Brandon O'Brien

Tuesday, October 7, 2025 @ 7:35 PM in 2025 Oktoberfest Trip

Today was probably the most rainy day we've had the entire trip. I woke up around 7:30 and it was raining then all the way until about 4pm. We finally decided to head out of the AirBnb around 9:45, when we set out for some coffee. Ben had researched a few places and we ended up at Kaffeothek this morning. They were extremely in to coffee. I had a pourover plus a cortado and a cardamom bun. The coffee was really nice and the bun was delicious. We hung out there for a while since it was raining, then decided to set out and explore old town.

When we left Kaffeothek, it was still raining so we just kind aimlessly walked around. We went to the Residenzplatz and Dom zu Salzburg, then to Mozartplatz. The fog and cloud layer was pretty low so taking photos wasn't really that great. We then walked over to Mozart's birth house and then grabbed a Bosna at the Balkan Grill. A Bosna is two small sausages in a really crispy baguette with onions, spices and curry powder. It's a great on-the-go meal when you're walking around.

From there, we headed across the river to the Mirabellgarten, which were some really beautiful gardens that had the castle in the background. Unfortunately, due to the rain and clouds, we could hardly see the castle, but the gardens were still nice. After that, we decided to test our luck and head up to the castle to see some of the views from there. There are a lot of hiking trails up there and we kind aimlessly walked around for a while. The fog made for some really nice photos but you couldn't see much of the surrounding area. Fortunately, by the time we started to head down, some of the fog had lifted and we could see more of Salzburg from up high.

After walking around all morning, Ben and I were ready for a beer. We walked to a place called Sternbrau where we each had a Stiegl beer and split a cheese plate. The beer was really nice and the local cheeses were incredible. They had a pepperjack cheese that was almost like a brie and it was amazing. The place was a little unwelcoming and the service wasn't great so we decided to carry on. After there, we walked across the river and went to a place called Coffee and Booze. We had a drink there but it seemed kinda like an Austrian dive bar for locals. It wasn't really our style so we finished our drink there and finally ended up at a place called Alchemy. This was a much more local/hipster style place that had a lot of local beers plus some local craft beer. The bartender was really cool and was telling us stories about the time he went to El Paso with his band to tour for two weeks.

We each had two beers over the course of an hour or so before we wanted to get some food. We had walked by a place that made Smashburgers and figured that would make a great dinner. The burgers were excellent and we got some cajun fries with them. It was a nice and filling meal and the fries were really well seasoned. The restaurant was a glorified food truck, so we just ate at some tables outside of it. After dinner, we worked our way back to the AirBnb where were working on some of our plans for heading to Prague tomorrow.

I wish the weather had been better for us while in Salzburg, but we've had a great time. We got to see and do most of what was on our list, even though it was rainy and cloudy. Hopefully the weather in Prague is a little nicer, but the forecast isn't looking too promising.

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Tags: austria, salzburg

Posted from: Austria

Monday, October 6, 2025 @ 9:14 PM in 2025 Oktoberfest Trip

Today was another mostly rainy day. The plan was to have a relaxed morning and then catch public transport back into Germany to a town called Schonram that's supposed to have a really good brewery. I ran out after I woke up around 7:30 and got a few yogurts and bananas to act as a quick breakfast the next few mornings. I've found that's been a good way to get something in my stomach without being too heavy. While I was out at the grocery, it was pouring down rain.

Fortunately the rain let up by about 9 so we headed out again into the old town to get a cup of coffee and walk around a little bit. The old town is really cool with the town butting up entirely to the hillside. There are gigantic gates and old walls all over the place, which makes it extremely tight for buses to get through. We popped in and out of some alleys which had little squares inside them with shops, restaurants, coffee shops, etc. We're going to walk around there more tomorrow so we didn't spend too much time there today.

