Schneeberg revisited

Posted on January 20, 2016 by admin

When people think of Austria, they think of the Alps. And rightly so. The vast majority of Austria is mountainous (over 3/4 of Austria is in the Alps), and a good bit of it is uninhabitable due to the height and steepness of the peaks through the center and west of the country.

Vienna, however, is in the far east of Austria, and, rather than being in the mountains, it is located in the gently sloping valley carved out by the Danube. Vienna is hilly, but not mountainous (my apartment is only at 186 m above sea level, for example). So, if we want mountains, we have to travel. We’ve been all over Austria’s central mountains (including very near the highest, the Grossglockner), through the Italian Alps on a train (which resulted in a bit of a shock when we woke up and saw ourselves surrounded by snow), and have visited both of Vienna’s “local mountains”, Rax and Schneeberg. Though we spent lovely days at both of the local mountains, the trip back and forth to Schneeberg was definitely simpler, so this past May, when winter was behind us and we felt like getting out to the mountains for a bit, we went back to Schneeberg.

Our only significant complaint about our last trip to Schneeberg was that, due to a lack of detailed planning, we didn’t get enough time to explore. So this time, knowing that the trip there was long-ish, and that in order to maximize our mountain hiking time, we’d have to plan our connections (3 different trains, not including Vienna’s public transit) carefully, we planned ahead. The desire to plan ahead was tempered by our desire to have at least decent weather at the top, so though we planned ahead, we didn’t want to buy our actual tickets too far ahead. But we were (theoretically) prepared. The morning of our trip, we got up early, and left the house with nearly an hour to catch our train (the trip to the train station is less than 25 min) … and yet, we somehow missed our train.

I’m still not entirely sure how it happened. We left the house with plenty of time. We had to wait a while for our first U-Bahn, and then a bit for the second, but sometime shortly after we got on that second U-Bahn, I realized we were, at best, barely going to make our train. As soon as we got to the train station, we started running. It’s a big train station (which was part of the miscalculation — I had counted “arriving at the train station” as “being at the tracks”, which is about a 10 minute underestimate when traveling with kids), so we ran across the whole thing. I still had to print our tickets, too, and I was shaking with the stress and adrenaline, so I entered the confirmation number incorrectly. And that was it. Dan and the boys had run up to the tracks to wait for me, but I never even got up there. They were on their way back down, having seen the train pull away, before I got there.

It wasn’t really a big deal — the next train was in an hour — but I was so disappointed. I felt awful for dragging us all out of bed extra early for no good reason. I was embarrassed that I had failed to allow for enough time. I felt guilty that I’d made my kids sprint through the train station for no reason. I felt terrible that they felt stressed and worried about our day. So I cried (which did not improve the stress and worry situation, which made me feel worse). But, all was not lost, and so I went into the ticket office and got us new tickets for the next train. I found out when our new connections would be and we crossed our fingers that we’d be able to change our reservation for the Salamander train that would take us up the mountain. Then we got breakfast, regrouped, and got on the next train without a problem.

If you make the connections properly, it’s not a long trip — only about 2 hours from the center of Vienna, and quite lovely. First, you take a big train to one of Vienna’s outlying suburbs, and then a tiny electric train (which honestly feels more like a bus) out into the countryside and to the base of the mountains. When we arrived, we were scolded a bit for missing the train we had been booked on, and informed that we were lucky to get a spot on a later train, but we did get a spot. Because of our less than ideal departure from Vienna, we ended up with nearly an hour of downtime until the special Salamander train up the mountain. (For those keeping track, that means we would get to the top of the mountain 2 full hours later than we had intended.) But, no worries. To fill the time, we got some coffee (for Dan & I) and made our way to a nearby salamander-themed playground (for the boys).

At the appointed time, we went back to the train station and got on the Salamander train for the 45 minute ride to the top of the mountain. At the bottom of the mountain, it was late spring, nearly summer. Everything was green and lush, the kids didn’t need their jackets, and I was thinking I may have over-prepared for our adventure. As we ascended, however, things changed quickly. By halfway up the mountain, our surroundings looked more like early spring than late May. The trees were just budding, the wildflowers just starting to think about blooming, and, as we ascended, there was more and more snow everywhere. Rather than being over-prepared, I started to worry that we might be under-dressed in our fleeces and raincoats.

At the top, it felt like early March, rather than late May. The kids climbed on massive snow piles, and most of the play area at the summit was unusable due to the amount of snow cover. The wind whipped around us, dark clouds hung overhead, and banks of fog curled around the rocks. It did not feel like it was nearly summer. It was winter again.

