Mishaps and Interesting Encounters--June 2017, Part I

What an adventure we had. We started 28 May, flying from Columbia via Amsterdam to Vienna and on that  second flight we sat among these very tall volley ball players returning to their home in Slovakia.

In Vienna we checked into this fabulous hotel, the Rathaus, known for its art and wine. I found it online and tried to get it for all our nights in Vienna but could only get it for one great night.

It was whimsical and very comfortable with a lovely staff.

View from the toilet!

The Austrian news was full of Trump and family. They hate him!

We  enjoyed a walk into the center of Vienna through the wonderful folks garden full of beautiful fragrant roses.


It

Interesting marker to Jan Sobieski, a Polish hero, who in 1683 in Vienna defeated the Turks and the Ottoman Empire, securing the Hapsburg Empire to reign (He is known for having kept Europe Christian!).


I took a lot of photos. When we returned home we watched "The Third Man," excellent film set in Vienna, and I saw both this fierce Neptune and the caryatids in front of a building used as apartment building in the film.

It was a lovely night, perfect weather, and we enjoyed a delicious meal in this restaurant.

This is what I had--fried cheese with cranberry sauce. Kevin had sausages and sauerkraut.

A young woman in the Rathaus hotel helped us purchase our train tickets to Innsbruck and we were off the next morning. We had reserved seats. However, there was only one woman in our car and she was sitting next to us. We talked the whole way. She, business woman with a daughter, travels a lot, has even been on the Orient express from Venice to London--it was a 75th birthday gift for her mother! She said it was worth it. Her daughter is attracted to Oxford but because of Brexit she may not be able to go there.  She gave us a suggestion for a restaurant in Innsbruck. Later, she sent this photo of herself and daughter traveling on the Transiberian Railway. Like me, she likes train travel.

Innsbruck is a charming city but we had a bad experience with our Airbnb which had excellent recommendations and upon entering was charming but there was no toilet paper! Neither Wifi or TV worked. It was hot and we needed to keep the window open but there was no way to keep light or noise out. We were very close to the street and there was street noise much of the night plus we heard the heavy doors of the apartment complex slamming all night. We contacted the landlord but he was hopeless.

On the first night, we enjoyed a delicious meal in the restaurant at the top of the Adler Hotel restaurant--if I go back I would enjoy staying there. The Adler family are prominent Austrians-- the one we know best was Alfred, the psychotherapist and colleague of Freud, sometimes friend, sometimes rival.


We invited an elegantly dressed Austrian woman to dine with us. She was in Innsbruck with her husband as he was given experimental treatment for cancer in a local hospital. We met her for breakfast the next morning and she gave us some hints about the city. Our conversation was punctuated by calls from her children--one a businessman in the Emirates--asking about their father.


We enjoyed walking around the city. This house with a gold roof is a big tourist attraction!

And we saw this film-making scene!

We went shopping and bought sticks for our walking tour. We enjoyed the city museum and had a nice lunch there. Afterwards we went to the folk art museum.

The Ferdinandeum Museum has an interesting and impressive collection--we really enjoyed our time there. Here is a portrait of Gustav Klimt, Austria's most famous artist.

And, the lovely Angelika Kauffman, 17th century artist born in Switzerland but who spent her early life in Austria.

And this triptych was interesting is that it pictures a barebreasted madonna! She is on the right there reaching for her new born babe.


The folk museum was full of beautiful dioramas mostly of the Christmas story, reminding us of the Polish creches we saw in Krakow in 1988.

In Innsbrook, we saw Edelweiss for sale but we never found it in the Alps! We were too early.

The next morning, we got onto the two car Zillertal to Mayrhoven!

A group of school children joined us at one point. They were fun to watch. They watched us too, recognizing that we were foreigners and English as they all said, "Goodbye," when they left the train.

Passing cozy villages and breathtaking alps!

In Mayrhoven, we had a friendly taxi driver an emigrant from UK who loves Mayrhoven. He took us to the Waldheim where our tour was supposed to begin. He helped us get into the door with our luggage. The man at the desk was surprised and started talking loudly in German. The taxi driver asked us if this was the right hotel.  The clerk made a phone call and a woman came up who spoke English,

"The Hotel is closed."

"But we are here for the hfholiday tour."

"I'm afraid that does not begin until July."

I fumbled around for my papers and she looked at them and pointed out the date 07/01/1017. We were a month early.

