Austria Vacation Log: Day 6, Hike Through the Alps

We woke up fairly early, packed up and went downstairs to breakfast: meats, cheese, breads, and coffee. Before our main hike, we took a short walk through an alpine flower garden. It was quite impressive, with what seemed like every flower in the Alps, each individually labeled. We had to drag Dorinna out of there.

Blumengarten (photo credit: Daniel Hernández)

The hike started with a long and seemingly never-ending climb to a tall alpine pass called the Öfapaß. The entire hike was above tree line, so the views were continuous. And what views- cliffs and jagged peaks were in every direction.

On the trail (photo credit: Dieter Glauß)
Looking down at our Hut (photo credit: Daniel Hernández)
Mountains (photo credit: Dieter Glauß)

Michaela at the top of the pass (photo credit: Daniel Hernández)

At the top of the pass we took a short break before dropping down to another valley- the Schweizertor. This valley was a simply outstanding notch with sheer cliffs on both sides.

View down to the Schweizertor (photo credit: Dieter Glauß)

The notch led to Switzerland. I wanted to visit a new country, and it was a short flat walk, so we did. We only took a few steps across the border, but shot a lot of pictures and watched some rock climbers on the Swiss side. It was nice to visit the homeland of the Ruhs, if only for 10 minutes.

Me at the Swiss border (photo credit: Dieter Glauß)

Wall of the Schweizertor (photo credit: Daniel Hernández)
Customs house at the Swiss-Austrian border (photo credit: Dieter Glauß)

Back with the main group we climbed another 1000 feet to another pass, Verajöchli. Here we ate a true german-style lunch: salami, different sausages, cheeses, and breads. Around us we watched gliders and paragliders coasting around the mountain peaks. After the extended break we headed down, down, down a mountain valley to the Lünar See, a large reservoir.

Lünar See (photo credit: Daniel Hernández)

We walked clockwise around it to the tram station. On a day I was less tired, I would have liked the steep, exposed descent, but I was getting tired, and it was getting late.

Dorinna, myself, and Dieter at the lake (photo credit: Michaela Glauß)

Daniel and Theresia (photo credit: Dieter Glauß)

We packed into the tram like sardines with several dozen other people, all of whom desperately needed showers (including us). The tram plummeted straight down the cliff side, giving us nice views and getting us down mercifully quickly.

Tram descent (photo credit: Dieter Glauß)

We waited a few minutes before the absolute chaos that was the bus leaving. We managed to jam-pack in for the scenic ride down to the town of Bludenz. Once we got there, Dieter and Daniel went to fetch the cars- 2 more bus rides as one of the trains had been washed out from the recent floods. The rest of us sat down in a quiet shaded café and had ice cream and a “new” white wine. Dorinna bought some shoes and I bought her a wildflower book. By then the cars had returned, and we said our goodbyes to Dieter and Michaela, as they headed home.

Daniel and Theresia gave us a ride to our next destination- Reutte. The ride should have been fairly short, but unfortunately the floods had washed out the main highway as well. We took a long loop back through Germany. We arrived at the hotel at around 8:30, dropped our packs in the room, and went back downstairs for a quick dinner. For the second time during our trip, we ate dinner inside. It turned out to also be the last time we ate inside, which gives you an idea of the weather that we were blessed with. After the meal, they headed back to München to get ready for their vacation to Florida, while we headed upstairs to shower and then collapse. A long but spectacular day!

Austria Vacation Log: Day 5, Post 2 of 2... bis die Berge

I woke up in the village of Vandans. We drove to a tram station, and rode a gondola high up into the mountains. Our hike (german link- has a map of our route) to the Lindauer hut (german link) was a mix of ups and downs. (A hiking club from Lindau maintains the hut). Beautiful scenery- all but a few hundred yards was above tree line. We passed a farm on the way, and lots of cows, their bells jangling in the fading light of late afternoon. When we arrived, the hut seemed fairly chaotic. It felt a lot like a hut in the White Mountains, but of course there wasn’t a word of English to be heard. Having German hosts was very advantageous, though, and Dieter sorted everything out within a few minutes. The hut was quite a bit civilized by our standards- our private room had electric lights, and there was hot water and flush toilets.

Lindauer Hütte (photo credit: Dieter Glauß)

(photo credit: Daniel Hernandez)

We washed up, put on warmer, drier clothes, and met outside for dinner. Dorinna had a cheese plate with cheese made at the farm we had passed on the hike there. I went for the pork with creamy mushroom gravy and curry rice. Three cold Weiss beers helped wash it down. We had a lot of fun making fun of the ridiculous contents of our German-English phrasebook.

Rich has a beer, and he's smiling. Coincidence? (photo credit: Michaela Glauß)

My earlier nap made it hard to fall asleep, which was just as well, as the shock of the smoke alarm an hour later was less of a jolt. It was a false alarm, of course, but quite loud. I kind of stood in the hallway like an idiot watching a German frantically trying to muffle the sound before I could finally dredge up enough German words to ask if I could help. He immediately switched to perfect English, and we kept the alarm covered until it was shut off a few minutes later.

Austria Vacation Log: Day 5, Post 1 of 2Vom See...

