Hello from St. Johann im Pongau, Austria

Hello from St. Johann im Pongau, Austria

Wednesday Morning August 27, 2008 (seventh travelogue of this trip)

As has been the case with several of the previous travelogues for this trip, I am starting this one, on a train from Karlsruhe to our final destination in Austria. We are traveling on this train on Sunday 8/24. We left Karlsruhe about noon and arrived in St. Johann about 8:00 PM in the train station.

We are at the Alpenland Sporthotel here St. Johann (here). While this is a hotel, we have used our timeshare exchange for week's stay.

As I have noted, trying to find time to write the blog has been a challenge. That is both good and bad. The good part is that our days are filled with sightseeing events – often beyond the imagination. We have been with some absolutely fantastic “tour guides” who have exposed us to many things that typical Americans do not see. To be sure, we have also done “tourist” sights as well. Our days seem to be filled from just past sun up to well after sun down. The bad part is that I perhaps have not done justice to some of the travelogues.

Now to catch up on the last few days (we left off with the events of Wednesday 8/20).

On Thursday we went to Mt. Pilatus. We took a two trains to Lucerne, Switzerland, transferring in Basel. From there we took a short train trip to Alpnachstad, Switzerland which is at the base the base of the mountain. There, we boarded a cog train that is billed as the “world's steepest cogwheel railway”. It starts at an altitude of 1431 feet and rises to over 6900 feet. At places the slope is 48%! It takes about 40 minutes to get to the summit. During the ride up, the view of Lake Lucerne is fantastic.

When we reached to top, it was quite sunny. Unfortunately, we were above the clouds and we did not have a view down the mountain. Never-the-less, we could see far enough to see the very steep slope on both sides of the mountain. One side is virtually vertical for several hundred feet. We had a great lunch in a nice restaurant, and did a bit of walking around to look at the available views. We then got into a large gondola for what seemed like a sheer drop off the mountain. The gondola dropped into the thick clouds for several minutes before we had a view of the valley. About half way down the mountain we exited the gondola (crowded with perhaps 40 people) and got on a small enclosed ski-type lift with seating for four people. As was the case going up, the views were great going down. On both the trip up and down we saw and heard cows with “musical” bells. We even saw and heard some sheep with bells. The sounds were beautiful.

We reversed the train trip and arrived in Karlsruhe about 9:15. We bought some sandwiches in the train station and took them home to eat.

Friday was our relaxing day. We took the tram into the shopping area. I went to an Internet cafe to get our email since Irina and Matthias' ISP was not compatible with our Earthlink accounts. I then met the gang and we went to eat at a great little cafe. Then Bill and I went to the area where they were rebuilding the tram tracks. We were like kids at Disneyland. We got to watch all of the processes of putting in new track. They had huge preformed concrete track foundations that held a four rails (two sets of tracks). The track was welded on location into long rails. We got to watch them adjust and weld two sections together. Unlike USA construction sites, we were right next to the work and had great views. While we were indulging in a bit of “side walk superintendent” activity, the girls were shopping.

Friday night Matthias and Irina drove us to Lauterbourg, France where we had dinner at Au Vieux Moulin, which is a neat restaurant built in a very old mill. Lauterbourg is in the French region of Alsace. They are famous for their wine. The trip involved traveling perhaps 30 miles one way.

Saturday we first went to the farmer's market. We then drove into the Palantinate region of Germany (their spelling is Pfalz). This is the German state north and west of the state that Karlsruhe is located in. Our first stop was in Rhodt unter Rietburg. All of this area has what seems like endless vineyards. Mile after mile of beautiful rows of grape vines. We hiked to a palace. On the way, we had a great picnic lunch in the vineyards. At the palace we caught a chair lift to the top of the mountain where the ruins of a castle has been converted into a restaurant. There we had coffee and took in the fantastic views of the tiny villages and vineyards as far as the eye can see (see photo) We then drove to anther small village: St. Martin. We walked around the town and toured a great cathedral.

The small villages in this area have a very large number of small family wineries. They each have small plots in the vineyards where they grow the grapes for their wine. When their wine is ready to sell, the tradition is to hang out brooms to let folks know they are open for business. Many have a small courtyard at their house where you can enjoy a meal and great wine.

We decided to return to Rhodt to find a place to eat. We found a great little year-round restaurant that had very good food and excellent wine. Our bottles of wine cost less than $7.00 and were among the best we have tasted (not that we are wine connoisseurs).

Sunday (8/24) Irina and Matthias prepared a great German style breakfast for us at our/their apartment.

The weather continues to be fantastic! Very cool evenings, nice daytime temperatures and an occasional brief shower.

Well that catches up a bit. I am still several days behind, but that will be another post

View from the chair lift above Rhodt