Undaunted, we began our hike. Our plan was to continue along the path we had started on our previous visit, and then to go further, possibly as far as one of the two peaks. But though we were (relatively) enthusiastic (me and Dan more than the kids), we just weren’t going to make it that far. It was cold and windy. Very cold and windy, and slightly misty. We had come prepared for a springtime hike, but not for a winter one.

But though we accepted we would not be going as far as we’d planned, we were still going to enjoy our mountain adventure! So, after about half a mile, we stopped into an Almhutte for a break from the wind and a warm treat (goulash and hot chocolate) before continuing on. We were not, at all, the only people put hiking, though we may have been the only non-Austrians).

After a bit more hiking, we came upon a fun discovery — one of several sources of Vienna’s lovely drinking water. I knew that our clean and tasty drinking water came “from the mountains”, but I didn’t realize that one of the sources would be a big pile of snow (presumably over a frozen lake or spring), surrounded in less than intimidating barbed wire, along the side of a wide hiking trail. (There was a young girl who had climbed down into the snow pictured here, but that seemed like an extraordinarily bad idea, so we wouldn’t let the boys join her.)

But after that, we were pretty much done. Our vision of an entire afternoon spent hiking several miles was overly ambitious given the conditions (or at least due to our level of preparation). We were just thwarted by the cold and the wind … and the fact that it was basically still winter up there. And though we enjoyed our colder-than-expected hike on the mountaintop, we definitely learned that late spring is still a bit early to hike in the high Alps. On the bright side, as it turned out, my morning miscalculation didn’t really cost us any precious mountain time (because we wouldn’t have stayed longer anyway, and we got to be there in the “warmest” part of the day, relatively speaking). In the end, it was another adventure, and another learning experience, and I think we’ll save our next mountain hike for summer.

Storm in the mountains

Posted on August 21, 2014 by admin

After our fantastic experience with Sommerrodelbahn, we did the only thing we really could have the next day — we went back! This time, we did 5 whole round trips, and we were becoming pretty well expert at the whole process. Liam still wanted to ride with me, and B wanted to ride with Dan, so that’s how we did it again the second day. We all got braver and went even faster — I only used the brakes when Liam told me to, and Dan actually let B drive for several of their trips down. It was just as much fun the second time.

This time, though, I opted not to bring my phone (I spent much of the first day worried that it would skip out of my pocket on either the way up on the lift, or on the way down in the sled), so instead I’ll share a few pictures of the big thunderstorms that came through later that afternoon . . . and a picture of B playing with a cat, because it’s cute. (I’m really grateful that we didn’t get caught up on the chairlift in that weather!)

It was quite an experience to watch the storm roll in to the northwestern edge of the valley, and then move across towards us at the southeastern end. At first we could see the rain falling as it approached, but as the storm moved closer, we gradually lost sight of more and more of the distant mountains, then the valley, and then everything that wasn’t right in front of us. Behind the storm, the air got cold, so unlike our first few days in Sankt Koloman, where we were trying to keep cool in the evenings by staying out on the balcony, this night I had to come inside after just a little while, because I couldn’t keep warm.

Sommerrodelbahn

Posted on August 20, 2014 by admin

The first time I heard about “summer sledding” (Sommerrodelbahn) was before I came to Austria. Back when we were preparing to move here (and I knew nothing about Austria other than apple strudel and ‘The Sound of Music’), we watched a Rick Steves show about Vienna and the surrounding areas, and he mentioned it. I really knew nothing about it, and I came away with the impression of it being something done on luge tracks or something, but during the summer months.

Then we moved here, and I remember reading something about it again. Whatever it was that I read about it gave me a slightly better idea of what it was about (and I remember reading that it was “fun for the whole family!” or something like that), but it still sounded very fast and a little scary, and I came away with the idea that it was something we might be able to do with the kids one day, if we stayed here long enough for them to be a bit bigger.

Then, last spring, during a visit with our pediatrician, we were chatting about our respective plans for the summer, and I mentioned that we were going back (again) to one of our favorite places near Salzburg. “You’ve done Sommerrodelbahn, right?”, she asked. I was surprised, because I had a definite impression of it being for bigger kids, but my pediatrician obviously knows how old my kids are, and she told me that she’s taken her 4 year old twins summer sledding before, too. She assured me that it was age-appropriate, and that we would all love it. Based on that recommendation, I decided we should give it a try.

