Adelene and I left Munich and made our way by train to Bregenz. What a change! We went from a busy metropolis where even the tourists look hurried, to a quiet village with a seaside/summer haven feel to it. We got there just in time to dump our things at the hotel and run out to sit by the shore of Lake Constance (Bodensee in German). We watched the sun set in brilliant hues of orange and pink to the sound of softly lapping waves. Heaven!
The next morning, we set out to Götzis, a nearby village, to meet old friends of my mother's, Elisabeth and Paul. I had met them myself only once, when I was about 7 or 8 years old. I knew they were not in the best of health, and thought we'd have a chat, a nice lunch, and then we'd be on our way. Well, when we got there, Elisabeth and Paul brought us to their house, chatted (OK, Elisabeth chatted, Paul listened) and fed us a very nice lunch. Right according to plan. And then they proposed to take us for a car ride into the mountains. We couldn't refuse such a nice offer, especially as we were not planning to go into the mountains and this was a bonus for us. Plus, the weather was absolutely fabulous (for once), so off we went. We drove up hairpin turns, through mountains and valleys, up to a mountain pass at an elevation of about 1750 metres.
There we stopped to stretch our legs, grab a coffee at the pit stop, and go up a little bit of a trail that started there. OK, this trail was serious stuff: no nice even trail wide enough to be comfortable. No, this one was barely double the width of a single foot, with crumbly parts and bushes to scramble over. Also, the mountainside at that point was at a pretty impressive incline, and on top of that Adelene and I were wearing sandals (we hadn't planned to hike up a mountain!) Adelene gave up pretty soon, but I pushed on a little. There were even parts that were dangerous enough that Paul had to show me in which direction to point me feet (down the incline at all times), how to test the ground before putting my full weight, etc. I stopped a few 100 metres further, when I felt too scared to continue without solid hiking boots, a couple of those hiking sticks... and possibly someone to tie myself to. It was that steep a fall! But Paul was as sure-footed as a amountain goat. That family had lived there most of their lives, and going up a mountain had been a usual family outing for them.
Anyways, we drove through the mountains some more, to more fantastic views at every turn, and stopped a few more times on the way. We ended up taking a break for an early dinner at Bludenz, a little town housing the Milka chocolate factory. Boy, were we ever disappointed when we saw it: we were expecting the smell of chocolate in the air, a big Milka sign and maybe a purple cow or two. But what we got was the smell of beer from the brewery close by, and a boring factory with a big KRAFT sign (the parent company) on the front (little Milka sign on the back only). Sigh! Oh well, at least the patio restaurant with its lovey view and good food was nice. After that, we dropped off Elisabeth and Paul and returned to Bregenz. We had a nice long walk along the shore to wrap up a lovely day.
The next day, we set off on the first ferry across to Lindau, a cute village on an island nearby on the Bodensee. It was just gorgeous! We wandered around, found Rapunzel's tower (complete with braid hanging out the window) and admired the decorated buildings.
We then returned to Bregenz, where our friendly rain clouds had once again gathered to meet us. There, we took the cable car up the nearest mountain, and sat at the cafeteria-style restaurant for an early lunch. Good thing too, because it got very busy by the time we left. Even though it was drizzling a bit, we then walked a short trail that looped around a kind of open-air zoo of typical mountain animals. Anyone know the English word for the mountain goat type animal called "mouflon" in French and German? ... Mouflon!
After that, we went down to an area set up for a bird of prey show-and-tell. We wandered a bit, looking at the eagles and hawks in their cages before sitting down to wait for the show to begin. Once again, we chose wisely to get there early: the space was restricted, and they packed us in like sardines. And then, yay for us, the skies cleared out and the sun blasted us. So now we were stthe show began: one at a time, they let the birds fly out into the thermals coming up the mountain. The birds were well trained to fly loops outwards then come back swooping low over the spectators' heads. As the narrator mentioned, they were free to fly off, and a couple of times per season one of the birds would do just that. But they always came back. In our case, the bald eagle did soar out of sight for a while, enjoing some updrafts further away on the mountainside, but it came back a few minutes later. It was a great show, even though I had to translate most of it for Adelene (the narration was in German only).