We came back to the Airbnb to kill a little time before we needed to catch our train. We only had to take the train from the stop near our Airbnb down a couple stations to Freilassing. From there we took another regional train to Laufen and then finally caught the 9515 bus to Schonram. The train from Freilassing to Laufen was pretty much only school kids, then the bus to Schonram was as well. I guess the kids got out of school at noon today and were all on their way back home. It was a little after 1pm by the time we got to Schonram and we were both hungry and ready for a beer. Before stopping in the restaurant, we stuck our heads into the gift shop and saw the really nice taproom they have there. Unfortunately that taproom is only available for those who did the tour.

The place we actually ate and drank at is called Bräustüberl Schönram. When we got in there, it was pretty empty. We sat down and quickly ordered the Schonramer Helles. It's won several awards and was a really nice beer. For food, I ordered some fried chicken with fries and a little mini salad. The chicken was really good and the fries were really well seasoned. Since we had nowhere to be and it was still raining, we each had two more beers before we needed to leave to catch our bus back.

We went back to the gift shop and Ben bought a glass with the Schonramer logo on it. The bus was on time and quickly got us to the train station. What we didn't realize is the train wasn't running so we had to catch a bus instead. Fortunately, a lady flagged us down and pointed us to where the bus was. Crisis averted. The bus took us a little longer than the train would have, but dropped us off right at the Freilassing train station where there was an S2 train waiting for us.

The S2 train was brand new and still had that "new car smell" associated with it. It was one of the nicest trains I've been on in terms of being clean. We only had to take it two stations, then got off and came back to the Airbnb for a little while before dinner. I called my dad to wish him a happy birthday, we did a little planning for Prague and then headed out again to get dinner. We chose a restaurant called Trumerei which had a more modern menu but also some really well known local beer.

We each ordered their Pilsner which wasn't like any pilsner I've had before. It was extremely hop forward with aromas of noble hops and tea. The flavor was more noble hops with a rounded clean finish. For dinner, I ordered a teriyaki chicken bowl which was chicken, rice and a big salad. It was super filling but exactly what I wanted. I was so full I didn't get another beer, even though they sounded good. Ben ordered a "Red hot chili pepper" burger and also got another "hopped" Helles, which kinda tasted like a hop forward blonde ale.

We're back at the AirBnb now and it's getting close to 9:15. I'll probably wind down for bed now. Tomorrow is going to be another big walking day with us exploring Salzburg. We want to see both sides of the river and will plan our route based on the weather. The only brewery left we really want to hit is Stiegl, which is a really popular brewery from Salzburg.

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Tags: austria, salzburg, schonram, germany

Posted from: Austria

Sunday, October 5, 2025 @ 7:31 PM in 2025 Oktoberfest Trip

Today was a travel day between Munich and Salzburg. We both slept in until almost 8 this morning which felt amazing. I think doing 11 miles of walking with almost no beer helped us get some good sleep. We didn't have to catch our train until 9:55 so we had plenty of time to pack up and leave. The train was easy to find and we boarded with enough time to find a seat and get situated before it took off.

On the way to Salzburg, we stopped at a town called Traunstein, which had their own brewery and restaurant. It was aptly named Hofbrauhaus Traunstein. Ben and I both tried a couple beers and had lunch. He had a venison goulash and I had grilled pork loin with spatzel and veggies. After lunch, we walked back and caught a train the rest of the way to Salzburg. It was about a 20 minute walk from the train station to the AirBnb which wasn't bad. It was raining a little bit but not enough to get us soaked.

On the walk to the AirBnb, we passed the Augustiner Bräu Mülln which is a different Augustiner than in Munich. This place only serves one kind of beer on draft, and that's what the Austrians call a Marzen. It's not the same dark style beer that Germans call a Marzen, which is a little confusing. We got checked in and hung out for about an hour before heading out to get some beer and food.