I knew that the area in the mountains near Salzburg was well known for good summer sledding locations, and I looked up 2 places near where we were staying. I still really had no idea what to expect, but when I looked it up, it seemed a little expensive for what I expected it to be. Still, I thought we’d give it a try.

Ski lifts in the summer are weird

We drove over to the other side of the valley, very nearly to the German border (as in, it was a few hundred yards away down that same road) to the place we had chosen. We waited in line and bought our tickets. I had no idea whether we were going to like it, and since it was a little expensive, we just bought a single trip up and down for each of us. I still really didn’t know what was going on, what to expect or what to do next. But, it looked like everyone else was waiting in line for the ski lift, so that was what we did, too. (You’d be amazed at how many of your actions are determined by what other people are doing when you live in a foreign country.) I’ve never ridden on an open-style chair lift with my kids, so that was intimidating enough (we’ve done lots of cable car/gondola style lifts, and once a drag lift when we were skiing, but never a chair lift). I spent the first trip up with my arms wrapped around Benjamin, fearful that he’d slip out, or that he’d do something crazy, not understanding the potential danger. (Neither of those things happened. We had a lovely — if a little sunny — ride up and got an amazing view of the valley. I’m guessing that a sunny ski lift is a bonus in January. In July, it’s just 20 minutes of sitting in the sun without any shade, which I had never thought about.) On the way up, we got a few quick glimpses of people “sledding” down, and I began to see why I hadn’t really understood the concept before. Sommerrodelbahn translates as ‘summer toboggan run’, and the little sleds do look a lot like large, plastic toboggans, so I see where the “sledding” part comes in. But the “sleds” run on a metal track (so there’s no need to steer), which is, I think, where the “luge” concept kind of comes in. I was thoroughly intrigued, and a little freaked out — they looked like they got going pretty fast!

We got to the top and were treated to an amazing view. We followed some signs which led us (oddly) into and through a restaurant, down some stairs, and out the bottom of the restaurant, where we waited in another line, and where we could watch as other people climbed aboard their sleds. The sleds came down the line, and an operator collected the sled and helped to park it while the rider (or riders — it was very common for small children to sit on their parent’s lap, which was what we intended to do) climbed in. The rider got seatbelted in, waited for the green light to signal that there was enough free space between them and the rider ahead, and off they went!

I was grateful that we’d gotten to see a few people go through the process before it was our turn. We decided that Dan would go down first, because there was no question that he’d be going faster than I would be. B chose who he wanted to ride with (Dan, and I figured the boys would both prefer to ride with him, because he’d probably go faster), so he & Dan were up first. They climbed in, got seatbelted (there was even a special double seatbelt for kids riding in laps!) and headed off down the hill. Liam and I followed right behind.

I was nervous, and overly cautious. The only control we had was a lever that we pushed forward to go faster and pulled on to slow down. At periodic intervals along the track, there were signs that signaled that it was time to apply the brakes, and I dutifully followed the directions (although I didn’t get going fast enough to really need them on that first run). Though it looked like a cross between a sled and a luge, the sensation was most similar to being on a very small, individually controlled roller coaster. We snaked down the hill, through the woods and then out into the clearings again, under the ski lift, down some steep drops and through a tunnel.

It was fantastic.

Benjamin and Dan greeted us excitedly at the bottom of the hill. Benjamin’s exclamation of, “Holy schnitzel, that was fun!” was maybe the most perfect description possible for the experience. Without question, we waited in line for another round of tickets — and this time, we bought 3 round trips. Again, B & I rode up together (I felt safer having Dan ride with Liam, who is wigglier) but, I was pleasantly surprised (actually, I was thrilled) that when it was Liam’s turn to pick a riding partner for the next trip down, he elected to stay with me. We went down for the second time, and it was even better — in part because I was less fearful, and actually let it go a bit on the straight sections. (We did end up stuck behind a REALLY cautious woman and her daughter on one trip down, which was both a little frustrating and a little dangerous — she didn’t just slow down, but came to frequent complete stops on the track, leading to a bit of a pileup behind her.) The sleds are limited to a certain speed, so you can’t get going too fast, but they go fast enough to get a bit of a thrill.

(After our second trip, we decided to actually stop in the restaurant at the top to get some lunch. I knew we were close to the German border, so I looked it up while we were waiting for our food . . . and discovered that we were, quite literally, ON the border. I actually don’t know which country we had lunch in. That is a pretty strange sensation, as is the fact that crossing international borders has become completely routine. When we first moved here, I was attached to my passport like it was some kind of life preserver. I didn’t leave the house without it . . . no kidding. I remember that when mine expired, after we’d been here about a year, I had some massive anxiety about being without it for a few days while it was being replaced. Now, though I do travel with it — because you never know — I don’t worry about it all that much, and I’ve made several international border crossings without it. Including, it seems, a few times on foot.)

