G & J away from home

Sunday, 10 May

This morning we headed out early (8am instead of the usual 8.30) for the all-day 'Romantic Austria' optional excursion to the Salzkammergut or Austrian Lake District.

Gary in the bus

Please note that the bus seats were black and sparkly gold - just my sort of thing!

The tour started with the local guide telling us about Linz as we drove through it, and in passing mentioning that the city (and presumaby Austria itself) had been partly occupied by after the end of WWII by Russians and partly by Americans - just like Germany/Berlin.  I hadn't known that.

Our first stop in the Salzkammergut was at Traunkirchen, a village on the Traunsee (Lake Traun?).  It was early-ish on Sunday morning and everybody was going to church, many of them in what we would consider 'traditional' clothes - the ladies in gathered skirts and the men in lederhosen and jackets, or at least the traditional style jackets.  It was delightful to see especially as it was 'real' and not some sort of tourist town gimmick.

The church we visited (creeping quietly in before the service) included special pulpit in the shape of a boat (the Fisherman's Pulpit) and the cemetery outside was absolutely beautifully cared for with wrought iron 'headstones'.  The cemetery overlooked the very beautiful lake and mountains.

Wrought iron 'headstones' at Traunkirchen

Lamps & Lights: At Traunkirchen

My ambition for the holiday was to sit and read in beautiful places and our stop in this town certainly qualified:

View from my reading spot at Traunkirchen

Although we had selected this option excursion before we left New Zealand we were very gad we had since we'd got a bit overloaded with buildings - all interesting (though the Baroque and Gothic styles were a bit too fussy for my taste) but overwhelming in their quantity - and the chance to drive around looking at scenery instead was a welcome change of pace.

Next stop was was the town of St Wolfgang on Wolgangsee.  The church there was rather nice looking from the outside and I was able to get this photo of it and the town's maypole:

St Wolfgang's church and the maypole

There had been maypoles in most of the towns we visited in Austria - all these bare tree trunks with hanging rings of greenery and branches still left on the top.  Each of our guides had told us that the young men of the neighbouring villages would steal them if they weren't guarded from when they were put up until Mayday, and only returned if a ransom was paid.  I would have liked to have seen that in action!

Around the church there was a wall that was very usefully broken by a series of arches serving as windows to look down and over the lake.  Just perfect for photos despite the cloudy, sometimes showery, weather we experienced until the afternoon stop at Mondsee.

View over Wolfgangsee

Our third stop (apart from the photo stop above St Gilgen on the south of Wolfgangsee) was the town of Mondsee, very pretty but apparently most famous for the church which was used in The Sound of Music for the wedding f Maria and Baron von Trapp.  Actually, I don't recall the scene at all and the church was fairly solid-looking from the outside.

The Wedding Church

Inside it was decorated in black and gold everything, very lofty and spacious but not exactly to my taste.

The rest of the town - luckily for us another tourist town so open on Sunday - was full of prettily painted buildings on the main street, most of which were cafes.  I noticed that most of the party stopped for an ice cream rather than coffee.  I did myself - a 'malaga' flavoured one.  This is pretty much rum and raisin (my favourite) using malaga (a fortified wine) instead of rum.  Still works!

Buildings in Mondsee

While I was strolling back to the bus (after the ice-cream and the short stop to read with the wonderful view over the meadow and lake and up to the mountains) I caught sight of a house with interesting rooflines and curved walls.  I trotted off down the lane to take a few photos of it:

Mondsee house

In Mondsee Gary snapped the local cat and kept assuring me it wasn't a leftover photo from Durnstein.  I was so convinced it was I put his photo beside one of mine of the Durnstein cat and had to admit they were different - but not by much!

Mondsee cat (left) and Durnstein cat (right)

I bought a new pet in St Wolfgang - a hedgehog.  Admittedly he's only a stuffed toy but he does remind me of home ... though Gary thinks he's a bad hedgehog and took this photo of some unacceptable behaviour:

New pet - a chocolate eating hedgehog

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