April 19
Written April 20-21
Dear Friends and Family,
Our
plan for the day was to drive over the
road on the top of Austria, the Grossglockner Pass. We were not sure if it was open yet
(it wasn't), but we expected a nice drive anyway (it was.)
We started early enough, for a vacation schedule, despite the gray
skies. As we headed north, there were patches of blue sky to perk
up our spirits. Once we got off the boring autobahn, the road
wound between mountains, passed new and old houses. The area was
a combination of settled and very quiet. I imagine it might be
more crowded during ski season or when the pass is actually open.
We pulled off for a couple of side trips, nothing spectacular but
twisty paths and a few cows saying "Gruss Gott", the traditional
morning greeting in Austria and southern Bavaria.
On one pull-off, we visited a school for wood carvers,
chain-saw wood carvers. The school offers week-long workshops for
whoever wants to learn. Marianne talked to one "student", who said
he has another job and just likes carving with a chain saw because he
found he wasn't good at painting. His eagle was really quite
remarkable, after just two and a half days of class.
The end of the road for us was Heiligenblut (Holy Blood), a village
nestled at the end of the valley we had been driving up. The road
over the Grossglockner Pass was apparently closed just ahead. We
could tell that the place would have been teaming with skiers in the
winter season, and with hikers, bikers, and family drivers in the
summer, but for now it was just a very, very quiet mountain village.
Throughout the drive, we had been seeing mountains: mountains up close;
mountains hidden behind hills; sunny peaks; cloud-shrouded peaks;
settled mountainsides; impassable mountain faces. Despite the
clouds, we were impressed.
We had thought we would try another mountain valley on the way back,
but got lost instead. Not lost really, just didn't find the
second valley. Next time.
 Since
we still had some touring time, we stopped at the town of Villach, just
at the cross road where we turn up the Rosental Valley where our Wahaha
Paradise is. Sorry, but Villach did not seem like paradise
material. Maybe it was because we parked in the red light
district, although even these businesses seemed closed for the
between-seasons. I took one or two pictures, just to prove we
were there, and we got in the car and headed to our Paradise and a
home-cooked chicken dinner. The restaurant was as good as the
Juritz Campground, and much better value.
The weather forecast continues unsettled, so planning is a bit
unsettled as well. We'll see what the last few days of our
Austrian vacation bring.
Regards,
John and Marianne
ps: today's track:
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