.5 hours outside of Salzburg. There are 2 ways of getting there. You catch a bus to Bad Ichi, then a train follow by a ferry. This is completely doable when the weather is sunny and warm. As we were right in the midst of an arctic blizzard with -13 degree temperature and snow that was almost knee deep.

The easier way is to go with a tour company. The downside of that is you have to take part in the Sound of Music tour along the way........ It was the quiet season, our small group tour ended up being a private tour for two. I sensed our guide had the expectation we were fanatic about the movie and know all the songs and scenes......Unfortunately, I have only watch the movie once or twice when I was a kid and Steph has never seen it in his life !!! All along she was quizzing us on things based on the movie. I stumbled my way through it all and Poor Steph was breaking out in cold sweat at some point when I looked at him blankly.

After what seemed like sitting in an exam room for hours, we got to Halstatt to spend a few hours on our own. We bolted as soon as the van pulled over.
This is a magical place. The scenery is straight out of a story book. The snow, the church steeple and the lake........ just absolutely amazing BUT man, it was FREEZING. See it for yourself.

On our last day in Salzburg, we came across a shop in the old town that just sells christmas decorations and painted easter eggs. It was out of this world.

From here we are off to France..... in search of black truffles

Friday, 22 January 2016

Restaurant Ikarus in Hangar 7 - The Red Bull Experience

Steph and I travel to EAT. On our last European trip, we went to San Sebastian to dine at Mugaritz. This time, we have come to Salzburg so we can have the Red Bull Experience at Restaurant Ikarus in Hangar-7.

Each month, "the most creative, successful and sought-after international chefs in the world are invited to delight guests with their menu". For us, we were delighted by Dimitris Pamporis from Apocalypsis Restaurant in Patmos Greece. Before we talk about the food............ lets talk about Hangar-7 the building and exhibition.

"From the outside, Hangar-7 is reminiscent of a glass aircraft wing. From inside, it stretches across the Flying Bulls fleet like the vault of heaven".

On arrival at Hangar-7, we were greeted by two lovely hostesses. We only have to mentioned we have an 8pm booking and they greeted us by our names straight away. I have to admit, we were quite impressed by that. We had arrived early to check out the exhibition and have a drink at the bar. We were shown to the museum and was free to wander around and enjoy. Wow....... is all I can say.
It had everything, from the Flying Bull Planes, Helicopters, Formula One racing cars, Felix Baumgartner's carbon fibre wings, Motor Cycles and many many more............

From here, we were transported up in a glass tube elevator taking us to a jetbridge up to the ThreeSixty Bar - A pod space on the roof of the building. We both had an Austin Powers feeling on this part of the journey leading to fits of giggles !!! The whole floor and wall of this space is clear glass looking down onto the exhibition space. The only way to kick start the evening is with a couple of glasses of Bollinger Rose. I think we are in for an adventure.