We made our last few trips down (each time, I rode up with B, and down with Liam), and each time, we went a little faster. We got pretty brave about it. This definitely goes on the list of great experiences we’ve had while living in Austria, and I would say that it’s something not to be missed if you ever get the chance to do it. No exaggeration, it was one of the most fun things I’ve ever done.

Leaving Heiligenblut

Posted on August 19, 2014 by admin

Back to our adventures from our summer vacation …

We had spent 4 lovely days in Heiligenblut. We had ridden on cable cars, seen Austria’s tallest mountain, visited a shrinking glacier, had several snowball fights, driven through the high Alps and generally fallen in love with the beautiful town. We were sad to be leaving, but excited to go to one of our favorite vacation spots in Austria — a tranquil mountainside farm, just outside of Salzburg. Besides, to get there, we’d have to drive on the High Alpine Road one more time.

We finished packing, said goodbye to an overcast Heiligenblut, and headed up the mountain once more. But, what started as a cloudy morning in the valley became an intensely foggy one up in the higher elevations. Like, “I really hope there’s a road out there somewhere” foggy. So, we weren’t treated to any of the spectacular views we’d enjoyed earlier in the week, but we did discover our favorite playground ever (well, my favorite, at least) when we were almost down the other side.

It had swings, climbing ropes and other normal stuff, but it also had stuff to dig and “pan for gold” (something that the area is known for) and, in one corner of the playground, a little spring-fed mountain stream trickled in. The playground had all of these great basins, drains, chutes and canals to contain, redirect and channel the water. The boys and I spent a few hours sending the water through a house, under a bridge and through a water wheel. It was a ton of fun, and the whole setup encouraged the boys to plan and strategize, and then to be patient as the water filled up the basins enough to follow whatever route they had chosen. I absolutely loved it. (And, like everything in that area, the view was amazing.)

After finally getting under way again, and stopping for lunch at the only food truck I’ve ever seen in Austria (Der Burger Baron), we made our way though the mountains towards Salzburg. The mountains, though still large and imposing, looked different from those we’d grown accustomed to in our few days along the High Alpine Road — as B said, “If there’s no snow, it’s not a mountain.” (Even though it was early July! Our perspective had definitely been altered.)

We finally made our way to Sankt Koloman, our destination. We had made it back to one of our favorite spots in all of Austria, and we were truly happy to be there again. (I even got to see a fireworks display down in the valley that night, like a slightly delayed July 4th celebration!)

High Alpine Road — day 2

Posted on August 14, 2014 by admin

It was our last full day in Heiligenblut, and since Liam had been the one steering our plans on the day of the “Cable car!” ride, and Dan & I had pretty much called the shots on the first day that we toured the High Alpine Road, we wanted to give B a chance to decide what we would do with our day. And he had no doubts — he wanted to go back to the same playground we’d played at the day before.

And so, we did. We started our day out with a few hours at the same playground, with the great stuff to play on and the amazing view. The boys climbed and slid and ziplined into a very happy state (and, unfortunately, into a few more splinters — there were a lot of splinters on this vacation). Dan and I played alongside both of them, and we all enjoyed the gorgeous sights and the sounds of distant cowbells from the herds of cattle grazing on the side of the mountain.

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And then, since there were still many hours left in the day, we decided to take advantage of the beautiful weather and see if we could get another (clearer) view from Schareck at the top of the cable car line.

And we certainly did! It was cool but sunny, and the boys entertained themselves by putting out sun chairs and resting with their stuffed animals in the mountaintop sunshine. We hung out at the top and enjoyed the amazing scenery. We had planned to take the cable car up to the top, and then to hike back down to where the car was parked along the High Alpine Road — it was supposed to be about an hour to an hour and a quarter hike, and all downhill and on well maintained paths. But, we couldn’t — on our way up the mountain, we looked down at the path below us and realized that it was so snow covered at some points that we weren’t sure we’d be able to safely make it through without ending up knee-deep (or deeper, for the boys) in wet snow on the side of a windy mountain a few hours before sunset . . . never mind that it was July 4. Upon further reflection, we decided to just take the cable car back down.