First we went to Augustiner and got some beer. They have a few shelves of clay mugs in liter and half liter sizes on the wall. You pick up the mug size you want, give it a quick rinse in nearby fountain and then pay for the beer. After paying, you take the receipt to the beer servers and they fill the mug you picked out. Overall it's a pretty efficient system. and you get your beer quickly. We didn't want more heavy German / Austrian food for dinner so we only had the beer. For being a rainy day, it was actually pretty easy to find a seat inside. There is a massive biergarten outside but no one was really sitting there drinking beer in the rain.

We had a few choices for dinner but settled on an Ethiopian restaurant called "Habesha Äthiopisches-Ethiopian and Eritrean-African Cuisine". It was rated 5 stars on Google Maps with over 600 reviews. It was pretty empty when we walked in around 6, but it quickly filled up as we ate. We ordered some samosas to start, then split a two person platter. The food was incredible and a really nice change from the heavy food typical of the area. Totally stuffed, we walked back to the AirBnb where we're calling it a night. Tomorrow we're going to head to a small German town called Schonramm so we can try a brewery there that's really well regarded. It's still looking like a lot of rain, but hopefully it was like today where it was light and came and went.

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Tags: austria, salzburg, germany, munich

Posted from: Austria

Wednesday, October 2, 2013 @ 3:45 PM in 2013 Europe

Day 98

I got up pretty early this morning because I wanted to get out and see as much of Vienna as possible on my last day here. Since my jeans were still a little wet from the dryer fiasco yesterday I had to wear my hiking pants. It was definitely too cold to be wearing these outside.

I walked to the big market across the street and got a cinnamon roll for breakfast and ate a couple clementines. My first stop was Schobrunn Palace. It's on the U-Bahn line that's just outside the hostel so I hopped on and got to the palace pretty quickly.

In the morning, it was still overcast and pretty windy so I was getting really cold. I thought I had to pay for entrance to the gardens but it was actually free which was nice. I walked around for about an hour and finally got fed up with the cold so I headed back to the train and went to Prater where there's a big ferris wheel and parks. They were setting up a bunch of big beer gardens which unfortunately I wasn't able to partake of.

It was still cold so I got back on the train to the station next to the hostel and then got a doner sandwich at the market. I was looking into getting a schnitzel but I didn't want to pay 13 euros for a flattened, breaded and deep fried piece of meat. I can get one back in Indy for a couple bucks if I really want one.

After I ate and showered, the sun finally came out so I went out for a little walk around the same area I did yesterday. I was kinda hunting for a beer garden to hang out in but I couldn't find anything. All of the places that sold beer were a bit overpriced too.

One interesting thing here is called Strum. It's basically a really low ABV wine that hasn't had a chance to ferment as long as most wines take. They sell it at most cafes here too. I was thinking about trying some but wasn't sure if 4%, incomplete wine was what I was looking for.

Instead, I bought a couple Austrian beers from a local store and brought them back to the hostel to enjoy. Tomorrow I'll get up a little early and head to the airport to catch my flight to Florence. Once in Florence I have to get to Lucca where I'll be spending 4 nights. I've been looking forward to Italy for a long time. I'm glad it's finally almost here!

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Tags: daily journal, vienna, austria

Posted from: Austria

Tuesday, October 1, 2013 @ 6:24 PM in 2013 Europe

Day 97

The hostel doesn't have free breakfast so I went out and got some kind of stuffed pastry around the corner. I wasn't sure what was in it but it ended up being some kind of tasty cream. After that I set off to go find the tourist office to pick up a Use-It guide that I've come to appreciate when they're available.

The office was closed but they had a bunch of the guides available outside so I grabbed one and set off on the walk the guide suggests. They called it the "Too much history" walk and it takes you by a lot of the main sights to see on the Ringstrasse.

Since I started pretty early in the morning, the sun was rather harsh and made for some bad photos. It was really beautiful walking around though, even if I wasn't able to capture it. The buildings are massive and they're usually surrounded by big gardens to relax in. Even though they were built to look old, pretty much all the main sights at the beginning of the walk were built in the late 19th century.

I went into some of the famous coffee houses where people like Sigmund Freud hung out. I didn't end up getting any coffee though since spending what I normally spend on an entire day's worth of food for one cup of coffee didn't seem like a great idea.

