Austria: September 2004 Archives
We're in a mad dash right now to catch our 7:52AM train to Zagreb. Our alarm clock didn't go off when it should have. We'll post an update about Innsbruck and Croatia as soon as possible.
Last weekend Megan, Henni, Junior (the dog) and I took a weekend trip to Hinterglemm and Saalbach. For the past 10 years or so Henni, Kurt and Roland have been going there to ski. Recently they've been there in the summers to hike, relax and enjoy the mountains and fresh air.
Friday, September 3rd
We left Linz at about 10:30AM and took the Autobahn towards Salzburg. I was still pretty tired from being up so late the past few nights and fell asleep (Megan took this picture without me knowing). I awoke just as we were passing through Germany. It was strange to see the old border patrol stations sitting there vacant and dilapidated. Now that the EU is in full effect there aren't any border checks between member countries. We stopped a few minutes later to stretch our legs and get some snacks.
We arrived in Saalbach at 2PM and hopped on the gondola to take a ride up to the eastern peak of Shattberg mountain. The weather was gorgeous and it felt great having the sun on our faces and breathing the crisp late summer air. We hiked around a bit, posed with some mountain goats, and Megan and Henni figured out the names of the snow capped mountain peaks we could see off in the distance. Megan and I found time to play a bit before we took the gondola back down.
We headed over to the hotel where Henni had booked our rooms, The Carolinenhof, and had an aperitif with the owner, Liane Einsle. Henni told us how much she loves staying at this hotel because of the friendly and warm atmosphere. After meeting Liane we too knew that The Carolinenhof was someplace special.
We went to our room to unpack and were amazed by the view we had from our balcony. Dinner was served at 7PM and we were invited to sit at the Stammtisch with Liane and some other guests from Germany (Thomas and Petra) to have an after dinner schnapps. They talked about their travels in America and raved about how we have great rollercoasters and steaks.
Saturday, September 4th
We woke up to a foggy, rainy morning and had a late breakfast. We hung around hoping the weather would improve and when the sun broke through the clouds at around 1PM we walked into Hinterglemm. We took a different gondala half way up, and then hiked to the peak of the Reiterkogel (1918 Meters high), stopping along the way to pick wild blueberries which we ate with breakfast the next day. The weather turned out great and we were treated to spectacular views of the cloud covered mountains that surrounded us. (We took over 250 photos during the weekend and had a difficult time of deciding which ones to keep.)
Again we sat at the Stammtisch and had drinks with Liane and a few other guests. We talked about our round-the-world trip and where we were heading. As we were leaving the table Liane gave us a little silver Buddha to carry with us for good luck and protection. It was a simple, heartfelt gift that really meant a lot to us because it was given out of genuine thoughfulness and kindness.
Sunday, September 5th
We had breakfast and a goodbye glass of champagne at the Stammtisch. Unfortunately, we didn't know the gondolas took a one hour break at noontime and we arrived at the base of the Zwölferkogel and everything was closed. We decided to hike around the base a bit and have a coffee while we waited for one o'clock to roll around.
The lifts started up and we headed up to the summit. We hiked another 128 meters to reach the Hohe Penhab peak and had a late afternoon snack. We headed back down to the parking lot around 4PM and were on the road in time to see the late day sun color everything in warm, golden tones.
It was great to spend time with Henni in a relaxed, peaceful environment. Thank you Henni and Kurt for such a great weekend!
Now we're off to pack again because we're taking an early morning train to Innsbruck for more hiking and sightseeing; Omi will meet us there Tuesday afternoon. We'll be sure to give an update and more photos when we're back.
OK, it's time to finally catch up. We haven't actually been that lazy here, it's just that between vistiting Omi, planning future parts of our trip, registering for absentee voting, and chosing a travel insurance plan (yes, we are finally insured!), there hasn't been much time to write updates.
Right now Michael is working with Kurt and Roland to tear down an old house. I'm going over to Omi's in a bit, probably to look at more photos (so far we've covered 1950 to 1977).
Here's what we've been doing since Salzburg:
8-30-04
A down day, we didn't leave the house at all. I spent about 3 HOURS just copying addresses that we had in our old book and on random scraps of paper into our new book, it's amazing how long little things like that take. Michael worked on the computer and Roland flew in from California in the afternoon.
8-31-04
Roland, Tamara and the two of us met Omi at the Chinese Restaurant near her apartment. Michael got yelled at by the waitress for taking some rice because it didn't go with the noodles he ordered. Michael and I then went over to Omi's for a bit and later met up with Roland, Tamara, and a bunch of friends at Rosie's, a cafe/bar where his friend Lulee was bartending. We stayed until he closed up at around 2 or 3 AM and then we all headed over to Leberkas Pepi to sample the various kinds of Leberkaes (an Austrian/German meat that's hard to describe or translate, literally it means 'liver cheese'--doesn't sound too appetizing). Michael's favorite was the one with horse meat.
After getting kicked out of there at around 4 AM, we continued on to the next bar. Michael and I were the first to leave at about 6 AM, just as it was getting light outside. We rode the tram back to the house, with Michael hicupping loudly all the way home. On our way to bed we met Henni who was just getting up.