But, we had the fun experience of riding the very last cable car back across the mountainside, and we hung out at the bottom to watch the process of collecting up the cable cars all up at the summit. It was pretty neat.

Though the cable cars were closed for the night, there were still a few hours until sunset, so we decided to continue on down the High Alpine Road, in the hopes of checking out some of the road we hadn’t yet explored. We made it all the way down to the Edelweissspitze, the highest overlook point on the whole of the High Alpine Road. The view was fantastic . . . but the wind was so intense that B wouldn’t linger outside of the car for more than a few minutes (and Liam wouldn’t get out at all). The wind was so strong that we struggled to make it back to the car when it was time to go. It was intimidating and amazing.

We headed back to our hotel to finish up our last evening in Heiligenblut, and as we were chatting with our hotel hosts, they complimented the boys on what great guests they’d been. It was wonderful to hear. As a family that travels a fair bit, we do our best to be good guests, wherever we go — we keep the noise down, try to use our best manners and try to always be considerate of the other visitors and of our hosts. But, kids are kids, and things don’t always go as planned. (We spent at least 15 minutes of our first evening at the hotel with Liam shrieking as we tried to get a splinter out of his finger. So much for keeping the noise down.) It was nice to hear that the boys had made a good impression.

Our time in Heiligenblut was just all around amazing. The place was beautiful, the people were friendly, and there were so many fun things to see and to do. (And, because we had the Kärtnen card, so much of what we did was FREE. The card was included in our hotel stay, and apparently typically is included in summertime hotel visits throughout the region. It was amazing.) If the opportunity ever comes for us to go back, we will.

High Alpine Road — day 1

Posted on August 13, 2014 by admin

Our next morning in Heiligenblut started out with sunshine instead of rain, so we decided it was finally time to finally drive up the High Alpine Road, to see what there was to see. Since the first time I’d heard about this place, I was eager to check it out — 30 miles through the high Alps, with information stops, playground, restaurants, overlooks, and even a glacier! We truly didn’t know how it was going to go, though — how many spots along the road would we want to stop at, how long would we visit the various sites, how much would we really enjoy it, would there be fun stuff for the kids?

We headed out to find out. The High Alpine Road is only open for a few months every year, because keeping it free of snow would be an impossible task, though some parts are accessible to skiers through the winter. In the summer, you pay a fee to drive along the road, unless you have a Kärtnen card (which we did, thanks to our hotel) which makes entrance to the road, the cable cars, and lots of other things completely free.

Right away, we knew we were not going to be disappointed. The views along the road were beautiful. We passed through mountain meadows and along steep cliff faces. We passed under the cable car we’d ridden in the day before and saw several gorgeous waterfalls. It was spectacular.

Our first actual stop was at the Pasterze glacier. We had heard, from our hosts at the hotel, that the glacier had really melted a lot in recent years. They weren’t kidding. Although the view of the top of the Großglockner was truly impressive (as were the tracks we could see in the snow from the brave people who had climbed to the summit recently), seeing the size of the glacier, and beginning to understand the volume of ice that has been lost, was shocking and very sad. Back in the 1960s, a funicular was constructed to allow tourists easy access to the actual glacier — you could take the funicular down from the parking lot area off of the High Alpine Road and actually walk right up to the glacier. We only hiked down a little way, but a lot has changed in the last 50+ years. Now, it takes a couple of hours of hiking from the end of the funicular in order to reach the actual glacier. This little bit of ice, off in the distance, reached to where I was standing to take this picture only 44 years ago. It used to fill up the entire valley, and now it has retreated to just one end. The loss of ice and water in this one spot is absolutely stunning. (And the pictures don’t even really convey the scope of the situation. This valley is HUGE. The little “puddle” down in the bottom is a massive lake. I invite anyone who disbelieves human-cased climate change to visit a place like this, see the extent of ice loss, and see if it doesn’t change your mind.)

It was beyond our energy and ability to hike down to the glacier with the kids (actually, I think we could have hiked DOWN just fine, but getting back might have been a challenge, because I think we would have had to carry them most of the way back up), so we satisfied ourselves with a quick walk down to get a good view of the glacier, and then we moved on along down the road.

Our next stop for the day was at a great Alpine playground (which was co-located with a lovely restaurant, where we had lunch). It was everything I love about Austrian playgrounds — lots of physical challenges for the boys, like zip lines, rope bridges and slides — but with an amazing view (we seem to find a lot of playgrounds with great views in our travels)!

After wearing ourselves out for a few hours at the beautiful playground, we made a stop by our favorite snow spot (the same one from the day before, but this time we reached it by car) for another snowball fight.

