The Peaks and Valleys of Austria  

Cultural shock has come back! We took an overnight flight from Delhi, India to Vienna, Austria (7 ½ hr. & arriving at 5:30 am) and were able to get some decent sleep on the flight. We were now ready to see the ‘Sounds of Music’ in Austria. We were on the autobahn by 8:30 am and couldn’t believe that there was hardly anyone on the streets. Not even a camel or Tuk Tuk!! Everything was so quite, orderly and the cars even stayed in their own lanes. Yes, it was cultural shock after 5 weeks of chaos on the streets (except India which had the worst chaos).

While renting the car we were told that we should visit the Mauthausen Concentration Camp on our way to Salzburg, which was Austria’s largest Nazi camp. It was a very somber experience viewing the many pictures in the Museum. We then continued west towards Salzburg, spending the night in a very quiet town called Bad Hall. As we got closer to Salzburg the hills, towns and mountains became alive with the sounds of music, or in this case, incredible beauty. We were adjusting to the much cooler weather (which felt good) with a blue sky and enjoyed touring Salzburg. But where have all the people gone!! There was still time left in the day so we continued on (about 1 ½ hr.) to a place I had hoped to see again one day – Kitzbuhl. It was great to see the town again and reflect to Pat several stories of my winter (in another life) there. We found a Pension at a farm house that overlooked the Gondola and valley and were able to walk into town to enjoy this quaint and beautiful walled town. The church in town dates back to the 1400 AD. The next morning was again a blue sky day so I decided to get in my 56^th day of skiing. The first 55 days were during the winter of 1973-74. I can only say, it was an incredible day with so many new trails!! We enjoyed a great dinner that evening in the town with all of the Tyrolean ambiance.

The next day we were off to Innsbruck via the back roads where we would see so many hills and towns with the sounds of music. It is a truly musical country. Mozart would agree.

We are now on the train to Venice. More later.

Where’s Pat and Mike??