Oh, man, was I embarrassed! The taxi driver said, "What can I do to help?"

The woman said, "I can offer you one night here so you can decide what to do."

We thanked her. The taxi driver gave us his card and encouraged us to call if we needed anything. She gave us directions to the Tourist Bureau and a travel agency.

We put our bags in a nice room  and then walked through this absolutely charming town. We stopped and had a good lunch and then proceeded to the tourist bureau where a beautiful young woman helped us. She convinced us that we could stay in Mayrhoven and take walks wherever.

She helped us reserve a first class room at the Hotel Zillertalerhof (first class was only slightly more expensive than second class). And, then, she worked out seven hikes for us to do for the seven days we intended to be in Mayrhoven. Loaded with our information, we walked back to the lovely Hotel Waldheim where we were the only guests. This was the view from our balcony.

 We  showered and walked down into the town for a delicious meal at an Italian restaurant, Ciera. We were feeling pretty positive and happy, even after my humongous mistake. It was such a glorious place to be with the alps all around us, looking like picture postcards!

The next morning, we pulled our suitcases down to the Hotel Zillerhoven where we enjoyed a hearty breakfast and settled into our lovely room with a balcony overlooking the church.  We learned that that green steeples meant that the church belonged to the Salzburg diocese whereas red steeples belonged to the Innsburg Diocese. The Ziller River separates the two dioceses. The church had a bell tower and the bell rings tended to be excessive at times-- on Sunday morning, I counted 96 rings! And then some more. We watched the villagers walking to church.

We loved our stay at this hotel. The staff--Stephanie at the desk; Arnulf, head waiter; Ihren, bar- tender--were wonderful. We were treated to a full breakfast buffet with everything possible- the breads and granolas were especially delicious every morning. (I know I keep saying the food is delicious but Austrian food is superb and it is also the greenest cleanest country I have ever visited. All the toilets had toilet brushes in them, even the train toilets!)

The bar was small and cozy and we enjoyed Ihren who served me the delicious house drink with a lemon balm liqueur--lemony, and minty with lime topped with that little exotic fruit called the cape gooseberry--before dinner.

And the dinner was always superb, a real treat, with wonderful service provided by Arnulf. We chose our evening meal at breakfast with the Morning Mail.

An awful photo but the only one I have of the artful Arnulf, serving in the first class dining room.

We sat with a mother/ daughter from Switzerland. The mother spoke no English but the daughter enjoyed practicing hers with us and left us a delicious Swiss chocolate bar when they left. We would have liked to join British friends that we made but they were sitting in another room--second class. But the guests in our room were friendly and talkative and the conversation often flowed among tables.

For our first walk we crossed the Zillar River which is a beautiful turquoise color and runs through Mayrhoven.


We walked along a ridge overlooking picturesque villages.

And saw lovely scenery.

We met two young Berlin business men. One had spent a hs year in a small rural town in Nebraska. The other had worked in NYCity. Both spoke excellent English. They liked living in USA and often traveled back to see friends they made while there.

Another very special walk was the music walk with Alfred Geiler and Martin Pecar. They spoke perfect English although no one else did. They had grown up in Ginzling a small alps town where they said the only thing to do was music, hike, and ski--there was even a small ski lift for the children who live there.

We  passed gorgeous cows. These cows return from the Alpine pastures in the autumn during the Almabtrieb. They are decorated with magnificent flower headdresses and herded down the mountain with music.

We walked through Ginzling and our guides pointed out their one-room school house. I enjoyed the guy in the red Brooklyn tee shirt. He spoke no English but I kept teasing him about knowing English as he was from Brooklyn! He carried a little tape recorder and taped all the music. He even sang with them. He was fun!

The duo would stop along the way and play music.

This one couple who spoke no English always danced! They had a great time!

We walked up to this alm house for lunch.


We were welcomed by this guy, a famous Viennese icon whom we later saw him in the Belvedere.

Now this woman was not in our group but we ended up sitting across from each other in the alm house. She spoke very little English but we became best friends. She helped us order and explained how to cook the spätzle which I ordered. Kevin had sausages It is often easy to communicate without having a similar language.


We all drank the Zillertal Bier (a shandy).

This group of Swiss hikers were well into their cups. They were drinking the lemon beer as well as Schnapps ( Oh, and did I tell you that we were offered Schnapps at every music stop while coming up the mountain!).

They loved our singers and gave them a huge tip, more than they made from the walkers.

It was a wonderful day!