2016 Germany: Austria

2016 Germany: Austria 

My luggage finally arrived by 11:00 pm. Waiting for the courier to arrive, I was exhausted and jet lagged. Regardless, I was glad to get my belongings and especially some clean clothes.

In the morning, after another visit to the local backerei for coffee and fresh pastries, we headed south through the Austrian Alps and east to Hallstatt, Austria. The drive was every bit as beautiful as I dreamed it would be. Hallstatt is a UNISCO recognized historical village on one of the most picturesque lakes in the world.

We stayed on the other side of the lake in Obertraun, an even smaller village away from the over-crowded tourist destination that is Hallstatt. Our hotel rooms were   small but adequate managed by a young Russian woman. For dinner, she recommended a local restaurant also run by Russians. It was an interesting and somewhat intriguing Russian enclave out in the middle of the Austrian Alps.

At sundown, a group of Austrian Tirolean horn players floated on a small boat in the lake about 100 yards offshore playing beautiful music. Wild swans lined the lake’s shores as if it was a scene from a Disney movie. The moment was magical.

In the morning, after breakfast and a morning walk along the lake shore lined with boathouses, we headed towards Slovenia. We decided to take all side rods thru the Alps instead of the autobahn. The original plan was to take a walking tour in an ice cave in the mountain just above Hallstatt. When we went to purchase the tickets, we were told that there was a long steep road to get to the cave once we exited the gondola and there were about 500 steps up in the cave. We both knew it would be too demanding for Oma. It made me very sad to see the disappointment on Oma's face because I knew she looked forward to the tour since the day before. And in true Oma fashion, she didn't complain. She only apologized that we he to cancel. Of course she insisted that I go alone and she would be more than happy to wait the 2 hours for me. No way was I going to leave her, so we got in the car and made our way towards Slovenia.