9-1-04
We slept until about 1 PM after our long night out (we’re getting too old for that kind of thing!). In the evening we were invited over to Erich (my mother’s 2nd cousin) and Anni’s for a delicious dinner. The two of them live in the house where his grandmother (Omi’s mother’s sister) once lived, it’s neat to be surrounded by that kind of family history. Besides being a great cook, Erich is also quite the wine connoisseur, so we were able to enjoy some excellent wine selections with dinner (we had a bottle from his private collection that was over 18 years old).
9-2-04
I went over to Omi’s on my own and later met up with Michael and Kurt at the Klosterhof for a beer. We then made our way to the Wine Festival that was going on in the Altstadt (Old Town). It was bigger than we thought it would be—lots going on and lots of wine to be tasted. We parted ways with Kurt and met up with Roland’s friends that we’d met on Tuesday night. It ended up being another pretty long night—we met up with Kurt again coincidently and shared a taxi home at 2:30 (after the traditional stop at Leberkas Pepi of course.)
9-3 to 9-5
Our trip to Hinterglemm with Henni and Juni. (We’ll write about it in a separate entry once we get the pictures up.)
9-6-04
Another lunch with Omi at the Klosterhof, followed by more picture albums at her place. We spent the evening going through over 200(!) pictures from our Hinterglemm weekend.
9-7-04
We decided to take advantage of the beautiful day by walking up the Pöstlingberg here in Linz. The top offers a nice view of the city, but more importantly it is home to the Grottenbahn—the dragon train that takes you around the dwarf and fairy tale world (built in 1906 as I just learned from the website). At first we felt a little silly being the only two adults there without kids, but we got over it quickly and went a bit crazy with the camera. On the way down, Michael amused himself with a little game of “kick the rotten apple down the road”. I bet him 5 Euros to take a bite out of the apple.
We met Omi at Henni’s for some wonderful homemade Marrillen und Zwetschken Knödel (apricot and plum dumplings)—delicious! We then showed Omi the Hinterglemm photos on the DVD player.
9-8-04
A work day for us. We accomplished quite a bit, most importantly we finally purchased our travel insurance (through IMG, world travel center).
9-9-04
We made brunch for Omi, then spent some time planning the next leg of our journey. Looks like we’ll be leaving for Zagreb, Croatia around the 21st.
That's all for now. We promise to be back soon with the Hinterglemm pictures and write-up.
P.S. I hope the beginning of the school year has been a good one for all those teachers out there (and students too of course)!
We've been so "busy" relaxing here we haven't had a chance to really sit down and write a proper update. Henni has a new computer and new broadband internet connection which Michael is VERY excited about--he's basically taken over the computer. So...what have we been up to?
08-28-04
Saturday morning we took the train to Salzburg with Omi. It was a beautiful day for a trip through the area and we got some nice shots of typical Austrian farmhouses along the way. (Omi also especially enjoyed the "Safterl" that we brought with us.)
After checking into Hotel Neutor and enjoying a complimentary glass of champagne, we headed out for a pre-opera dinner at Hotel Blaue Gans (The Blue Goose). This was the hotel where Megan and her mom stayed 18 years ago during a short trip to Salzburg, and is also right next door to the Goldener Hirsch, where Sanna and David celebrated their wedding.
The Salzburger Festspiele (Salzburg Festival) takes place every summer from the end of July to the end of August, and is a really big deal here in Austria. Megan had been once before in 1992 to see the famous 'Jedermann' play with Omi, Opi, Alexa and Roland. This time we saw Richard Strauss' Opera 'Der Rosenkavalier'. It was a beautiful performance and it was great to be able to follow along with the supertitles in both German and English. It was also a lot of fun to see all of the Salzburg high society dressed in their finest. Of course mixed in with all the women in fancy ballgowns there was also the American lady who sat down next to us dressed in her Myrtle Beach sweatshirt. She and her son arrived two hours late and missed the entire first act because she thought 18:00 meant eight o'clock.
08-29-04
The next morning, after a delicious breakfast in the hotel, Omi treated us to a carriage ride around the city. It was a great way to see the sights and learn a bit more about them. (Although I did keep waiting--to no avail--for the driver to point out the oldest bakery in Salzburg, or was it Austria? Remember Mama?) Michael's trying to upload a short video clip that we took from the carriage.
We then rode the Festungsbahn up to the fortress for a nice view of the city and a yummy lunch of Griessnockerl Suppe (dumpling soup) and Salzburger Nockerl (a regional specialty that's a bit soufflé-like, see photo). We made it back down in time for the concert in the Felsenreitschule. The Attersee Institute Orchestra played pieces from Mendelssohn, Hummel, and de Falla. It was another beautiful performance. One of the violinists got so into the music that she lost her grip on the bow and it went flying out into the audience. A guy in the first row had to pick it up and hand it back to her.
As we mentioned in the photo, the Felsenreitschule is the setting for one of the scenes in Sound of Music. For those of you who haven't seen the movie at least 50 times like Alexa and Megan have, it's the part where the whole family sings in the concert and then sneaks away so that the father doesn't have to go fight for the Nazis.
After the concert, we stopped by the Blaue Gans one more time for a little snack, and then headed to the train station for the ride back to Linz (this time in the rain). It really was a beautiful weekend. Thank you Omi! And thank you Henni for organizing it all!
This evening we're heading into town for a wine festival that's going on, and then tomorrow morning we're driving with Henni and Junior (the dog) to Hinterglemm for a weekend of hiking. Stayed tuned for more updates and pictures from our night out on the town with Roland and his friends.
Love,
Megan and Michael