I also walked by Sigmund Freud's house on the way to the Danube Canal. The canal walk is known for and was filled with graffiti. I continued past the Ruprechtskirche (the oldest church in Vienna, built in 740) and then headed into a busy cafe/restaurant/shopping area. The guide mentioned an extremely hidden hole in the wall microbrewery that makes killer wood fired stuffed pitas. It sounded delicious so I spent about 20 minutes hunting it down. The streets are like a maze and after making a few loops through the general area I thought it was, I found it.

The place is called Kolar and it really is on a random street that is hidden really well. I went in and there were only two people there waiting to pick up some food. The ambiance of the place was great. It was too dark inside to take photos but imagine an old dark cellar with low domed/arced ceilings, firewood stacked along an entire wall and a blazing wood fired oven in the corner next to the bar filled with their own beers and you're starting to get the idea.

At first I just ordered their Dunkel (dark) beer and then looked at the menu. The entire thing was in German and I really had no idea what was what but I was able to figure out they have a daily special each day. In my rough translations I was able to figure out it was prosciutto, spinach, tomato, parmesan and "cream". I ordered one and a few minutes later it came out. It was delicious and completely filling.

As I was drinking my beer and eating my food, more and more people flooded in. By the time I left there were at least a dozen people in the tiny area ordering food and drinks. If you ever find yourself in Vienna, definitely check out Kolar.

There wasn't too much left on the walking route but it did bring me through some really ritzy shopping areas and finally ended at the Stephansdom church. It's hard to capture these massive buildings in one shot since all the buildings are so close together. The church dates back to 1170 and has some really neat architecture.

I wandered around a little bit more then came back to the hostel. They have washers and dryers downstairs so I wanted to take advantage of those before they were all used. I showered then went down and threw everything in the washing machine. Unfortunately the dryer malfunctioned or something when I was upstairs waiting and everything came out still pretty wet. All my clothes are currently drying upstairs in the room, lol. I'm hoping my jeans are dry by the morning since I don't have any dry long pants to wear now.

I cooked up some dinner (mixed veggies and italian grilled cheese). I love how easy and good some simple meals can be.

I have another full day to spend here in Vienna tomorrow and I'm not sure what I'm going to do yet. I might try to find a free walking tour or just go explore some of the markets. One of the largest and oldest markets in Vienna is literally outside the hostel. I also need to hunt down some schnitzel before I leave.

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Tags: daily journal, vienna, austria

Posted from: Austria

Monday, September 30, 2013 @ 9:00 PM in 2013 Europe

Day 96

Today I left Prague and boarded a train to Vienna. I slept in pretty late today (9 is actually considered sleeping in for me on this trip, lol). After breakfast I downloaded and watched the series finale of Breaking Bad. It did a really good job of wrapping everything up and was immensely better than the Dexter series finale. I hung out at the hostel until a little after 11 when I left for the train station. I had some time to kill so I ate lunch and hung out there.

The train was delayed a little bit and I ended up talking to a guy from the area who was interested in how to build a website. He was pretty interesting and I found out he spoke 6 different languages and was fascinated with English.

On the train I made the rookie mistake of sitting on the sunny side and was blinded by the sun for 3/4 of the trip before it hid behind trees and clouds. I spent most of the ride reading or looking out the window.

Once in Vienna, I got a 72 hour bahn card and jumped on the metro to the hostel. The hostel is actually one of those giant ones that houses a ton of people. I didn't get into the hostel until around 7 and by the time I went out searching for food most of the groceries were closed down. I found one that stayed open until 7:30 and picked up some bread, cheese and deli meat for dinner and breakfast tomorrow.

I found out that croissants are actually an Austrian creation so I'm going to make sure I eat one here. I also can't leave Vienna without having some schnitzel (basically what breaded/fried pork tenderloin is based on).

Tags: daily journal, austria, vienna

Posted from: Austria