The day started with a delightful breakfast on the deck overlooking the town. Michaela and Dieter outdid themselves with an incredible spread of breads, jams, muesli, and yogurt. Germans do NOT skimp on breakfast.

We piled back into the car and drove to Lindau. Lindau is a great little german town on an island in the Bodensee. We walked along the lake and enjoyed hazy views to Austria and Switzerland. The lake was very nice, but had lots of debris floating in it- stuff that washed downstream from the Alps during recent floods. Reaching the harbor, we climbed to the top of the lighthouse for great views of the “skyline”.

(photo credit: Dieter Glauß)

We enjoyed coffee at a small café and met Daniel and Theresia soon after.

(photo credit: Michaela Glauß)

The town was a lot of fun. We window-shopped, admired the exterior of the town hall, and visited a nice little church.

Theresia, Michaela, Dieter, Rich, and Dorinna (photo credit: Daniel Hernandez)

Rathaus (town hall) (photo credit: Dieter Glauß)

For lunch, I had a salad with Bodensee fish fillets and an apple soda. Afterwards, we piled back into the cars and headed to Austria. I think I missed some nice scenary, as I fell asleep in the back seat almost immediately after the border.

Bells in Lindau (photo credit: Dieter Glauß)

Fence Repair

It took most of the day, but it's done!

And here's the first picture from the new camera:

Rube Goldberg contraption

Check out this fun little web site. You could spend hours looking at that thing...

Miners take Manhattan

Last week a business trip took me to Newark. It's not my favorite city, but we were able to take the train to Manhattan one night. Here's my friend Scott in Times Square:

Wow. That picture is amazingly bad, isn't it? Don't click on it to enlarge it- it will just get worse. I used that as inspiration for the new toy that I bought on Monday.

Anyway, we took the subway to Greenwich Village, had a good dinner at a Spanish restaurant, and then visited the Maria-recommended Peculiar Pub, home of 517 different kinds of beer.

Blowing in the Wind

While I was conveniently on a business trip last week, Fort Collins got a wind storm. Winds hit 80 mph, and a falling tree almost killed a bunch of kids at a day care center. We lost 2 sections of our fence, so my neighbor and I spent a good part of the weekend fixing it.

In what "seemed like a good idea at the time" we decided to do it right, and fix a large section of the fence that was constructed rather poorly. The worst part was digging up the old fence posts, which the previous owners had thoughtfully sunk in concrete. The posts are in place, the cross-beams are anchored in position, and we've started nailing the planks back on. I expect a good part of next weekend will be finishing the job.

Here's a view of the construction:

Our other neighbor lost a piece of fence too, and Home Depot had a line of people buying fence planks.

Austria Vacation Log: Day 4, München, Ulm, Langenargen

We came up with our plan for the day over breakfast. We had lots of grand ideas, as we still had a large laundry list of places we wanted to see in München. As we went through the list, though, we came to the conclusion that less is more, and opted for a single outing- the Alte Pinakothek (follow this English link for a good selection of art online).

Self-portrait of Albrecht Durer (photo credit: www.tudor-portraits.com)

This is München’s most famous art gallery. Compared to the museums in Italy, it was surprisingly affordable- only €5, including the audio guide. We only saw about half the museum before running out of time. Lots of “Maria mit Kind” paintings, unlike Italy, which was mostly filled with “Maria con bambino”.

After leaving the museum, we walked back to our hotel, picked up our bags, and walked to the train station. We arrived in plenty of time for our train, so we browsed the food counters for lunch. I had the bratwurst standby, while Dorinna opted for a spinach and cheese strudel. For desert we split 2 pastries. I made a poor-choice, and got some fruitcake-like substance rather than chocolate.

We had reserved seats on the train, and the trip passed quickly and comfortably. We traveled to the town of Ulm, where our friend Dieter met us at the train station. After dropping our stuff in his car, we made a beeline for the Münster, the tallest church in the world. We thought about climbing the 768 steps, but settled for exploring the cavernous interior. The church is all cold stone and vaulted gothic ceilings. Very nice, but also very cold and creepy.

Münster(photo credit: Wikipedia)

Afterwards we walked around the town. We had ice cream, saw some of the old neighborhoods, and walked on a short trail along the Donau (Danube). Our favorite part of the walk, however, was walking alongside a small stream. This brook ran right through the center of the town, with houses perched on all sides, and small bridges criss-crossing it everywhere. Dorinna says that Ulm is one of her favorite cities in Europe.

Leaving Ulm, we drove to the nearby town of Laupheim to pick up Dieter’s wife Michaela. We visited her parents and brother, an American friend, and their daughter Isabel. I tried speaking some German but my vocabulary is still very limited. I managed to ask Isabel the name of her toy stuffed animal dog. By contrast, Michaela’s brother spoke impeccable unaccented English.

After the visit, we packed ourselves into Dieter’s two door car and drove to Langenargen , a small town on the shore of the Bodensee (Lake Constance). We stayed the night in a summer cottage belonging to Michaela’s parents. We went for dinner, sitting outside on the lakeshore. I had fillets of fish from the Bodensee in garlic butter, with potatoes and salad. Lots of wine, including a champagne and fruit juice aperitif, insured a wonderful (and late) evening.

Me and Dorinna at the Engel Hotel-Restaurant (photo credit: Dieter Glauß)