I'm roughing out an intinerary for a trip in spring/summer of 2009 to Austria & Northern Italy(never too early to start planning). While deciding what to see and do in Austria (Salzburg & Vienna are the focus there), I remembered that my hometown's sister city is St. Polten which is 25 miles outside of Vienna. Has anyone been there or even heard of it? I tried to get info from my city's website -- I only found a link to St. Polten's website which is all in German (my high school German is rusty). If anyone has any general info or helpful websites, I'd really appreciate it -- what to see or do, how much time to spend (spend the night, make it a day trip, or avoid it all together)...
Posted by
Austin
203 posts
This probably isn't the answer that you're looking for, but yes, I've been to St. Polten--that's spelled with an umlaut. Back in 1966 my parents came into some money and we took our one and only real family vacation--our other vacations consisted of visiting my grandma in Iowa. We did a somewhat grand tour of Europe. My dad didn't want to drive into Vienna at night, so we stayed in St. Polten. I remember that many of the women wore "tracht kleider"--that's traditional dress. What was most shocking to me, then 13, was that the women didn't shave their legs. I remember seeing a shop clerk dressing a store window, and she had very, very hairy legs under her nylons. My mother, dad & brother ordered chicken cordon bleu for dinner and all got sick. We talked about that last week when I was in Vienna with my now-elderly parents. One of them ordered chicken cordon bleu for the first time since then. I saw a sign on the road to St. Polten; I think it's worth one night.
Posted by
Gold Hill, CO, USA
69 posts
http://www.tiscover.at/at/guide/55849at,en,SCH1/objectId,RGN741at,season,at1/home.html
I've never been, but I have heard it is quite nice. It is the oldest town in Austria and the location makes it an ideal spot for biking or taking a quick train to Melk, where you can catch a boat that goes down the Danube to Krems and back, a very beautiful trip where you can hop off at Durnstein or Spitz for some sightseeing. I'd say give Sankt Pölten a try!
Posted by
OP
Altoona, PA
57 posts
Thank you, Karen & Alex. The website is a wealth of information. I will also make a mental note to not order the chicken cordon bleu. :)
Posted by
Vienna, Austria
4 posts
I have been there several times to play tennis. It has a cute town center and just to the north of town a small lake with one side clothing optional for when the weather is hot. (It is 40°C right now in Austria!) You could take the train from Vienna to Krems (old town) then to St. Pölten and back to Vienna (or the otherway) if you decide to do both in one day trip!