Guten tag familie und freunde (German is also the primary language for Austria)
We left Munich on a Sunday (Sonntag) for our 2.5 hour drive to southern Austria, veering off after an hour in the direction of Innsbruck, now passing small villages nestled at the base of the foothills to the Alps, random castles, and Bavarian Catholic churches with onion-topped domes at the peak of thin spires. Since trucks are not allowed on the Bundesautobahn on the weekends, we would come across scores of them stacked in tight rows at roadside stops off the autobahn, anxiously awaiting midnight to roar back on. It turned out this ‘honeymoon period’ would be over in all our other drives, which invariably took place on weekdays! We left you in our 1st dispatch with the story of our fine for the lack of a vignette sticker for driving on the autobahn. What we didn’t share was the humor in the event; a boxy vehicle, pulling alongside Pam as she drove, pointing, then getting in front of us with their rear window sporting lights blinking “Bitte Folzen” which meant nothing to us but to Pam and Uli it meant “Please Follow”. That’s when we realized it was the Polizei. We did as admonished, discovering what dastardly deed we had done. We were pretty angry about the whole thing, only to find out later they had the power to have given us a fine upwards of 1,000 Euros. We had gotten off easy! Always good to see the glass as ½ full.
Our week’s stay in the small village of Telfes, Austria was a nice contrast from the hustle and bustle of Munich, a population of 1,500 versus 1.3 million. It didn’t hurt that we were now in a slow moving, rural culture with rolling green hills decorating the Stubai Valley. At times it appeared this valley was one big golf course, dotted with small, pristine homes with their ever present geranium-filled wooden window boxes. In addition, goats, sheep, and cows with the charming and melodious clanging sounds of their bells, hanging from thick leather collars around their necks, completing the pastoral idyll. It was a bit like our church bells only more often and more subdued. This prevailed even when languidly chewing their cuds. As we drove through the village on a one lane road, we came upon many locals hiking around the area utilizing their walking sticks, reflective of their outdoor and healthy living culture, some wearing the traditional lederhosen, however none were yodeling. The only thing I thought missing was a welcoming reception by the Von Trapp family, with Julie Andrews belting out “The hills are alive…”!
Our accommodations at Thalerhof Pension were classic Tyrolean style, enhanced by the personal attention of the husband-and-wife owners and the 5 star, 4 course dinners prepared by them. The Pension was situated at 3,500 feet (1,078 meters) above sea level, permitting an awe-inspiring panoramic view from our second floor outside deck, spanning much of the valley and the Stubaier Gletscher at its southern terminus.
The first 3 full days here took us to a different mountain each day, using the tram systems to reach our destination points. The most spectacular of these days was the 15 miles (25 kilometers) to the aforementioned glacier, espying brown goats, sheep grazing on the lush green hillsides, small 6’ x 6’ wooden hay huts scattered at key intervals, steep waterfalls spilling down the Karst-like wall faces, clear, aqua-colored streams flowing by our winding 2-laned road. With all this, I had half expected to see Heidi and her grandfather nearby! During the drive, we had ascended 2,000 feet above the valley floor and took the 1st tram from there up to 9,500 feet where we switched gondolas, arriving at the final station, Top of the Tyrol, at 10,500 feet. From here we trekked in the snow to a large metal, grated platform extending out into space, for breath taking views of snow-capped peaks in the distance, the tallest being Otzlaler Wildespitze, over 12,000 feet. It was only early September! A refreshing thing to see what with our local situation in the mountains. Later on in the week we returned here to tour the Eisgrotte (ice caves) at 9,500 feet. At the entrance was a map showing the amount of glacier recession since 1850 to 2006 and the white fleece blankets they place over the glacier to mitigate this recession during the summer months. Maggie posed for a Queenly photo, sitting on an ice throne.
The local church bell became our personal alarm clock, ringing at 7:00 a.m. each morning, readying us for our buffet breakfast and our day’s activities. The weather was perfect the whole week and we would take off right after our breakfasts for our gondola rides, with cows just 10’ below us, grazing on the hillside, their bells making their presence known, alpine trees on both sides of us, defining the narrow grassy/rocky path upwards. We later learned that these animals are left to roam free all summer. Kind of sounds like our post-working years! This tidbit of information was a relief as I couldn’t picture their handlers trying to corral them each day from these steep slopes, where they were strewn about willy-nilly.
