Vienna - Austria: Breathtaking Gardens and Architecture

It's 730am at Vienna, Austria....

PES E, "Hey guys, want to do a run?"

<Deadly silence and snores>

PES E, "Holy shit, there is a Charmander near our apartment!" 

Big Boned Guy, "Where where? I need one!I killed my low IV Charmander and need a new one to walk with me!"

PES E, "We have 10mins left! Let's change to our running attire within 5mins!"

Big Boned Guy, "Rigghhtt! GET UP ALCOHOLIC! Time to run!!"

Within 5 mins, we have changed to our running attire and off for a run.

Vienna in the early morning is a quiet city. Our hotel is located right next to the main shopping district of Mariahilfer Straße which is also known as one of the longest shopping street in Austria. The entire length of the shopping street is almost deserted, with only the cleaners hard at work. In fact, the shops at Vienna closes pretty early at 6-7pm and all the activities move to the pubs and cafes. The shopping street connects the bustling Vienna central railway station and the historical, cultural and political hub of Vienna. 

The first area that you will encounter is the Maria-Theresien-Platz , which is the site of two museums, the Natural History Museum and the Art History Museum. Beyond the Maria Platz, lies the historical district of Vienna where you can find famous buildings such as the Vienna State Opera, St Stephan Cathedral and the Austria Parliament. A myriad of beautifully curated gardens surrounds the historical down town area and I promise that you will be distracted by the beautiful bulbs of roses, blooms, fountains and statues along the way that you will inevitable stop to take some pictures.

Overall, Vienna is a beautiful city to run and explore. The traffic is light in the early morning and the pavements are wide and smooth to run. The good mixture of interesting architecture and beautiful parks keep the run interesting. I will strongly recommend anybody who visits Vienna to plan a run.

Now, if they will just improve their breakfast selection, than it will be perfect...

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Salzburg - Austria: Mozart and The Sound of Music

Salzburg is the birth place of famous music composer, Mozart and the location where the 1965 film: Sound of Music was being filmed. With the old and new city flanking the Salzach river, the city is a mix of gardens, castles, rustic town halls and modern town houses making the city a delight to run and explore. The Salzach river is lined with well paved running and bicycle track and the track is designed to run under the bridges which allows undisturbed running all along the river. To make the run even more interesting, you can either run into the old town area which houses famous landmarks such as the Hohensalzburg Castle, Salzburg Cathedral and the old district lined with beautiful town houses and the birthplace of Mozart.

 

The other bank boosted newer buildings and the famous Mirabell Palace where the scene in which the song "Do Re Mi" from the Sound of Music was featured. The streets are also lined with modern buildings, chic restaurants, fountains and water features. It is one of the perfect spot to chill with a cup of hot tea/coffee in the day and a class of Austrian wine during the evenings.

There is always something new and interesting around the corner at Salzburg, which makes the run always interesting. Combine that with the perfect autumn temperature of 10-15 degrees, the running environment is one of the best I have encountered. I will definitely anybody who visits Salzburg to plan a run and you will be amazed by new encounters and sights.

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SG Unfit Runners Eastern Europe Trip - Oktoberfest

It's the time of the year that the Sg Unfit Runners go on a month long trip to different parts of the world and discover the joy of running in strange new places and discovering new things. Running is probably one of the best way to explore the city, often along with a beautiful sunrise to accompany us on the run. This trip consist of PES E, Big Boned Guy and Alcoholic and while touring eastern Europe is the main objective, the hidden agenda is to actually attend the Oktoberfest at Munich and gorge ourselves silly with beer and pork knuckles before setting off to Salzburg, Vienna, Budapest, Krakow, Prague, Nuremberg and back to Munich. Since we will be walking quite a bit every day, we probably won't be doing a run in every city as it will be absolutely exhausting to do that.

Meanwhile at Munich, we probably will not do any run as the weather consist of rain and drizzle. Attending Oktoberfest under such condition is actually quite miserable we are unable to participate in many of the outdoor activities.

Meanwhile, here are some of the pictures we took during the fair and if you are curious which beer tent and beer is the best and most happening, let us share with you a tip: Ausgustiner.

If you do visit Oktoberfest, that is the tent and beer you must definitely try out. We have talked to locals and visitors who have came from far and abroad and so far, the Ausgustiner tent has been consistently rated as one of the best place to chill out. However, do go there early, probably at 4pm, else you will probably be barred at the entrance by the security to prevent overcrowding.

If you have any questions on Oktoberfest, feel free to leave your comments below!

Meanwhile, many Mr Mime have been spotted at Silberhornstraße area.

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SG Unfit Runners Pokemon Hunt: Pearl's Hill

The Pokemon Go Nest change resulted in many lost opportunities [Pikachu :( ] and created new ones. One of the most exciting change occurred on Pearl's Hill whereby a nest of Abra took up residence on a hill in the middle of China Town. With a only a few Abra in our collection, Big Boned Guy and me met for dinner at the nearby food center before venturing our climb up the hill.

This is probably one of the most unpleasant Pokemon hunt we have ever encountered.

Pearl's Hill key feature is perhaps... Steps. Many many flights of steps. On the evening we went, the place was devoid of any wind creating a hot, humid sauna like environment. To top that off, there are mosquitoes... and there was even before the Zika outbreak in Singapore.

However, all these were bearable if we just needed to perch on a bench and start swiping away. For some reason, the Abra spawns along the vertical side of the hill, forcing hunters to move up and down the narrow stairways. Lastly, Abra has a sadistic sense of humor with a very high flee rate. One-third of the Abra escaped our clutches despite using a deadly combination of Razzberries and Great Balls. In order to get a fully evolved Alakazam, we estimated that we will probably need to hang around for 4 hours. 1 hour into the hunt, we are already drenched in sweat in our office attire and attacked by countless mozzies.

Big Fat Guy decided to call it quits and we rush down the hill heading for the nearest drinking hole.

Besides, that lucky bastard already caught an Alakazam on his way home one day and he needed just a few Abra for his Kadabra.

As for me, I am just happy to get out of the mosquito attack zone.

Unless there is a Snorlax nest for the next nest change, I will probably avoid venturing up Pearl's Hill for any Pokemon hunt in the near future. The amount of stairs climbing is extremely bad for the wobbly knees of Unfit Runners.

Advice for other Pokemon Hunters: Bring lots of water and insect repellent. 
 

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