We drove on a bit further (as far as the kids’ patience allowed — it had already been a long day) and got the chance to stop at some overlooks and scenic viewpoints with absolutely unbelievable vistas. It was an amazing place. Everywhere we looked, there was another beautiful view that didn’t quite seem real.

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After a bit, we headed back to Heiligenblut, and then back out, far up the side of the valley, for a wonderful dinner (the best meal we had on our whole trip) with an amazing view of the town and the mountains. After our first day on the High Alpine Road, I was thrilled with what we’d seen . . . and we’d only seen about 12 miles of the road so far!

Cable car!

Posted on August 12, 2014 by admin

From our hotel room window in picturesque Heiligenblut, we could see most of the town, including the 600 year old church and the summit of the Großglockner, Austria’s tallest mountain. We could also see the cable cars filing up the hill towards the summit of Schareck, which sits on the opposite side of the valley from the Großglockner. Liam was completely entranced. Every time he saw one, he shouted, “Cable car!” Every time. (It was lucky for us and for the one other hotel guest that the cable cars didn’t start running until about 9:30 in the morning, so at least we all got some rest.)

After breakfast our first morning in Heiligenblut (during which we learned that the Dutch put chocolate sprinkles and butter on their morning bread), there was no question about what Liam wanted to do with his day. He was just so excited. So, despite the drizzle and the fog and the knowledge that there would be zero view from the top, we decided to head up the mountain in the “cable car!”

The town was really quite small, so we opted to walk through town to the base of the cable car line. We got a nice (if rainy) tour of the little town. When we got to the cable car, Liam did not seem to be disappointed by the rain or the fog — he was delighted to be there. (B was happy and excited, too, though not quite as thoroughly as Liam.) As we went up and up, we passed over grazing cows and horses, crossed over part of the High Alpine Road, ascended through a thick cloud layer and went up above the tree line. I’d seen snow at the tops of the highest mountains as we drove into town, but I was surprised by how much of it we passed over as we went up … and by how cold it was at the top.

And, we were right — lots of fog and no view. But, on the plus side, there were only two families up there at the top while we were there. With not much to see, and a cold rain falling (that was very nearly snow), we opted for a quick stop and visit to the restaurant at the top of the mountain . . . and the kids wanted ice cream, of all things (I went for hot chocolate instead). After a quick snack, we decided to visit the other cable car, which took us from the top of the mountain and then more across than down the other side. Our destination was alongside the High Alpine Road (which we hadn’t yet gotten a chance to explore) and is in a spot that is only accessible by skiing (and, I guess, by cable car) from mid-October until May 1 of every year.

At the base of that cable car line, we were able to fulfill one wish the kids had had, but which I wasn’t sure we were going to be able to deliver on — we found enough snow for a snowball fight. The whole hillside was covered with large patches of unmelted snow — very slightly slushy, but still frozen enough to walk on top of (which was good, because we’d brought warm clothes, but not warm enough for the near-winter scenario we were faced with). At one point during out snowball fight, I actually had the thought, “It’s really beautiful here. Maybe we should come back in summer . . . wait . . . ” I had completely forgotten that it was July 2nd, and this was, quite literally, as “summer” as it gets in the high Alps!

After making our way back up to the summit, and then back down to the valley, we all had an awesome nap. We didn’t get to enjoy the typical view from the summit, but we had gotten the mountain almost entirely to ourselves, and had a snowball fight in July. It was a great day.

(And then, when we got back, after our splinter removing debacle from the evening before, B offered to check Liam’s feet for splinters. These guys are just so sweet to each other.)

Heiligenblut

Posted on August 11, 2014 by admin

After our overly eventful day spent with horses the day before, we departed Maria Lankowitz to drive to one of my most anticipated destinations in all of Austria. We were headed to the little town of Heiligenblut, nestled at the base of Austria’s highest mountain, at the edge of the massive Hohe Tauern National Park, and at the beginning of the High Alpine Road. We’ve travelled to a few spots in the Austrian Alps before — Innsbruck, Reutte and Alpbach — but I was particularly excited to see Austria’s tallest mountain, the Großglockner, and to travel along the High Alpine Road.

“We’re halfway there!”