We took the cable car back down the mountain, wandered through the Bregenz old town area, but then hightailed it to our hotel. We were exhausted from the early rise, walking, drizzle, then pounding sun and heat during the bird show. We had a long nap, and why not? We were on holidays! After dinner, we got changed and then went out to the outdoor facility where we'd see the opera Aïda.
OK, here's the setting: the stage is floating on the water of the Bodensee, with parts that could sink into the water and others that could be moved and raised by cranes. As we got settled, people were moving about on stage, playing guitars, chatting, praying, all kinds of things. Turns out they were part of the show, a kind of prelude to the opera. And then it began: what a show! The staging was a bit confusing, in that it featured large blue feet covered in gold stars and the head of the Statue of Liberty, which had very little to do with the premise of the opera, which is about Egyptians beating Ethiopians in war, two women in love with the same man, and and Aïda and her love dying at the end (of course, what's an opera if no one dies?)
The opera was fabulous, excellent singing for the most part, and inventive use of this stage, with some of the action and singing in the water, or even several stories high in the air. A perfect end to our travels!
The next morning, we set off again by train, a long 7.5 hours to Vienna. That evening, we went to a movie and had dinner with friends of mine.
The next day, we walked around Vienna a bit so that Adelene could see some of the sights she'd only seen at night so far. It was a lovely morning, about 25 degrees and sunny. We then took the train to Melk, some 80 km up the Donau (Danube) river, where there is a lovely monastery we wanted to see. To our surprise, when we got there it was pouring rain! We debated what to do, and then decided to run to the first restaurant to at least get lunch while we waited for the next train back to Vienna. But we got lucky again, and the skies started to clear during our lunch. So we did go to the monastery after all, and it was just amazing!
We then caught a boat that ferried us from Melk to Krems on the Donau, a nice 1.5 hour cruise with a view of crumbled ruins, cute villages and local vineyards.
We decided to spend an hour or two in Krems, and set off on foot. However, it seems we took the wrong turn. We discovered a perfectly charming neighborhood, medieval style and full of little passages, staircases, flowers and cobblestones. But as time passed, we realised we were not in the "touristic" area, and rather far away from the train station. We were on a schedule, you see, as we had concert tickets to a presentation of Vivaldi's Four Seasons at the Karlskirche. So off we went again. On the way, we found a hilarious statue of a woman laughing. We finally found the station, just in time to catch a train back to Vienna.
Back in Vienna, we had a quick dinner and then went to our concert. During the concert, the weather changed again. By the time we were listening to "Winter", a storm was crashing outside. The thunder and lighting actually blended well with the music, and everyone including the musicians appreciated it. After the concert, everyone kind of massed in front of the exit of the church, deciding if they should risk going out, as the lightning was still putting on a show. However, the rain was very light, so Adelene decided to venture out in hopes we wouldn't get soaked - or electrocuted - before we got home. We were again lucky: we made it back to my apartment just in time, and then sat in a dark room for a while just enjoying the light show in the sky.
On Adelene's last day in Vienna, we did some souvenir (and other) shopping, including salivating over such thins as designer bags and leather gloves. But we were good, and showed restraint. We took a break and enjoyed another latter and piece of Sacher torte. We also took in a few more sights. For example, Adelene went up the 343 stairs to the top spire of St. Stephen's cathedral. I'd been there already, and honestly had no desire to go up all those stairs again, so I ran errands until she got back. :-)
In the evening, we met up with friends again for dinner at a churrascaria (Brasilian restaurant). Basically, we had 9 different types of meat... oh, and a few side dishes too. Then, we went over to City Hall, where there is a cinema festival on, showing movies, recordings and documentaries about music. Or so we thought: when we got there, we realised there was some sort of special event going on, rather like an open-air rave. We stayed away from the rave area, and stayed around the -relatively- quiter section with the bars and food stalls. We had a couple of drinks and then left our friends to return home.
A couple more random pictures:
On Sunday, Adelene flew back to Canada. End of a fabulous vacation. Sigh.