One of our hikes was of a very personal nature, trekking to the site where Pam had dispersed her father’s ashes 3 years ago. We acknowledged Bob’s passing and remembered the intrepid traveler he was when Maggie and I had shared in celebrating his 90th in the Caribbean Grenadine islands! While here, at 7,300 feet, we lunched at a small, quaint eatery, Sennjoch-Sutte, where we basked in the sun, with local cows moseying over, hanging their heads over the railing near our old wooden table, checking us out and looking closely at our meals to ensure none of their relatives were plated. The cows were fine with the fact that their only contribution to our meal was buttermilk and cheese which they in fact had willingly contributed! Our lunches usually consisted of the latter plus goulash soups, meats, apfelstrudel and bier. After lunch, we began our several hour hike downward, dropping our 1st 2,000 feet in 1.5 hours (the knees ended up suffering).
On these hikes below the snow line we would encounter what we came to refer to as ‘Too Many Cows’, with their bells a-ringin’, cuds a-chewin’, eyeing us from several feet away, slowly moving their heads until we were out of their field of vision. At one point, horned cows encourage Uli to remove her red jacket, just in case! Point of reference here. When we were on Borneo, in the Danum Valley, and signing the guest register upon leaving, we left a “complaint”, ‘Too Many Elephants’, which was a humorous response to previous traveler complaints that they had only seen one or no elephants, while we had seen hundreds, part of a once-in-a-decade migration which we fell into by dumb luck.
Our final hike was on what Pam referred to as the ‘Old Man Trail’ (my knees were thankful for this one), where we came across a group selling tandem paragliding packages for 100 Euros. I was really tempted but we were hiking as a group and I declined. There were paragliders soaring above us, skimming over tree tops on their takeoffs, catching updrafts, landing 2,400 feet below. True to the outdoor culture referenced earlier, we witnessed kids asking for their ‘passports’ to be stamped at way stations like Sennjoch-Sutte, which validated their reaching certain hiking points. Children’s play areas were at the top of many of the lifts and there were various activities along the trail, all to ensure a fun excursion while exposing them to the beauty of their ‘backyard’. Returning to Thalerhof, I made up my mind to do the tandem paragliding or I would regret forever not having this unique experience.
Another highlight of our time in Austria was Maggie and I getting away for some ‘us’ time, driving 2 hours to Salzburg, strolling along the Salzach River, viewing the imposing and daunting 11th century Fortress Hohensalzburg, sitting on top of Festunsberg Hill, with church domes and cupolas below in Old Town (Alstadt, a UNESCO site of Baroque architecture), visiting the birthplace of Mozart, navigating the narrow cobblestoned walkways, stumbling across the most beautiful fountain in Salzburg, at Residenzplatz, roughly 35’ tall, with 4 snorting horses spewing water from their noses and mouths, topped off with a jet of water shooting into the air from Triton’s Trumpet.
We had a mission that was presented to us by Uli to find and consume the Salzburger Nockerl, a huge and renowned delicious soufflé dessert, made with flour, egg yolks, sugar, vanilla, mixed into a thin dough with egg whites whisked in until stiffness. Dumplings are formed, with powdered sugar and raspberry sauce. We had to search high and low and finally found the Hotel Sacher Salzburg along the Salzach River where we dined on this devilish delight. This wonderful concoction was an exception to the majority of desserts we experienced in Bavaria, where the sweetness is much less than in the U.S., healthier, more natural, yet just as satisfying.
We will end the recounting of our Austria highlights with my tandem hang gliding, on 9/11 of all days, over the Stubai with my ‘pilot’ Peter, a roguish, spiked-haired Austrian, mid-50’s sporting a ring in one of his ear lobes. We would start at 5,800 feet and eventually rise to 6,500 soaring peacefully over the Stubai Valley, the wind whistling softly in our ears, drifting over to the opposite side of the valley, updrafts lifting us up, our shadow appearing eerily on the trees beneath us, Peter taking GoPro videos (a short cut of one is above) and photos. We were up for 17 minutes of sheer bliss. Having bungee jumped and sky dived in the past, I did not fear doing this until I realized Peter would be behind me in his ‘seat’, would count to 3 and then we were to commence running down the hill, me in the lead, until the air filled the chute. My fear was tripping and screwing this whole thing up! Obviously the short video is proof that did not happen!!
Our last afternoon was spent with just the two of us taking a long walk down into Telfes’ neighboring village of Fulpes, a population of 4,100 lederhosen clad, walking-stick-carrying citizens! We passed many old wooden and stucco homes whose sides often were painted with various images of the valley’s heritage, fading with time, not being touched up. The water is so clean that there are stations where it is spewing into wooden troughs, with locals filling up a cup or drinking directly from the spout. Of course we had to do the same…”When in Rome…”! We stopped in at the local church to view the mummified martyr encased in a Plexiglas container, now a bejeweled clothed skeleton with a crown sported on his skull. We felt blessed, so to speak, to have visited here and experienced such a relaxing lifestyle, participating in all that the environs here offer. Next stop: ITALY.
Your trusted travelers, Stan & Maggie