But our task for this day was to simply get to Heiligenblut, a 3 hour mountainous drive from Maria Lankowitz. Unlike our first travel day to Maria Lankowitz, the novelty of being in the car had somewhat worn off, and though the kids were remarkably patient, they weren’t quite as enthusiastic as they had been the first day. It was a beautiful drive, with lots of mountain views, some rain, some sun, and a little getting lost (not too badly, though).We did well. Road trips in Europe are different than at home. Every single time we travel in Europe (not counting the UK, which is very slightly more similar to travelling in the US), the most challenging part of our trip is finding a place to eat. In the U.S., this is not a problem. Major highways are well populated with fast food drive through restaurants and rest areas to stop. Large and medium sized towns can also be counted on to be full of drive through fast food, or at least quick-service chain restaurants. None of that exists here. (There are drive through fast food restaurants in Austria, but they are extremely rare and I’ve never been through one. We did go to one in Germany, once, and we were so excited about it.) When it’s time for lunch on the road, we have to figure out which local Gasthaus we’d like to stop at. Inevitably, even a “simple” lunch will take an hour (more likely two) and there’s very little way to tell, before we stop, whether the meal will be any good (though most are). Seriously, I love the fact that Austrians are less obsessed with fast food than Americans are . . . except when we’re on a road trip.

By the time we had gotten ourselves some lunch, and taken a trip through some very long tunnels through the mountains (the longest one we went through, the Oswaldiberg tunnel, was over 4km — about 2.5 miles — which is long enough to be a bit disconcerting), we were almost there. We started to see snow-covered mountaintops nearby (even though it was July 1), and we impulsively stopped at a beautiful waterfall just a few miles from our destination. THIS is the kind of thing I was excited to go see! Waterfalls and snow in the mountains in July!

But, even given the amazing scenery along the way, Heiligenblut managed to be even more beautiful than I had expected. It looked exactly like every single postcard I’d ever seen (or even imagined) from the Austrian Alps. The little town is loosely arranged around a 600 year old church, with ski lifts and cow fields peppered on the hillsides. The Großglockner iteself stands imposing and snow covered just behind the town. I was instantly in love, and only happier to find that our hotel (Hotel Kaiservilla) was gorgeous and run by a very kind and friendly Dutch couple who absolutely adore kids. Even better — the hotel was to be nearly empty for the days we were staying there, and they had given us a huge room with the best view in the place. It was everything I wanted it to be!

After getting settled and enjoying the view for a bit (the kids got out their binoculars to give it a closer inspection), we headed out for dinner (getting slightly lost along the way — Heiligenblut is a tiny town, but there are lots of equally tiny mountain roads winding through and around the area . . . and very few of them have signs . . . and several didn’t exist according to our GPS). We ate in a little restaurant/hotel combination across the valley from where we were staying. We had a lovely, simple Austrian meal, and while we waited for the food to arrive (and then after we had finished) the boys played outside in the playground on the edge of the forest, and visited with the resident bunny rabbit. As they were finishing their playtime, I noticed some animals grazing high up on the steep mountainside. I watched them, trying to figure out what they might be (remembering our wild mountain goat experience from last fall) when I finally realized that they were horses! I was trying to imagine how anyone ever got up there to get them down when they suddenly decided to make their way down the mountain and into the neighboring field. (Looks like a pretty great place to be a horse, but I wouldn’t want the job of bringing one in that didn’t want to be caught!)

It was a great day. I was so excited to get on with exploring this part of Austria, and so thrilled to be exactly where I was. (Unfortunately, we finished our evening out by attempting . . . and failing . . . to remove a splinter from poor Liam’s finger. That’s the down side to all of the great, rustic, wooden playground equipment in Austria.)

Trattbergalm

Posted on October 30, 2013 by admin

For our last full day in the Alps south of Salzburg, we decided to drive up a mountain close to the farm where we were staying. Twice before, we’ve stayed at this farm, and each time, we’ve attempted to drive up this mountain. Both times before, we were thwarted by snow.

The first time (last October), what was a gentle drizzle at the farm became an icy mess and furious flurries with seriously obscured visibility as we made our way almost to the top. The second time (late last March), the road was simply impassable due to heavy amounts of snow. But, the third time is theoretically the charm, so we decided to try again. The weather was relatively warm (nearly 60 at the farm — closer to 40 at the top) and although there had been snow several days before, the forecast was for clear skies. We went to the grocery store, selected picnic items, and set off.

Unlike our previous attempts, this time the visibility was good, and we got to enjoy the view. Every time we go up into the Alps, I’m amazed by the vastness of the expanse of peaks we can see marching off into the distance — although the valleys in between are cozy, with tiny towns, the mountains are jagged and gray and, even in mid-October, mostly snow covered. They are intimidating, they are wild, and we were driving up the side of one of them.

