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What border?

Thursday, October 20th, 2011

A group of people we know from the US and UK were on a holiday in the Dolomites in Italy last month.  Since it’s only a 3 hour drive from where we live, they invited us to meet them there go hiking.  It’s a really beautiful area and one that I’m sure we’ll visit again.

The most surprising thing about the trip was discovering the area called Südtirol (South Tirol).  It used to belong to Austria, but as a result of WWI and WWII eventually became a permanent part of Italy. While it might officially be in Italy now, the population has chosen to ignore the fact.  The homes are the same style of “Heidi houses” that you see everywhere in Austria, and the road signs are  in both German, listed first, and then Italian.  Most people we met were tri-lingual (along with English), but speak German to each other, and the food was wursts and schnitzels, with a little pasta.  Not quite what you imagine when you think about spending a weekend in Italy.  I never would have even known that we left Austria, except for all the “I” license plates.

The owner of the B&B where we stayed gave me a history lesson, as well as some strong opinions on the regional government, languages, and the possibility that they would someday vote to re-join Austria.  It’s a very interesting piece of history that was completely new to me.  You never know what you’ll find when you cross a border.

Here’s a view from the Dolomites in the “Italian” Alps:

Posted in Austria, Italy, Living Abroad, Travel | 1 Comment »

More Cowbell

Friday, September 2nd, 2011

After the rock star life in Cologne, we took a very long drive to Zermatt which included a tunnel through the mountains where you drive your car onto a train that takes you through it.  It saves about 200km of driving instead of going around them.

Zermatt is a pretty town in a deep valley at the base of the Matterhorn.  All of the guidebooks and hiking maps talk about the changeable Alpine weather here, and we got a taste of it.  The first day we took the Gornergrat train up to the top of a nearby peak for amazing views.  The entire skyline was sunny and clear with absolutely beautiful views of the Monte Rosa, the Dom, and Dente Blanche.  The hike back down was great, but the Matterhorn was covered by its own set of clouds and nearly invisible.

All over town there were postcards, photos, and paintings of the Matterhorn that were little reminders of what we were not seeing.  The next day was same, but we thought maybe if we headed up a different set of cable cars maybe we would get a break in the weather or a different view.  That plan didn’t quite work out.  We got to the top of a ridge covered in clouds and decided to start our hike anyway.  The winds were over 40kph (and my treasured NZ knit hat was blown off and lost!), but I might have been able to cope with that.  When rain moved in, it started to get uncomfortable, and finally when the hail started whipping us, I gave up and turned around. Luckily we made it back to the cable car in time before they shut it down because of the high winds.  We got off halfway back down the mountain and were greeted with sunshine again.  I guess that’s what they mean by “changeable.”

Then on our last morning in Zermatt during breakfast we noticed a break in the clouds.  We left our coffee and muesli and scrambled to get a camera.  Finally, there it was.  Our view lasted about 15 minutes, but it was so impressive and what we came for…  the Matterhorn.

Here is the mountain teasing us:

Finally, here it is!

Posted in Living Abroad, Switzerland, Travel | 2 Comments »

Long Road to Ruin

Thursday, August 25th, 2011

After we got our fill of the mountains in Tirol and Voralberg, we cruised up to Köln (Cologne).  It was a long drive, but we were motivated. One of our favorite bands, the Foo Fighters, played there and we had tickets.  They put on a great show, and we headed back south again happy and tired.

Oh yeah, and Cologne has a nice cathedral, too.

Here ‘s the Foos in action:

Posted in Germany, Living Abroad, Travel | No Comments »

Twin Peaks

Tuesday, August 23rd, 2011

Nearly everyone in Europe is on vacation this month.  It’s really amazing how many foreign license plates you see on the roads in Austria heading south to coasts in Croatia and Italy, or stopping off to enjoy our mountains and lakes.  After watching all the happy people on holiday, sitting in cafes, riding bikes, and lounging in the sun, we finally took off for our own vacation this week.

Our first stop was Innsbruck, then on to the Ötztal to do some hiking.  It’s a beautiful area, but our next stop was even more impressive.  The Seefeld area is surrounded by mountains and we headed up in a cable car to get a better view.  We found a great circuit hike that included two peaks, and while it was a lot of up, down, up, down, the payoff views from the tops were fantastic. 

At the top of most peaks there is a “Kreuz” or cross, usually with a book to sign.  Here’s the one on the Reitherspitze and the view:

Posted in Austria, Travel | No Comments »

The Best Defense

Wednesday, July 13th, 2011

I wanted to wrap up with one more post about the places we went while my parents were visiting.  Looking back now, there were actually quite a few – no wonder we were all tired!

We heard about a castle about 40 minutes from where we live called Hochosterwitz.  I wasn’t really sure how good it would be, but it turned out to be pretty impressive.  It sits on top of a hill like many others, but what makes this one unique is that there are 14 gates along the switchback path that you need to go through to reach the top.  Each one is different and some have pretty interesting traps and defenses.

It’s a long walk to the top, but the gates provide good distractions on the way.  We’ve been focused on sightseeing in other places in Europe, but this was a nice find in our own backyard.

Posted in Austria, Living Abroad, Travel | No Comments »

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