In addition to a criss-cross of stone, wood and wire fencing used to section off cattle who graze up here in the summer, Trattbergalm has lots of hiking/cross country skiing trails (all marked as “moderate” or “significant” challenges — in other words, not for hiking with the kids), several parking areas, and even a few mountain hut restaurants. We found a parking area with a scenic spot nearby (with extra credit for the fences situated between us and the edge) and enjoyed our picnic overlooking a stretch of the central Austrian Alps.

On our way back to the car, we were intrigued by a large-ish, furry looking, black and white shape coming down from the peak behind a couple of hikers. Was it a dog? It looked too big. Was it a cow? It moved pretty quickly for a cow on the kind of slope, and besides, they would have all gone back down to their valley or mountainside farms at the end of the summer. Honestly, I was thinking it was a pony or maybe a small donkey, until it came farther down the slope and we saw that it was a (for real) mountain goat, with a black front half, a white back half and massive horns.

After watching it descend the hill and wander towards the parking lot, we retreated to the car, but kept watching. (None of my many pictures came out very well — I felt like I was trying to photograph the Loch Ness Monster.) It wandered around the parking area for a bit, and then walked off down the road. According to the hikers we saw coming down with it, they had climbed to the top of the mountain, and started back down when they suddenly realized there was this sizable goat following right behind them. (That must have been pretty nerve-wracking!)

After a bit, and a short way (away from the goat), we got back in the car and drove on (after the goat) and eventually came to end of the road. We parked again and followed the path (and some signs) to a mountain restaurant where we enjoyed mugs of hot chocolate while the kids played on the playground and washed their hands in mountain spring water. It had gotten quite chilly as the sun set behind the peak, and we soon headed back to the car to warm up.

We had a great day — and I’m glad we finally made it up the mountain as far as we could drive. So many of the things we’ve seen on these adventures seem so perfect, so lovely and exactly what we’d wish to see, that it’s hard to remember at times that they aren’t just a put on for the tourists. The mountain goat, the Alpine view, the hot chocolate from the hut at the top of the snow-dotted mountain, the fresh mountain spring, the cattle grids for the cows that spend the hot summers on the top of the cool mountain … that’s just how it is there. You start to wonder if there isn’t someone in the background saying, “Cue the goat!”, but it’s really just life in this part of the world. We just happened to visit and get to enjoy it on a (relatively) warm Monday in October.

On the way back to the farm, we drove through a tiny town whose church bells were ringing the hour and past a pair of deer grazing along the side of the road without concern, neither of which did anything to erase the impression of too-perfectness. But that’s how it was. Just almost too perfect, and a wonderful end to this adventure in the mountains.

Night sledding

Posted on March 21, 2013 by admin

After our train ride to Salzburg (more about that later), we picked up our rental car and drove south, into the mountains. This area, which is south of Salzburg, at the northern edge of the Alps, and full of mountains and valleys, is as beautiful as we remembered. As we drove through the valley, we had some rain, mixed with a little snow, but we could see, further up the mountainsides, that the trees were still flocked with snow, and the clearings were completely white.

As we climbed up the hill to our destination, the rain/snow mix turned to all snow. The trees were covered, and all of the grassy areas had several inches of accumulation. Suddenly, it was winter again. The last time we were here, we got to experience the first snow of the season, and we came back to more.

We arrived and got settled into our awesome place. Everything is warm and cozy. We placed our order for farm-fresh (as in, from the backyard) eggs and milk for morning and our hosts brought us got coffee and cake. Bolstered by warm beverages, we headed back out, into the snow for some sledding in the dark.

We didn’t go far — just to the top of the hill in the play area beside the inn. Despite the (sometimes heavy) snow, it wasn’t too cold . . . which was fortunate, as I hadn’t expected to go sledding and I didn’t bring snow pants or insulated gloves for anyone. It was just a short hill, barely steep enough to work, but fun and easy for the boys. They loved it.

We played, pulling the sleds up and sliding down, giggling boys and happy parents. We took breaks to slide down the slide, make snow angels, throw snowballs, ride on the seesaw and play on the swings. The snow would pause, for just a few moments, and the moonlight would break through the clouds. It was peaceful and fun. It was one of those crazy, rare moments where we’re all happy and relaxed and truly enjoying each other. It was an excellent way to start our long weekend here. And, whatever else we do over the next few days, the trip was already entirely worth it.

A Mommy Abroad

Our big adventure, as a family of three.

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